The National Weather Service’s Alaska division apparently included the coded message “please pay us” in one of its routine updates, amid government furloughs during the shutdown.
The first letter of the lines spells out the message. According to the Washington Post, the office appears to have published another version of the update without the secret message.
Dan Sobien, president of the National Weather Service Employees Organization, told Popsci.com that NWS workers aren’t getting paid.
“There’s no money to pay them,” he said. “Nobody knows when anyone’s going to get paid.”
He gave an example of one worker.
“There was a guy whose mother passed away,“ said Sobien, ”and the funeral was in Germany. He paid a few thousand dollars for tickets. [...] They told him it was his choice: he could become furloughed and not get paid and cancel his tickets, or he could cancel and work.”
He said the worker chose to stay and work.
The government shutdown entered its fourth day on Friday. It began Oct. 1.
