So I got a large payment notice from the IRS yesterday...

[Igel]

10. I've never worked for an organization in which retirees weren't typically replaced.

You retire, you're not drawing pay, they hire somebody else. Unless there's an intentional budget reduction and they're curtailing that dept.'s budget.

I've been hired as a replacement; I've left and been replaced. At no point was there a bit deal about how they needed to increase the budget to maintain the status quo.

Meanwhile, I await my tax refund for my return e-filed last April. Or a nasty IRS letter demanding something or other for non-filing of taxes. (It's not like they had a large RIF or suddenly barrage of tax returns. No. Last year the agency simply pulled a SW Airlines. And haven't been able to catch up. But I'm sure that while productivity plummeted, payroll didn't.)