nothing when I retired

[mebden]

Sounds like something I have said in the past

Long, long ago, I was a junior officer in the US Navy aboard a ballistic missile submarine. One day, my senior chief - the senior enlisted man in the division that I headed; far more experienced than I was - said to me "Mr. Gumby, you need to tell the men in the division that they're doing a good job." I said "of course they're doing a good job. That's what all of us are supposed to do." He replied "they need to hear it from you."

I took his words to heart and started to tell the guys in my division that they were great sailors and I appreciated the work they were doing. And they responded positively to it, working even harder and better. After a while, they took great pride in the fact that, in my division, we had high standards and they were meeting them. Frankly, I was amazed that those two words from me, "Good job", could have such an effect, but they did.

And so it goes for all of us. We like to be appreciated for our contributions, but that requires that we also recognize and appreciate others for theirs. It's a simple thing, but often difficult to do. Still, we should try.

Hey Gumby thanks for your service as I was a enlisted man that has said that always to the people that have worked under me as you are only as good as the people who work for you so if you don't appreciate their efforts they can bring you down as fast as they bring you up ( also was told to treat everyone like you want to be treated)

 

[youbet]

I once sent my last employer a sincere letter of 30 days notice of retirement.

I got a free lunch.

Can’t beat a deal like that!

 

[EastWest Gal]

This thread makes me wonder why so many of us here seem to think that our adult children should all land a lucrative job and make lots of money for themselves. It seems to me that working where your life matters, if you can do it, is important to us. Which is why I want to gift annually to progeny so they don't have to sacrifice their soul to some Fortune 500 company that only sees them as a worker bee and not as a human being with a life and a family that matters. My son aspires to be a musician and a teacher. He will never gain wealth doing what he does, but if he has some generational wealth to help him have a home and a family without fear of losing it all, why not help now?

 

[RetirementNinja]

I learned over the years that co-workers are acquaintances not really "friends". Don't take it personally. For example, when you have kids the younger crew won't have much in common with you and you will naturally identify with and start interacting with other folks with kids. Same when you get married. It is just a trend over life. I will be retiring in the next few months and don't expect (or want) anything special. I am now a realist and don't hold it against people. I enjoyed working with them but with only 1-2 exceptions I will likely not be in touch with them after leaving, since we will simply have nothing in common anymore.

With that said, in my final year(s) I have worked to share financial saving/FIRE advice with numerous people and think that may be my greatest accomplishment. Not the patents I received or things I created as an engineer. I wish you the best!

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.

 

[athena53]

This thread makes me wonder why so many of us here seem to think that our adult children should all land a lucrative job and make lots of money for themselves. It seems to me that working where your life matters, if you can do it, is important to us. Which is why I want to gift annually to progeny so they don't have to sacrifice their soul to some Fortune 500 company that only sees them as a worker bee and not as a human being with a life and a family that matters. My son aspires to be a musician and a teacher. He will never gain wealth doing what he does, but if he has some generational wealth to help him have a home and a family without fear of losing it all, why not help now?

It's good to have choices that include less-lucrative careers, but I don't see a problem with being a Wage Slave as long as you don't expect them to love you forever. I was dumped by a Prudential sub the year after my team had gone through a long siege of 70-hour work weeks, one of the worst times of my life. The upside: I had decent health insurance from the first day of my first job out of college to my retirement 38 years later, and I have 2 $900/month pensions (non-COLA) in addition to all the 401(k) matches I've gotten over the years. DS is also on the same track as an insurance claims adjuster.

You just need to find love and friendships outside of the company. Balance.

 

[murphearlyretirement]

Retirement snub

I retired August of 2020. My department head took a vacation day to avoid having to say something nice about me. He is still mad at me for not congratulating him when he was promoted a few years ago. He did not deserve the promotion and I don't believe in false praise, especially to a SOB. The company manager was in the building and said nothing when he saw me in the hall. 26 years of dedicated service and nothing from the company. My co-workers did have a cake and gifts for me which was very nice.

 

[Yipper]

I retired August of 2020. My department head took a vacation day to avoid having to say something nice about me. He is still mad at me for not congratulating him when he was promoted a few years ago. He did not deserve the promotion and I don't believe in false praise, especially to a SOB. The company manager was in the building and said nothing when he saw me in the hall. 26 years of dedicated service and nothing from the company. My co-workers did have a cake and gifts for me which was very nice.

MegaCorp, small business or ?

 

[murphearlyretirement]

It is a mega corporation.

 

[Yipper]

It is a mega corporation.

In that case it's even more annoying... in a large corporation there are EXTREMELY few people who are indispensable. Your management didn't do their jobs if you leaving causes them serious pain.

In my case... also a MegaCorp (with a $1T market cap to boot) there's no place for loyalty or compassion for older workers... "what have you done for me lately" is the name of the game (and politics). In sales/field roles, it's all about the last 12 months.

And I totally get that - corporations aren't charities, they exist for the benefit of shareholders so I'm at peace with the "give/get" or I would have VWMF a while ago.

Just don't expect more than 2 weeks notice.

 

[Dtail]

In that case it's even more annoying... in a large corporation there are EXTREMELY few people who are indispensable. Your management didn't do their jobs if you leaving causes them serious pain.

In my case... also a MegaCorp (with a $1T market cap to boot) there's no place for loyalty or compassion for older workers... "what have you done for me lately" is the name of the game (and politics). In sales/field roles, it's all about the last 12 months.

And I totally get that - corporations aren't charities, they exist for the benefit of shareholders so I'm at peace with the "give/get" or I would have VWMF a while ago.

Just don't expect more than 2 weeks notice.

Definitely true with larger MegaCorps.
No one in my office was over 60, so at 57 I volunteered for a package during the latest lay off rounds.
My right hand guy took over my job. He was earning about 67% of my compensation and at that point probably knew about 50-60% of my job.

 

[Safire]

When I see / hear of all these stories where someone not showing up to work triggered a call to the cops to do a "wellness check", I can't help but feel envious - apparently, I have never been as valued as some of these people I hear about. Not one soul called to check on me or called the cops to check on me when - several years ago - I slipped on oil on the road and was badly injured. In fact, I would have been fired if my doctor hadn't confirmed I'd actually been very injured and therefore unable to show up to work!

Gee, thanks. This was despite the fact that I had never called in sick in the entire time I'd been there and was a very timely and organized employee through out.

I quit the following month, hurt and angry. Yeah, work never loves you back. Or maybe I'm one of those people no one would ever be bothered to do a "wellness check" on. That is quite scary.

 

[SJ1_]

One thing I tried to do after I left was to forget about it It really doesn't matter
enjoy your retirement !

 

[Dash man]

When I see / hear of all these stories where someone not showing up to work triggered a call to the cops to do a "wellness check", I can't help but feel envious - apparently, I have never been as valued as some of these people I hear about. Not one soul called to check on me or called the cops to check on me when - several years ago - I slipped on oil on the road and was badly injured. In fact, I would have been fired if my doctor hadn't confirmed I'd actually been very injured and therefore unable to show up to work!



Gee, thanks. This was despite the fact that I had never called in sick in the entire time I'd been there and was a very timely and organized employee through out.



I quit the following month, hurt and angry. Yeah, work never loves you back. Or maybe I'm one of those people no one would ever be bothered to do a "wellness check" on. That is quite scary.

I can understand you’re feeling that way with your experience. Fortunately, I think most employers would check if a reliable employee didn’t show, especially if they were known to live alone. One time when I was very sick, my boss had someone check on me daily because I lived alone. One day I was taken to the ER because I was so out of it. I hope you’ve found better experiences.