Working Stiff - Countdown to Retirement

working stiff
"...Everybody dies at 65..."

edgar : glad i didn't hear that when i turned 65 ; i might have taken it at facevalue and packed it in ... here i am somewhat past 65 and still going strong ... let me revise that to :...still going ... sometimes a little slowly !

i was one of those sob's who had a chance to retire early . my boss , who had worked 'till 65 , phoned me and told me : " you can't retire yet ; you won't know what to do with yourself .. you'll die of boredom ...
i'm glad i was able to prove him wrong ; he eventually accepted my retirement (and i was allowed to buy him lunch , which i didn't mind . he was not just a boss but a good friend . he recently died at age 86 and i kind of miss him ).

anyway , i hope you'll be ready for retirement and will be able to enjoy it !
since i retired , mrs h and i have enjoyed life even more - we hope it'll stay that way for a while .
keep a song in your heart !
hbg

Thanks, hb. Of course, I don't take her words literally. I plan to do like my grandfather and get around the century mark first, or give it one hell of an effort. I am excited at the prospect of retiring and devoting mor effort to projects I just have cursory time for now.

Good for you. You can't take folks like that seriously. Besides, it's not uncommon for some to die in their 40s.

You'll be around a good long time.

Say, I would 've shoved a half-grapefruit in her kisser, but for me being the gentleman I am.

Well, certainly, especially seeing that it's only a half grapefruit! :wink:

A number of times in my career, residents have claimed they had things stolen out of their apartments, and the thief had to have used a key to get in. In all of the important instances, the resident has been demonstrably in error, or at least not particularly believable. In one week, recently, a resident claimed his rifle was stolen, a new resident said she put a box of old money under the bed and it was missing, and a third had a similar situation (I forgot what it was). Resolution: The guy found the gun under his couch; the woman's box of money was actually in the closet, and the other was in like manner resolved.

Today, a retired school teacher, whom I have known for about ten years, said over three hundred dollars was lifted from her underwear drawer, and she suggested a member of the staff must have taken it. This story on the face of it sounds convincing. I am not ready to speculate much yet, but I do know her as a person of integrity. She said there were about fifty ones in there and a mix of higher denominations. Oddly, the ones were still in there. I have speculated that a thief might have left the ones, hoping the sight of all those bills would delay any discovery of the crime until it had long gone cold. Also, I considered that, perhaps the woman spent it herself and forgot. That would explain why the larger bills were taken, because she would not want to fool with so many ones during the transaction.

I do not consider any of the staff to be a criminal. At the same time, I examined her apartment, and there was no forced entry, and no carelessly left unlocked window. Whoever took that money walked in the open door. Hmm.

How do you protect yourself to potential wrong accusations?

To date, I have not had to defend myself, because the management will not further the charges without concrete evidence. Likewise the police. I in particular am considered above suspicion before anyone else, because I have worked there approaching 14 years without getting dirty. Still, in a case like we have now, I don't know where it's going.

So, I decided I want to take my 401k money to get my affairs in order now, instead of waiting the other two years. Not intending to quit my job. Their reply: You can't do that until you do quit your job. However! You can borrow your own money and pay us interest on it.

Oh brother!

Back to the burglarized apartment. I have decided to quit being so specific with this information, because of legal issues. But, a worker has confessed and has been fired today. Now we can get back to business.

Confessions are good! Hope you were never under scrutiny.

And onto other legal issues, the lawsuit that I was involved with in regatds to the car accident from dec 2003 is now finally at an end. The other person has discontinued, and subsequently, in a roundabout way, admitted the suit had no merit.

Glad that's no longer a worry.

hi there , edgar and reyn !
glad both of you can close that chapter .
i'm sure even if one is completely free of any fault , an accusation hangs over one's head and causes unnecessary worry .

speaking for myself : retirement is a blessing (not that i didn't like my work ... but )
just looking at today : to the swimmingpool in the morning , working in the garden for a few hours , picking up computer with second disc installed - it's great to be able to duplicate all kinds of discs with just a click .
take care guys !
hbg

(i'm not a golfer , but i think it's a good "business" card !)

I like that, hamburger.

And good old reyn. The lawsuit went away; good to hear.

As for me, I was never under scrutiny. They gave my helper a three day notice to make himself vanish. No we have to find another one.

That's good to hear, also.

This, too, shall pass.

No time to mope or feel regret. Too much to do. Onward and forward, or something like that.

Tried to close down my 401k account and turn the money to settling issues, smoothing the way for eventual retirement. They turned me down, but did allow me to borrow from it. In substance, I am to pay 7% to them for using my own money.

That sucks. Being a Canadian, perhaps you could tell me a little about this 401k business. I've heard the term a few times, but not really realizing what it's all about.

401k is a marvelous idea, actually, for a poor man who can't otherwise make money with his savings. When you sign up, you agree to contribute a portion of your paycheck to the fund. Your employer in turn contributes the same amount, up to 3%, thus doubling your input. The money is then invested in the stock market, potentially to grow even bigger. Only thing, none of my investments ever come up on the plus side, even though I sometimes get them to shift to other stocks. Despite the stock losses, the funds can build substantially by the time one retires.

Why not retire now?