A federal employee recently shared an emotional moment online, describing how she broke down in tears at a Toyota dealership while getting an oil change. She felt overwhelmed by the pressure of keeping her job amid mass layoffs and growing hostility toward government workers.
"Innocent service writer asked me how my Tuesday was going and I couldn’t hold it in," she wrote on Reddit. "Said, ‘I’m a federal employee watching a couple billionaires mock and ridicule me while I’m just trying to stay afloat’ and started crying."
Her post resonated with thousands of other government workers facing a new employment reality. Federal employees were recently instructed to submit five bullet points outlining their weekly accomplishments—information that, according to sources cited by NBC News, would be fed into an artificial intelligence system to determine whether their jobs were necessary. The system is supposedly expected to assess the importance of their roles without human oversight.
The directive came after Elon Musk, who has been tasked by President Donald Trump with reducing the size of the federal workforce, announced on X: "All federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation."
The Office of Personnel Management sent out the emails but later clarified that participation was voluntary. However, Musk dismissed the pushback, saying the request was "utterly trivial" and meant to check if employees had "a pulse."
The mass layoffs have sparked outrage among federal workers, many of whom feel dehumanized by the process. One Reddit user described being fired just days before their probationary period ended, while another recalled bursting into tears at the grocery store when a cashier casually commented about them having the day off.
"My only sliver of hope is that I’m mission essential," one commenter wrote. "But at this point, who knows because I’m on probation until November."
Another worker expressed disbelief at how their job was being evaluated: "Knowing that someone who has never met me and doesn’t see my day-to-day duties can look at five bullet points and use those to determine if I’m worthy of paying my bills is really weighing on me."
The layoffs and AI-driven assessments have faced legal challenges. A coalition of unions has filed an updated lawsuit against OPM, arguing that the directive is unlawful and that the government did not follow proper procedures. "The mass firings ordered by OPM are illegal and betray the trust of countless federal employees," said plaintiffs’ lawyer Norm Eisen. "The patronizing demand that federal workers still on the job have to justify themselves by enumerating five accomplishments just adds insult to injury."
Despite the backlash, Trump defended the initiative. "I thought it was great," he told reporters. "There was a lot of genius in sending it. If people don't respond, it's very possible that there is no such person or they're not working."
A Workforce in Crisis
Beyond the political and legal battles, the human toll is evident. Many affected employees described breaking down in everyday situations—at the DMV, at the doctor's office, even while picking up their kids from school.
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A teacher in northern Virginia expressed solidarity, noting that many of their students' parents are federal employees. "Only a matter of time before they make a mess of DOE," they warned.
A state employee shared how they planned to bring cookies to a United States Department of Agriculture office in a small act of support. "It ain't much, but maybe cookies will give them a smile."
‘We Just Have to Stick Together'
Despite the despair, many government workers are rallying behind one another. "We ALL have to stick together," one user wrote. Another added: "If we just bottle it up, people don't see the impact."
For the employee who broke down at the Toyota dealership, that moment of raw emotion wasn't just about job insecurity—it was about watching the public celebrate her struggle. "I live in a very red-friendly area," she wrote. "And I'm seeing some of my closest family and friends openly rejoice in all these mass firings."
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