Now That It's Here... I'm Angry!
Where I work, people normally retire after 30 years of service. I have 27 years in and am feeling the Big Squeeze.
It makes me feel bad; stressed, anxious, betrayed and particularly angry at the level of disrespect and lack of thanks being shown to me for all my years of "hard time"!
I understand on an intellectual level, why it's happening. I never treated those who left before me badly, so why do these people treat ME this way?
I think there's a certain contingent of co-workers who have taken up the duty of squeezing those out who are eligible to retire, like it's part of their job description or something. It's like a bunch of carrion/vultures.
There's a part of me that wants to go back in 20 years and see how those yo-yo's are being treated as THEY approach their own retirement, just for laughs.
I don't know why I ever thought it should be any different for ME, but I think it must be true that those who left before me must have been getting treated badly too, they just didn't show it. And that would explain why retirees at the company picnic look 10 years younger, because the stress of getting pushed out was finally over!
And boy did most of them look pinched and pale towards the end... so sad to have to go through all that non-sense!
Wendy: Absolutely, I heard this all the time when employees were doing retirement paperwork. Especially in Law Enforcement, the young newer cops teased the older ones... but it also happened with clerks, attorneys, custodians.
Part of it, I think, is the fact that when you are younger, even under 50ish.... you think: Why Oh Why Doesn't She Leave? I would if I could.... You can't WAIT to taste the Freedom that Retirement offers.
Later, when those same person are of retirement age, thats when you see the whole scenario completely different. Yep it's still complete freedom, but at retirement many of the lifetime pressures are gone: kids moved out, finances mostly levelled out, home paid for, whatever.
Retirement becomes a NOW WHAT?
Those are the answers all of us seek... some will be happy and content with a lot of NOTHING, others need to be mentally or physically challenged and stimulated daily.
Anyways, you are sooo right in the thought that many are "forced out". They DO retire voluntarily, but the reasons they left aren't completely what most family and friends assume they are.
Best Wishes!
