I call myself semi-retired even though I am working 25-30 hours a week, midnight shift at a 7-11. I am retired from working a job where I have great responsibility, and crazy deadlines and crazy clients in a corporate setting. I was a project manager for a translation company.
Love the midnight shift, I have insomnia, now I can go to be when I am actually sleepy, I can sleep 8am to 5pm, or 1 pm to 9pm, whatever.
The job at 7-11 is of course easy, I am behind the counter or stocking shelves, and I can listen to music and podcasts and bullshit with the customers, a particular advantage is that I am in a college town and there are a lot of pretty women coming in and lordy they didn’t dress the way they do now in my day. If you remember the movie The Wrestler, there is that scene where the Mickey Roarke character is having fun and joking with the customers, of course soon after he cuts his hand and spews blood all over but no danger of that in my job, I just have to make sure I don’t burn myself getting pizzas out of the oven.
I have just applied for a job at Door Dash, and I just got a delivery from them and I talked to the guy and he says he usually makes about $20 an hour, which is twice what I am making at 7-11 and twice what I need (I have retirement income). So will see if it works out, I may do both jobs.
I’ve found myself dreaming about having a job that was easy (I also have a project management job where I don’t always know what I will be working on when I go to work), but think that the challenge of the current job is ultimately more fun. Not sure If I will work at all after I retire in a year or so. Was your retirement planned or not?
It wasn’t planned at 59, I just moved back to my hometown in Virginia after getting laid off in Jersey, was going to be temporary, but the rent is half what I was paying in Hackensack - “Who needs a house out in Hackensack/Is that what you get with your money/It seems such a waste of time/Mama if that’s movin’ up then I’m movin’ out”
I get to spend time with my parents who, for the past 30 years I have only seen once or twice a year. I could have found another job similar to the one I had and worked it for another 7 years, adding to a 401K, for what? To have enough money to travel the country, or go to Italy or Paris in retirement. And I will not be able to afford going to nice restaurants much on my frugal budget. It’s just not fucking worth it.
This is something that a lot of Americans have felt recentley, there is a thread about it.
What thread is that? But I agree, something has changed due to covid.
I’ve been feeling the same thing a bit, yeah I can add to a 401k but after I have enough to retire whats the point? I want to leave money to the next generation, but after a point theres a worry they’ll just squander it.
What do you do for health care? I think thats the big thing that prevents people from retiring. Are you on an ACA plan?
Another big thing is that the older you get the harder jobs that require manual labor become. Do you think you’ll be able to do what you’re doing for the next 5+ years?
Enjoy the time you get to spend with your parents.
Being able to sleep on my own schedule seems like a minor concern, but it’s the thing that I am looking forward to the most. For the most part I like my job, but I dislike actually going to work, and doing it 5 days a week. Once I am there, it’s good. But walking from my house to my car way too early in the morning seems to get more annoying each day
I don’t work at all. I putter around the house, work out and go to a shitload of live music, 58 shows so far since lock down ended in late Spring. I’ve been retired for 18 months and it’s unbelievably amazing.
Since you’re older, here’s what you do if you get held up on the graveyard shift. Act like you’re having a heart attack and drop to the floor. I know of at least one case where it freaked out the robber, and he took off running.
Retired in 2020. Started getting bored this summer, so I got a job at my favorite hardware store, Ace Hardware. It’s great. The women running it are easy to work for, I only work 15-20 hrs/week, it’s 2 miles from home. The best part is the customers. They come in needing something, I show them where it is, and they think I made their day.
I’m maybe a little jealous of the ease of it. I retired at the end of 2019, but a few months ago a former colleague (who’s at a different co. now) asked me if I’d sub in for a department manager who was leaving, basically from September to January.
It’s theoretically 20-25 hours a week, but I’m learning that when meetings are scheduled all across the day (they have offices in the US and Asia), yes it’s 20-25 hours, but it essentially takes over the whole day. It’s also got a fair amount of stress associated with it.
So, it’s nice to make a bunch of extra money, but once this is over, if I ever come out of retirement again it’ll be something like the OP is doing.
I found myself in your boat. Aged out of the career workplace at 57 and found easy employment at the local casino convenience store. I also had the graveyward shift. Took me four months to acclimate to the hours but once I did graveyard was a great shift.
"The job at 7-11 is of course easy, I am behind the counter or stocking shelves, and I can listen to music and podcasts and bullshit with the customers…"
Oh yeah! And at a casino store there are always a collection of 2 a.m nightly regular customers. I loved 'em.
paraphrasing Mike Mabes: “…a particular advantage is that I am in a casino store and there are a lot of pretty women coming in and lordy on New Years day they were often dressed to impress.”
Graveyard on Christmas and New Years eve became so notorious that a few day shift folks (men) would ask for a shift swap. No deal!
Working from home now, it almost feels like I’m semi-retired. No big projects due. I am in close touch with colleagues and help put fires out and test stuff.
I updated some servers this weekend. That was 6am on Saturday. It’s VERY nice to be able to do that. I have a few things to look at tomorrow.
I could sleep into about anytime, but after 30 years of getting up at 5:15 I still do that. Or earlier. But don’t set an alarm. I just don’t worry about it. My office is now in the loft over our bedroom.
I think after 30 years in the same place. I Deserve this.
I was retired two and a half years ago when my company laid off its entire software development staff and gave out early retirement to those of us over 55.
I’m never bored, as I have a million side projects and hobbies. But I do feel bad that my wife is still working and I am not. I don’t have one of those sweet government pensions, so I’m getting about 1/4 of what I made working.
I looked at going back into software engineering, but no one wants 58 year old software guys unless they are management, and I always avoided management like the plague. Then Covid hit, and gave me an excuse to not look any more. And I can already feel my skills becoming dated.
I’ll probably try to monetize something I’m currently doing for fun, just because it feels wrong to be doing not much while my wife works. She says she doesn’t mind, but I do.
I’m still sitting in my jammies finishing my lunch. I’ll take a walk in a bit and then tonight I am getting dinner with friends and then going to a concert. I know that it’s Sunday but that’s pretty much every day. And that’s the weirdest thing, I never have a clue what day it is.
I’m not jealous because you are still working. I retire in 166 days, then leave for 3 weeks in England. I don’t plan to work after I retire, you know why? Cuz I just retired after working over 40 years.
Tour Guide here. Mostly wine tours, but also on-shore cruise ship tours - history, scenery etc (those didn’t go well during Covid ).
I work 1-3 days a week (summer more than winter, and I can pick and choose). It’s a full day, but I get to meet new, nice people, tell them interesting stories, and work in beautiful places. $30 per hour (and I also get industry rates on wines).
When was the last time you went to work and everyone you saw that day was happy to see you? That’s my day.
I consider myself semi-retired. I’m 60 and will have to work for many years to come. When my son died, his student loans my husband and I co-signed became our student loans. I’m ok with working. I like waking up in the morning, getting ready for the day and leaving the house for a while. My job is an easy office job. I’ve been doing it since the late 80s. I decided after the big lockdown that I’m not going to stay in the office from 8-4:30 anymore unless I have something to keep me busy for 8 hours (I don’t). So I leave for home around 1:30-2. A couple of months ago I decided that I am no longer going to work on Fridays. There’s nothing going on. I receive office voice mails and emails on my iPhone, I have a laptop that comes home with me that I can use if something comes up or I can run back to the office (I’m only 10 minutes away) if there’s some kind of an emergency (there never has been!). I’m paid salary so I’m making the same money if I’m in the office or at home. My boss is fine with the arrangement. His words of wisdom are - “I don’t care, as long as you get your shit done”.
This is really perfect for me. I don’t want to be sitting at home all day, every day. I don’t have enough money to travel the world or do extravagant things. I’m happy
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