nothing when I retired

[albireo13]

I retired back in Sept 2020.
I was so pumped and right in the middle of covid.

I ended up having a few people around the coffee machine in masks bidding me well.
That was after 35 yrs at the company, same site.
That's it.

No follow up. No nothing.

I don't expect a lot but, after all that time in the company I was underwhelmed by the response. No card, no gift ...

I can't help but to internalize it and feel that I was not the best employee, best teammate, etc.

Part of it was due to Covid circumstances but, still ....

Anyway, just grousing .. part of processing the change.
It reinforces the feeling that I spent way too much energy and time on my dumb a$$ job than on spending that time with family.

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

It may be little consolation...but at least now, you realize you spent too much time and energy on your job instead of with your family.

I'd rather learn it now, than never.

 

[Gumby]

Important life lesson -- Work will never love you back.

 

[bingybear]

I've had a mixed bag. Some like you you and some vary different. Now and then we get together for lunch and and catching up.

learn what is real and adapt.

 

[RunningBum]

Yeah, it's a little sad, but it shows where loyalty lies--with yourself. Anyone who feels they owe their company anything should read this. My story is pretty similar. I'm not at all bitter, it's just the way things are.

 

[ugeauxgirl]

Same happened to me. I retired March 2020, covid shut everything down and I never even got to tell many of my colleagues. Everyone started working from home. I wonder if they even know I'm gone. Or care. Whatever. Retirement is awesome and it was worth the lack of send-off.

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

Yeah when I left my company there wasn't much reaction. There has been very, very little contact from anyone at my old job since I left, and nothing in the last 5 years.

I have moved on, and I think the company and its employees moved on as well. Such is life. In my case I wanted it this way, I wanted to get away and not look back. For those who still want connections with their old job and no longer work there, it will be tough, very tough to keep that connection going. You have fallen out of their orbit.

 

[Markola]

OP, that really sucks.

 

[rodi]

I had 20 years with the same company when I retired. We met at a Green Flash brewing tasting room after - literally across the street and 1/2 a block away... very walkable. 5 people showed up. I bought them beers. This is *waaaay* pre-pandemic.

As Gumby said - Work will never love you back.

I'm still friends and in semi-regular contact with 3 or 4 coworkers... Another 5 or 6 that pop on my radar about once a year... when one of my good friend/former coworkers throws a party.... But that's it. That's ok by me.

 

[yhoomajor]

That is sad indeed, after 35 years and all they did was some chat around coffee machine. Inexcusable, even in covid times. If there was a manager, it was his/her job to arrange a basic farewell.

If its any consolation, even when there is a more fancy farewell, its all cosmetic and plastic. People don't really care about person leaving. Its more about having a good time during that time-slot.

 

[Ready]

The send off party is to make the remaining employees think the company cares about them. They don’t care about the employee who is leaving.

 

[triangle]

Yeah, so many CEOs and their management teams go to great lengths to express how much we value our employees, they are just like family, blah blah blah. Our employees are our strength, etc. But when you are no longer an employee it is like you no longer exist, no reason to talk to you again. In truth most people are too busy with work and their personal lives to stay in contact, unless you were a very good friend.

 

[steady saver]

That DOES suck. I'm sorry.

For what it's worth, when DH retired end of September, the company allotted him $$ for him to plan/throw his own retirement party instead of doing it for him. I took great pains to find an outdoor venue at a park (not our first pick...), cut the invite list WAY down, sent a note including all the caveats about social distancing and mask wearing (I was nervous about even having a send off - we literally had enough tables so only two people had to sit at a table normally for 8). Less than a week before the party, the company informed DH that he could only invite non-employees (I'm sure b/c they didn't want any liability). Well guess what? All of the guests were retirees or current employees of the company. So he had to officially un-invite guests who were still employed by the company. They graciously ignored the legalese and showed up anyway. It wasn't the kind of retirement party I'd ever in a million years imagine, but we had a good time despite the insensitive message from the company. And, hey, it's over!! New life, new opportunities.

I'm sure sorry that you had a crummy send-off but you don't work for them anymore so they don't deserve to take up real estate in your mind...what's the saying?..."don't let yesterday take up too much of today"

And CONGRATULATIONS!!!! 35 years is a huge thing to be proud of. Now, go forth and enjoy your well-earned next chapter. Woo hoo!!!!!

 

[RobbieB]

Ain't you glad to be gone?

 

[Winemaker]

Never had a send off either after 35 years.

 

[travelover]

Put your thumb in a glass of water, then withdraw it. The hole left is how much we can expect to be missed.

 

[FlaGator]

I was significantly helped by a few co-workers, and made the careers of many more. Six years after leaving, talk to only a few of them once a year or so. Even those looking for a recommendation or career advice stopped contacting me a few years back.

I still miss the regular interaction with some of the smartest, most interesting people I've ever known. Don't know if they miss it. After all this time, I expect I'm just a memory, maybe good, probably mixed. Same here. Have plenty to do now, and I'm not going back.

As others have said, part of the employment game. Unfortunate that so many of us (including me), put such as high value on the j*b for as many years as we have.

 

[RetireeRobert]

When I retired 21 years ago, my office did have a 20 minute get together in the office. They even got a cake, and also a Best Wishes Congratulations on Retirement card, and most in the office signed it. And the big big boss state official issued a certificate of appreciation with my name imprinted thanking me for my years of service. From what I read here of others, I guess I was lucky.

But one thing I also remember about that was a frenemy of mine in the office, who had his nose out of kilt from a comment I had made a few years before, refused to come to the going away party or sign the card. His absence was noted by a few coworkers. But then he went to coffee with me and one other guy at afternoon coffee break before I slipped away forever. And got in a verbal kick at me before I left. The other guy and I who were best friends laughed about it later. But I, and others, always thought how sad for my frenemy. This same frenemy was a bachelor, and some years later in his mid-sixties after he retired, he developed a health problem that was manageable, but seemed he did not want to manage it. He sent his brother and another acquaintance each a $10,000 check. They wondered why and went to his home to check on him. They found him, deceased. Questions about how one lives one's life resonated with me after thinking about that frenemy, and about others, and how I was living my life. Retirement party, though I was glad I got one and better than a kick in the shin, was but a mere blip in a fraction of time.

 

[wmackey]

I left last July. Boss came by the house with a nice bottle of Irish Whiskey (Jameson 18). I still have a few friends from work that I stay in touch with and meet with a few times a year. Honestly, feels about right. The folks I'm still in touch with are the ones I want to be in touch with.

 

[tmm99]

Yeah Covid has a lot to do with it. I hope you don't feel bad for too long. I only had like one person I really cared about at wo*k. My boss put together a department lunch and everyone in administrative departments came down to say bye at the lobby, but it was just for a show.

I gotta tell you this story. On my last day at wor*k, around 4PM (about 6 years ago), a director from another department came to my cube, all grumpy, saying his email wasn't working, and he really needed to retrieve some important stuff. (I was an IT infrastructure manager.) I told him that it was my last day and I needed to go to an HR's exit interview in 5 minutes, so he would have to find someone else. And you know what? He wasn't happy with my response! He looked so displeased! Not even a small courtesy chat like oh , I didn't know! or hey, good for you! No farewell, no nothing. He just kept on complaining about his email system, saying he really needed it resolved right away. It made my blood boil. Stuff like that solidified my resolve even more. It made me so happy that I no longer had to answer to him or anybody else.

 

[RobbieB]

I left long before covid and it was a good thing too. Otherwise I wouldn't have gotten that free lunch!

 

[prudent_one]

My dad had worked almost 40 years at the same company. When he retired, his manager asked my dad about having a big sendoff (at that company, it meant a sheet cake and some gifts, emailing all 500 people about it, then setting up shop in the cafeteria at 1 PM for people in the company to stop by and wish the retiree well).

My dad is a low-key guy and said he wanted no parts of that. So his manager said look, they are going to do something , how about a small thing with just his department of 20 people? My dad said do what you want.

On the fateful day, the group gathered in a conference room with cake at the appointed time, all except my dad who had gone home, for the last time, already. The next day his manager called him at home and asked why he ditched his own retirement sendoff.

My dad said, "You said you wanted to do something. I didn't." He just couldn't stand the thought of people fussing over him, so he snuck out of his own retirement celebration.

 

[DrRoy]

Been there. I RE'd from Megacorp in March, 2017. There was an event planned, but when it got pushed for a big customer problem they never rescheduled. On my last day I just walked out and that was it. Almost 37 years.

 

[marko]

[-][/-]As a beloved reverend who was being transferred to another parish once told me:
"When you leave, 10 percent of the people will be sad to see you go, 10 percent will be happy to see you go and 80 percent just won't give a damn either way"

In my case the company was sold. I was to receive [-]a hefty[/-] an obscenely large payout while many people were going to be out of a job, so a "thanks for 34 years" party would've been--shall we say--'inappropriate'.

We were living in France at the time, so we went down to Cannes for a long weekend and DW threw a "party for two" at a nice restaurant. The 'long weekend' continues.......

I did receive (and still do to this day) dozens of emails and calls from former employees to thank me and/or reminisce about the old days.

 

[albireo13]

Well, I did get a free cup of Megacorp coffee on the last day!!
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