So I have been working as a contract employee for a major Japanese automaker for the last three years and today they formally offered to hire me as a direct employee. Same position in the audio department but with the real perks like great insurance, company vehicle, 401K match and real vacation time. I had all but given up hope of having a “real” job between now and retirement (I am 60), especially since the friend who brought me in had himself recently retired (and I am older than him).
When I took an early retirement from my former job as a product manager at the Bose Corporation four years ago my goal was to work directly for an automotive OEM, so today that goal has been realized. I will be able to continue work at a job I love doing, designing and managing automotive infotainment systems. At my advanced age they pay me to drive around and listen to music. Life is but a dream.
I get a lot of that at work. I went down to the IT department to get my new laptop and the guys there hissed and booed (in jest) at me. They have been contract for 16 years.
I’ve heard so many “job fell through” stories, this balances them all out.
I retired, and was supposed to teach a class and have a part-time job, but a pandemic happened and both of those fell through. SO tough to have to sit around and read (mostly the Dope, to be honest).
And listen to my old LPs, but they do tend to skip in the car. Can you get your company working on that, Amigo?
Thanks! That article is fascinating… and wild (a “Highway Hi-Fi” that you pull out from under the dash, playing vinyl at 16 2/3 rpm…skipping as you drove over potholes, I’d assume).
The Highway Hi-Fi was short-lived as Chrysler only offered it for two years ['56 and '57]. Consumer Reports did not test it, but we did report its demise, suggesting that the price tag of nearly $200 (over $1,700 today) and the constraint of buying proprietary records from Columbia were probably reasons for the player’s short run.
