Community Stories

Well... Piss on it

Fritz
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I've worked my buns off for a lot of years and after examining the finances and discussing it at length with the little woman have decided I've had enough.

So at the ripe old age of sixty I just sent the director of operations and the head of HR a very polite and professional email telling them I'm leaving the company.

I'm taking the summer off to spend with my lovely wife and then, in the fall when she goes back to teaching (which she enjoys immensely), I'll go find something a little more fun to do that doesn't keep me up at 0300hrs.

I feel better already!

Anybody else reaching the end of their nerves?
 
gbesq
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Congrats! 4.5 years to go for me, but it will be a bittersweet departure. I'm fortunate to have my dream job and I like my boss and my colleagues.
 
8100_RPM
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Congratulations Fritz! Wishing you all the best with your future endeavors.
 
JwRosenthal
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Congrats! A close co-worker of mine decided she was done a few years ago- not for any hostility, but she was burned out. She, like you, looked at her finances and realized she had planned well, so at 57 years old submitted her retirement papers.
She sold her Rockville house for 3x what she paid, bought a house in AZ, has a small bungalow in Maine and does the snowbird shuffle back and forth.
Last I saw her, she lost 20lbs, had incredible color to her complexion (as opposed the ashy grey she has been wearing for years), was hiking every morning and doing exactly what she wanted. It’s good to know when you’re done.
 
Shabbaz
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I just watched nomadsland and I said to my girlfriend. fυck it, we're going on the road. Sadly I'm going tomorrow morning to my best buddy: the computer.
 
blufinz52
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All the best Fritz...you won’t regret it. Our time here is short and it all goes by too fast.
 
MRC
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Fritz Fritz
I'll go find something a little more fun to do that doesn't keep me up at 0300hrs.

I feel better already!

Do it! At well over 50 with 30 years in the software business I gave up finding another job there and went back to my roots in a machine shop. I swapped thinking about budgets at night and working on the phone system every public holiday, no time off in lieu, to pulling bits of steel out of my fingers before supper -- and then we're done for the night 😀 I could ride a bicycle to work too.
 
Darlinboy
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@Fritz

Good for you, big congrats! Just one more thing to say...

jealous. 😁
 
Larry S
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Fritz Fritz
I've worked my buns off for a lot of years and after examining the finances and discussing it at length with the little woman have decided I've had enough.

So at the ripe old age of sixty I just sent the director of operations and the head of HR a very polite and professional email telling them I'm leaving the company.

I'm taking the summer off to spend with my lovely wife and then, in the fall when she goes back to teaching (which she enjoys immensely), I'll go find something a little more fun to do that doesn't keep me up at 0300hrs.

I feel better already!

Anybody else reaching the end of their nerves?
2017 sucked. Key people to me had left the company and their replacements were not pleasant. I could tell I was burning out. My doctor had been on my case for years that my global job was killing me. My financial advisor had been telling me for two years, that I had enough FU money to go retire. 2018 was better but I managed to volunteer for a package. Stuck around till April 2019. Never looked back. Congrats. ( Only downside is that Mrs S, put her foot down on the watch buying). Down 40 lbs, blood sugar under control, and loving life.
 
M'Bob
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I would, but it would be too ugly...adrift at home, with a bag of Doritos, watching Jerry Springer re-runs...
 
flw
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Good for you! It's a great gift to know when you've had enough, and to be able to walk away on your own terms.

I'm not ready - I still enjoy the classroom and the students too much to leave just yet. (And I have another kid who's about to start college ... not retiring for a while!)
 
amcclell
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Good for you, Fritz. You will not regret it, as life is far too short.

I am nearing the end, myself but plan to hang in 2 more years until I turn 60. My wife retired just this year but won't start her pension until I stop working. I went to a retirement seminar 2 years ago and it gave me a wonderful perspective. They walked us through a series of calculations/projections and I realized then and there that could've afforded retirement then.

I am lucky to work with a great group of people, so I'll probably be around just long enough to manage the post COVID recovery before handing the reins over to someone else. In the meantime, if they decide that they don't need me anymore, I am happy to negotiate an earlier retirement.
 
Fritz
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Oh, and I forgot to add... I phoned my buddy the watchmaker and ordered a Bulova A15A to celebrate.

Now I just have to wait for lockdown to end because he's not recieving any more orders from the manufacturers until then.

upload_2021-5-9_17-35-28.jpeg
 
ATWG
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Happy for your, @Fritz!

Covid has accelerated a lot of retirement plans. Many of my colleagues are retiring early at my job, most in their mid to late 50’s. People are coming to the realization that life is fragile and quite unpredictable. Corporate America is ruthless, it’s sucks the blood out of you if you let it.

I’m not too far behind you, just have one heavy college tuition to payoff for my oldest. After that it’s AMF time for me!
 
TimeODanaos
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Congratulations @Fritz , and long may you and Ms F enjoy your new life!

I'm always happy whenever someone has the imagination, the resources, and the cojones to do this, so the thread you've unleashed here is doing a lot of good, I have to say. Made me reflect too, what was it finally busted me. The mega hours? The frustration of spending more time on monitoring and reporting than on doing? The underpowered staff and rather, er, limited bosses? All of those of course, but I think the tipping point was this: taking a leaf from my dad's book, I always tried to be known around the place, approachable by all from janitor to chairman, and with a very wide experience I willingly shared. Not why I acted that way, but it could really pay sometimes - like when the (much-neglected but very influential!) guys in the basement gave me preferential treatment for cool office furniture. I even had my own little clutch of personal alums doing well in their careers, and giving me some kudos for it. But the day came when I walked around the joint, and while a lot of folks said Hi as usual, I saw that most of the younger ones actually didn't know me. Time to cash out and go independent. Never been happier - and I hope you get the same feeling!
 
Duracuir1
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As a police academy instructor I get to work on the shooting range, hide in a building with a sawed off shotgun and scare the crap out of the kids, and attack them in training exercises with knives, machetes, baseball bats and sim guns. We actually do mostly de-escalation drills but the above is still an important part of training. It’s still fun, but I have enough time on (32 years) to retire anytime. This morning I was lighting up the workshop and told my friend the jeweller, as I was getting ready to make him a strap, that perhaps it’s time… it’s nice to still enjoy work but to be able to go anytime.

39EFDA68-37DA-4856-B41D-2C7459F84452.jpeg
The strap…

3FAEB317-C306-45DD-969D-6720E158CC71.jpeg
Congratulations on your retirement!
 
Canuck
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I worked at the watch bench for 7 years after high school. Took a job in retail at 25. Managed jewellery stores for 20 years, from 1970 to 1990. But kept at the bench. At 50 yrs of age, the firm I spent 25 years with, offered me continuous employment at a 40 % pay cut as a sales person, or one year manager’s salary if I would resign. 😁 I had to suck it up the last five years with them, to resist the urge to quit, while also not giving them reason to fire me. That was a tight rope I hope I never have to walk again! Got paid a managers salary while I did a volunteer job for 18 months, restoring a tower clock! THAT WAS FUN! So for the last 30 years, it is back to the bench (which I never really left, anyway). (Two years after I took the one year package, the firm went tits up and were taken over by the bank. After that, senior managers got two months salary! How fortunate I was it turned out the way it did!) I spent the last five years working for them, knowing the end would come. I spent those last five years preparing for that eventuality. What is they say? Success is opportunity met with preparation, I believe.

@Fritz .Being indentured doesn’t constitute security. People who stick at a job they hate because of the “security” of a pay check, don’t realize that. Sometimes I go for weeks with no money coming in, then suddenly, there’s a windfall. At my age 80+, ain’t nobody gonna offer me a job, anyway, but I would be a bad hire because I don’t have the patience for BS, and my situation is I don’t need to put up with it! You’ll do fine. Just don’t kill yourself on that motor bike!
 
Engee
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Enjoy whatever you do. Nobody ever lay on their death bed wishing they’d spent more time in the office.

(Except the guy who got run over when he nipped out of the office to buy a sandwich).
 
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