WASHINGTON – The pain experienced by hundreds of thousands of federal workers who have gone without paychecks for more than a month was part of the pressure that led to Friday's deal to reopen the federal government for three weeks.

Federal employees will get back pay but not it's not clear how long that will take.

Plus, Bureau of Prison psychologist Dr. Genevieve Grady said there's a big misconception that federal employees' problems go away when the shutdown ends.

"That's wildly untrue," she told the Salem Statesman Journal, noting that financial losses and credit scars will remain long after paychecks resume.

And federal contractors, who have also been affected, will not be compensated.

While both President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders expressed support for federal workers, it remains to be seen whether they can keep the government from shutting down again after Friday's temporary deal to extend funding through Feb. 15 ends.

"They're throwing us a rope," said Val Parker, an IRS worker in Tennessee. "They'll throw us that rope, we'll catch it, and in a few weeks, they're just going to pull it from us again."

Here are some of the stories of those who have borne the brunt of the standoff:

Wary response to Friday's deal

Parker, who works for the IRS in Memphis, was in the middle of a protest against the government's closure when Trump announced the temporary funding agreement.

"That's not going to help much," Parker said.

Parker's co-worker, Sukita Johnson, was also less than enthusiastic about the news.

"That just means that we'll be fighting again in three weeks for the same thing," Johnson said.

Moments before Trump's announcement, Parker, Johnson and about a dozen other unpaid workers were attempting to deliver to Sen. Marsha Blackburn a letter signed by the unions representing thousands of unpaid and furloughed employees.

"No paycheck! No refund," the group yelled, imitating the familiar "No justice, no peace" chant common in police brutality-related protests.

It worked, as dozens of Memphians came out of Main Street buildings and raised their fists in the air in a gesture of support for the workers. Many stood by and clapped.

More unpaid workers would have come to the march, the group said, but even gas money is a luxury some cannot afford as the shutdown stretched into day 35.

IRS employee Kenneth Allen said it was just luck that he had happened to take out a small loan before the shutdown. He intended to use the loan to reopen his parent's former barbecue restaurant.

"Those plans are on hold now, indefinitely," Allen said.

Tapping retirement funds

One of the reasons Aubrey Farrar wanted to become an air traffic controller seven years ago was because he viewed it as a career that would offer a degree of financial security.

But after going more than a month without pay, Farrar had to dip into his retirement savings to pull out thousands of dollars he has used to pay for child care for his 14-month-old “beautiful boy.”

“Morale is slowly decreasing every day,” said Farrar, a 30-year-old Washington man who works at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. “It’s really hard for controllers to maintain 100 percent awareness when they’re thinking about mortgage payments and child care payments.”

Farrar spoke Friday morning after the FAA halted flights coming into New York’s LaGuardia Airport because of a staffing shortage. Other delays were reported at airports in Boston, Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Farrar is a facility rep for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, one of the groups that had warned this week of “an air safety environment that is deteriorating by the day.” He stressed he was speaking on behalf of the union, not the FAA.

Although he knew he would receive back pay when the government eventually reopens, he still had to pay a 10 percent penalty to tap into his retirement funds.

“It pretty much just pushes my family back," Farrar said.

Contractors also hit hard

When the federal government isn’t shut down, Emilie Pinder helps keep employees at the EPA and other federal agencies healthy. A nurse who works out of a health services clinic in a large federal office building in downtown Washington, Pinder is one of the thousands of federal contractors affected by the shutdown. And unlike furloughed federal employees, she won’t get paid for the days she’s missed.

“So far, it’s a big pay cut,” said Pinder, 34.

To keep bringing in some money while her regular office is closed, Pinder asked her employer to send her anywhere with an opening. She’s filled in at clinics in New Hampshire and Massachusetts and was expected to go next to New York. But the traveling has been hard on her family, particularly on her 15-month-old son.

And when she’s not traveling, Pinder and her husband have been hustling to earn extra money locally. They’ve driven for ride-sharing services. She’s also delivered groceries and, on a jobs bulletin board created to help federal employees and contractors, Pinder has offered her skills as a Tupperware consultant.

“I’m trying every angle,” she said. “I’m trying to stay focused and stay positive. But it’s really hard.”

The support from family, friends – and even strangers – helps. Participants in the Facebook group for moms in her Silver Spring, Maryland, community have swapped information about available help for federal workers. One mom anonymously paid for Pinder to get her hair done by a hairstylist in the group.

But Pinder was more than ready Friday morning for Congress and the White House to reach a deal.

“I think it’s childish and ridiculous,” she said of the standoff. “Because they’re so powerful, they do not realize how much they hurt people.”

Scrambling to pay for insulin

Although IRS agent Herlean Younce still has health insurance, she relies on her paycheck to help cover the cost of the insulin she needs to manage her Type II diabetes.

"I need my insulin," said Younce, a mother of three from Ohio. "That whole staying alive thing is really important."

Her survival mechanisms have included creating a GoFundMe campaign. She received a certificate from Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. for a week's supply of insulin. Her husband is working a second job filling orders for DoorDash Food Delivery. The family has also had to defer paying the cable bill. And they're working with their mortgage lender to manage that payment.

"People are not understanding," Younce told the Cincinnati Enquirer last week. "I can’t get my money. Donald Trump is holding it hostage, that’s what it is."

The Bank of Mom

A furloughed TSA officer, born during a winter storm 43 years ago, celebrated her birthday on Tuesday with a free meal on day 32 of the longest partial federal shutdown in U.S. history.

"I've been lucky enough to be living off savings – and the Bank of Mom," Ciera Picht, 43, of Milton, Vermont, told the Burlington Free Press while waiting to dig into a bowl of steak ramen courtesy of The Friendly Toast in Burlington.

The New England chain has been living up to its name, providing free entrees for furloughed workers with federal IDs since Jan. 15.

The 1,300 furloughed workers and contractors in Vermont have depleted savings and other resources. Burlington's airport crew have banded together and stuck it out, according to Picht. But absenteeism has been chronic at large airports as workers struggle to plug financial holes with side jobs.

Schools across Vermont encouraged families to register children for the free meal programs at their school.

Picht, a mother of three, was too ashamed to allow a GoFundMe for her benefit, but said she had signed up her kids for the school service after her district sent out information.

No-interest loans

In Missouri, some federal workers took advantage of no-interest loans offered to members of the BluCurrent Credit Union.

The loans matched the amount of money the federal employee would have received in their paycheck.

But Patricia Light, who works at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, said it's still embarrassing "to have to go to your family or to have to go to the bank and say, ‘Listen, I have a job, I am working, but I cannot afford to pay my bills because I am not getting paid.'”

“I think the staff here in the prison just wants them to come to some type of agreement so we can get paid," Light told the Springfield News-Leader when workers were in their third week of not getting paid.

Light, the first vice president of Local 1612 of the American Federation of Government Employees, considered herself "lucky" in that her husband has a "good income" as a program director at Ozarks Technical Community College. He also took on additional classes at the community college, as well as teaching online for Northeastern University, to make more money.

"So basically, he is doing three jobs to keep us afloat so that missing a check or two is not going to hurt us too much," she said.

Inmates get paid while prison workers do not

Texan Richard Gonzalez has driven a little more than 50 miles daily to be greeted by perhaps the state's toughest criminals.

And lately, he's been doing it for free.

He commutes to the Federal Corrections Institute just outside the Three Rivers, Texas, city limits where he's worked for 21 years.

"We have to get paid just like everyone else," Gonzalez told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times earlier this month. "We have families. We have people in college. A lot of us are on a budget."

To help ease the loss of pay, representatives with labor unions in Corpus Christi and San Antonio have given meals to corrections officers who are employed there.

On one Friday in mid-January, 160 bags were filled with cereal, rice, beans and snacks for employees and their families.

Richard Wechsler, president of the American Federation of Government Employees #4044, noted that while most of the employees were working without pay, the inmates were not.

"All the inmates are getting paid because of the inmate trust fund money," Wechsler said. "That money is run in a better fashion than our U.S. government."

Contributing: Chris Mayhew, Nicole Higgins DeSmet, Steve Pokin, Alexandria Rodriguez, Whitney Woodworth.