Keeping in touch with ex-workers..... or not. (weather, acquaintance, friendly)
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How do you retirees feel about those that you've worked with in the past, and about your previous work places in general? Do you still keep in touch with some of your ex co-workers? Are you invited to functions (like end-of-year parties, and special luncheons, etc.)? Do you attend them? Or have you put it all behind you?
I'm retired 5 years now and we do have an annual luncheon where we still all get together.
Some have retired, others have taken jobs at different companies and some still work there.
It's more people related than work related though..we all worked together for at least 10 years.
As far as work related..when I left I left it all behind.
How do you retirees feel about those that you've worked with in the past, and about your previous work places in general? Do you still keep in touch with some of your ex co-workers? Are you invited to functions (like end-of-year parties, and special luncheons, etc.)? Do you attend them? Or have you put it all behind you?
I just skipped our annual reunion. I'm just too lazy to go. Well, maybe not lazy, but I never know what kind of mood I will be in when I wake up. I might have had a sleepless night and I don't want to have to drive 45 minutes and then put on a happy face. Thank goodness we had really bad weather that day - record floods - and I had a good excuse.
I keep in touch with them online, but other than that - I prefer staying home.
I haven't been back to the company I retired from in 07, I used to see some of the retirees coming back for our Christmas parties when I was still working and their presence made me a bit sad for them, I vowed to not become like that and so far haven't felt any urge to do so.
I saw my old boss coming down the aisle with his walker after he had suffered a stroke and then retired, we were having our Christmas party and he must have felt some sense of loss after being medically retired. This was a man who made his work into a life, without the job he was no doubt feeling a bit naked and at a loss for an identity. He didn't look well and died a few years later. It was definitely a wake up call for those fence sitters who were debating the merits of the company's early out offer.
Work, and the human dynamics involved in it, often become blended in a mixture of feelings of common cause and camaraderie, we had many milestone accomplishments at the company I worked for, technological breakthroughs that made everyone seem to be an indispensable part of something. That alone can be the allure of staying rather than leaving, but most know that work is a continuous chain of events and people that transcend our own involvement. Exciting as work can be, most people will admit to it's tendency towards drudgery.
I am retired from teaching for over 10 yrs now. I see only one person I taught with regularly. She is really busy with teaching and other part-time work like coaching/tutoring and I travel a good bit now that my husband is full time retired as well--so we only see each other a few times a year. But we enjoy each other's company. I was invited to the dept Christmas party after retiring and went a few times but knew fewer people each year. I am invited to the coaches' luncheon at Christmas each year and have gone to that most times until recently when we travel to our daughter's out of state. I had a work relationship with the people I taught with for the most part--not a personal one. So didn't really give up anything when I retired.
My husband worked at same company for almost 20 years when he retired two years ago. He had a couple of people there whose company he really enjoyed but most of them were younger, Republican/conservative, or party-people---
Just didn't fit into his comfort zone. The one person he wanted to stay in touch with retired sooner and does lot of traveling, moves in very "social" circle and just doesn't have time for my husband---which I regret. One of the men in his dept that he helped hire still keeps in touch--calls fairly often and goes to lunch with my husband 4-5 times a year. But that is not relationship where any real confidences are exchanged on personal level.
I have friend who is retired teacher in same district as I taught--on elementary side. She taught 20 yrs at same school. Large circle of friends that she still keeps in touch with--some go to her church--some she sees when she subs. But she is just more outgoing/friendly person by nature than either my husband or myself. She is still best friends with 3 women she went to college with 40 yrs ago--keeps in touch with friends met through her husband's job at American Airlines...and she does it w/o Facebook...
Making time to keep a true friendship alive is more difficult when people worked together but that was their only contact time. IF you have friends from work that really are friends and not nice co-workers then it is worth taking time keep in touch. IF you only exchanged pleasantries sitting in the lunch room or before a meeting started--that is not much to give up.
Since I moved to another state after I retired I only keep in contact with a handful of co-workers on Facebook. It's pleasing to hear them complain and whine.
How do you retirees feel about those that you've worked with in the past, and about your previous work places in general? Do you still keep in touch with some of your ex co-workers? Are you invited to functions (like end-of-year parties, and special luncheons, etc.)? Do you attend them? Or have you put it all behind you?
It's funny, I worked at the same place for almost 30 years, and had the opportunity to transfer to different departments and even states. I developed a few really close friendships, I mean personal as well as work-related, but most of them went by the wayside once I transferred to a new department. Sometimes shared work experiences are the only real glue that bind a friendship together. I do, however, have one friend that has remained all these years, mainly because she is really diligent about keeping in touch.
I have reconnected with a lot of folks on Facebook, but I try to friend only those that I was actually friends with, not just acquaintances. Also, our company was bought and sold since I worked there, and the "original" folks are on a private Faceook group, so that's really fun. Everyone shares memories of the "good old days".
How do you retirees feel about those that you've worked with in the past, and about your previous work places in general? Do you still keep in touch with some of your ex co-workers? Are you invited to functions (like end-of-year parties, and special luncheons, etc.)? Do you attend them? Or have you put it all behind you?
I keep in touch with some of my coworkers, as we became friends, but never have attended or been invited to any of the functions the workplace may have. I wouldn't expect to do that, especially as I now live on the other side of the state.
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