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I've always thought it would be fun to have a post-retirement job as a Trader Joe's bagger. They all seem like they like their work. Or a Wal Mart greeter but I believe you've got to be at least 80 years old to apply.
And if you're a tough guy, how about a security guard at the neighborhood senior center bingo parlor. I hear things can get rough and tough there at times.
Don't know if you're joking or not, but there's a poster, AZDesertbrat I think who works at WalMart as a cashier. She's pretty sassy and she's not 80, and from what I read on her posts seem like she kind of calls the shots as far as what she will and won't do.
I have some health concerns so when I go to the grocery store and get carried away I get one of the baggers to "help me out".
Now, I always tip whoever helps me because: 1. I'm happy that someone is helping me and 2. I'm please to be able to do it, they always seem so surprised and happy that it gives me a little lift too.
The last time I was at the store, the "helper" was probably in her 70's or 80's and it was just before Valentines Day. We had a lively conversation about how she was going to celebrate Valentine's day, loving to shop, where to go, and what to buy. She unloaded my cart and packed my car while I watched (wishing I had her energy!)
and when I tipped her the reaction was exactly the same as when the kids are doing it!
I make no assumptions about what an older person is or isn't able to do.
I am sixty years old and waitressed during my twenties and thirties. I worked many double shifts. I cannot see myself being a server now. It is literally back breaking work. Thinking back, it required practically contortionist abilities.
I also tended bar for awhile. Much more laid back and I think a great part time job for a retiree who likes people. I think you should go for it.
I make no assumptions about what an older person is or isn't able to do.
Ain't that the truth! While true on both the physical and mental levels, your post was about the physical level, and in connection with that my observation is that the old "use it or lose it" adage, while overly simplistic, remains basically true. If we stop doing something, there is some likelihood that after a number of years we won't be able to do that thing anymore. I don't mean that we can continue to do X activity in perpetuity - that wouldn't be realistic at all. But I maintain that we can continue to do it a lot longer than most people think we can.
I enjoy exterior painting (proof, perhaps that I am crazy, but after all it is a form of working with one's hands resulting in a tangile, visible pay-off in appearance of a fence, house, etc. Those of us who worked with our brains very often enjoy working with our hands. I would not enjoy 40 hours a week of it though.). I carry around ladders and get up on them to paint, and I consider that quite normal at age 71. But if I stopped doing that for say, three years, I bet I wouldn't be able to do it anymore.
I retired from the Federal Government after 36 years, starting off with aircraft maintenance/safety inspection with the FAA, and changing after several year to GIS and web development with the USGS and Homeland Security. I pick up contract work still in GIS at my choice, but I'm kind of picky: (has to be part time, short term and able to work remotely). But I've also recently been contracted to teach English via Skype to South Koreans, and am considering part time Uber-ing.
I'm 55 and retiring from my professional corporate position this summer. I plan to move to a warmer state and sell real estate, something I have wanted to do for 15 years. I'll work hard at it, but only because I will enjoy the challenge of seeing what I can do. And, I love meeting new people. If I fail or decide it's really not for me (my late husband was a real estate agent so I know what I'm up against), then I will get a part time retail job. I do need some income as I have 3 children to support, but I am burned out on the corporate tread mill.
What's your point? This is a story about working part-time jobs, and "Michigan Transplant" has a story since she has worked many since "retiring". This story covers multiple PT jobs over a period of many years. "Michigan Transplant" finds your post irrelevant.
Don't know if you're joking or not, but there's a poster, AZDesertbrat I think who works at WalMart as a cashier. She's pretty sassy and she's not 80, and from what I read on her posts seem like she kind of calls the shots as far as what she will and won't do.
I think she'd be a hoot to know IRL.
LOL...that would be me! I was 68 when I went to work at WM as a greeter. After a couple of months I decided it was "too slow and boring" for me so transferred to cashier. No more "boring", that's for sure! We have people at my store from ages 17 to 92 with the average in their 30s/40s. We are always hiring. Not because of turnover so much as just how BUSY we are all the time. We can set our own hours, pretty much, when we apply and ask for the days off we want. I've had the same days off for over three years now and they know they better not mess with it! Also DON'T make me come in before 7 AM or make me stay after 9 PM. lol After 5 1/2 years I finally got a schedule I can really accept...7 AM to 3 PM and I love it. They still throw me an oddball shift now and then but it's okay. The only regret I have about working for Walmart is that I didn't do it 10 years ago.
I waitressed, bartended, worked hotel front desk and a few other things over the years. Being on my feet all day is nothing after pounding the floors in restaurants all those years. I still have tons of energy but still a ways from 80, thankfully!
When I was between jobs, but not yet ready to retire, I got a job working at a nearby state park. Only paid minimum wage, but they didn't work me hard at all. Loved it.
Rode around in a state truck, using state gas, being able to go into many areas of the park marked "authorized vehicles only". It was in one of those areas in the spring that I came upon at least an acre of wild Wisteria! Absolutely beautiful. I got to watch a family of Canada geese hatch from eggs and grow large enough to fledge. At lunch, I was able to respectfully park near, and watch a bald eagle next, where Mom and Dad were bringing in fish from the nearby lake to two hatchlings in the nest.
I had an Osprey hover over me screeching, just for the fun of it!
In short, I worked hard and did a good job even for small pay, because I looked at it as a way of making a direct donation/payment to the park that politicians couldn't siphon off for some other wasteful use.
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This is a story about working part-time jobs, and "Michigan Transplant" has a story since she has worked many since "retiring". This story covers multiple PT jobs over a period of many years. "Michigan Transplant" finds your post irrelevant.
