Retired Folks hanging out at the Shopping Mall and the Library seem sad!

[OneDay]

I guess if I had to work until I was 65-70, I'd probably be sad too, knowing the best years of my life were gone. My dad retired at 48, I've never heard him say, I wished I'd worked longer.

 

[HFWR]

...sitting around watching TV in your boxers all day...

Uh oh...

BJ Services...

Sounds like a real moneymaker...

 

[friar1610]

I'll be going to the library this afternoon to tutor an immigrant in English for a couple of hours. I might hang around for a while afterwards to catch up on a few magazines that I don't want to spend the money to subscribe to but which I enjoy.

I personally hate malls but I know a lot of retired folks go there to do walking laps (cooler in summer, warmer in winter) and then hang around afterwards to have a coffee and a donut.

If you really want to get depressed about (some) retired people, go to a bar mid-afternoon and see the people getting an early start on happy hour. There's nothing happy about them and they'd probably be a lot better off at the library or mall.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Since I was forced to retire due to an employment termination and lack of job opportunities for folks like me, I have been out and about visiting places I never spent any time in when I was working 12 hours a day.

Two of those places is the library and the large regional shopping center near my home.

At the mall there is always the same tired old group of senior citizens sitting in the middle area waiting for the day to end. (Killing time). They look so miserable and for some reason are not open to socializing with me or each other.

At the library, there is also a sad looking group of folks hanging out next to the newspapers and magazines. Libraries can be great if they are a once in a while activity, not someplace to go every day just to kill time.

As I sit in the mall, and look at these sad people I wonder what they may have been in their working life before society and the corporate employers sent them packing. Maybe a bank Vice President, A Lawyer, a Public Relations Executive, a HR Manager. Who knows. But this week they are just killing time.

Wow, you have a great imagination! You should write a short story using the characters you have created.

 

[kcowan]

BTW, I haven't been to the mall for months, and when I go to the library it's to get books, not hang out there.

What! No Overdrive in WV?

Went to the mall across the street because it had been renovated. Best Buy is at the far end. Did not enter any store except Best Buy to exit the mall.

Forced to retire and projection are good hints.

 

[Corporateburnout]

I personally hate malls but I know a lot of retired folks go there to do walking laps (cooler in summer, warmer in winter) and then hang around afterwards to have a coffee and a donut.

Having a donut after their walking laps.....Real fitness enthusiasts

 

[HFWR]

Having a donut after their walking laps.....Real fitness enthusiasts

Carbo loading!

 

[aggie76]

Several years ago I saw a article ( with pics) about " old sad grumpy mean"....old facial expressions. It showed a bunch of pics and medical diagrams and such to help make a point that the sad or grumpy or mean looks that so many old people ahem is actually nothing more than a natural physiological change in our appearance. To boil down a bunch of med-o-babble its simply that our facial muscles start to fail just like ALL human muscles age. The natural relaxed facial expression for most of us is a rather downturned mouth. A smile takes a conscious use of the muscles. As we age our skin sags and the muscles relax resulting in that old man frown.
Do NOT equate the so-called SAD and pathetic faces you see in the malls or the library for their state of mind.

 

[HadEnuff]

Having a donut after their walking laps.....Real fitness enthusiasts

Well, it's better than "instead of" walking laps.

I am among those who can't remember the last time they went to the mall. Around here the mall comes in two phases: pre-Christmas, when you can't find a parking spot, or the other 11 months when it's a ghost town. I don't like either version.

As for the OP, not sure what one expects to find at the mall and the library? Cocktail parties?

 

[Amethyst]

How funny; I was thinking along the lines of "This sounds a lot like the intro to a noir detective movie." Then as the movie goes on, we find out how all these people are linked by past crimes and love affairs

Wow, you have a great imagination! You should write a short story using the characters you have created.

 

[Options]

If you're in Lost Angeles, you might see one like myself not amused wondering why time and again in a library some woman finds it necessary to talk to her kid at the top of her lungs as if she were auditioning for something, why someone else is talking loudly on their cell phone as if "all the world's a stage" (spilling over into everyone else's space in the process), or why even the librarians are joking as if they were in a bar during happy hour.

Considering that less and less of the populations actually reads anymore, maybe those quietly reading in the library just want to be left alone to enjoy enriching their minds and the last thing on their mind is what they look like to others (actually, I personally only spend enough time there to cool down after the long leisurely stroll to the library to drop off and pick up new ((non-fiction) books).

Americans are less likely to read on an average day than they were 10 years ago, according to a Demo Memo analysis of the American Time Use Survey.

Demo Memo

What's behind these changes? The aging of the population is one factor. Others include the ongoing baby bust and a shift in leisure preferences from reading to surfing the internet.

As for killing time, it seems I have less time now than when I was working. I keep thinking I'm going to have to go back to work to find some time.

 

[Koolau]

Forced To Retire, I hope you don't think the folks here are beating up on you - though a few are probably giving you a kick in the fanny. Even if all you have perceived is correct (that there ARE a bunch of miserable old retirees out there) THEY are not YOU. You control your destiny. You have what you need to get on with your reward (retirement). If you still have needs (financial, emotional, social, etc) then it's time you went about meeting those needs with all the vigor you had when you were (excuse the term) w*rking. That is now your new j*b (sorry about that term, too.) Get on with your life and ENJOY!! Welcome to ER.

 

[ronin]

Maybe you could try striking up a conversation on occasion and finding out more about others. Might make some new friends. Find out what they were thinking about you.

 

[bclover]

LOL, I think I'll go to the Library and check out this book. never did read it.

 

[friar1610]

Carbo loading!

I work out at a gym that is located across the parking lot from a Dunkin' Donuts. Although I don't do it very often, I have been known to stop and replenish carbs that I may have depleted at the gym.

 

[Forced to Retire]

Maybe you could try striking up a conversation on occasion and finding out more about others. Might make some new friends. Find out what they were thinking about you.

I have tried and they looked at me like I had two heads.

I suspect many of them are bored and have lost their social skills being out fo the work force can do that to you. I miss the great conversations I used to have with my coworkers around the water cooler and copy machine!

 

[Walt34]

I suspect many of them are bored and have lost their social skills being out fo the work force can do that to you. I miss the great conversations I used to have with my coworkers around the water cooler and copy machine!

You will adjust. Resistance is futile....

Really, retirement is a good thing. I had to adjust to leaving a fast-paced high energy job too, but six months later my sister said she hadn't seen us looking so relaxed in years. If there were any lingering doubts that retirement was the right decision that erased them right there.

 

[2017ish]

LOL, I think I'll go to the Library and check out this book. never did read it.

Or, it's public domain and available on Gutenberg.org in e-reader formats and audio: Books: connecticut yankee (sorted by popularity) - Project Gutenberg

(I love Gutenberg--both US and Australia)

 

[ER Eddie]

Several years ago I saw a article ( with pics) about " old sad grumpy mean"....old facial expressions. It showed a bunch of pics and medical diagrams and such to help make a point that the sad or grumpy or mean looks that so many old people ahem is actually nothing more than a natural physiological change in our appearance. To boil down a bunch of med-o-babble its simply that our facial muscles start to fail just like ALL human muscles age. The natural relaxed facial expression for most of us is a rather downturned mouth. A smile takes a conscious use of the muscles. As we age our skin sags and the muscles relax resulting in that old man frown.
Do NOT equate the so-called SAD and pathetic faces you see in the malls or the library for their state of mind.

Ah, good point. Origin of the grumpy old man stereotype, maybe.

 

[InTheSticks]

I found myself reading birthday cards at Walmart today. Does that make me a sad retiree?

 

[aja8888]

Sounds like a real moneymaker...

It was...Tommy cashed out his ownership during the sale to Baker Hughes.

BJ Services Company was an oil and gas equipment and services company that is now a subsidiary of Baker Hughes.

It was founded in 1872 as the Byron Jackson Company by inventor Byron Jackson and at its peak operated in more than 50 countries worldwide.

The link below from fundinguniverse.com tells how BJ was acquired by Hughes Tool and then became independent when Baker Tool bought Hughes and was recently acquired by Baker-Hughes.

BJ Services Company is a leading worldwide provider of pressure pumping and oilfield services for the petroleum industry. Pressure pumping services consist of cementing and stimulation services used in the completion of new oil and natural gas wells and in remedial work on existing wells, both onshore and offshore. Oilfield services include completion tools, completion fluids, casing and tubular services, production chemical services, and precommissioning, maintenance and turnaround services in the pipeline and process business, including pipeline inspection.

On April 28, 2010, the company was bought by Baker Hughes in a $5.5 billion stock and cash deal. Greenhill & Co. advised on the transaction.[1]

 

[omni550]

Forced To Retire,

I've joined a bunch of meetup.com groups which has put me in contact with people who hike, do yoga, ballroom dance, travel, attend theater, go to major league ballgames, dine out, go kayaking, play trivia weekly at a local bar, etc. Some folks are still working and others are retired. No one I've met via meetup.com is sitting around with RBF.

I'd suggest checking out meetup groups in your neck of the woods. Plus, if you decide to move, it's a quick and easy way to meet some locals with common interests.

omni

 

[Idnar7]

Here in MN malls are prized for being a safe, warm, ice-free area to walk in the winter. They open the malls 3 or 4 hours before the stores to accommodate walkers. My SIL's mother, who worked in a dept store in the mall into her 70's, has walked there 3 or 4 days a week for over 10 years. During those years she had a couple knee replacements, lost her husband, and had to move from the family home to a town house. She still goes because that is her morning community. People come and go, move, die, etc. It carries on with whomever is still there. They are not bothering anybody, making a mess, or in anyway being disruptive. They are generally gone long before the shoppers start to arrive. The alternative would seem to be staying indoors and not getting any exercise or social time. I wouldn't possibly begrudge them their community. We lived here 13 years before I went to our local library which is only a mile away. I went one winter day when the wife was driving me crazy and I needed to get away. I now go there often to read different news papers, Consumer Reports, browse books, rent movies, and just people watch. It is a nice library in an arboretum setting and just a hospitable welcoming place. Maybe others look at me and feel sad for me. Well I just turn the page. I do a lot of our grocery shopping because I like to go out around people. I do notice I enjoy after the school year when the stores are more populated by my peers. Things just move a little slower and people are generally more friendly. Sorry to ruin the OP's vision of us.

 

[dixonge]

I miss the great conversations I used to have with my coworkers around the water cooler and copy machine!

OK, now I feel like we're being trolled LOL

 

[gauss]

If you're in Lost Angeles, you might see one like myself not amused wondering why time and again in a library some woman finds it necessary to talk to her kid at the top of her lungs as if she were auditioning for something, why someone else is talking loudly on their cell phone as if "all the world's a stage" (spilling over into everyone else's space in the process), or why even the librarians are joking as if they were in a bar during happy hour.

+100

Cell phone use might get you asked to step outside at our library but nobody confronts the parents with children who together are behaving inappropriately (running, outside voices etc).