Did it, though? My 90 year old mother used it in the same way since her childhood. I think it’s always been sarcastic, probably from use by lowly soldiers. In the phrase, she pronounces and spells it as “gummint work” even though she would normally say “government.”
I say sad. Barstow is how you know you’ve made it back to California on a long road trip. You stop for gas and a little break, then get back on the 10 and stay on it until you burst out of the McClure Tunnel onto PCH.