June 5, 2006

Civil Servitude - An Introduction
Hello and welcome to Civil Servitude, where we take a humorous look at the asinine world of government employment.
 
What's Civil Servitude, you might ask?  Great question.  You get bonus points for paying attention.  The short answer - Civil Servitude is my outlet for work stress.  It's why a Higher Power put me on this planet and into my job.  Many times it's the only reason I even show up at work!
 
Here's the long answer:

For years I've grumbled about the "golden handcuffs" and how I can't afford to quit my job because the city I work for pays me more than any real job would.  And after sixteen years of city employment, I finally accepted my fate.  I now know that I'll never find a better job paying more money that doesn't also require more work out of me.
 
So I accepted my fate and in doing so I found my calling.  I discovered that I was stuck in this asinine place of employment so that I could draw cartoons about how asinine it is to work for government. 
 
When life gives you lemons ...
 
For the last couple of years I've talked to friends about how working for the city would make a great sit-com, something along the lines of "The Office" (very funny, on NBC, watch it) or the movie "Office Space."  Kind of like Dilbert in a government-specific setting.   But I know nothing about creating a sit-com and I don't live in Hollywood.
 
So, given those constraints, drawing cartoons seemed like the most logical alternative.
 
Civil Servitude is about a fictional suburb called Bluff City and the local government office there.  The characters are in no way meant to represent real people, and even though it may look like someone you know, please realize that government employment tends to attract certain stereotypes that my cartoon characters are based upon.  Most of the situations, however, are based on real events.  Truth is always funnier than fiction.
 
The artwork's still a little rough, since I haven't drawn much in the last fifteen years and I'm a professional bureaucrat, not an artist.  I hope that's part of the allure.
 
I post a new cartoon every Monday and Thursday, so please bookmark the site and visit regularly.  In fact, tell all your friends (civil servants or not) about my cartoon so that they too can enjoy the asinine humor of government employment.  My goal is to create an interactive fan base that will feed me more material to use as this endeavor grows.  And with your help (and what little cartooning talent I can muster), this comic strip might even grow enough to get syndicated.  We’re talking the cartoon syndicate, not the Mafia syndicate, although there's probably better money in whacking people for the mob.
 
To cover my behind, per the city work rules, I would like to inform you that this is a part-time project performed at home and not on city-time.  I've read the city work rules and determined that I am in no way violating said work rules as long as I don't use or attempt "to use employment with the City or knowledge acquired while working for the City for personal gain or advantage, in a manner which would violate the ethics laws of the State of Ohio pertaining to public employees, or any other violation of said ethics laws."  
 
No ethics violations here, just making lemonade.  Now, if you choose to screw off at work and read this cartoon on company hours, that's you're own business.  Just do it at lunch.  We in no way promote violating your employer's work rules, although we believe many work rules are dumb and should be violated in the worst way.  Give people a job they love and treat them like adults and one shouldn't need work rules.
 
I welcome your feedback and your own stories of asinine events in your own job.  Remember, truth is always funnier than fiction.
 
And with that, we begin.