W*rk nightmares (dream)

[MRG]

I remember very few of my dreams. I've read you always dream just don't always remember them. Last one I remember was 2-3 years ago.

I retired almost two years ago, stay in touch with some people that I enjoy, but w*rk is a distant memory. No hard feelings, I remember some fond memories but it's all in the past.

This morning I awoke in a panic, I had a vivid nightmare that I was back a Megacorp w*rking. This was very realistic with the right people, buildings, and offices. The subject was lifelike, a project two years late, it had to be done in two weeks. One of my team members was assigned, and done, but other areas failed to meet their due dates.

Then it got weird, me being escorted by the HR director to various directors, VPs, even the CIO's office to tell my side of what went wrong. Nothing like that had ever happened in real life, we just did the normal post project reviews. In the dream it was a witch hunt, I woke up fearing my team member or I would be terminated.

I've read that it's common for folks in substance recovery to have dreams of going back out, and feeling remorse for what they did. In a way this dream felt like I imagine that must. I awoke shaking and all panicky as if I had gone backwards and all the feelings of the last 5 horrible w*rking years came back.

My real question is did you every have post retirement nightmares about your prior w*rk life?

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[John Galt III]

Yes. My dream was about being at Megacorp, but with different people. I knew I had a job, but it was a vague assignment. No real deadline, but I could be fired at any time. Spent the whole dream just walking around a Megacorp campus.

 

[Donzo]

I used to shortly after ering. I would be be sitting in a mind numbing meeting thinking , how did I get back here?!
I recently had a nightmare that I was back in college and had no clue what courses I was taking or where they were.....ugh. Waking up was a pleasure!

 

[Amethyst]

Not really a nightmare, since I wasn't scared or angry. Recently, I dreamed I had written up a perfectly lovely periodic project analysis and was all ready to submit it to upper management, when someone came over and said, "Amethyst, have you seen these other 9 monthly stats?" These had to be incorporated into my report. Although I knew it meant a lot of extra work, I sort of shrugged my shoulders and figured I'd better get busy. Then I woke up

Amethyst

 

[travelover]

............Nothing like that had ever happened in real life, we just did the normal post project reviews. In the dream it was a witch hunt, I woke up fearing my team member or I would be terminated.
........

Ironically, something like that did really happen to me, "on my watch", and I got to "explain it" to a VP. Fortunately, I've never dreamed about that particular incident, my w*rk nightmares are more generalized grinding stress of working for an asshat boss.

 

[TuffNuts]

I'm a retired fireman...I constantly dream of missing an alarm and running down the street after the truck! And, when I was in my early 20's I used to wait tables and get hopelessly lost in too much work during the dinner rush, commonly referred to as being, "in the weeds". To this day I still dream of being, "in the weeds".

 

[mystang52]

Wow, what timing! I vividly recall my genuine nightmare from 2 nights ago [no doubt inspired by that post, here, about someone getting a PIP]. I dreamed I was at an offsite seminar, and learned I was about to be laid off. Because I was offsite, I couldn't call anyone for guidance. I distinctly recall the fear, pit in the stomach etc.
....and I've been out of the rat race going on two years.

 

[Midpack]

I've been retired for well over 3 years and had a dream about my old boss/company just last week. He was giving me a bad time, and the dream went on and on, just irritating more than a "nightmare." I can't remember when the last work dream was before that though. I dream about work very, very rarely nowadays, far less than I used to, and I assume it'll end eventually. No biggie.

 

[imoldernu]

Yes... 25 years ago and still dream. Usually involving situations setting up large meetings and coordinating all aspects. Solving one problem, and immediately faced with another. All different problems... speakers, heat, dinner not ready, breakdown meetings out of sync, lighting, heat and whatever else could go wrong. Also, display set ups in McCormicK Place.
None of that was from the later years, but early on, probably made a big impression.

Plus, one going back to my youth maybe age 8, being lost on the streets around Fenway Park, in Boston. Still dream about that.

And one more... Due to make a presentation to the President at 8:30AM... By train from the suburbs to Chicago Office. On the express... looked down... one brown loafer, and one black dress shoe. Aarghh! That happened.

 

[martyp]

I ER'd 4 yrs ago. I had occasional work dreams for the first 2 yrs. Nothing scary. Just depressing.

 

[chilkoot]

I've been ER'd for 2-3 years, after 25 years at Megacorp. I had several workplace dreams shortly after retiring, but they were all at pre-Megacorp workplaces. No horrible scenarios, just regular workdays from 30-40 years back.

 

[W2R]

I remember very few of my dreams. I've read you always dream just don't always remember them. Last one I remember was 2-3 years ago.

I retired almost two years ago, stay in touch with some people that I enjoy, but w*rk is a distant memory. No hard feelings, I remember some fond memories but it's all in the past.

This morning I awoke in a panic, I had a vivid nightmare that I was back a Megacorp w*rking. This was very realistic with the right people, buildings, and offices. The subject was lifelike, a project two years late, it had to be done in two weeks. One of my team members was assigned, and done, but other areas failed to meet their due dates.

Then it got weird, me being escorted by the HR director to various directors, VPs, even the CIO's office to tell my side of what went wrong. Nothing like that had ever happened in real life, we just did the normal post project reviews. In the dream it was a witch hunt, I woke up fearing my team member or I would be terminated.

I've read that it's common for folks in substance recovery to have dreams of going back out, and feeling remorse for what they did. In a way this dream felt like I imagine that must. I awoke shaking and all panicky as if I had gone backwards and all the feelings of the last 5 horrible w*rking years came back.

My real question is did you every have post retirement nightmares about your prior w*rk life?

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Yes, I had one perhaps two or three months ago that had the exact same effect on me as yours had on you. I don't normally dream about work any more at all, so that one really threw me for a loop. I was in an utter panic and was very upset about it for most of the day.

I dream regularly and generally remember my dreams. Almost always they are very pleasant and mundane, mostly just reliving what I did during the day but with some even more pleasant fictional embellishment.

I haven't had another work dream since the one described above, and I don't expect to have one. Something must have triggered it, although I don't know what that could have been.

 

[eytonxav]

No work nightmares since retiring, but plenty of them when I was working, both while sleeping and awake

 

[Tailgate]

Distanced from w*rk by a year, I still frequently dream of the place and people, but no nightmares, just the usual strange or funny moments that generally are pleasant.

 

[easysurfer]

I still have recurring [-]dreams [/-]nightmares. In them, I'm still w*rking away but despite not collecting a paycheck not filling out any time sheets. Sometimes I realize that it's just a nightmare, other times I don't realize until I wake up.

 

[razztazz]

The only nightmares I've had since retiring have involved relatives needing money and, when I was sick, a few dreams about croaking.

Believe it or not sometimes I have some freakishly realistic pleasant, happy, entertaining dreams on a not-too-frequent but recurring basis. And some of them have me back in the workplace. In some I am as I am now, older but in the old surroundings having a wonderful time. In some I am the young-again Mr Know-it-All that everybody loved.

I cannot explain any of this because when I am awake and think back on working it pisses me off and I always wish I had had richer parents and I'm glad I retired young and took the short money and damned the torpedoes.

 

[foxfirev5]

I recently had a nightmare that I was back in college and had no clue what courses I was taking or where they were.....ugh. Waking up was a pleasure!

Sounds very familiar. Only it wasn't a dream it was me in college around 1974.

 

[Ronstar]

I used to have work dreams when I worked. Not work politics - but the work itself. I usually solved work problems in my sleep and later implemented the solutions when I got to work. I haven't had any work dreams since I retired 10 months ago. Now my dreams involve my hobbies. Same thing - generally a problem solving type of thing - how to build something, or what toys/tools I need to do something.

 

[Midpack]

I used to have work dreams when I worked. Not work politics - but the work itself. I usually solved work problems in my sleep and later implemented the solutions when I got to work.

Interesting. I can't remember ever having a work dream involving problem solving, all of mine before/after retiring have been conflicts with people I never 'played well' with - always employees or bosses, never peers that I recall. They always seemed to go in unresolved circles until I woke up.

Don't know what it means, puzzling...

 

[fh2000]

Not retired yet.

My recurring dream has been the one that I can not graduate on time.

30+ years, I was doing one graduate degree and one post-bachelor degree (CS) at the same time. My TA term is finishing, and I absolutely ran out of money. I had to pass all finals and receive both degrees at the same time. I also had to vacate out of student housing before grades were posted.

So, here I was, with all my earthly possessions loaded in my '74 Grand Torino. I drove up to the Math department and asked the secretary if I passed that class, therefore it meant that I could get that CS degree and start the long drive to California looking for jobs.

She couldn't tell me the grade because it was not the time to post yet. I then pointed out my old car outside, and told her the whole story, that if I had a C and above, then I could graduate and start my trip to California. So, you do not need to tell me if I got a C and above, but can you tell me I can drive down to Cali now?

She hesitated, looked at the grade list, and smiled to me. "Congratulations! Drive carefully"

 

[MRG]

I used to have work dreams when I worked. Not work politics - but the work itself. I usually solved work problems in my sleep and later implemented the solutions when I got to work.

I get that, on high stress projects 12-14 hour, 6-7 day weeks, I'd fix bugs in my sleep. I'd keep a notepad next to the bed and scribble down a few notes. I used to joke I'd fixed more bugs in my sleep than while at my desk. Those are most of the dreams I remember from w*rking.

My very best creative problem solving occured in the shower. These weren't simple bug fixes but, never been done before kind of ideas, some of which should have been patents. I'm not smart enough to come up with some of these ideas, they came from somewhere else.


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[friar1610]

I was in the Navy for 28+ years and then worked in private industry for 6-7 years. I never dream about my private industry "career" but sometimes do about the Navy. Generally, they are positive dreams.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

In one dream I was running up five flights of stairs at a previous job very late for a meeting and shaving with an electric razor! Woke up in a bit of a panic!

-BB

 

[EastWest Gal]

No work nightmares that I can recall. Two nights ago I dreamed I was going on a tropical cruise and the social worker at the hospital was on the same cruise. (I like her very much). It was fun.

Always while in college dreamed I had to take a final in a class I forgot to go to the entire semester. Terrifying and recurred all the way through college.

True story: one semester I signed up for college band. Went to the first meeting and realized the music was far too easy, that I would be bored, and that I was too busy anyway. Filled out the paperwork and dropped the class. When I got my grades I got an "A" in the class that I dropped! I never bothered to fix it.


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[athena53]

I had a few dreams about work shortly after ER last year, but my mother told me that her father used to dream of the steel mill after he retired, too!


More common for me have been the "in college and behind on classes" dreams/nightmares. I read an article on them in the WSJ years ago and they're apparently very common even decades after graduation. I can't figure them out; I rarely skipped class, always did the assignments, etc. I enjoyed college and got good grades. In the dreams, I go to class without books, skip class for weeks at a time and then am afraid to return because I've fallen behind, etc.


I just finished a Geology class in which I read everything, attended every class and got an A for the course. Maybe now those dreams will stop!