How will you quit your job when retirement day comes? (benefits, best)
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I know it's well off in the future for me, but I already have an idea of how I will handle it.
When I reach the point financially where I no longer have to work, I will simply not show up one day. My coworkers and boss will have no warning whatsoever. If I receive calls or e-mails from the boss wondering where I am, I won't respond.
Everything about the working world will be absolutely irrelevant at that point, so what's the point? I won't be needing anyone there as a reference.
The last thing I want is some fake luncheon or fake party on my last day where everyone in the office has to give me a retirement gift and pretend to be sad to see me go.
Then they'll terminate you for cause ( abandonment of your job), so you won't be retired, you'll be fired.
Perhaps this won't be an issue for you, as I know pensions as job benefits are as rare as hen's teeth these days, but in the event you have some sort of a pension coming, you might forefeit that, as well as payout for any accrued vacation or sick leave, by just quitting with no notice.
Even with all that, I can well understand the feelings of just wanting to chuck the job and thumb one's nose at one's PIA co-workers and bosses on the way out, and I don't think there's anyone who's ever had a job of any kind who didn't feel that way at times. I know I did, and even before I could consider retirement, I'd occasionally daydream about what I'd put in a resignation letter to an employer, or how I'd tell them to "take their job and shove it..", in the memorial words of Johnny Paycheck, LOL.
But when the time actually comes, I bet you'll do what you need to actually close that part of your life.....
I always had a fantasy that it would be a hoot that on my last day at work, right before they were gonna honor me with a cake and all the politeness that goes along with the ritual of a retirement party, that I "secretly and accidently" bump into the fire alarm and cause the entire building to evacuate as the fire trucks pull up outside.
It would be a great memory as long as no one got hurt.
Retirement for me will be very difficult. Everyone knows me and it's like being in Mayberry. My job has bent over backwards to keep me working there and anything less then a dignified thank you letter from me would be a slap in the face and undeserved. My target retirement date is January 17th 2016. Lets hope I can stick to it. I promised my already retired husband that I would retire early. Sometimes I hate the thought of leaving my work family and there's that workaholic addiction to deal with. Sigh.
I truly detest the company that bought us out a few years ago and would love one of the dramatic exits or no shows...but I truly do care for my co workers and know what that would mean for them. So it will be done with proper notice
This response is based on the assumption that I'll still be working for my current employer in another eight years.
Assuming that my retirement is not a result of a sudden health issue, I'll start planning a year ahead of time, making sure that all my procedure manuals are updated, comprehensive and accurate. I'll start compiling the list of everything I do, and will make sure that at least one person in the office knows how to do the most critical of them.
Six months before my planned effective date, I'll schedule a meeting with my boss to go over details and confirm the dates. Among other things, I'll ask whether the preference would be for me to use up my remaining vacation/personal time in bits and pieces over the remaining time, or if it would be better for the rest of the team for me to save it all up to use at the end.
A month or so before my planned departure, I'll schedule another meeting with my boss. I'll pass on hardcopy of all my procedure manuals plus the locations of all the electronic files, will report on how the training process is going for my tasks, confirm which of my tasks should be transferred to which of my colleagues during the period when my replacement is being recruited/hired/trained, and I'll provide my phone and email contact info in case any questions arise after I leave. I will also probably express the willingness to come back on a short-term limited basis if needed.
At that meeting, I'll also ask my boss the favor of please refraining from any formal gatherings or parties in recognition of my retirement. I absolutely loathe being the focus of events like that, and just about the only thing that would induce me to call in "sick" without being ill would be if my boss insisted on throwing some kind of party for me.
I'm old-fashioned. I treat my employer the way my employer treats me. I am treated with courtesy, respect and consideration, and that shapes my decisions about how I will handle things like retirement.
I know it's well off in the future for me, but I already have an idea of how I will handle it.
When I reach the point financially where I no longer have to work, I will simply not show up one day. My coworkers and boss will have no warning whatsoever. If I receive calls or e-mails from the boss wondering where I am, I won't respond.
Everything about the working world will be absolutely irrelevant at that point, so what's the point? I won't be needing anyone there as a reference.
The last thing I want is some fake luncheon or fake party on my last day where everyone in the office has to give me a retirement gift and pretend to be sad to see me go.
Too bad they would have to pretend to be sad to see you go, sounds like you are really not a good fit.
I didn't have to worry about it. My last three jobs left me. The company I worked for the longest was broken up by greedy board members and sold off as parts. In spite of the fact that it was a successful corporation that had provided jobs to Americans for more than 100 years, it was worth more to them as sales objects than as a functioning international company.
After being "made redundant," as the Brits so charmingly say, I went to work for another company that was in a few years sold to its biggest competitor. Redundant again. I moved across the country to a state where the economy was supposedly better and got another job. That business was bought by venture capitalists after I had been there for a year. It took them less than another year to drive it into the ground for their personal gain and then declare bankruptcy. I signed up for the Unemployment Compensation that had been due to me two other times too (although I hadn't taken it) and after that money ran out I lived on my savings until I was eligible for Social Security. I'm still working on freelance assignments, but I couldn't make it without getting my Social Security because I spend most of my time caring for my elderly, disabled mother.
I feel that I worked hard all my life (I started working when I was 13) but in the end I wasn't left with very much respect for the people who employed me.
Probably have a nice party, and give extra long hugs and kisses to my female coworkers. Then probably proceed to get inappropriately drunk, and have to show up a week later because I forgot to turn in my ID card.
The song "take this job and shove it" sounds quite appropriate?
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