What Did You Do Last Week at Work? Can YOU Name 5 Things?

The debate rages on as to whether it was appropriate for President Trump's DOGE or Department of Government Efficiency czar Elon Musk to send an email to government workers to provide five bullet points outlining what they accomplished at work.

The reaction from many workers the email was sent to and Democrat party leaders has been outrage or contempt.

By now, you have probably formed an opinion on whether the request was reasonable or not.  Maybe you have done a mental exercise to recall what you would list if you received a similar request.  Well I did.

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I am a brand manager for my employer,  Townsquare Media, which operates more than 300 radio stations in small to medium sized markets around the country including  Wenatchee, WA.

So, here are my 5 "bullets" on what I did last week;

• Hosted daily newscasts Monday through Friday
• Filed audit or affidavits of performance with program syndicators of shows we air on KPQ-AM or KKWN, for instance Coast to Coast, Travis & Sexton, Lars Larson Show, Our American Stories, etc.
• Attended two department head meeting on improvements to the programming and digital media procedures and equipment needs
• Wrote 10 stories for our digital media platforms
• Booked guests daily to appear on future segments
• Worked on a number of scheduling changes with an individual who schedules radio commercials
• Addressed some personnel issues with some employees I supervise

I'll stop there because it's a boring list for most of you and I could drone on.

The point is that anyone could probably list many more than the five "bullets" requested of federal employees.  I'm suspect most of those workers did as well.

If you haven't given it much thought, take a moment and list five things you did at work last week.  For one reason, you certainly need a list if you want to ask the boss for a raise.  It's also a great tool if your employer rarely or never asks what you accomplished.  Elon Musk's email, your employer might do the same.

We all have to be accountable to ourselves for our own self esteem,  so it's a good exercise to examine what you ARE accomplishing.  No matter who you work for and who that is, ultimately.

Most Americans work in the private sector or may be self-employed.  No one can reasonably argue that an employee is not accountable to their supervisor and whomever signs their paycheck.  This is true, is it not for government employees?  Entrepreneurs who sign paychecks are even more accountable, bearing the responsibility of keeping the enterprise afloat and employing their workers.

It is likely that most workers not employed by the government have a reasonable expectation to provide a performance report or to respond to similar requests for their productivity at work.

The apparent uproar over the DOGE request is mystifying to most private sector workers and the polls bear that out.  There are likely plenty of government sector workers equally dismayed but we don't seem to hear from them.

My personal experience with U.S. government employees has been quite pleasant.  A recent visit to the social security office is an example where my expectations were exceeded and the service was gracious and worthy of a 5 star review.

But the arguments against the email request tactic by Elon Musk seems to boil down to whether or not government employees are accountable to DOGE inquiries or if government workers should even be asked for an account of their weekly activity.

The position you take seems pretty determinate of your position on DOGE or the "bullet" request email.

While we hear the individual anecdotes about a government worker's dismissal under DOGE or the activity request is an unreasonable intrusion on their job performance, the majority of people seem to be saying "welcome to my world."

I am hoping sensibility prevails and anyone aggrieved by the question "what are five things you did last week" is able to answer that question and be accountable to themselves, knowing they did a good job for their agency and ultimately, the American taxpayer.

You can also feel free to give your opinion through our website or on social media.  This issue is like a nose, as they say.  Everybody has one.