Not to be a party pooper, but I don't think federal employees did themselves any favors with the going to food banks a day after the first missed check went by, or by complaining that they didn't have the money for gas to get to work.
At a current average salary of around $80K/yr, they make more dough than the average American. $50K/yr people who work in the private sector, where they can be fired or laid off at a drop of a hat, can't sympathize with stuff like that.
Anyone, whether gov or private sector, that can't make it through one missed paycheck without hitting the food bank and having to walk there because their car is out of gas, is likely living above their means. They need to cut out the cable or use a dumb phone instead of an iPhone X or something until they have a few hundred to a few thousand dollars in an emergency fund.
Most gov employees have credit cards. They could have used those for food or gas for a couple of weeks (just as they'd likely be doing without the shutdown), since unlike private sector employees, they knew they were getting paid at some point to pay back the card. Also they had the option to take an interest free TSP loan. Even if they don't contribute to TSP, the gov does for them, so only an under one year employee would have less than a few hundred dollars in the account. Most are going to have thousands to tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars in their TSP that they could have used to buy groceries or make a house payment. Once you get your back pay, put the dough back in the TSP - it's practically seamless. Though lenders, utilities, etc. were giving fed employees breaks on due dates of their bills that no one in the private sector gets if they are laid off.
So while it's never cool to be expected to work without pay or be furloughed, the fed employees* that made the news did not do fed employees in general any favors. I guess they made good soundbytes for liberal politicians, but none of that endeared them to working people in general.
*I'll caveat the USCG here. While they are actually in general paid well (and have TSP), I know newbie enlisted in the USCG don't make much money until they move up to around E-3.
