How do strangers see you?

[frank2009]

I'm just the old guy that walks his dogs a lot. If people think about my net worth (I don't think they care), I'm probably in the "just getting by" level. Stealth wealth suits me fine.

 

[Souschef]

I'm just the old guy that walks his dogs a lot. If people think about my net worth (I don't think they care), I'm probably in the "just getting by" level. Stealth wealth suits me fine.

+1

The only people that might even have an inkling are the homeless shelter and the religious institution I donate to.

 

[Badger]

When younger I was concerned with how people viewed me. Now I don't care. What they think is none of my business anyway. During this past year there are few people that see me anyway except for my morning bike rides. Since I'm the old man on his "Big Wheel" (recumbent trike) I am noticed by all the walkers, runners, bicycle riders, and mothers pushing baby strollers. I always say "Good Morning" or wave to everyone and usually get a positive response. I imagine they would wonder if I was homeless if they saw me on the street in my old shorts, t-shirt, and flip flops. Little do they know...



Cheers1

 

[garyt]

They don't. As a man of a certain age I have become invisible to most of the outside world. This is a huge advantage.

Life is good.

We feel the same here. My wife and I always say were invisible. We're not ugly, we're not gorgeous were just.... and we like it that way. I think we could commit a crime in the middle of a crowd and get away with it

 

[Callitaday2022]

Pretty much sums me up
https://www.facebook.com/CostcoDeals/videos/740060686730540/

 

[11522914]

I am not going to let what others think bother me.

Some will never approve no matter what.

+3.375

 

[11522914]

Wow, all this talk about how one dresses.

When I retired in Jan 2019, I bought several shorts, several t-shirts, several sweatpants, several long sleeve t-shirts, 2 pairs of sneakers and some slippers.

That's all I've worn for 2 years. Lol.

Not once did I wonder what people thought of my outfits until this thread.

Hmmm, wonder what people are thinking. Whew, that was tough.

[emoji41]

 

[Gumby]

Reading through this thread, I am reminded of the Scots poet Robert Burns, who wrote "To a Louse"

Original:

O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An' foolish notion:
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,
An' ev'n devotion!


Translated to standard English:

Oh, would some Power give us the gift
To see ourselves as others see us!
It would from many a blunder free us,
And foolish notion:
What airs in dress and gait would leave us,
And even devotion!

 

[brett]

Last time I wore a suit was 9 years ago. I gave away all but one suit, my jackets, dress shirts, dress shoes to a rehab store. Plus the ties of course!

 

[CaptTom]

All this talk of suits and ties makes me wonder...

What will today's tech professionals change into when they retire?

I mean, they already dress more casually than I do most of the time. And I'm going on five years retired.

 

[Nemo2]

Last time I wore a suit was 9 years ago. I gave away all but one suit, my jackets, dress shirts, dress shoes to a rehab store. Plus the ties of course!

I left my suits hanging in a closet in Riyadh.....December 1988.

 

[tmm99]

Wow, all this talk about how one dresses.

When I retired in Jan 2019, I bought several shorts, several t-shirts, several sweatpants, several long sleeve t-shirts, 2 pairs of sneakers and some slippers.

That's all I've worn for 2 years. Lol.


[emoji41]

Once winter started, all I've been wearing is a T-shirt, sweatshirt and leggings. I have two pairs of each and I don't change my clothes for days (I mean, I sleep in them too!!) When I go grocery shopping,etc, I take my sweatshirt off and put a winter coat on and wear sweatpants over my leggings. When I get home, I just take the outer jacket and sweatpants off.

My life has changed so much with the pandemic.

 

[Koolau]

Last time I wore a suit was 9 years ago. I gave away all but one suit, my jackets, dress shirts, dress shoes to a rehab store. Plus the ties of course!

15 years ago for me. All suits are gone. Hmmm, that's the same time frame of when I retired. Could there be a correlation?

I have one pair of long pants, 3 pairs of shorts (all the same) a dozen or so T-shirts and a dozen or so Aloha shirts (for dress occasions!) The only "new" clothes I have are Christmas presents from DW - when she "retires" a ratty/holey old item.

DW's clothes are slowly taking over my side of the closet. YMMV

 

[Tailgate]

 

[Still Learning]

I hold myself accountable for what I have now. If someone has more I am happy for them. If someone has less than I hope they are happy.


Today, went to one of our banks to obtain a 2nd major credit card that would be paid automatically from a savings account to make extended travel easier (getting harder to find lately). A new bank rep. asked what our employment income was, said "zero, we're retired". She asked what income we had coming in monthly? I answered truthfully wondering what she would make of our low income (we just cut withdrawals to under 1% due to Covid delaying our retirement cruise, which also reduces our tax bill next year). When our application was complete she advised the bank would review our credit rating and respond to our application in 5-7 days. Not sure of their internal process but by the time we drove home (7 minutes) we had been approved. Wonder if our other accounts at the bank; maxed out to FDIC limits, could have helped.


Looking forward to our retirement cruise this summer on our trawler.

 

[CaptTom]

Looking forward to our retirement cruise this summer on our trawler.

Where are you headed? I did the Down East Loop after I retired. Technically, I started before I was retired, since I a couple of weeks vacation to use up, first.

Love the Hudson, canals and lakes. Seriously considering that as our big destination this year, as the pandemic has slowed our plans to sell the house and do the Great Loop.

 

[Still Learning]

Where are you headed? I did the Down East Loop after I retired. Technically, I started before I was retired, since I a couple of weeks vacation to use up, first.

Love the Hudson, canals and lakes. Seriously considering that as our big destination this year, as the pandemic has slowed our plans to sell the house and do the Great Loop.

******************

We usually did a 2 week summer vacation when we still worked usually Hudson River up to Lake Champlain or to Lake Ontario. Now retired we plan 4-6 weeks initially, but no schedule after converting billing to automatic payment or paid ahead. Plenty of time to explore our favorite places and travel new areas of the western canal system to Finger Lakes, Lake Erie and possibly a side trip to Thousand Islands. It will be so nice NOT to start home for work on Monday!


Enjoy your travels.

 

[Koolau]

<SNIP>

Wonder if our other accounts at the bank; maxed out to FDIC limits, could have helped.

Heh, heh, that might have had something to do with it.

But seriously, keep us informed about your ER travels and experiences. Some of us old timers have almost forgotten the thrill of the first few weeks and months of ER. We now live vicariously through you young'uns. All the best.

 

[Still Learning]

This is a hoot.............today my wife receives a jury duty notice.

 

[finnski1]

Hopefully not like this.

 

[tmm99]

You need to rethink our wardrobe choices if someone hands you some change. If that should happen however, make sure and say, "Thank you. God bless you."

 

[Badger]

In grad school I didn't have 2 nickles to rub together. I wore jeans with patches, desert boots held together with duct tape, and in the winter an old hand-me-down coat with buttons missing that would have kept it closed. Later I started working and bought a couple of suits, ties, and some wing-tip shoes. Now it is sandals, t-shirts (some as old as 25 yrs), and shorts or jeans. The only good outfit I have is a hand-stitched 8yd kilt in family tartan from Scotland with Prince Charlie jacket and all the trappings. Suitable to meet the Queen. I'll be buried in that. I just hope they get the kilt on properly and not backwards.


Cheers!

 

[Ger0n1mo]

I learned to play dumb when I was young. It got me out of some unwanted advances from girls and it amazed me what people will reveal when they thought I had no sense.

 

[Blue531]

I prefer down-to-earth wealthy folks like so many of you seem here, yet I'm not aware of having met anyone here in my life. I have however met a few of the rich snobby ones. You know, the ones with the "air of arrogance". I say they are rich but for all I know maybe they aren't but they sure are trying to act like it. One man, probably a bit younger, I met two decades ago teaching an investment class. He was probably just out of college I'm guessing and they were more than likely trying to drum up new business for their brokerage firm. I saw him a few years back while I was still working at the grocery store and stopped him to thank him saying that I would soon be retiring. He looked at me strangely as if judging me and didn't seem to take me seriously. I think I was 52 at the time. He didn't appear interested in engaging me much and in an instant some sophisticatedly dressed person that seemed to know him got his attention when she said she would be needing his financial services soon. Needless to say, he'll be the last person I use if the need ever arises. Last summer, while in the parking lot, I stopped to check out someone's golf cart and the man who owned it approached. I started to make conversation and he snubbed me as if I were beneath him. It is interesting to notice how people treat you based on whether they deem you at their level or not. I just don't ever want to be a snob like some. I wouldn't want to know someone that acted that way anyway. In the end, perhaps it is best to be invisible so that you can truly see others how they really are.

 

[Retch The Grate]

It did not surprise me at all when I showed up and he's built a hover craft from a riding lawn mower. It did surprise me to realize he wanted me to be the first to pilot it though. Maybe he also thinks I'm stupid. Tomorrow we find out if it works....

I remember seeing ads in the back of Boy's Life, the Boy Scout magazine for a kit to make a hovercraft from a lawnmower during the 80s...