I think I just retired!

donna723

Well-Known Member
... 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 appointment. 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"! :D
 

Suz

(the future) MRS. GERE
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

Well-Known Member
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

Well-Known Member
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

New Member
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

Well-Known Member
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 :sick: and "Sick" ;)!
 

Raoul

New Member
Meu amor,

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

susiestar

Roll With It
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!
 

Andy

Active Member
Wonder what will happen when this "temporary trouble maker" gets replaced? Didn't you say his position was only temporary (though hard to say for how long?). If he is replaced before your sick leave is used up, maybe things can go back to normal?

Anyway, the others are correct - do not train in the new person under these circumstances even though I know you want to help that person if not the system. My first job with the State was a "Here is your desk - go to it!" I was only 22 years old, just out of Vo-tech and was given a very minimal overview of what was expected of me. My boss was on sick leave and when he returned called me in his office to go over my job position. Although he was the best and assured me he did not expect me to learn everything right away (you know many jobs do take years to get through all those "exceptions"), I left feeling they had choosen the wrong person for the job. That was my favorite job in the State system.

Several years ago I was offered and accepted another State job - "Here is your office - go to it". This time NOONE knew how to do my job so I had no training. It was basically a lot of what I did when I was laid off but if they had hired ANYONE else, there would have been no help or training on this specific job. I have since written a Standard Operating Procedure for my position which needs updating but better than nothing. I have suggested the State give me an "apprentice" who can be trained in what I do but there is no $$$ for that. They will have a difficult time when I leave which can be anytime after December (I have given them warning).

Many of our State jobs over the years have lost that "Back-up" person - we learned each others jobs to cover on vacation, ect. - I don't have one so have to be careful how I take my leaves so I don't fall far behind on my job. A few people can do some of my job but there are many little items no one has a clue that I do.

So, many jobs have no job specific training - I am sure I am not the only person in this situation. We do want to help our co-workers but in this situation, I think they will understand that your State needs to learn a lesson in loosing a valued employee.
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
Boy do I have mixed feelings about your post Donna. I
feel badly that this came up out of the blue and shocked the heck out of you but delighted that you have put in enough years through the State to be able to retire. Yes,
I'm a wee bit envious. ;) Sending a hug. DDD
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
Andy, I think you've got it! With the State, the term "Acting" can mean temporary, or it could become very permanent. With the system the state uses, it can take years to permanently fill a position when someone leaves or retires. Some of those retiring have 30-35 years in and have thousands of hours of unused sick leave that they lose if they don't use it. So nobody retires without 'burning' that sick leave first! We have one man who hasn't been at work for a year and still has enough leave left to be out another two years before he officially retires! But they have to have someone doing that job, so they put someone in a lower position into that job as "Acting" and after three months they get part of the pay of the higher position but not all of it. Anything to save a buck! Then when the person finally officially retires or officially quits, they have to get permission from the State to fill the job, and that could take months too. Or the State might 'freeze' the position and they can't fill it at all. Where I was working, the whole place is being run by "Actings". With this particular guy, I do think he is just temporary. He was in a completely different area, working in the main office in Nashville, and was put here to give him experience in the 'field'. He's second in command. But what he's doing is approved by the one on the top too. They say there's more switch-ups coming in the future. We were just the beginning. I find the whole thing very insulting! What they're really saying is that what we do is so generic and so insignificant that we can teach someone else everything we do in a few hours!

And I did help the girl taking over my job, what little I could do in such a short time. Anything I can do to help bring her up to speed will help out my immediate supervisor, who is new in that position too, and a great guy. He's the first good one we've had in years and he hates this as much as I do, but it was out of his control. This came from HIS boss! Darn! We just finally got everything up and running smoothly, everything just clicking right along and everybody happy ... and then THIS happens! This is going to make it very difficult for him, but even if I stayed, it wouldn't make any difference because I'd be in a different department. And I have a feeling that it's just going to get worse and worse as time goes by, and all because the ones in charge don't have a clue about what's really going on! But I guess that the way of the world now, isn't it!
 
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busywend

Well-Known Member
Congrats, Donna! Happy retirement!

With the gas money you are saving you made up for the $138/month difference! WAHOO!!!!
Plus you could work part time doing something you enjoy with no stress if you want to - eventually when it is official.

I think you made the right decision here. No regrets and no doubts!

RETIREMENT PARTY!!!! WAHOO!!!!
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Oh, my!
Well, sounds like you did what you had to do ... quickly, at that!
And it sounds like there is more chaos to come.
Anyone on the "inside" you are going to chat with-as the weeks go on? Or would you rather not know?
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
Terry, there's plenty of people "inside" that I will be in conact with. Most of them are Friends on Facebook.

I went to the doctor today and got a slip to be off on sick leave for a month, after that I will get another slip for the remainder of the sick time I have left. She put it down as "Anxiety/Depression, Bi-lateral knee pain", all of them true. Although I was kind of hoping she would put it down as "Stress" because the big boss has already told me how much he hates it when someone takes sick leave and claims it's because of "stress" ... :bigsmile:

Using the six weeks of sick leave will carry me past my anniversary date so I will still be eligible to receive my longevity pay. Then I can turn in my retirement papers and get a cash payout for all my unused vacation time. That will give me a bit of a buffer until the dust settles. I have no idea what I will do but I can't see myself sitting around the house all day either. Who know!
 

Suz

(the future) MRS. GERE
:rofl:

Well, I'm jealous as all get out, Donna, and I'm just so tickled that you are moving on. Start a list of *possibilities* and something will pop out as how you'd really like to spend your time, other than just being with Raoul. :bag:

Suz
 
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