I think I just retired!

[donna723]

... I'm home today anyway! They wouldn't budge off of their boneheaded idea to make the three of us leave the jobs we've all had for 24 years and switch places. They wanted me to work in a building a quarter mile walk away from the main buildings, up and down 85 concrete steps on a steep hill, with the heat index up to 104-105 every day! They said that if I got a doctors slip that showed that I had an ADA disability, they would get me a ride down there and back ... real considerate, guys! Thanks a lot!

Then I went down there and spent a half day with the girl who has had that job for 24 years. OMG! It's a whole different world down there! 95% of what she does are things I've never laid eyes on, very complicated, requiring a lot of formal training. She uses computer systems I never even knew existed, and at times she was doing three things at once! This girl thrives on it. She's very hyper and energetic to start with and she has done that job for so long that she pretty much runs the place. She comes in early, stays late, and even comes in weekends without pay. She does it because her husband died recently and she keeps super busy to keep her mind off the "bad stuff". I would be as lost trying to do her job as she would be in mine. And they were going to give us all of two half-days of training, then we'd be on our own! The others wouldn't be able to help us because they would be contending with their own new assignments. And the girl taking my job in the business office has no fiscal background at all and I've spent the past two days frantically trying to teach her the basics of Excel. This is horribly thoughtless and unfair to all of us and I want no part of it! After 24 years and only a year and a half away from my full retirement age, I just don't have it in me to start all over again in a new, unfamiliar job where I would be forced to struggle and will be doomed to failure because of a lack of training.

I took off Wednesday and visited the Social Security office and then applied online last night. Today I'm "sick" and Monday I have a doctors appt. to get an excuse to be on sick leave until I use up the six weeks of sick leave I still have. When you quit or retire, they keep your sick leave unless you use it and then you'd get nothing! Nobody retires from the State without getting "sick" first and using up that paid leave! When that's used up, I can file my retirement papers and can get a cash payout for my 200 hours of unused vacation time. I found out that my SS benefit will only be $138 a month lower to take it now than it would be if I hung on till age 66. It's well worth that much for me to be outta there! I will miss my long-term co-workers like crazy but I wouldn't be working with them now anyway even if I stayed. But I certainly won't miss all the BS I have had to put up with all these years. I have no idea what they will do now and I DON'T CARE! I do feel very bad for my immediate supervisor who is a great guy and had nothing to do with this. It's going to make it very tough on him to not have me there and he will have a lot to contend with. He can teach the new lady some of the things that I do but not all of them and he will have to take over a lot of the things that I've been doing, at least for a while. None of this had to be. All I ever asked was to be left alone and to let me do my job, and I guess that was too much to ask! But ladies, I am now "Free at Last"!

[Suz]

Congratulations, Donna. It serves those boneheads right that you will be sick for the next six weeks. What bozos!

Meanwhile, I'm pouring margaritas for us and have a call in to Raoul to join us later. Happy retirement!

Hugs,
Suz

[donna723]

Yeah, Suz, I'm actually starting to get in to it! It was just that I thought I had another two years to think about it and plan it all out. Having it all thrown at me in just a week really threw me for a loop. But I feel a lot better knowing that there's not that much difference between how much SS I will get now and what I would get then - it should be do-able and I didn't think it would be.

No more getting up at 4:45 every morning! No more putting on makeup and fixing my hair at the crack of dawn every day! No more spending $150 a month on gas and driving 70+ miles a day, which just might make my beat up little old car last a bit longer. And now my dogs don't have to spend those long, boring days in their crates! I really think I could get used to this!

[trinityroyal]

I think that sometimes, instead of knocking at the door and waiting for you to answer, opportunity sometimes grabs you by the scruff of the neck and says, "wanna go on a road-trip?" This seems like one of those times when you just need to go along for the ride.

And I agree with Suz. Serves those bozos right!

[Raoul]

Mes queridos,

Suz she call me and tell Raoul you home now. Raoul so happy he take care Donna while sick. Raoul be there soon.

[donna723]

Raoul! Where have you been? You've been making yourself scarce lately and neglecting the CD board ladies! Sometimes a little dose of "Raoul" is just what we needed!

And this is just one of those technical illnesses. There's a lot of difference between SICK and "Sick" !

[Raoul]

Meu amor,

Raoul, he know doente and he make Donna smile while doente. Raoul he perito at this. You be happy you doente. ha!

[donna723]

[susiestar]

Proud of you Donna!!!! The guy who is doing this will end up being sorry. Do NOT NOT NOT go and train the new person unless they will pay you as a "consultant". FYI, manny consultants charge $150=$300 PER HOUR. The more specialized the knowledge (like what you did), the more you charge!!

I am glad it is working out this way. The money in your pension, etc... would have meant nothing if you had a stroke or heart attack from the stress of the new position and getting there!

[klmno]

Gosh, I envy you!!