For both government and private-sector workers, grass is greener on other side

According to D.C.'s Department of Employment Services, 202,000 of the jobs in Washington were federal government positions as of November 2009. There were 471,000 private-sector positions.

Occasionally, there will be cross-sector pollination, socialization, relationshipation.

At a time when unemployment in the District is at a record high, this intermingling can result in uniquely D.C. conversations:

"He was a level G-I-don't-even-know-what," but definitely something up there, says Alex MacLennan. MacLennan is at happy hour at a 14th Street NW bar, talking with a friend about the government worker he used to date. "And he was on that schedule where he got every other Friday off."

"Well, they have a level of job security we don't have," concedes MacLennan's friend.

"And he was also at the gym at 9 a.m.," says MacLennan, instead of at his desk. Plus, the ex's boss let him leave early once or twice a week.

Pause.

"I never liked him."

The stereotype of the government worker used to fall within one of two categories. He could be the noble office drone, a human widget who bravely battled red tape. Or he could be the cobweb-covered sloth, overindulged compared with his private-sector counterparts, the ones who watch their unused vacation days float away like dreams deferred.

Either way, the most remarkable characteristic of the civil servant was being blandly unremarkable, which is why the Google phrase "movies about federal employees" will turn up exactly zero hits.

But during the dark days of the Great Recession, the sexiest fringe benefit to any job became security. Stodgy is hot. Civil servants = genius! Visits to federal jobs site USAJobs.gov were up 18 percent in 2009 from 2008, according to the Office of Personnel Management, and up 61 percent for those who came to the site more than once. In May 2009, a Gallup poll found that 40 percent of Americans would consider a federal career, compared with 24 percent in 2006. On Facebook groups for federal employees, there are sightings of fed groupies -- wall postings by people who are not employed by the government, but really wish they were.

When private-sector workers socialize with government employees, envy may arise. Couples offer the best view of the phenomenon.