{"id":6195,"date":"2026-08-28T20:25:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T20:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=6195"},"modified":"2026-08-28T20:25:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T20:25:16","slug":"mice-a-caved-in-ceiling-and-cloudy-water-the-gsas-new-office-is-falling-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=6195","title":{"rendered":"Mice, a Caved-In Ceiling, and Cloudy Water: The GSA\u2019s New Office Is Falling Apart"},"content":{"rendered":"


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About 1,600 federal<\/span> employees who work at the\u00a0General Services Administration<\/a>\u00a0have been forced to relocate from their office on F Street in Washington, DC, to the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building, roughly two blocks away. Workers say the new building, which also houses staff from the Office of Personnel Management has mice, a caved-in bathroom ceiling, and drinking water that needs to be run for five to 10 seconds before it is clear.<\/p>\n

The federal workforce has been rocked by changes made by Elon Musk\u2019s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) since January 2025. DOGE effectively fired tens of thousands of workers<\/a> and forced those who remained to commit to in-person schedules<\/a> and, in some cases, zero-based budgeting<\/a>. GSA, the agency in charge of the federal government\u2019s IT services and real estate assets, was hit early by DOGE, and in addition to major workforce cuts also rolled out plans to sell<\/a> hundreds of federal office buildings. A year after the cuts, GSA announced<\/a> it planned to hire about 400 workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve all been through a lot, but this really made me finally understand that they don\u2019t care about us,\u201d says one GSA employee who asked to remain anonymous, as they aren\u2019t authorized to speak to the press. \u201cWe\u2019re left wondering what else is going to collapse or break\u2014do we need to look at the ceiling before going to the bathroom? Can we actually trust the water is safe to drink?\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Mice<\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n

Courtesy of GSA employee<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Photos obtained by WIRED show a toilet in a men\u2019s room on the third floor covered in debris from the ceiling, a gaping hole in said ceiling, and a dead mouse caught in a trap. Workers said the mouse wasn\u2019t \u201centirely shocking\u201d since many federal buildings allegedly have vermin, but the ceiling pushed them over the edge. An additional sign in the office recommends workers filling up water bottles to \u201crun the water without your bottle for 5-10 seconds and wait for the water to run clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

GSA and OPM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Image<\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n

Courtesy of GSA employee<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About 1,600 federal employees who work at the\u00a0General Services Administration\u00a0have been forced to relocate from their office on F Street in Washington, DC, to the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building, roughly two blocks away. Workers say the new building, which also houses staff from the Office of Personnel Management has mice, a caved-in bathroom ceiling, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[150,50,1095,75],"class_list":["post-6195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-doge","tag-government","tag-mice","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nMice, a Caved-In Ceiling, and Cloudy Water: The GSA\u2019s New Office Is Falling Apart - Silvybrand Lifestyle Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cDo we need to look at the ceiling before going to the bathroom? 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