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Despite their circumstances, some furloughed government workers are single and ready to mingle. One local is helping them meet up.
Emily, the person behind “furloughnely,” invited federal workers to meet at the Bar Americano kiosk cafe that sits in front of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum on the National Mall.
She has spent the last 11 years working for the federal government.
“It can be a very isolating time,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e’re used to being around people every day, and it just seemed like the right time to gather together.鈥�
Emily, who loves puns, said she thought “furloughnely” seemed like a nice pun that encompasses everything that鈥檚 going on right now.
The topics that started the meetup shouldn鈥檛 surprise anyone that works in the D.C. area.
鈥淲hat we do, where we work, what our day to day looks like,鈥� Emily said, describing some of the frequent conversation starters. 鈥淎lso talked about local activities we like to do.鈥�
One of those who joined the meetup was Mel Harper. This is Harper鈥檚 fourth shutdown as a federal employee, and she said it鈥檚 nice to be able to be with other federal workers who she can relate to.
鈥淚t’s a very specialized language. We use a lot of acronyms, and it’s like we’re getting together and like speaking our little code,鈥� said Harper. 鈥淵ou can’t even really talk to your family and close friends a lot of times about this, because they get so worried about you.鈥�
During the shutdown, Harper said she has been doing a lot of decluttering at home, and has not been on Netflix or Hulu. 鈥淏inging is what I do when I am working and I need to decompress,鈥� she said.
While there were some at the meetup who did have a special person in their life, and just wanted to hang out with work friends, Harper made it clear why she was there.
鈥淚 am looking 鈥� heavy on the lonely,鈥� Harper said with a laugh. 鈥淚’m open to a nice, nerdy federal man, maybe an IT bureaucrat who’s self aware? Yeah, I鈥檓 down for that.鈥�
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