Retirement...
is a fine thing when it's your choice and your timing. When it isn't--!
After 21 years I am being forcibly retired from my mini-job at the local library. I feel as though I should have seen it coming, but I didn't - I was completely blindsided. The excuse is to implement an all-new, all-different accessions system that will not utilize any of the established software (or, obviously, experience with same).
Now, here's the thing that makes me extremely suspicious: until a couple of weeks ago I was hobbling about the library with just a cane. Then I developed severe pain in my right wrist (the cane wrist), and when I had it checked out, I had developed osteoarthritis of the base thumb joint. So I switched over to full-time use of a walker, as putting less stress on my wrist...and within a week I got the (verbal) termination notice.
Coincidence?
Due to the short hours and meager pay, I will probably not be eligible for unemployment compensation, even if I didn't need a layoff to see whether my condition improves.
Admittedly, I would probably have to retire soon anyway, because it was getting harder and harder to cope - but I was hoping to get through at least the winter. No such luck - I'm out on my ear as of January 1.
So far this is a Big Dark Secret - I'm not sure why, and I don't intend for it to remain so! But I am not expecting a retirement announcement or party or any of the frills that regular staff people get - I have never been regular staff, and this has repeatedly bitten me in the butt.
Comments
Sorry to hear it, both the injuries and the retirement.
Really don't know what to say. Meantime, take care of yourself.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
duplicate, sorry
having a lot of grief on the puter tonight.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Very sorry you are having
both health and financial problems, TOM.
I wish you all the best.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
evening maven...
sorry to hear about your untimely breakup with the workplace and even moreso your health challenges. i hope that everything works out for the best.
sorry maven
.
I feel bad for your scary situation
aging out of income ability is not
a fun prospect, becoming poorer
imposes unseen circumstances
the systems in place are only good
for health and wealth extraction
the challenge is to maintain a sense of
a hopeful spirit somehow.
Good luck.
Zionism is a social disease
Like everyone else, I am very sorry to hear this.
.
It sounds like your disability progressed rapidly. I wonder if you qualify for some kind of compensation? It's a big burden, dealing with new mobility issues, and then losing your job at the same time. I think you should speak with someone knowledgeable in matters of disability and surprise termination.
Sending my best wishes. And, please keep us in the loop.
Sorry to hear of your situation, Maven
I hope everything works out for you, and you can maintain good spirits and health despite these developments. It's outrageous the way your employer treated you.
語必忠信 行必正直
oh fuck em'
If you're willing to burn bridges find every local government dept. you can file a complaint with. Get on Facebook and push the pity button. Get your walker and a bunch of signs and protest in front of the place. Hobble back and forth and wail about how you lost your job of 21 years without notice, or cake! Maybe you can get some friends to be out there to support you. In the end probably none of it will work, but you can get some exercise out of it. Maybe some Ritchie Rich type will see you and say "Boy, that's some gumption" and make you CEO of something.
Seriously, sorry to hear...been there, we all have. It sucks.
I'm really sorry
to hear that, TOM. I'm going through a similar situation now, as my employer is quietly forcing me into retirement as well. They've cut back to paying me for 30 hours a week (while still expecting 40+), which begins to push the threshold of not being worth bothering with.
It really does stink when your employer changes the rules of engagement, and it stinks worse when the cause of the change is beyond your control. In my case, it was spending too much time in the hospital, due to my stroke and other medical issues. I've still been holding out with the whole employment thing, trying to maximize my eventual SS payment (which I have not yet begun taking, believe it or not, even though I'm somewhat past the magical age for full retirement). I was going to hold out until 70, where that number stops growng. But at the rate they are paying me, that number isn't going to go up much more than it will be now...
And there is one other thing that drives me, and I suspect that it might drive you as well- the desire to be relevant, in some sense. As a career professional, I can't imagine not being relevant anymore: that part of me is extremely important to me. It doesn't matter if that sounds silly to anyone else: for my entire career, my career has defined who I am. My inner Calvinist has always ruled the day, and I still cannot get past that issue.
I could call it a career, I suppose, and sit on the patio whittling, like my non-Cherokee grandfather used to do. Agh. Can't do it. What I really need to do is to get back to my consulting practice, and do contract work. However, that involves marketing, which in my industry is defined as "99.999% rejection"- which is a sure path into psychological irrelavency, at least for me. I have always sucked at marketing myself.
It is a quandary, isn't it? I feel some of your pain- different pain, to be sure, but pain just the same. Hang in there!
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
unforced retirement has its challenges
.
in my case due to health issues
without a decent choice, one learns
to adapt or not. Staving-off depression
becomes paramount. Suppose throwing-in
the towel is an option? Haven't gone down
that alley yet. So continue trying. Not without
small successes along the way.
Stumbling ahead.
Zionism is a social disease
I intend to write about retirement
with regard to something strange happening in my profession. It will be both an "odd" and an "end".
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981