A Sunday Night Text Message

[ExFlyBoy5]

As some of you may recall, I took on a couple of paid legal projects last year due to what I am calling "COVID boredom." They were great reminders that w*rking is bull squeeze and I don't like it, so I won't be doing that again. Live and learn, right? The FIRE life is where it's at, done and done.

On occasion (as in almost daily!) I get emails from head hunters trying to recruit me for upcoming projects. I block them as they come in, but once you are "in the system" and do a decent j*b, apparently it's almost impossible to get out of the head hunter system. The emails don't bug me too much...but...

Last night (Sunday, around 7:30 pm) I got a text message from one of the VERY persistent head hunters asking if I got her email about a project. Really? A text? On a Sunday night? My response was blunt, so I am fairly confident that I won't hear from her again.

Perhaps it sounds as though I am complaining but really I'm not. It's great to be able to say "NO!!!" and not have to worry about where my next dollar is coming from. And it's also nice that if the worst thing about my Sunday is a pesky text message, then my life is A-OK.

Happy Monday, everyone!

 

[Major Tom]

The good news is that, at some point, the offers will stop coming. People will gradually get the message. After a while, a new breed of younger employees will begin to occupy the decision-making positions. These people won't know who you are, and you will have achieved true workplace irrelevance. A lofty goal indeed. Welcome to permanent and lifelong retirement!

 

[tulak]

This could be a smart move on the recruiter’s part. Send text messages Sunday night, when people might be dreading going back to work on Monday. What better time to make you think the grass is greener elsewhere?

I wouldn’t be surprised if this is covered in recruiting 101.

 

[Sojourner]

It's great to be able to say "NO!!!" and not have to worry about where my next dollar is coming from. And it's also nice that if the worst thing about my Sunday is a pesky text message, then my life is A-OK.

I couldn't agree more. I recently turned down a small consulting gig, simply because it didn't seem all that interesting or exciting to me and the money (around $300) just wasn't enough to get me up off the sofa. I thought to myself, "This is just not worth my time or brain-space!" and quickly said thanks but no thanks. And it felt good.

It is indeed a satisfying feeling knowing that you can turn down easy, unsolicited work simply because you can and have no regrets doing so.

 

[Dtail]

I still get interest from recruiters 3.5 years into retirement.
Where were they in the 15 months I was searching for work after volunteering for a package?
Screw them.

 

[street]

Reading that gave me the chills. In my career job those calls/texts were an everyday and any time of day, all year long and happened all the time. That is why today, even after 5 years away from that constant open work procedure that was required for my job, i don't like talking on a phone. It brings back the stress related to your Sunday night text.

I wouldn't go back to that schedule, no matter how much was on the table. I know I can sleep all night now, not get bothered when I'm fishing, hunting or bothered while being at home or on vacation.

 

[Bigdawg]

what was your reply? Were there curse words involved? Inquiring minds want to know. LOL

 

[Markola]

Ha. I do not miss that rude noise.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Back in the before-FIRE times I had a project manager who loved to send a flurry of emails on Sunday night demanding immediate action. Like I could (or would) do anything with it before Monday morning. Just thinking of it gets me started.

I've avoided headhunters but I ran into an old boss on the street downtown one day. He asked if I was "bored enough yet" and would consider coming back. It was all I could do to keep from laughing in his face, which I didn't want to do since I really liked the guy.

"Just say 'no!'"

 

[MRG]

Sunday night text generally means I wasn't sleeping. I wouldn't have received that well.

 

[street]

Back in the before-FIRE times I had a project manager who loved to send a flurry of emails on Sunday night demanding immediate action. Like I could (or would) do anything with it before Monday morning. Just thinking of it gets me started.

I've avoided headhunters but I ran into an old boss on the street downtown one day. He asked if I was "bored enough yet" and would consider coming back. It was all I could do to keep from laughing in his face, which I didn't want to do since I really liked the guy.

"Just say 'no!'"

CEO would do that also on a Sunday evening, ohhhh I really disliked that more then anything. I need to stop reading any more of this thread just hitting to many old memories. Lol

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

what was your reply? Were there curse words involved? Inquiring minds want to know. LOL

Verbatim: "As I have mentioned repeatedly, I am not looking for w*rk now nor in the foreseeable future. I have asked over and over for you to remove me from your email lists yet you continue your incessant barrage of emails. Your text on a SUNDAY night is beyond repugnant."

I did not get a response.

The best news is that this message was sent to a phone # that I have "parked" with a service so I have turned off the forwarding feature, so I won't get calls/texts from it anymore.

 

[mystang52]

Within just a few weeks of my ER I got an email from a headhunter for a very exciting sounding j*b. Being so newly retired, I had a Pavlovian gleeful reaction. Then I remembered I was retired, and the reasons I was retired. That glee over a possible employment dissipated really fast!

 

[Chuckanut]

These people won't know who you are, and you will have achieved true workplace irrelevance. A lofty goal indeed.

+1 Indeed!!!

In the words of Dilbert's coworker Wally - "My career goal is to work myself into a position where I have no effect on anything."

 

[Chuckanut]

It is indeed a satisfying feeling knowing that you can turn down easy, unsolicited work simply because you can and have no regrets doing so.

In the words of Elspeth Huxley

"I want to do nothing because my father says doing nothing is the most expensive thing in the world."

Sometimes, it's nice to do the most expensive thing in the world.

 

[unclemick]

After 27 years of ER I no longer exist!

Just a ghost who posts on a forum.

Heh heh heh - and brags about watching grass grow. Memory says temp/jobshopper solicitations lasted only a couple years.

 

[ls99]

Verbatim: "As I have mentioned repeatedly, I am not looking for w*rk now nor in the foreseeable future. I have asked over and over for you to remove me from your email lists yet you continue your incessant barrage of emails. Your text on a SUNDAY night is beyond repugnant."

I did not get a response.

The best news is that this message was sent to a phone # that I have "parked" with a service so I have turned off the forwarding feature, so I won't get calls/texts from it anymore.

Can always resurrect the WW2 expression: How about a nice cup of STFU.

 

[friar1610]

The good news is that, at some point, the offers will stop coming. People will gradually get the message. After a while, a new breed of younger employees will begin to occupy the decision-making positions. These people won't know who you are, and you will have achieved true workplace irrelevance. A lofty goal indeed. Welcome to permanent and lifelong retirement!

I love this term and am proud to say I achieved it long ago.

 

[Markola]

+1 Indeed!!!

In the words of Dilbert's coworker Wally - "My career goal is to work myself into a position where I have no effect on anything."

“Director of Special Projects” was the aspiration of the OMYers at a large organization I once worked for.

 

[target2019]

"Hey, honey. Why are you texting my husband on my cell?"

 

[Markola]

OP, I wonder if there’s an app that would let you delay your reply until 3 a.m.? There should be.

 

[street]

OP, I wonder if there’s an app that would let you delay your reply until 3 a.m.? There should be.

I like that!

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

OP, I wonder if there’s an app that would let you delay your reply until 3 a.m.? There should be.

That's a good idea! I am up that early/late on occasion anyway.

 

[rick55]

Im at a point where I would not want to work for anyone who would have me as an employee.