D.C. native Yvette Hicks got what seemed to be a lucky break last year when she landed a job with Allied Universal, a private sector firm that provides security guards. She took the necessary training and was certified to work on Dec. 27.

She showed up for her first day of work at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum on Jan. 2 only to be told to head back home, thanks to the partial government shutdown. The museum, which is independently run but primarily funded by the federal government, couldn’t pay its contracting companies, including Allied Universal.