There are many ways to break an egg. 

You can break an egg by cracking it on a flat surface like a countertop or the edge of a bowl, tapping two eggs together, or using a specialized egg-cracking tool. 

Each method can vary depending on hand placement and technique, allowing for several different approaches to cracking an egg.

I was reflecting on the many ways we can break people while considering how we break eggs. 

Sometimes, people’s lives are cracked into fragments when they’re already at their lowest point. 

The stress of life’s challenges can crush a person. But what happens when, out of nowhere, they’re fired from a job they may have held for years, even decades? 

If their performance is to blame, that’s a different story we could study. No, I’m talking about the firing that occurs while they're doing the job they agreed to do. 

“You cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs.” Robert Louis Stevenson 1897

“Breaking people ain’t the same as breaking eggs. All you get are broken lives.” Antonio Pedro Ruiz 2025

“Flat surface crack: Considered the most common method, where you firmly tap the egg on a flat surface like a countertop.” Google AI Overview

Suddenly, some invisible hand comes along and tells them they have to go because they cost too much, their job is unnecessary to the proper functioning of government, their role is duplicative, or, worse, there is a question about how they got your job, DEI.

I lived in Washington, D.C., during the early and late seventies and the early eighties. While I worked in local government, I had my share of friends who were federal employees. They were among the most dedicated and committed people I had ever met. 

I can’t speak to the stereotype many Americans hold that all government employees are freeloaders. The folks I knew worked really hard.

“Bowl edge crack: Tap the egg on the rim of a bowl to crack it directly into the container.”  Google AI Overview

As of June 2026, there are about 2.69 million civilian employees in the United States, not all of whom work in Washington, D.C. In fact, 86.9% of federal employees work outside the D.C. area.

California, Texas, Maryland, and Virginia have the largest concentrations of civilian workers outside Washington, D.C. However, every state has some share of federal workers.

(Source: https://data.opm.gov/explore-data/analytics/location)

Those are the civilian workforce. When the roughly 2.3 million active-duty and reserve military personnel are included, the total federal workforce is about 5 million people.

The past year and a half have seen a purge of government employees, marked by slicing, dicing, and smashing, leaving many lives shattered. 

While it’s difficult to get a clear grasp of how many employees have actually been fired (some have been temporarily or semi-permanently rehired shortly after being let go—almost a seesaw effect), the effects on employees are already evident.

Federal government layoffs and workforce reductions over the past 18 months have severely strained operational capacity, created significant backlogs in public benefits processing, and eroded critical institutional expertise across multiple vital agencies.

It wasn’t long before recipients of government services felt the impacts. 

• Service Delays and Backlogs: Agencies face mounting workloads with fewer staff, leading to delayed processing of retirement benefits, slower responses to Social Security beneficiary inquiries, and backlogs in claim processing.
• Reduced Direct Access: Plummeting staffing levels have reduced phone and support availability, limiting assistance for citizens who rely on direct communication rather than online services.
• Diminished Field Capabilities: Reductions at agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security have constrained rapid response and field-level infrastructure recovery support.
• Loss of Expertise: High attrition and buyouts in core oversight and administrative bodies, such as the Office of Personnel Management, have eroded institutional knowledge and operational capacity, compounding skills gaps.

The financial impact of an unplanned, sudden separation from one’s job can be more than sobering if you haven’t prepared for it. 

It’s great that some people have money saved in pensions, savings, or Wall Street investments, but as anyone who has gone through this before knows, that can only last so long without immediate prospects for future employment or if you find yourself in a crowded job market. 

As my Google AI friend tells me, “Immediate loss of income can create significant financial stress, impacting the ability to pay bills and cover living expenses.” Well, that’s obvious. 

But what about the impact on the local communities of those who were laid off? 

• Lower Local Spending: Fewer federal paychecks mean residents spend less at nearby grocery stores, gas stations, and small businesses.
• Regional Disruption: While nationwide macroeconomic impacts remain limited, areas with high concentrations of government workers- such as the Washington, D.C., area, military posts, and VA hospital towns- experience noticeable declines in economic activity.
• Job Market Shifts: Hundreds of thousands of civil service separations have increased localized unemployment across specific regions and among specific demographics.

If I’m suddenly out of a job and there are no immediate prospects for employment, something must be sacrificed. 

You don’t need to be an economist to understand that the shock to local economies will have ripple effects.

I bet someone didn’t consider the potential impacts on local employers. If they lose money because of that shock, why would anyone believe they’re ready to hire the recently unemployed? 

Yeah, that’s not going to happen.

“Egg-on-egg crack: Hold two eggs and tap them together to crack one of them.” Google AI Overview

So you’ve broken more eggs than you needed to, and the countertop and stovetop are a mess. What’s the next step? 

Aside from shouting, “Cleanup in aisle one!” you may want to consider avoiding mass firings without thinking through the consequences. 

You know, things like the impact on service delivery, the financial and psychological stress on the fired employee and their family, and what this means for their local communities. 

If you were a genuinely concerned and empathetic employer, you would work with the unions, state and local government partners, nonprofit support organizations, and objective professional analysts (not some twenty-something with no clue) to ensure you’re not breaking eggs you don’t need to break. 

“One-handed crack: Skilled technique where you crack the egg using only one hand.” Google AI Overview

If you must, do it to minimize the fallout.

The fired employees and communities may face an uncertain future, but one thing is clear.

They still know how to vote, and I’m willing to wager that they will do so in large numbers in November 2026.