Will I care?

[Tailgate]

6 weeks to stepping out of the fast lane on to the curb. Running a successful branch of a Megacorp and overseeing about 70 people. Things are winding down for me and am leaving company in good hands transitioning to a good guy who is taking over.

Which brings me to my question to those who have gone before me.... at what point will I stop caring about what's going on at the company? That 'want to know what's happening' and enjoying the action can't be a switch that just flips to off on the first day of FIRE. I'm guess the adjustment period will have ups and downs about losing contact with people that I worked with for so long and that it will depend on how I fill my days. I just wonder how long the adjustment period will last?

What was your experience? Any advice?

 

[2B]

I stopped caring about a year after mega-corp put me on the curb. That was when someone told me my boss was fired for falsifying safety documentation and my bosses boss was terminated for being the useless, incompetent he had always been. Needless to say, I didn't like either of them nor them me which I am sure contributed to my departure..

I still talk with people I used to work with. None of them are still with the company so the old job gossip doesn't happen. I really don't care what happens there anymore unless there would be an incident at one of the facilities I used to work at. I'd worry then about anyone I used to work with and whether my name was on the project that installed the root cause of the incident.

 

[Onward]

I stopped caring about two years prior to retirement.

 

[MichaelB]

My contact continued for quite some time, more than a year. With my employer, because there were a few specific but very real needs only I could satisfy, so I went back at their request. There were also some employees I mentored while employed and that phase out was much more difficult, and took much longer.

What I did find was my ability to contribute declined because I no longer shared the priorities or felt the same compelling needs as when managing the organization.

 

[REWahoo]

It will vary by individual of course, but expect a gradual decline over a period of weeks and months. The speed will vary based on how close you remain in contact with your former work associates and the rate of attrition of those individuals from the firm.

In my case the drop off in interest accelerated quickly when a number of former associates left the company within a few months of my retirement. My interest evaporated after a year when the company merged and was sold.

 

[Gatordoc50]

I still miss many of my patients on a personal level but I stopped caring about the business the second I left.

 

[HFWR]

I was supposed to care?

I guess I cared about them as much as they cared about me...

 

[Donzo]

I was thrilled to be out of the s#&! storm! I was a RM for the NW with megapharma - it was becoming a 60+ hour per week job with all the travel, conference calls and office politics stacked on .... did not miss the "action" at all. I did miss working with a handful of people, and that wonderful company card. I am still in contact with a few even after 7 years - we rarely discuss what is going on at their work anymore.

 

[Lcountz]

Thought about the workplace for about a week after I left...

I don't "keep up" with the place cause.... I DON'T CARE!!!!!

I worked for a large gas utility and they will be in business forever cause in the Northeast one will NEVER be able to live without heat!!!!!

I did think I would miss the people more than I do. I really enjoyed working with most of them, but I really don't ever think about them now....They are still at work, and the one thing I did NOT want to become was one of those retirees who comes in and wants to jaw about "remember when and who and what....."

It all became irrelevant five minutes after my seat was cold.

I LOVE being retired!!!! I am a little surprised that after 34 years that I DONT give a hoot about the place..

But....I thank God my Company provides a generous pension and retiree health carre, matched 6%, paid me SO well, and gave great bonuses for performance every year.

And a Company vehicle for 30+ years that allowed me to save a TON of money.

For that I am truly grateful and thankful.

 

[travelover]

When I was assured I was getting a special early out package, about 4 months before my last day.

 

[48Fire]

Mine was fairly immediate. But I know other retirees that are obsessed with what it is going on. With various forms of communication available and an endless amount of time, they know more about what is going on than I did when I worked.

 

[Surewhitey]

Personally, I keep in contact with a few, but I don't think I really miss it. I feel like finding / making friends is so much more valuable than talking about what happened on Survivor next to the coffee machine. The friends who we found and visit adds so much more to life. We also get to have quality time with the kiddos & helping others.

For example, I've been at DD's new home helping with the remodel and general things on the move in for 2 weeks now. I forfeited my return flight with DW to ride with some nervous Canucks who wanted someone to show them how to drive 37 hrs through Mexico...leaving today for that. Giving is much better than making another mil...

Being rely'd on doesn't even come into mind. Guess I'm a bum at heart.

 

[Brdofpray]

At the conclusion of my last day, DW picked me up, and we drove non stop from Chicago to our new home in the Upstate of South Carolina. When the sun, (metaphorically) rose, it was the dawn of our new life.

I never looked back. I did manage to keep in touch with a few former employees and work friends over the years, not so much due to w*rk, but because they were friends. It was interesting, the ones I thought I would keep up with, dropped off the plate as soon as I left. I guess you find out who your real friends are, and who were maintaining a relationship purely for business sake.

 

[W2R]

I haven't kept in contact with anyone from work, initially due to a huge environmental disaster (the Gulf oil spill of 2010) that occurred shortly after I retired. This was amply covered in the news media, and I have no doubt that this disaster resulted in a sudden avalanche of work and overwork for those in the environmental section where I worked. For this reason I did not contact anyone from my work in 2010-2011. After a year or two that extra work surely died down, but I still have not contacted anyone.

I am lucky, in that I can check on the work being accomplished by the environmental group at my agency just by going to the agency website. I have been retired for 4 years and 4 days, and I guess I check the website every couple of months.

They are doing just fine, despite some shifts in the power structure that make me thank heavens that I [-]escaped[/-] left when I did.

OF COURSE I still care about what they do. But, I don't have to be deeply involved in it at this stage in my life. I have handed the reins over to my very competent co-workers and they are doing just fine. I can (and have) let go.

 

[harley]

I've been FIREd for 7 years, but I've still got contact with some of my old cow erkers through my small side gig. Plus, another erker is one of my best friends, and we talk regularly. However, there's very little said about the job or the company. Mostly personal issues, how's the wife and kids, bitchin' about politics and sports, what about that S&P 500, that type of stuff. I had actually quit caring about the actual company and projects a couple of years before I left. I also keep my reading and knowledge of computer security up, but that's just because it's a personal interest that happened to have been my job for a long time. But as far as waking up and wondering what is going on at the old job, that lasted maybe 2-3 months. And good riddance.

 

[scrabbler1]

How fast you stop caring depends on, IMHO, how much you cared when you were still working there. In my case, I had begun my decline in caring when I switched to working part-time from full-time, putting me in the office far less often. After 7 years of varying part-time work schedules, the last of which had me in the office only 2 dasy a week for 17 months, I ERed. While I have kept in touch with a few coworkers, my interest in doing that faded pretty quickly, maybe 6-12 months.

It took a major event such as Hurricane Sandy to get me to email a few of them to see how they fared both at home, with their commute, and at the office.

 

[easysurfer]

When I officially FIRE'd, I stopped caring.

Yet, every so often, the recurring nightmares still exist

 

[MBAustin]

I expected to be more in touch with people than I have been. I also expected to be asked to come back and consult (based on others who had left before me) and was disappointed (OK - hurt) that I was not asked.

At this point (3 years out) I am Facebook friends with a few ex-colleagues and occasionally get a LinkedIn note from others. I also still take a yoga class at the office, although only a couple of the class members actually work there. The only reason I really care now is that I do have a pension and retiree medical and would like the company to succeed so I keep them!

 

[eytonxav]

I still care about many of my former co-workers, but others not so much. I still meetup every few months with some of the old work friends for dinner or lunch and frequently exchange emails, but as to the the mega-corp as my former workplace, I don't think or care too much about it.

 

[Bigal50]

I stopped caring about two years prior to retirement.

+1

 

[Walt34]

I stayed in touch for several years and still do occasionally. For the most part they are good people and I keep membership in the alumni association (really a "survivor's club") and go to the annual dinner unless there is a schedule conflict.

 

[GT1 Doug]

After leaving megacorp 18 months ago, I still like to hear about what is going on a fairly regular basis (once or twice a month) from some of my friends that still work there. I care in part, due to the fact that I still own stock and they are paying my pension and health benefits. On the other hand, the constant reorganizations have made me all the more thankful that I left. I still occasionally get calls asking for information from some of my former coworkers which I am more than happy to give.

 

[aja8888]

I stopped caring when management said there is no chance a full size bronze statue of me will be placed on the lawn in front of the corporate office.

 

[davemartin88]

Once in a while I think about some of the individuals I worked with but as for the megacorp, I stopped thinking about them about the same time they gave me my layoff notice- it was expected and requested but once it was official, my interest was gone.

 

[traineeinvestor]

I FIRE'd at the end of September but I still care ... for the very pragmatic reason that I get a final pay out in late January which is calculated based on the firm's financial performance for the whole year.

Apart from that, several of the people working there are good friends and I am still doing some unpaid mentoring.