What do you miss?

[Tekward]

Another post got me thinking and I have 135 paychecks until I can seriously consider ER.

The upside is that I like my current job & boss. Next month I'm being sent to Spain and Italy.

Which generated my question to the forum:

What (if anything) do you miss about the job?
Travel, frequent flyer miles, training, benefits, T1 net access, free pens & coffee ?

 

[CyclingInvestor]

Absolutely nothing.

I got along fine with my boss and coworkers, the work was very
easy for me, no time pressures, no stress (until the last few months
when they switched to Extreme Programming), yet still . . .

As has been said here before, my worst day of retirement has been
better than my best day of work.

 

[Dreamer]

The higher paychecks were nicer than the pension check amounts, my co-workers' companionship and the sense of helping people.

On the flip side, I am very grateful for my pension check, still get together with some of my previous co-workers and can volunteer or find a low stress job at any time! Life is good!

 

[Cut-Throat]

Only the Pay Checks

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

no offense intended but reading your post made me cringe a little. i never would have left my job if i liked it. but my job left me long before i left it. i would love to say i miss my colleagues, but even most of them became poisoned. so much finger pointing, were you to ask direction (or look for direction) you wouldn't know where to turn.

just took another few minutes to think about what i might miss. sorry. no. can't think of a thing.

 

[Leonidas]

What (if anything) do you miss about the job?
Travel, frequent flyer miles, training, benefits, T1 net access, free pens & coffee ?

Travel? I enjoyed meeting folks and making friends of people who had previously just been a voice over the phone. Saw a few sights, got taken out to lots of interesting restaurants and clubs, but the rest of it was just a pain after the novelty of traveling on somebody else's nickel wore off.

Frequent flyer miles - Okay, that was a decent bennie but not worth working for a living.

Training - It was useful for work - but I don't do work anymore so I'm trying to forget as much as I can.

T1, free pens, coffee - Cable at home is faster than sharing T1 with 3,000 people, the pens were cheap and I always bought my own, and we paid for our own coffee.

I missed some of the work stuff (for a short time) when I would see a story in the paper about a problem my former co-workers were grappling with. My mind would just automatically start mapping out a solution. Now, when I bother to read those stories, all I think is "Thank God that's not my problem", and move on.

What I still miss though, is how easy it was to keep in touch with work friends. When you were always running across people on the elevator or in meetings, it was easy to say "hey, let's go eat lunch" or "want to stop for a beer?" Now, I still keep in touch with people and we still socialize, but it all has to be coordinated "Tuesday is no good for me, I'm playing golf - how about Thursday?" Coordinating that with other retirees can be a bigger pain because they're like me - they have plenty of time to do stuff, but they're all off doing that stuff all over the map. "No, we can't meet then, I'll be on a dive trip in Florida that week."

 

[lowflyer]

I left my job at Megacorp about six years ago. I was there for just under 20 years. There were lots of things I liked and lots of things that were a real pain. Thankfully, I was well paid to "endure" the painful things.

I'm still very good friends with my old work partner and we talk almost every week. We often discuss work issues (his) and ways of dealing with them. When we talk, it's easy to begin to get that same old feeling about how hopeless/endless the problems can be. They were there when I joined the company in 1980, were there when I left and are still there now.

Now don't get me wrong, I loved getting those nice paychecks and my ex-partner is still getting them and much more. The company has a strong 8% match on 401K's that started after I left. So from a financial standpoint, I'm missing out on a few things.

Here's the point: Since leaving, my "stress" is much less, with very few "people" problems to deal with. My ex-partner is still on the treadmill...everyday, with retirement somewhere on the horizon. Until then, he keeps working and I play. If I could do it over again, I probably wouldn't change a thing.

Just keep saving your money, investing and learning and planning for ER. The pens and post-it notes are a bonus.

 

[Khan]

Only the Pay Checks

Same here.

 

[donheff]

I am in the same camp as LowFlyer. I liked many aspects of the job and disliked others. I like everything about ER.

I too keep up with several former co-workers and am disheartened to see the same old problems persist. But it sure is pleasant to listen to the problems that never end and the management approaches that go no where and realize don't impact me.

 

[Moemg]

I miss my co-workers .They were a fun bunch who were always going through some crisis .So I felt like I was turning off my favorite soap opera in the middle .

 

[Donzo]

Paychecks, corporate credit card, co. car/gas and some of the other RMs and reps.

Don't miss all the BS, wasted time and silly sense of urgency -

 

[Bikerdude]

Meals on wheels (vendor paid lunch and dinner).

 

[grumpy]

I miss the satisfaction I felt from being able to personally contribute to the success of the country's space programs. Other than that, I don't miss a thing about w**k.

Grumpy

 

[Nords]

Which generated my question to the forum:
What (if anything) do you miss about the job?
Travel, frequent flyer miles, training, benefits, T1 net access, free pens & coffee ?

Man, I've been waiting for the punchline but if everyone else is going to be serious then I will too.

If it's called "work" then I'm not sure that there's anything to miss about it. For example I do yardwork because it has to be done, not because it's something that I really get enthusiastic about doing. Same thing for cleaning toilets & fixing dinner. If you missed anything about work then we wouldn't call it work-- we'd call it playing with your friends entertainment an avocation.

Replacing all of the things on your list costs a lot less money than you might have been led to expect. Once you're no longer working, you might even realize that the only reason you wanted them in the first place was to make work a little less sucky.

I can't think of a single thing that I miss from my working days. Well, maybe one thing-- the smell of coffee wafting up the bridge hatch just after we've surfaced on the midwatch while I'm watching the lights of Honolulu come up over the horizon. Sort of like the feeling of accomplishment that sneaks over you after completing a job well done.

So now I carry a cup of coffee onto our back lanai at 5 AM and watch the cruise ships heading toward Honolulu Harbor.

But if I ever wanted to go back out there in the middle of the ocean to recreate the midwatch experience, I suspect that I might have forgotten a few of the more painful details. I can think of far, far more things that I don't miss about work than anything that I do miss.

My friends had no trouble finding me after I retired and getting together for whatever we want to do. Workplace acquaintances somehow couldn't bear to tear themselves away from their cubicles. My conculsion is that retiring will quickly distinguish your real friends from your mere acquaintances, and I can find plenty of new acquaintances down at the beach with my old friends...

 

[omni550]

This topics hits home for me as I'm currently evaluating whether to accept a separation package or not. The pension is quite small, which has me dithering as to whether to stay or go.

So, as I've been walking around the offices at work, I pretend that it's my last day and ask myself "What would I miss?"

So far, I've come up with "the intellectual caliber of my co-workers" and my paycheck.

I'm part of a 10,000-person engineering organization. I enjoy the conversations that I can have with most everyone. We don't necessarily agree, but the conversations are at a high-level and the thinking is quite deep.

It's much like this board.

I don't post often, but I'm an avid reader of all the postings. I'm always impressed and fascinated by the level of knowledge exhibited and the discourse that occurs here.

omni

 

[yakers]

"the intellectual caliber of my co-workers" and my paycheck.

That is very well said. I am faced with retirement likely time is between March and Nov of this year. But I like my work and I like the paycheck. My wife retired in June 06 from a teaching career. She now has picked up a fairly open structured "job" placing student teachers in classrooms and assisting them. She loves it. She is on the college faculty and keeps in contact with teachers, university professors and students. Its more than I want her to do and not much money but it is really good for her. I ponder leaving and I think I would miss the paycheck (why work part time, I like my job, if I'm going to work I'll just keep doing what I am doing) so I need to find a group of friends and project mates like I have here at NASA. Maybe it will be with a church group or political activities but its nice to be part of bigger projects and now I would not have to rely on being paid.

 

[tryan]

Oh yeah, the travel .... waking up at 4 am to catch a 6 am flight. Dance all day for people you respect less n'less as you REALLY get to know them. Then a return flight that gets you home around 8pm. 16+ hour days ... everything after 8 is donated to megacorp as they bill for all the time then pay you for 8 hours!

Nope, don't miss the travel.

 

[OkieTexan]

My friends had no trouble finding me after I retired and getting together for whatever we want to do. Workplace acquaintances somehow couldn't bear to tear themselves away from their cubicles. My conculsion is that retiring will quickly distinguish your real friends from your mere acquaintances, and I can find plenty of new acquaintances down at the beach with my old friends...

Two transitions have caused some consternation since I ER'd last Labor Day:

1. I miss the paychecks and the savings plan I had. Now I finance my own life from reserves. There is a sense of security that is missing since those paychecks stopped in spite of the fact that all indicators suggest that I have enough funds and a plan to finance my retirement years. It will just take time.

2. The other is mentioned in Nords' post. Friendships have definitely changed since I retired. Some really can't tear themselves away from the cubicles! I have been blessed with interests outside of work for many years. It is paying off well now. These friends and our relationships are still solid. If a work life is all we have, it will hurt more to lose it. Work never has been the center of my life; so, losing those trappings isn't that painful, really.

 

[tryan]

Yeah, megacorp was a catalyst for a handful of people I still keep in touch with. But most of these people left long before I did and might have change jobs 2 or 3 times. We keep in touch because something "clicked" when we met ... had little to do with w*rk.

When I see the vast majority of my ex-coworkers then conversation drifts little from thier day job drama (which I have NO interest in ).

 

[BarbaraAnne]

I miss the comraderie and social interaction with most of my colleagues. I have never fit in with the suburban housewife brigade. I worked in sales/management in a very competitive industry and it was a piece of cake compared to suburbia. (think "mean girls" grown up)

Yeah, I also miss the paycheck!

 

[kat]

Another post got me thinking and I have 135 paychecks until I can seriously consider ER.

The upside is that I like my current job & boss. Next month I'm being sent to Spain and Italy.

Which generated my question to the forum:

What (if anything) do you miss about the job?
Travel, frequent flyer miles, training, benefits, T1 net access, free pens & coffee ?

If going to Spain and Italy were part of my work, I never would have quit.

 

[Nords]

If going to Spain and Italy were part of my work, I never would have quit.

I've traveled all over the world on a government salary, but I much prefer doing it on my own itinerary.

Better accomodations too...

 

[Martha]

It hasn't been quit a month yet, but . . .

I did like having clients call with a convoluted story and being able to tell them then and there exactly what to do. When I retired I joined the board of one of my clients, so I should be able to feel helpful, without having the day in and day out responsibility.

I miss my very comfortable office chair.

My office was warm and cozy, decorated to my taste. I kind of miss that.

I miss having lunch with work friends-stopped by last week and a friend took me out to lunch.

I miss making the staff laugh.

I miss from my management days being part of the machine at work. A lot of people were supported by the work we did.

The pay check was nice.

I still have health insurance paid for by work for this coming year and they are paying for my cell phone as well. Also, I am typing on my work laptop which I can keep for the year or maybe forever. I'll really miss it when we have to pay for those things on our own.

But, there is plenty that I will not miss.

 

[theloneranger]

The 135 paychecks... is that weekly, beweekly or monthly?
A big difference in the ET to FIRE.

 

[sgeeeee]

I really did like engineering when I first got involved in it. I studied electrical engineering because I enjoyed it, not because I wanted to be paid to do it. Of course, I did have to make money somehow. I had forgotten why I had enjoyed engineering by the time I started my transitional retirement , but I did find it again before I retired comletely. I really can't do the kind of engineering work I did without having a job. It would cost me over $2M in lab equipment and software to do it on my own. I did get a sense of satisfaction from solving difficult problems. I can get that in other ways and eventually the absolute control over my own schedule was worth more to me than the engineering.

I recently did some research on why some people missed their jobs after retirement. I found a number of surveys and articles on the subject. I provide the following descriptions without applying a value judgement to the reasons. In some cases, I think I understand the sentiment, in others I think that these people are the very people I wanted to avoid in the workplace.

To some, a job provides not just money but lifestyle, self-image, purpose and friendships. A job can also be a means of personal fulfillment and creative expression. . .

The most common motivators people gain from their jobs relate to self worth or self-improvement. Many people enjoy feeling creative. They like feeling that they make a difference and feel good when they find solutions to problems. Intellectual stimulation contributes to their own feelings of accomplishment. . .

Friendship and interactions with other people is a second important motivator that many find in the workplace. Many people value friendship highly and gain satisfaction from feeling they “belong”. They enjoy camaraderie with colleagues even if the most common shared experience is complaining about work. . .

Some people cite a need to wield power as an important driver that is fulfilled in the workplace. The need to be competitive, to be an authority figure, to mentor others, or to be a leader are closely related drivers. . .

I think you are smart to think about what you might be getting out of work other than a paycheck. If the answer is "nothing" then you are set to retire. All of the things I found discussed in surveys and articles can be found in other places -- volunteer activities, clubs, etc. If there is anything about your job that motivates you, you can think about how to replace that before you retire.