Betty,

     I don't mean to be a problem or to start a flame
war or anything like that, but if the store job was a
fun job for you with the way you described it, then
why give it up.  If I find a job that I really like
doing, then they're going to have to literally kick me
out to stop me.


Chester Worwa

--- Betty B <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> In a message dated 11/21/2000 6:59:40 AM Eastern
> Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> > If I ever even get a job, I may regret retirement.
> >
>
> I am retired Chester, and I can tell you that It
> truly is a two-edged sword.
> My last work day was May 7, 1999.  I have had more
> than one dream about being
> late for work.  They are the kind of dreams where
> you can't get to a place
> you need to get to, or finish something you need to
> finish.  In my dreams, I
> am taking a shower and no matter what I do I can't
> seem to finish the stupid
> shower.  I know I am going to be late for work.
> While I'm finally driving to
> work in the dream, I'm panicking about being late
> the entire time.  In this
> dream, I always remember driving on the highway past
> the place where I can
> clearly see the Jefferson Memorial and Washington
> Monument.  When I get to
> work, I am praying that the boss isn't there yet and
> won't know that I am
> late.
>
> Then, I wake up.  For a split second, I panic
> because I know that I am very
> late.  Suddenly it hits me that I am retired, and
> the feeling is like "WOW!
> I don't have to go to work anymore!"  Whoa!  What a
> relief!
>
> But I will tell you this: I miss the action.  I miss
> the fast pace of my work
> days.  I miss going in the field, going down
> manholes and hanging out on
> roofs making sure that they guys are wearing fall
> protection (I was an
> occupational safety and health specialist when I
> retired).  I miss the
> stOOpid staff meetings that I used to hate.  I miss
> teaching safety classes,
> and fire protection classes.  I miss going from one
> job to the next -- my
> nighttime and weekend retail job, and being on top
> of both.  I miss selling
> bird feeders at my second job, being able to handle
> the store by myself no
> matter how busy it was, and I even miss cleaning the
> toilet at the store.  I
> loved to do anything I could do to make my bosses
> life easier.  Man, my work
> life was GREAT!  It was SUPERB!
>
> I really loved to work, and it's hard not to have a
> job and not to be needed
> or wanted in the workplace.  Is that what you are
> feeling right now?  It's
> hard not to be able to work everyday, and to know
> that depending on the day,
> I am too physically undependable to be employable.
> It was a real loss to be
> pushed out of the workplace by both employers at the
> same time.  "Why didn't
> they just kill me fast and get it over with?" I have
> been known to ask that
> in the privacy of my thoughts.
>
> Chester old buddy, I have seen those people who have
> conditioned themselves
> to think that their quality of life stops the second
> they enter the
> workplace.  What miserable lives they must have!  I
> remember a brief time a
> few years ago when I had a new boss who ran me to
> death for a couple of
> months.  She really wore me out.  Then one day she
> called me in her office.
> When I sat down she told me that she really
> appreciated how I had kept pace
> with her demands and how glad she was to be able to
> depend on me.
>
> No monetary reward could have given me more pleasure
> than in knowing that my
> boss could depend on me.  I could look at myself in
> the mirror, and I felt
> good going home everyday.  But when I got a new boss
> who didn't have those
> leadership skills, I could still feel good everyday
> because no matter what he
> said or did to me, I still had a job to do. I still
> had to look at myself in
> the mirror.  If I kept a worker from falling off a
> roof, or suffocating in a
> manhole with bad air, I could absolutely feel good
> even if my boss didn't
> appreciate his staff.
>
> I don't know why I'm saying all of this Chester, but
> I want to share one
> thing: When you get hired someplace, and you will
> get hired, appreciate your
> job, even if your boss treats you like crap.
> Nothing can take the place of
> going home everyday knowing that you did the best
> you could, and that you
> were dedicated to your duties.  There is a personal
> pride in that knowledge
> to which I can find no comparison.
>
> Even though I am retired now, and at such an early
> age (42), I can still feel
> good.  I have great work memories to look back on.
>
> Man O man, did I prattle on here or what?
>
> Enjoy life the best way you can,
> Betty