Who needs retirement anyway?

[Rambler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo A few months before I retired my old boss, the President of our division, did exactly the same thing. He became increasingly "outspoken, rebellious, obnoxious, depending on what flavor of the day they're pushing" with corporate HQ. End result: He retired 30 days before I did. My retirement was planned, his wasn't. Moral: There are limits...

Yes there are, and I try to walk on the inside of the trail as opposed to the edge of the cliff. Problem is we have a new CEO (who seems to be a real reasonable guy from the 2 telephone conversations I have had with him in the last 3 months) and all the HQ gophers are struggling tO "prove their worth" and thus doing the "new CEO strutt". I just need to keep my head below the radar...not too hard right now, but possible...

R

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rambler W2R, we have different perspectives on travel, but if it were me I'd almost jump at the chance to travel, just to get away, although I know its not that simple.

That's right. There are aspects to this travel that I just can't get into here on the public forum, but trust me, if you knew everything that was involved you wouldn't want to go on this trip either. I compliantly made the travel arrangements (as asked) without the slightest fuss, before I was told everything about the trip.

Surprisingly (considering all my ER plans are coming to fruition shortly), I have been fighting off depression during the past week or two and this is part of what is triggering it. I might post a thread on depression on the brink of ER, or might not since I think I will get through this without the need for "happy pills" or public sobbing.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Want2retire Middle management is bound and determined to get me on that plane and I am not going but I hate this - - I would rather go out nicely and without all of this strife.

With a short time to go you already have your KMA hat. As I understand it in federal government it just about takes an act of congress to fire somebody, so just extend your right hand, palm up, curl your fingers and extend the middle one. They'll get the idea, and by the time the paperwork is done to fire you you'll be retired.

What else can they do? Revoke your birthday?

[Moemg]

Any major change even happy ones can cause stress . Retirement is a change plus added to that often is relocation and changes in personal relationships so it is normal to be upset .

[W2R]

Aw, thank you all!! And thanks to all of those who just PM'd me. I will get through this and hopefully soon. It is heartwarming to know that so many of you care and picked up on what I mentioned (I thought buried deep in a thread!)

[freebird5825]

If you need backup, just lemme know.

All this sounds like some huge basket of nonsense and perhaps a touch of cannon fodder mentality that our techie field is unfortunately so good at practicing.
Chin up, and feel free to borrow one of my best "#@*! you" grins.

[Amethyst]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 As I understand it in federal government it just about takes an act of congress to fire somebody, . What else can they do? Revoke your birthday?

They would be welcome to my birthday...I haven't wanted one of those for several years now!

The rumors about not being able to fire a federal employee are false.

That being said, I imagine it would be hard to retaliate against someone who is showing a little attitude but only has 6 months to go. In fact, in their heart of hearts, many people probably understand - but THEY still have to work there, so must play the game.

Those who work hard and give the government its due, don't usually get fired as in "no more paycheck, door hits you in the @$$ on the way out" but can be made thoroughly miserable on a daily basis. There are all kinds of undesirable assignments and unpleasant bosses [as want2retire has observed], and a perceived slight gets remembered for many many years. So it's best to toe the line, and let one's pride take a back seat to the sound of "ka-ching" [or perhaps "bleep," since it's all electrons] as another mortgage payment gets sent to the bank and another chunk of $$ goes into the TSP.

[unclemick]

Sooo - after getting canned/layed off and doing the ER thingy age 49-66, I should do the 'cool thing' to celebrate my 'regular' retirement age and go back to work?

.

Do the Fed's take 66 yr old new hires?

heh heh heh -

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird5825 I was actually a very good girl prior to and after I submitted my official resignation letter. I was never one to pick a fight, and let a lot go by when baited, but put me in a corner... I am proud to say I never raised my voice in spite of some very serious negative behavior from 1 particular antagonist (my female supervisor). Half the fun was keeping my cool and quoting regs which were in direct opposition of some of the silly stuff she tried to "direct" me to do. So for 6 weeks, I walked around with a major on my face. Priceless. I left everything in tip top order and exited with grace and dignity.

From confirmation of early retirement until actual date was about 6 weeks. I was so happy during that time I didn't give a hoot about anything.

[citrine]

Want2.....There is nothing for you to worry about....let them play their little games and you just stand strong. When I resigned last year from corporate, they tried to do silly crap in the last two weeks and I just laughed....they had no power....and I think maybe that is why they tried to get in as much as they could....I just used up some vacation days
Why don't you take some days off during that trip

Retiring is going to be so much fun.....you won't remember the last 80 days of servitude

[W2R]

I hope you are right, citrine! Thanks.

[Leonidas]

Being FI'ed early in my career gave me a lot of KMA power, but it also made me responsible for my own happiness. Being able to leave doesn't necessarily mean you should leave, but it's a nice option to have. For me, it meant that I had to pay more attention to the stuff I loved about the job and the people, and overlook some of the petty crap that exists in any big bureaucracy.

Only once did I ever have a real problem. The favorite game my employer liked to do was to make an "example" out of any employee that didn't play the game the way they were supposed to. The carrot was to offer you a 15 or 30 day suspension, and part of the deal was to sign away any rights to appeal the discipline. The stick was to fire you, even though in 80%+ of those cases the employee got his job back, with back pay, after the appeals process. The hammer driving the stick was that it took 2 years to go through the appeals. For someone with a family, and bills, that was financial Armageddon.

They came at me once, can't remember why but I definitely ticked off a jerk with a lot of stars on his collar, and it was briefly mentioned that I could get the carrot, stick or hammer choice. "Tell the man to go for it. I'll take my two-year vacation, come back with all my pay and seniority when I win the case, and since I'll need something to occupy my time, I'll hire some mad dog attorney and sue him personally and professionally." I don't know that the message got delivered, but the whole issue just went away without notice. KMA indeed!

I have to admit that they got me in the end. Somebody screwed up by double promoting me and then putting me in charge of something important at the same time there was a power vacuum above me. There was an opportunity to right some wrongs and fix some things that were seriously broken, and as soon as I figured that out I got busy.

The problem was that I had to tuck that KMA hat into my back pocket and eat a bunch of crap for the last year. If they took the job back then I was completely screwed, and while they didn't know what I was up to, they knew I wanted to stay where I was. And once they figured that out they knew they had the power to make me play the game, or at least pretend like I was playing the game. The journey from KMA to me kissing theirs' took as long as two weeks. The only way to get through some meetings was to draw sailboats on my notepad and dream of retirement.

By the time I retired, I was so thoroughly miserable that I knew that the big machine had gotten at least twenty years of revenge. The fiddler always gets paid for playing the tune.

[citrine]

Yikes Leonides!
I am so glad I left the big game willingly and young enough!

[Leonidas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by citrine Yikes Leonides! I am so glad I left the big game willingly and young enough!

You should have seen my co-w*rker who had a huge family law practice on the side. I asked him why he hung around and he said, "so I can stay here and f*^k with these idiots."

Yes, I got my fun in early, and paid for it in the end, but for twenty years I got away with stuff that nobody else would have even dared. I never did anything legally, morally, or ethically wrong, but everything else in the policy manual was fair game. And anybody in power who said stupid things was just a big target.

There is a lot of pleasure in seeing a big boss wince when you stand up to speak the truth. I was a very productive employee, but I was also a nightmare to supervise for anybody used to having their butt kissed.

There was an occasion when the agency totally stomped on a whole division and the troops were freaking out. I was a very junior supervisor who still believed that the organization was interested in treating people well, so when I saw everyone above me just ignoring the situation I stepped in and did something that I thought was right. It wasn't anything big, we all still got screwed, but I think I relieved some of their stress and supported them when they needed it.

The big boss had a fit and called a meeting of all the supervisors and managers. Everybody was eating crap from the guy because they were hoping he would intercede on their behalf, and even I was a being a good boy until he took a swipe at me by saying my actions were disloyal. I whipped out my KMA hat and said, "Disloyal my ass. You're the only guy whose life is not being turned upside down here. I was being loyal to our subordinates who are getting shafted and deserve some loyalty from us. I did what you should have done if you actually gave a sh*t about your troops."

That was one of those moments when I was ready to pack my stuff up in a box and walk out the door. It would be a great personal loss to have to stop working there, but it wasn't going to be a financial disaster.

The man tried to twist the knife on the bad deal I was getting already, but it didn't take. A much bigger boss heard the whole story and interceded on my behalf. I got one of the best jobs I ever had that also set me up for even better things later.

[citrine]

Awesome Leonides....I am a firm believer that if you do the right thing, the right things will happen in your life.
I just cannot believe how people are treated in big corps and how upper management actually promotes that behavior.
I walked out the door....but the world I have stepped into is more incredible and amazing than I thought it would be

[beowulf]

I spent 33 years in the Army and DoD being cantankerous, argumentative, uncooperative and just plain disagreeable . Did not work too well during my few years on active duty, but seemed to be my passport as a DoD civilian. The key was to a pit bull with anyone who posed a threat to DoD (all those scuzzy civilian agencies) and my management would put up with anything. Of course, being relatively near the top of the food chain helped (wallflowers do not get promoted in DoD) about midway through my career helped a lot. Nastiness is an appreciated quality in some DoD jobs .

The funniest thing happened at the end of my career. We were offered buyouts and earlyouts. We had to accept about 6 months prior to our departure date. With about 3 months left to retire, my office moved to another part of the Pentagon during the renovation - and decided that they did not have enough room to take me with them. So I spent my last 3 months alone in 6 office suite with absolutely nothing to do except an occasional meeting. Thank goodness for the internet .