Over the years I have seen many people retire. Some were given a wonderful send off with a big party, gifts and money and others just got a card signed by everyone in their unit.
It really didn’t seem fair and there was no rhyme or reason as to who got the parties and who didn’t.
When I worked, my work measurement was that of three people, not because I was smarter, but because I was the most experienced and I do work fast. We had a rule in our department that only one person could be off at a time. There were four of us who did the same job.That rule was broken many times and I was the only one or one of two that was left to work sometimes up to a full week.
When I wanted to go to Hawaii for my 20th anniversary, I could not get off because someone took every Monday off for the months of June, July and August. Because of this I was told that I could have two weeks off in a row, but had to be there on Mondays. How could I come from Hawaii to work Mondays? I had to delay our trip we wanted to take in July to September.
There were no problems if I was there working and more than one person wanted off, the other person and I were expected to keep up the work load, but if I wasn’t one of the two, it wasn’t allowed. I felt really upset and decided that I was being used by my department.
There were many more incidences over the years that led me to believe that work was just that..work. Not many people really cared, they were just coworkers. If you died or left, no one really cared except for the fact that they had to pick up the slack.
Over a weekend a few years ago, I decided that I wanted to retire so I typed up my resignation letter and went into my bosses office early Monday morning. I advised her that I was taking a four week vacation starting right there and then and when my vacation days ran out, I was retiring.
She didn’t know what to say. I cleaned out my desk, said goodbye to my coworkers and walked out. I have only gone back one time to eat lunch with a coworker friend. I don’t miss it at all. If was strange not to have to go in everyday, but I got used to it in a hurry.
Since then, a couple of my coworkers who were real friends and I get together every month or so and go out for dinner. We take our spouses along with us. We have a great time.
I never realized how freeing and wonderful life is without all that stress of trying to please and accommodate others. Not many were thankful no matter how much you did for them.
You’re gonna love retirement. If you get bored, you can always get a part time job to keep you busy with nary a care, I volunteer at a local school a few hours a week. It keeps me on my toes and gets me out of the house.
When I get tired of that, I’ll retire again and find something else to do. I am retired, but not dead.
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...just a dream. That will never happen for me unfortunately.
