Break's over; back on your head...

HFWR · 05-12-2008, 03:52 PM

Well, I just received an offer to go back to w-w-work, so in a few weeks my experiment in FIRE will be over. I'll be technicianing in a university research lab, 8-5 dayshift schedule, with only a "slight" cut in pay from megaconglomocorp, and a Vanguard option for the 403b. I'm kinda, sorta looking forward to it. If the market gods are reasonably cooperative, I'll being FIREing for real in a few "short" years.

bbbamI · 05-12-2008, 03:55 PM

Congratulations HFWR...thanks for sharing the news with us.

**Want2retire** · 05-12-2008, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFWR

Well, I just received an offer to go back to w-w-work, so in a few weeks my experiment in FIRE will be over. I'll be technicianing in a university research lab, 8-5 dayshift schedule, with only a "slight" cut in pay from megaconglomocorp, and a Vanguard option for the 403b. I'm kinda, sorta looking forward to it. If the market gods are reasonably cooperative, I'll being FIREing for real in a few "short" years.

That doesn't sound half bad, as j*bs go. (Not that I am personally that enthusiastic about jobs of any kind lately.) But anyway, it sure sounds a lot better than most. congratulations!

maddythebeagle · 05-12-2008, 04:21 PM

great news...I am sure that your posting time will increase now

HFWR · 05-12-2008, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maddythebeagle

great news...I am sure that your posting time will increase now

Though less than when I was working 12-hr shifts...

HFWR · 05-12-2008, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Want2retire

That doesn't sound half bad, as j*bs go. (Not that I am personally that enthusiastic about jobs of any kind lately.) But anyway, it sure sounds a lot better than most. congratulations!

I haven't had any problem with "whattaya do all day", that's for sure. But all-in-all, it's working out great for me. The commute is short, and there are no meetings, no cellphones, no Powerpoint presentations... My severence pay ends the middle of June, so I'll be back to work about when that runs out. Plus, old j*b still owes me two months of cashed out vacation time. I must be living right...

REWahoo · 05-12-2008, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFWR

I must be living right...

Just how strong is that Kool-Aid?

**Want2retire** · 05-12-2008, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFWR

there are no meetings, no cellphones, no Powerpoint presentations...

You gotta be high! There are jobs like that?

Seriously, that, plus the 40-hour weeks sounds wonderful.

youbet · 05-12-2008, 05:24 PM

HFWR,

I was wondering how the job hunt was going but was too polite to ask. Congrats on digging up something that sounds tolerable! Will you be dealing with co-eds?

HFWR · 05-12-2008, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by youbet

HFWR,

I was wondering how the job hunt was going but was too polite to ask. Congrats on digging up something that sounds tolerable! Will you be dealing with co-eds?

This job just kind of fell in my lap. I got ~~some spam~~ an email from an ex-cow-orker, addressed to everybody and his mother. I replied with a link to snopes pointing out that the email was, ahem, inaccurate. Another ex-cow-orker (and occasional party buddy) noticed my reply, and sent his own reply, which happened to mention this job opening. As luck would have it, two retirees from megaconglomocorp went to work there when they couldn't think of anything else to do in retirement...

So, I had some inside help.

I haven't been really been looking, doing just enough to keep the unemployment office happy. In fact, I was scheming, in my pea-sized brain, just how cheap bastardly I could be, to avoid ever going back. Alas, even I'm not that cheap...

bow-tie · 05-13-2008, 11:43 AM

Congrats on the jobby-job HFWR. Just don't forget that there's a great big world out there where you can do whatever you want all day.

ls99 · 05-13-2008, 12:26 PM

Working in a university setting can be fun. I have some (~ 14 yrs) experience working in the earth science labs, seismology to be specific. Lots of oddball experiments, traveled to interesting an terribly isolated places.

After I left, never again had exposure to really academically smart people. Worked for and with many who held PHd some who had two of them.
All were hard sciences, Mostly physics, geology, next door, marine biologists, they did not have much use for sociology etc. However, would debate it endlessly.

Though you must remember the progression of degrees, BS MS( more of it) PHd (piled higher and deeper)(think stuff, brown warm and mushy). There was the one oddball physicist, if you told him a joke, you had to preface it by telling him it was a joke, else he saw it as a problem to solve and actually would try.

Also recall a brilliant but screwy grad student, who went for the oral defense of his thesis, wearing a white T shirt with a necktie painted on it using magic marker, a ragged pair of pants and holy sneakers. He is now a respected member of the of scientific community, a professor.

I used to say there:never a dull moment. It is much easier to handle the environment if you don't need the j*b.

Good luck.

Nords · 05-13-2008, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFWR

This job just kind of fell in my lap.
I haven't been really been looking, doing just enough to keep the unemployment office happy. In fact, I was scheming, in my pea-sized brain, just how cheap bastardly I could be, to avoid ever going back. Alas, even I'm not that cheap...

I have to admit that your enthusiasm for returning to the workplace is just a tad underwhelming. You haven't even started yet and your BS bucket is almost full!

You'll have to make sure that you fully avail yourself of the medical insurance and the tax-deferred compensation before management gets any bright ideas about how else you could demonstrate what a team player you are. Hey, you might even need to pursue a cheap graduate degree-- "Sorry, boss, I'd love to help but I have to go to class at 5:30."

Or maybe they'll sense your lack of patience for "corporate climbing" and just leave you alone...

HFWR · 05-13-2008, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords

I have to admit that your enthusiasm for returning to the workplace is just a tad underwhelming. You haven't even started yet and your BS bucket is almost full!

You sensed that, huh?

My BS bucket was overflowing from 25 yrs in a corporate setting...

I just couldn't make retiring on $500k work this far away from early SS...

Quote:

You'll have to make sure that you fully avail yourself of the medical insurance and the tax-deferred compensation before management gets any bright ideas about how else you could demonstrate what a team player you are. Hey, you might even need to pursue a cheap graduate degree-- "Sorry, boss, I'd love to help but I have to go to class at 5:30."

I haven't seen all the details of the perks yet. I do know it takes five years to be fully vested in the "retirement plan", which, by happenstance, would take me to age 59. Plus, I have heavily subsidized health insurance as a "retiree" from my last employer, though it never hurts to have more options.

Quote:

Or maybe they'll sense your lack of patience for "corporate climbing" and just leave you alone...

The good thing about this j*b is that there's no corporate ladder to climb...

Notmuchlonger · 05-13-2008, 02:52 PM

"I just couldn't make retiring on $500k work this far away from early SS"

So that head to Vegas and slap it on black didn't appeal to you?

05-12-2008, 03:52 PM	#1
HFWR Thinks s/he gets paid by the post Join Date: May 2005 Location: DFW Posts: 4,683	Break's over; back on your head... Well, I just received an offer to go back to w-w-work, so in a few weeks my experiment in FIRE will be over. I'll be technicianing in a university research lab, 8-5 dayshift schedule, with only a "slight" cut in pay from megaconglomocorp, and a Vanguard option for the 403b. I'm kinda, sorta looking forward to it. If the market gods are reasonably cooperative, I'll being FIREing for real in a few "short" years. __________________ Have Funds, Will Retire

05-12-2008, 03:55 PM	#2
bbbamI Thinks s/he gets paid by the post Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Dallas Posts: 1,012	Congratulations HFWR...thanks for sharing the news with us. __________________ *bewitched..bothered..bewildered am I* Last edited by bbbamI; 05-12-2008 at 04:13 PM.

05-12-2008, 04:21 PM	#4
maddythebeagle Thinks s/he gets paid by the post Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 2,373	great news...I am sure that your posting time will increase now __________________ - Consider this a virtual slap in the face by my glove and a challenge to a duel!

05-12-2008, 05:24 PM	#9
youbet Thinks s/he gets paid by the post Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 3,404	HFWR, I was wondering how the job hunt was going but was too polite to ask. Congrats on digging up something that sounds tolerable! Will you be dealing with co-eds? __________________ Over all was the silence of the wilderness - Sigurd Olsen

05-13-2008, 11:43 AM	#11
bow-tie Full time employment: Posting here. Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 597	Congrats on the jobby-job HFWR. Just don't forget that there's a great big world out there where you can do whatever you want all day. __________________ Diggin' my way to financial freedom, one buck-at-a-time

05-13-2008, 12:26 PM	#12
ls99 Recycles dryer sheets Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 190	Working in a university setting can be fun. I have some (~ 14 yrs) experience working in the earth science labs, seismology to be specific. Lots of oddball experiments, traveled to interesting an terribly isolated places. After I left, never again had exposure to really academically smart people. Worked for and with many who held PHd some who had two of them. All were hard sciences, Mostly physics, geology, next door, marine biologists, they did not have much use for sociology etc. However, would debate it endlessly. Though you must remember the progression of degrees, BS MS( more of it) PHd (piled higher and deeper)(think stuff, brown warm and mushy). There was the one oddball physicist, if you told him a joke, you had to preface it by telling him it was a joke, else he saw it as a problem to solve and actually would try. Also recall a brilliant but screwy grad student, who went for the oral defense of his thesis, wearing a white T shirt with a necktie painted on it using magic marker, a ragged pair of pants and holy sneakers. He is now a respected member of the of scientific community, a professor. I used to say there:never a dull moment. It is much easier to handle the environment if you don't need the j*b. Good luck. __________________ There must be moderation in everything, including moderation.

05-13-2008, 02:52 PM	#15
Notmuchlonger Thinks s/he gets paid by the post Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 1,820	"I just couldn't make retiring on $500k work this far away from early SS" So that head to Vegas and slap it on black didn't appeal to you? __________________ start your day with a smile! :)

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