Retirement Bonus...Leaving bad people behind

[Blue Collar Guy]

I miss my old work gang terribly. The problem was i was the last man standing already. I went to a 30 year reunion with the old gang. All white hair, bald, round bellies, too many were already gone , i made a toast that if work was still like this i would have never left, but my generation was all but gone. I left that Reunion very melancholy.

[ABQ2015]

Although I've worked in the same location for my 30 year plus career, my co-workers tended to change every five years due to transfers to another organization or major reorganizations. About half the time, the groups were toxic and I was glad to leave them behind. There were also many older retired in place employees and other parasites who increased the work load for others and thankfully, they are now mostly gone and we have hired some good replacements.

My current co-workers are a great bunch and I will miss them. We used to have an "alumni" organization but it has been disbanded. Otherwise I would join it. My co-workers are primarily married men with families and I'm a single female so we don't hang out but I would like to keep in touch with a few of them.

[Onward]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 I really don't have any memories of work people that were hard to deal with or "toxic"

And what planet are you from?

[Scuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamaman Now if I could rid myself of the malcontents, gossipers, hypochondriacs, smoozers, parasites we call my family.

[emoji23]

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Onward And what planet are you from?

I was with a small, but very successful consulting firm of industry-experienced engineers. We worked exclusively for industry (absolutely refused any government work). We started the business in 1985 with a handful of partners. To this day, three of six partners have retired and there have been less than 10 newcomers (very selectively picked).

In companies like this, you eat what you kill and the firm MUST build a solid client base or it dies quickly. This is very different than the vast numbers of people here who were in IT and wrote code in a cubicle all day in a big firm or were working for a government agency that has no concept of business fundamentals.

[GravitySucks]

I worked with mostly very good very smart men and women.
Don't miss the asshats running HR though.

[truenorth418]

As I look back over my 25 years in business with various companies, I recall maybe a dozen very nice people who helped me, gave me a chance, took a risk on promoting me, helped me get packaged out when I wanted it.

But, yeah, many of the people I encountered were just downright mean.

[CaptTom]

A little different story here. The small (1,000 or so employees) unit I w*rked at was bought by a succession of MegaCorps. But the core group started there in the early to mid 80's (1980, for me.) The ones who lasted are all good people. The ones who weren't, either were weeded out or changed to fit the norm.

As we all age out of the system, most are keeping in touch. I may even have to finally sign up with Facebook to join the "alumni" group, which is active there.

I consider it an honor to have worked such a long career with such great people. I know it's a rare gift. I may be in the last generation which gets to experience something like that, as MegaCorps have no loyalty to employees, and vice-versa.

[Fedup]

I don't miss anybody but I don't think they are all bad. They are people just like the people we meet outside of work, some are moochers, some are mean, some are petty, some are just doing their job and probably wish they don't have to be there. People are imperfect. Simple.

[Mdlerth]

At my Megacorp 90% of my co-workers are fine.
90% of the managers have a warm future.

[street]

I worked with great people but never really done much with them outside of work. Being around the same people for so many years I didn't care to be around them out side from work.

I don't miss the politics and all the others things that goes along with upper management.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I am a malcontent. Happy to have been or be (back working-class for a while) a contractor.

[mystang52]

Occasionally my old w*rk comes up in conversation. I guess it's human nature but invariably the talk concerns the negative, which in turn brings back memories of some of those toxic people. I have to confess at that point I might get worked up a bit. However, 5 minutes later it's all forgotten and I'm back to being a happily ER'd bum.

[athena53]

As I said in an earlier post, I liked most of the people I worked with and found the business interesting.

BUT... last week I was at the local corporate athletic competition, where I'm on the team as a retiree of a previous employer (not my last employer, but I can be on the team because I'm no longer employed by anyone). I had a long conversation with a guy who's getting really concerned about his future there; we discussed the GlassDoor.com reviews which confirmed what I'd seen: most of the power and all of the cool jobs are in the European HQ and the Westchester County, NY offices and jobs are dwindling here in the hinterlands.

That night I had a nightmare that I was at a new job in Columbus, Ohio (why Columbus?) and I couldn't find my way there, got lost in the building, wasn't sure what my job duties were... classic anxiety dream! SO happy to wake up and remember I was retired.

The good news: I racked up beaucoup points in the 1/4-mile and mile runs. You get extra points if you place in the top 3 in your age group and company size class. I was the only one in that age group/company size class in the mile run. I keep saying that women in my age group (I'm 64) are their secret weapon!

[Out of Steam]

I'm still working (just over 2 years left), and most of the people I was close to have retired or left. I basically like my immediate supervisor, and there's a couple of the long-term folks left.

Now that one bad boss has moved on, I don't feel strongly about my co-workers one way or the other. Just have the feeling that I'm detaching from my job.

[target2019]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redbugdave I have been retired a little over three years now...the Class of 2014. I am still constantly aware of how great it is to not have all those bad people from work in my life anymore. You know the type...the malcontents, gossipers, hypochondriacs, smoozers, parasites, and such. I no longer have those bad people in my life! That's one of the best things about being retired. I am now surrounded by people of my own choosing all the time and it is really nice. Now, every day is a sunny day! Have you guys noticed that after being retired, too?

I understand the intent of your post. Most really bad people are not in the workplace since they are out stealing, murdering, and so on. By bad people, you mean those who don't play well with others.

About 4 years ago I was laid off from a job where most behaved badly because of the downsizing pressure. Didn't miss a single thing, except paycheck. I replaced most of that with independent contacting. However, I went back to work, when a fine offer came through. It took a awhile, but I eventually had to work with someone who did as they wanted, rather than following protocol and plan. After a tough month, I found a way to leave the project, and the first week after was an incredible improvement.

[mamadogmamacat]

I liked most of the people at all of my jobs, even the last one where i was for 25 yrs. Perhaps having a rather quirky extended family plus as I aged in experience gaining a better understanding of human weaknesses, including my own, it was easier to take the bad actions/words that sometimes happened, especially from managers who had rather pathetic understanding of people and how to motivate them and manage people issues. Still, seeing (and hearing about it too even now as I remain in contact with many former co-workers) how such frankly incompetence and pettiness limited careers and caused much unhappiness is sad. it helps a lot that I could both then and now know I did not have to live with these people. Realistically, though, unless one is a total introvert living a hermit's life, we find such issues in our social and volunteer activities even in retirement.

[Koolau]

Going back that far, I can only think of a couple of really toxic folks I had to deal with. There were plenty that I had limited respect for or that i would not have desired to socialize with, but "hate" or even "dislike" wasn't a factor with the occasional exception. I guess that's a good thing to think on at this point in my ER (12 years in). Time and distance may be a factor, but I really think it was my assumption that most folks are okay (maybe not great, maybe not wonderful, maybe not friends - but okay.) YMMV

[brucethebroker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redbugdave I have been retired a little over three years now...the Class of 2014. I am still constantly aware of how great it is to not have all those bad people from work in my life anymore. You know the type...the malcontents, gossipers, hypochondriacs, smoozers, parasites, and such. I no longer have those bad people in my life!

You mean the bosses, right? Yeah, don't miss THOSE guys!

[target2019]

People at work have similar commutes, homes, families, and so on. They react to pressure environment changes.

We had a reorg about 2-3 months ago. As it plays out, I can see it has impact on many around me. It's a small company, so reorg probably means 1 out 3 faces are new. That has impact on daily work for most.

One result is that I ended up in a small group with no manager! Sounds great, but I have to skip level to get time approved, request time off (very frequent occurrence for me, lol). Boss is real professional, but I've noticed he's leaving earlier, shutting door more often, and just not the same, friendly guy.

Customer is not getting response from him, so they ask me to ask him about a contract, extending it, increasing it. This is a good thing, I think. So I get to boss early in the day, ask the questions, and get an unexpected bark back. He tells me to talk to another high-level manager. Amazingly enough, she gives me a non-answer, and tells me to let customer know it is their problem.

I was actually smiling through this ten minutes. I knew that the reorg was causing a lot of unexpected angst. My boss actually came to me and apologized for his behavior.

They are not bad bosses, just caught in a plan to fix problems that don't exist.