Working Stiff - Countdown to Retirement

[size=25]Happy Birthday, Reyn!![/size]

Thanks for the birthday greetings, Tico.

Happy Birthday, Reyn. Hold your dominion.

Thanks, Noddy!

Edgar, with your brains and writing ability I'm sure you can find something not too physical.

You would need to know me a little better to understand my handicap, jl.

HAPPY B'DAY, REYN

Or you would have to know me better to tell me your handicap?

I worked for years in physical jobs--factories, letter carrier, warehouses, stockrooms, etc. etc.. Those are jobs I could not perform in my late fifties or sixties.

Thanks, Edgar. Feeling a bit mellow and nostalgic today.

Watched a made-for-TV movie called "My Boyfriend's Back with Sandy Duncan, Judith Light, and Jill Eikenberry. Good fun with some 60s music.

Happy birthday, Reyn. I have kind of been wondering where you wandered off to.
My birthday is May 31st and it will be my 60th. In December and January I made a couple of cross country trips to visit my terminally ill brother, with a final one in February for his funeral. There were lots of functions (lunches, dinners etc) and a lot of family members, so we did a lot of car pooling. On one trip I ended up with my brother's widow and a son-in-law and someone else. I casually asked Alice what her plans were. Without skipping a beat, she replied that on the day that she became eligible to retire she would be out the door. When I asked what she would do instead, she had a whole list of things. Lofty things.
It got me to thinking. I enjoy going to work every day. I like most of our customers and I like being around my mostly young employees. I reckon that you, Reyn, and you, Edgar, disliked your jobs. And sure enough, regardless, if one isn't careful. days become months and months become years and then one day you wake up dead.
I, like Alice, am financially pretty well off. Money is not likely to be an issue for me. What to do with all of the spare time is an issue.

Happy birthday, again, Reyn. I would appreciate hearing your experiences with life after work. Thank you. -johnboy-

The guy that empties the dumpsters and I have always played head games. He resents the fact that he has to leave his comfortable seat and push the dumpsters into the parking lot before he can dump them. The ground crew is technically reponsible for dumping its own trash, but they often fill a few dumpsters. The dumpster guy has been complaining about it to me for nearly fourteen years. Sometimes he leaves a dumpster full of leaves, but I cover them over with trash, so he takes them next time around. Likewise, I am not supposed to put furniture in there. In the past, he has treated furniture the same way he treats leaves. Of late, he spies a couch, he refuses to empty. For a time, I could bury the couches under trash bags, but now he moves aside the bags to see if the couch is still there. Now I have to break the furniture into smaller pieces and make sure he can't find a patch of fabric under the trash. That limits the number of items I can dispose of in a week. I retaliate by putting as many extra heavy objects as possible into a single dumpster. I like to watch him strain. He in turn retaliates by shoving the dumpster into the fence post in an effort to dislodge it from the concrete.

Hi John, and thank you for your greetings. I haven't really wandered anywhere. It's just that some days I don't post as much as other days, mainly because I don't feel inspired.


Speaking for myself, overall meter reading can be real crappy and dangerous work. Some dogs and their irresponsible owners make it so. There are other aspects to it that I won't all go into here, but it all adds up to an unpleasant atmosphere. Sure, there are days when all is going well that it's okay, but I would have to say they're in the minority.


I don't have a problem with that. At the very least, I can always start another game of chess at the site I frequent. There's always something to do. It's just that some things (work around the home) I keep putting off.


I hope your retirement will go well. I always like to swap stories. I'll be here. :wink:

Speaking of dogs, Reyn, as a letter carrier in the early sixties I had a chunk of thigh taken by a german shepard and as a parking lot attendant, a small piece of nose by a chihuahua while parking its mistress's car. I ended up with the best possible job (for me) but, nevertheless, looked forward passionately to my retirement. Luckily, I have lots of intrinsically enjoyable things to do with my free time. Nietzsche once wrote that anyone who does not have two-thirds of his day for himself is a slave. Rejoice in the freedom of retirement and spend your time discovering what it is you love to do. It's a challenge, but infintely better than slavery.

The circles of life -
Fourteen years ago, when I first hired on, there was a woman in building 7. She was an okay person, but her toilet was the issue. For months she had to have her toilet augered and plunged two or three times per week. She always said that she did not put anything down it that exceeded normal usage.

As time wore on, she became more insistent and angry. We did everything - pulled it up and cleaned it good inside and out, eventually had a plumbing company send a camera through the sewer line. The line at her apartment did have a bit of a dip in it, but not so bad the toilet wouldn't flush. The owners of the property bought us an auger for the sewer line at a cost of $5,000. But nothing asuaged the problem.

Finally, she moved away.

Well, that toilet has worked fine ever since. The man I worked with at the time insisted he went in her apartment as she was getting ready to go and saw her pouring cat litter down it. I often wonder why he had occasion to go in there, or if he was lying. Anyway, our new manager just rented an apartment to this same woman, in the same building as before. She moves in this Monday. I dearly hope she no longer has a cat.

Cat litter in the toilet. That'll do it everytime.

I am lead man now. We aren't gonna be pushed around this time. Or, if we are, not as much.

No work today. Off to jury duty shortly. It's about a fifteen minute drive to the park and ride. Sure beats driving into Houston and looking for a place to park. Cheaper, too, since jurors ride for free.

It was a classic case of the "obviously guilty Mexican" *** in court today. We were a pool of 65, where they were out to prosecute a man for auto theft. I couldn't believe the stupid responses of those weenies of the pool. Judge Brown explains that the only chance of 100% certainty in such a case is to be an eye witness, or view a video taped as it happened. Which is why they shoot for "beyond a reasonable doubt." Ooh, asserts a dozen would-be jurors, I couldn't convict without 100% certainty. Then they said, "Suppose there is only one witness for the prosecution, and that he provides all the essentials of the case in so effective a manner that it convinces you of the defendant's guilt. Would you refuse to convict simply because there was just the one witness?" Another six or so No ways. "Did you ever have your car stolen? Would that experience predjudice you against the defendant?" More weenie answers. More such questions. Still more weenie responses.

When they moved off to make the selection, me and a few others commiserated. "It's us, by process of elimination," I quipped. But in the end, we were sent home and mostly folks from the middle and back rows were chosen. I was glad. I would have served without complaint, but was not looking forward to more of these 35 mile one way trips for another day or two.




*** Culture Clash comedy routine

Edgar: re Jury Duty...It's your civic duty blah, blah blah. And jury members are chosen at random blah, blah blah.
My dad, after he retired, became, not by choice, a semi-professional juror. He was called three or four times a year. He was, I suspect, good at it. He was an engineer-a scientist-who had a keen sense of logic. And he had managed, at various times, folks from the cleaning crew up to the MBA's at the company he worked for, He was apolitical, at least in public.
Probably he was the perfect juror, which was why he got "randomly" selected so often. And this: he never talked about what went on in the jury room.

Right after my week long stint several years ago, they began sending me summons every few months, until I began trashing them. I will go when they are reasonable, but not like that.

Took Friday off for Easter.