Old work buddies

[GTM]

Now that you have left the work world

Do you still keep in touch the people you worked with?

If so what do you talk about.

[MRGALT2U]

This is a touchy subject with me. I consider myself a world class
"keeper in toucher". For example, I am still close with people
I worked with in the 60s and 70s. OTOH, I have lost touch with
most of the people from my working life in Upper Michigan
(10 years). And Texas? Every time I am there I think about
hunting down my coworkers from 1994 to 1998 when I hung it up for good. I e-mailed one guy for a while. Now it's 7 years later
and I have not called nor driven into Dallas just to visit (60 miles).
I'm ashamed of myself, but there are only so many hours.

JG

[template]

I get together with about 4 other retirees from my former company for lunch every couple of months. I'm the youngest by about 5 years. We share the same hobbies, but spend more time discussing aspects of retired life.

I don't have nearly as much contact with the people who are still working. Guess we have less in common now.

[LovesLife]

I keep in touch with one coworker. We became pretty good friends when I was working. We both love to read books and have often times turned our conversations into a 2 woman book club. It's a pretty solid friendship.

LL

[Outtahere]

I'm still in contact with several people from my last job, even made a website to update everyone on where and what they are doing (the co closed). Some took that closing as sign to retire, others found better postions and a couple passed on

I only keep in touch with a couple of friends from the job before that.

[kz]

Once a month I attend a retirement breakfast with retired co-workers. I'm by far the youngest...some are 25+ yrs older than me. It's always a good time since the talk is usually about grandchildren, golfing, fishing, or going south for the winter. Not much work talk unless a certain individual shows up and then we steer him to other subject matter.

[grumpy]

I don't keep in touch with anyone from work. I also don't keep in touch with anyone from our old neighborhood or with childhood friends. I guess I not very sociable. I like to think of it as self sufficient. Or maybe its because I am ....

Grumpy

[Eagle43]

Slowly but surely the contacts between us lessen. Especially the most recent employees. Now some of those I have knew for 20 years keep it touch; in fact we do lunch about once a quarter. We talk about recent developments, like where we been and who died. Nothing special. But, everyone moves on. Won't be another year until they will ask (at Mega-Corp) Eagle Who?? Didn't we fire him or did he just quit? 8)

[Repairmanjack]

Don't keep in touch with most - we really only had work in common. Now that's gone. There were a couple people that I had other things in common with - I do keep in touch with those people.

rmj

[MJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grumpy I don't keep in touch with anyone from work. I also don't keep in touch with anyone from our old neighborhood or with childhood friends. I guess I not very sociable. I like to think of it as self sufficient. Or maybe its because I am .... Grumpy

Cool and distant just like 007 in a tux, eh bond grumpy

[MJ]

I still get together with a lunch buddy from a different department. We are about the same age and have a lot in common including, to no longer work for the company. I succeeded, he still hasn't. I try not to harp in that.

[astromeria]

Like Eagle says, the contacts seem to lessen over time. I live far away from anyone I ever worked with, whcih is another influence. I'm still in occasional touch w/2 friends from high school (haven't seen either since college though), 1 from my 20s (see her every couple of years), 1 from my 30s (see rarely), and a couple dozen from my 40s & 50s (see rarely as I moved across the country). Thank goodness for email!

[astromeria]

Accidentally clicked Post rather than Preview...

We talk about more or less the same sorts of things we always did...personal interests, activities, thoughts, books & movies & other cultural stuff, families, travel... we rarely talked about work when we went to lunch while working together.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTM Now that you have left the work world Do you still keep in touch the people you worked with? If so what do you talk about.

Rarely! Most of our work friends (from my last command) were just that.

The guy that took my job used to call or e-mail every six months or so with a work-related question. That usually cost him a lunch and the conversation would turn into an ER tutorial. He gets it and he's managed to stitch together a plan to bridge his tours to stay in Hawaii for the four years until his retirement. We'll stay in touch.

I also keep in touch with a contractor (a retired Navy chief) who's working on a book/screenplay. We swap e-mail every couple of weeks about story ideas or "how to get published" websites, and we get together every few months to complain how the military is going to hell.

We've stayed in touch with some old shipmates for decades. Most of them have acquired families, we swap e-mail & holiday cards, and they pass through the islands every few years.

New friends are found at surfing, at tae kwon do, and around the neighborhood. We're not bound by the shared misery experience of work but the friendships are based on genuinely enjoying each others' company!

[MRGALT2U]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grumpy I don't keep in touch with anyone from work.* I also don't keep in touch with anyone from our old neighborhood or with childhood friends.* I guess I not very sociable.* I like to think of it as self sufficient.* Or maybe its because I am .... * * * *Grumpy

What about Snow White? Bet she would like a call every now and then.

JG

[MRGALT2U]

I am pretty much cut off from female "work buddies", unless
they are very old or very ugly (DW's influence here).

JG

[grumpy]

Mrs. Grumpy (AKA Snow White) arranges our social events such as dinner out with friends, trips to the theater, etc. If it weren't for her I'd probably be a hermit.

Grumpy

[sgeeeee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTM Now that you have left the work world Do you still keep in touch the people you worked with?

Some. I really admired and respected a few people I used to work with. I try to send them an email note every once in awhile and if they live near me or I'm going to be in their home city, I sometimes set up a lunch meeting.

I also am contacted by people I used to work with on a fairly regular basis asking me for a reccomendation or reference. I enjoy helping my ex-colleagues, but I do make them pay for the favor with a little bit of small talk about their lives.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTM If so what do you talk about.

The same as with anyone else I talk with. I talk about what's going on in my life, and I ask about and listen to what's going on in their life. That means I'm often talking about my archaeology field trips and my neighborhood volunteer work. They are often talking about work and office politics. I'm not much interested in office politics anymore, but I am interested in how it is affecting my friends.

[BUM]

I have 1 work buddy with whom I stay in touch. He is still on the job. I like to hear his miserable work stories. They make me glad I'm gone. He likes to hear my beach and fishing stories and about retirement in general... gives him hope for his future.

[tryan]

Having only been "out" a couple weeks it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Currently thinking of re-joining the golf league in the spring. The group rate is pretty good and pm tee times are impossible without being in a league. But also see it as a good way to stay in touch. 6 months of FIRE might change this.

One of my co-workers is a professioal "stay-in-toucher"; get EMAILS and phone calls triing to arrange lunches with 5-6 former co-workers. Been to a couple of these gigs ... entertaining; but not something I need to do more once a year.

We'll see.