We’re not insensitive. We know that today’s government shutdown has a significant effect on hundreds of thousands of people, who are justifiably worried about their income, their businesses, and the services they need from the US government. We’re not (we hope!) those public relations people who are trying to find any tenuous connection possible between our clients and the shutdown so we can get our clients mentioned in stories where they don’t rightly belong.
Nonetheless, even as we try to keep our noses (and our clients) clean, we’ve been shut down by the shutdown. Two media outlets cancelled interviews with clients for later this week; all their attention (and reporters) to are focused on the shutdown. A TV producer responded to a call SHE scheduled with “I don’t have time for this.” (For the record, she said it kindly.) A client rejected an Associated Press interview to avoid looking oblivious to what his customers may be experiencing.
Get back to work, politicians – so WE can get back to work.