Did some !&%^!!#$% person help you to retire early?

[MissMolly]

Yes. I had been running my department for 22 years after building it up from scratch. From zero loans to 35,000+ loans. From zero staff to 45 people who worked together as a team. From a department that lost money the first couple of years to a department that grossed over $10mm a year. The CEO hires his wife's best friend, demoted my CO, puts her in his place and she proceeds to make my life (and everyone else's) a living hell for the next 8 months until I left. Fortunately, I had reached full retirement and left on the first day I was eligible for my pension. I have never regretted it.

 

[marko]

I had a new President/CEO come on board who felt (needlessly) threatened by my presence; threatened by just about everyone he met actually. He just wanted to get his own bunch of 'yes-men' in place.

So he decided that it was worth a LOT of money (and I mean..A LOT!) to buy out my contract and send me on my way after 33 years with the same company and I ER'd at 52...9 years ago.

I now make it a point to send regular postcards and emails to him (especially when I'm in Florida/Mexico/Carribean and he's driving to work in a snow storm!) just to let him know "how I'm doing".

I've been told by friends inside that he goes nuts every time I send him a 'hello!'...

Seriously, there were several options open to me at the time and taking the ER route turned out the be the absolute best one.

As another poster mentioned, I would've stayed there until I died; really. Instead, I was given this huge opportunity to live a considerably more full life. Fantastic!

 

[Koolau]

Where in the US do you work that you can do this? Almost anyplace in the US is work at will anymore, which means you work at the will of the employer.

[mod edit]

At my Megacorp, apparently.

In my c@reer, I had to terminate two employees for cause. One took full family/medical leave absence (3 months or 6 months, I forget) and then simply did not come back to work. After unreturned phone calls, several letters, more certified letters, the person was finally terminated. The process - after the failure to return from leave (without contact) - was almost 2 months.

You simply would not believe what happened with the second termination - I couldn't make this up, but won't tell it here. As egregious as the behavior was (okay, let's just say alcohol WAS involved - but that's just the tip of the iceberg) the individual sat home with paid leave for almost 2 months before HR would help me deal with it through termination.

By the way, Megacorp was not unionized.

YMMV

 

[ohyes]

You simply would not believe what happened with the second termination - I couldn't make this up, but won't tell it here. As egregious as the behavior was (okay, let's just say alcohol WAS involved - but that's just the tip of the iceberg) the individual sat home with paid leave for almost 2 months before HR would help me deal with it through termination.

I am ashamed to admit this sounds like a fun way to leave my job. Am sorry for you.....yet it sounds like an interesting exit....

 

[pb4uski]

...I've been told by friends inside that he goes nuts every time I send him a 'hello!'......

I think you definitely need to be more outgoing to the guy - keep in touch - don't be a stranger - he sounds like the kid of guy who deserves it.

 

[Walt34]

I think you definitely need to be more outgoing to the guy - keep in touch - don't be a stranger - he sounds like the kid of guy who deserves it.

And don't forget to send pictures. Especially of warm beaches when it's snowing where he is.

 

[REWahoo]

Related to this thread...news we already knew:

Your bullying boss may be slowly killing you

If you spend your workday avoiding an abusive boss, tiptoeing around co-workers who talk behind your back, or eating lunch alone because you've been ostracized from your cubicle mates, you may be the victim of workplace bullying. New research suggests that you're not alone, especially if you're struggling to cope.

Employees with abusive bosses often deal with the situation in ways that inadvertently make them feel worse, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Stress Management. That's bad news, as research suggests that workplace abuse is linked to stress — and stress is linked to a laundry list of mental and physical ailments, including higher body weight and heart disease.

 

[growing_older]

I've enjoyed working at several different MegaCorps. Often in groups that are having so much fun we talk among ourselves about the improbable notion that we are paid to write fascinating software all day. If we could have afforded it, we would have worked there for free. In every case, there was a corporate change, often several levels removed or change in ownership, which resulted in layoffs, or sale of divisions to anti-managers, or just new policies that made work there onerous.

So there was no individual !&%^!!#$% who made me want to achieve FI; it was a repeated pattern that made me want to no longer be dependent on MegaCorp employment. Perhaps when I really am FI, I will start some enterprise that I can control, or just freelance as the spirit moves me.

 

[Dreamer]

I probably would have worked till I died had it not been for miserable, self-loathing, abusive, power-thirsty or power-drunk coworkers and managers.

Most coworkers and managers were great, but it only takes one basard, properly positioned, to make your life a living Hell.

I retired to be free from that guy.

This is exactly what happened to my DH. He loved his job and always said that he would be the last one there and would turn out the lights and lock the door. He had to quit due to his health from all of the abuse that he was taking from his boss.

 

[Dreamer]

I now make it a point to send regular postcards and emails to him (especially when I'm in Florida/Mexico/Carribean and he's driving to work in a snow storm!) just to let him know "how I'm doing".

I've been told by friends inside that he goes nuts every time I send him a 'hello!'...

Seriously, there were several options open to me at the time and taking the ER route turned out the be the absolute best one.

As another poster mentioned, I would've stayed there until I died; really. Instead, I was given this huge opportunity to live a considerably more full life. Fantastic!

Keep up the good work! I love it!!

 

[flyfishnevada]

Since I was wearing the golden handcuffs, I couldn't leave, but if I could of I would have retired about four years earlier. Re-org really screwed me. Left me with no work for a year. I basically showed up and sat in my cubicle all day. I asked over and over, but the new division had no supervisor and no one in management could take the time. Once a supervisor was hired, he was a loon. Pretty soon we were filling out paper work to gain permission from him to fill out more paperwork. Not joking. Since I was a project manager, he made me and my coworkers basically evangelize the people we worked with about his new system, something non of use believed in. It sucked. I wouldn't have stayed longer since there was not financial reason. I wished I could have left earlier.

 

[cashbalancetrouble]

I was ready to RE at 54 with my DW working the better job. I caught my foolish boss in a lie that involved my safety working alone in a dangerous laboratory. He said I never asked for any help while doing this extra work testing equipment as I was a salesman. I told him straight out he was a liar. Well, I staid on for weeks negotiating my severance to get out. I was paid well to go. To this day he doesn't want anyone to speak my name but he is forced to hear every now and then. When they were having problems with new designs of equipment, a new employee suggest contacting me. He was strongly told never to mention my name again.

The company has since made him president and he has now reduced employees from 250 to 150.

 

[Khan]

As a programmer I might have kept working until 2008 and full retirement. They made me a manager (I am an extreme introvert) and this one particular FB (Frumious Bandersnatch) assaulted all my senses.
Screaming into the night early retirement buyout when I realized I could live on less than $25K/year.

 

[East Texas]

I think it's a lot different for those of us who have always planned (versus wanted) to retire early. Even in my early 20s I had a goal to retire at 55. It's not that anything or anyone made me want to leave when I hit my target age - there was absolutely nothing that could have kept me working.

 

[HpRyder]

For nine years, I went to the office, a 40 minute car ride away and "played in the office sand box" all day. It wasn't work it was play. I loved it. Then Obama was elected, canceled the program and funding dried up. The first line managers I reported to laid me, and 225 others off. One of the better life events. I went on "sabbatical" and am quite happy about it. This coming week I'm going to a goodbye lunch with two of them, both are slated to uproot their families and move across country about 3000 miles. They need the jobs, I don't.

 

[John Galt III]

> Where I work, every so often they ask me to "go the extra mile" and I have to decide whether to do it or not. Sometimes I actually fear I will be fired if I refuse, but I have refused them several times and not been fired. Two of my coworkers have been fired for refusing to do things they thought were abusive to them, and to my astonishment, they were awarded unemployment compensation, even though the company challenged it. I'm in Pa. I'm not a socialist type, but I am glad there are laws in place that limit abuse of employees by corporations.

 

[Marita40]

One year ago I would not have contributed to this thread but now I'm reading it with interest. I currently work in an environment (I'm in university academia) that was great for a long time but turned sour due to various factions that formed around a policy issue. I objected to the issue at hand and took the side of the chair who also strongly opposed it. Then he resigned the position and went back to his home department (he was on "loan" to my dept.), effectively leaving me alone. It is a small department (6 of us) and now it is "them" vs. "me." Yes, they certainly talk and strategize behind my back, and this hurts. Sadly there is little to no help from the administration (typical) who by and large just want the matter to go away. Academia can be the most petty and demeaning of places. I have served my time and done an excellent job in teaching and scholarship as would be readily acknowledged, but no one would bat an eye--some of those 6 would cheer--if I walked away or dropped dead tomorrow. Unfortunately I will not be able to retire for years to come, and jobs for middle-aged professors in the liberal arts are very, very few. I do like to teach and my students like me--so this is the only thing that keeps me going these days.

 

[Lsbcal]

...(snip)...
I objected to the issue at hand and took the side of the chair who also strongly opposed it. Then he resigned the position and went back to his home department (he was on "loan" to my dept.), effectively leaving me alone. It is a small department (6 of us) and now it is "them" vs. "me." Yes, they certainly talk and strategize behind my back, and this hurts. Sadly there is little to no help from the administration (typical) who by and large just want the matter to go away. Academia can be the most petty and demeaning of places. ....

I wonder if talking to each individual in a very straightforward manner about how this is making your work environment unpleasant, or maybe asking what you could do to make up for the past issues, would help to clear the air. Maybe just stick with neutral phrases. If you did this in quick succession so they had to deal with you 1:1 maybe the "group think" would be diluted? Just a thought.

 

[John Galt III]

I wonder if talking to each individual in a very straightforward manner about how this is making your work environment unpleasant, or maybe asking what you could do to make up for the past issues, would help to clear the air. Maybe just stick with neutral phrases. If you did this in quick succession so they had to deal with you 1:1 maybe the "group think" would be diluted? Just a thought.

Regarding "group think" : I've noticed during my working years that groups often (always?) tend to select one member of the group to be the "victim" or "whipping boy" who is made fun of. Sometimes the manager joins in and bullies the victim too, much to the delight of the group. Sometimes someone will come to the aid of the "victim" but usually the non-victims just carry on like everything is fine and normal, and just as it should be.

 

[Lsbcal]

I worked for one manager that got on other people's nerves because he was underhanded but smart. So became to be seen as his lacky and got some grief from that as a result.

My thought above was to try to break up the "group think" by appealing to each individual on a 1:1 private discussion. It should not be confrontational and doesn't even have to be completely direct, just straight forward and honest. Doesn't seem like it would hurt and they might be more friendly over time if not right away.

Sometimes people at work act like they did as children in the school yard years ago. Nice to be out of that stuff.

 

[HeatherB]

Dealing with 180 entitled teenagers every year for decades just sucks the life out of you, as do the overbearing parents and ladder-climbing administrators. I used to love going to work but it has become no more than a means to an end. Two more school years and I won't look back.

So no ONE person, it has been an accumulation of people. By and large I have good co-workers.

 

[bookman51]

Yes, I moved and took on a new job a few years ago. Ran into an arrogant supervisor and some really jackals who worked under me. Had a great career and enjoyed the job until then. Decided I did not want to either move or put up with the #$%, so I retired. Good decision. Still friends with folks from previous jobs, and both the supervisor and the jackals have retired, but too late for me. The supervisor was forced out and the jackals encouraged to retire, but again too late. I gues #$% happens.

 

[Koolau]

One year ago I would not have contributed to this thread but now I'm reading it with interest. I currently work in an environment (I'm in university academia) that was great for a long time but turned sour due to various factions that formed around a policy issue. I objected to the issue at hand and took the side of the chair who also strongly opposed it. Then he resigned the position and went back to his home department (he was on "loan" to my dept.), effectively leaving me alone. It is a small department (6 of us) and now it is "them" vs. "me." Yes, they certainly talk and strategize behind my back, and this hurts. Sadly there is little to no help from the administration (typical) who by and large just want the matter to go away. Academia can be the most petty and demeaning of places. I have served my time and done an excellent job in teaching and scholarship as would be readily acknowledged, but no one would bat an eye--some of those 6 would cheer--if I walked away or dropped dead tomorrow. Unfortunately I will not be able to retire for years to come, and jobs for middle-aged professors in the liberal arts are very, very few. I do like to teach and my students like me--so this is the only thing that keeps me going these days.

While I w*rked for Megacorp, I used to think academia was probably a better place to be. I envied the "ivy covered walls" rather than my drab laboratory without windows I was forced to endure. So, because I had a very specific talent and experience level, I "hired out" to the local university first as a graduate assistant and then as a visiting instructor. I did it for little money, lots of work and relatively little appreciation. Still, I ended up getting a MS out of the deal. In essence, I helped to build a department that had not previously existed. I provided real-world (war stories) to students and have, over the years, received thanks and compliments from former students. Just about lost my DW over the long hours (still worked FT at Megacorp), but that's another story.

Long story short: I discovered that academia is far more political, back-biting, dog-eat-dog, spit in your food, sabotage your office mate, etc. etc. than Megacorp ever was. I was so shocked that I eventually bowed out, even though the s#%t rarely ran down to my level (unless you consider the lousy pay for service). Sad to think I had to get in the middle of an academic "food fight" to discover that even ivy isn't always greener than Transite.

 

[Chuckanut]

Not one person, but an attitude that somehow, someway because Mr/Ms. Administrator (at all levels) wills something to be done, it can be done. One wonders if they believe they could order the sun to rise in the West and set in the East, and the sun would have to do it.

Reminds me why I wish to retire. I was amazed at the number of younger teachers who are now saying they doubt if they will make it to retirement age like I did. Very sad that people can work so hard, for so long and feel so discouraged.

 

[mountaintosea]

Yes I retired a year early. The top people changed. I had enough.