(Originally published at PublishOx.com on February 1, 2021)
I know what you’re thinking… ‘Why would this guy quit his job in the middle of a depression. Is he crazy?'.
The answer is simple and complex at the same time. I will try my best to explain my reasoning for calling it quits after 40 years working my ass off, watching my youth slip away and having the constant feeling that I haven't gotten anywhere.
I started working when I was 15 years old in the spring of 1981, landing summer jobs and part time work while I was still in high school. I recall being paid peanuts but I wanted to help my parents pay the bills. They had just lost their house at a time when mortgage rates skyrocketed to 20%. That’s another story for another day.
Over the years, I’ve held several jobs while trying to work my way up the ladder. I’ve flipped burgers, hauled bags of soil, worked in factories running presses and grinders, in construction, roofing and picking up scrap metals to name a few. I’ve gone to college twice, first in my early 20’s to study toolmaking and again at age 36 to study electronics technology. I’ve had to start over several times. I was bankrupt at age 25 and I know what it’s like to fall into an inescapable debt trap.
Finally, at age 40, I landed a job as an inspector with a highly reputable, well known company that upon starting, paid me the highest wage I’d ever earned. That was back in 2006. Fast forward to spring 2021 and it’ll have been 15 years working for this one company. I’d never worked for such a long period for one company before. They were still offering pensions to new hires back then. All new hires since 2009 are no longer eligible for a pension. Combining my age (55) with the amount of time I’ve put in, I found myself eligible for a reduced pension. It’s not much but at least I secured something.
I was considering to myself, ‘should I or shouldn’t I’ go for it. I’ve worked all shifts imaginable for this company. I’ve worked a full year on the overnight shift, a full year on the weekend shift, 4 years on afternoons (till 2 am, 3am, 5am) and another 7 years on the day shift. Steady day shift is great but not when you’re forced to start at 5:45 am every day. That’s just too bloody damned early for me. Most of the employees including myself have begged management to fix these hours but it all went in one ear and out the other.
A couple of months ago, I grabbed my cell phone to send a quick text to my brother and sister in law to check up on him because he’d been diagnosed with 2nd stage prostate cancer. A supervisor (that is not well liked) saw me and decided to report this to my manager who in turn decided to have a meeting with me to discuss COMPANY POLICY (emphasis mine).
I became irate with him or in better words, downright furious. Don’t get me wrong. I like my manager and we get along very well but this time I let ‘er rip. I screamed about all the many times I went the extra mile for this company and never got recognition for it. I always got the job done, no matter how difficult it was but they were now more concerned about me firing off a text message that took all of 20 seconds.
I’m just so tired of being controlled. Not just by my employers past and present but also government and big tech. After this episode with my manager, I realized once and for all just how unhappy I was with the way things are and the only way to change the situation was to take back control of my life. Three days after my not so great conversation with my manager, I submitted the ‘intent’ to retire’ form. My last day is on April 24, 2021.
I would have thought some people would approach me and tell me I was crazy for doing this but to my pleasant surprise, my family supports me and quite a few of my coworkers have come forward to congratulate me and shared with me how they desire to do the same thing. As it turns out, just this past week, a co-worker approached me, informing me that he too has decided to retire. The funny thing is, we were both hired on the same day! Another coworker told me that he’s done at the end of March.
Suddenly, I’m the envy of all my coworkers. Maybe I started something?
Before the CCP Virus screwed everything up, we weren’t allowed to eat at our desks. Now it’s ok to eat at our desks. It’s not ok to light up a cigarette in the parking lot but it’s ok to do so 20 feet away in the designated smoking area. You have to punch in within 3 minutes before the start of your shift and swipe out no later than 3 minutes after the end of your shift. Any swipe before or after that and you have to go through this crazy process to ‘fix’ the numbers right.
They change the rules whenever they feel like it. We used to start at 7:30 am which is ideal. Some high up screw up decided for everyone to start at 6 am. Then Covid came and the time was changed to 5:45 am to separate the shifts. I guess management doesn’t care that the workforce is aging and they’re literally burning us out. I can see it in my coworkers’ faces, the eyes drooping. We used to be a happy team of coworkers. Not anymore…
So now, you’re probably wondering what my plans are going forward. For one thing, I did save a bit of cash so I can take this summer off. I plan on starting the most fantastic vegetable garden in my small backyard. Actually, I’m already on my way. A few years ago, I planted rhubarb which keeps coming back and 2 summers ago, I planted asparagus which takes about 3 years to really take hold and will now keep growing for the rest of my life. I’ve planted an apple tree and a plum tree as well as raspberries, blueberries and currants.
If need be, I’ll find myself a part-time job but never again will I work full-time for anybody but myself. I can sell things on Ebay if I want, to make extra cash. I’ve learned so many skills over the course of my life. All I have to do is put an ad up on some site like Kijiji offering my services, part-time of course. Maybe I’ll sell some of my veggies to my neighbors.
There’s another thing that’s made me feel confidant of my plan to quit my job. Over the course of the last decade, I’ve purchased silver in the form of bars and rounds every time I got a Christmas bonus from my employer. Instead of spending it all on XMas presents, I converted a portion to silver. Silver finally looks poised to skyrocket now that the Reddit group WallStreetBets have turned their focus to it after driving GameStop stock to ridiculous highs last week.
It’s quite possible now that I timed my retirement perfectly if silver does shoot for the moon, as I’ve been expecting anyways for the better part of a decade now. Mind you, I’m not really retiring. On the contrary. I’ll probably end up working harder than ever but at something I truly love doing and can start / stop my work day and take a break whenever I want to. If I feel like taking a 2 hour lunch, I will. That’s another thing I’m tired of, these ½ hour lunches where you barely have enough time to chew your food and then, right back to work we go.
In this environment we’re now living in, it’s more important than ever to learn a new skill or two. Most of the jobs that have been lost in the last year are menial jobs. Waiters, waitresses, bartenders, popcorn servers at the theater, gift shop clerks, you get the drift. Those are not real skills. Knowing more than one skill is the way to go going forward as it looks like things are about to get a lot worse.
It was the same during the 1930’s depression. Most of the jobs lost were menial and most of the companies that went under produced useless things like toys. Much of what’s going on today is mirroring the 30’s. Look at ToysRus and how well they’re NOT doing and the long line ups at food banks. The situation is sad but with real skills, one can survive through this shit fest. Family is important too and so is knowing who your real friends are.
So, going back to the topic of my retirement, I’m so excited to finally become my own boss, no one looking over my shoulder, no one telling me what to do, no one threatening me with suspension or termination, no one changing the rules on a whim, no one breathing down my neck! No more spending large amounts on gas just to get to and from work. No more high insurance premiums just because I’m driving to work. The drive to work itself is madness to millions of people. I’m in Canada. I can tell you it’s no fun to go out at 5am to clear the snow from the driveway. That’s another thing I’m not going to miss.
I’m not going to mention all the asshole coworkers I’ve had to endure working with over the past 4 decades. I was threatened with death once by a coworker who thought I defaced a ‘happy face’ poster he had taped to the side of his tool box. Yes, that’s a true story! And no. I didn't deface his happy face poster.
So then, if you’re in the same boat as me and you’re in a position to walk away, stop thinking about it and do it. I have less than 3 months to go and I can tell you that I am so happy like never before and I’m not even quite there yet. Imagine how happy I’ll be when I walk out for the last time on April 24th.
Wish me luck as I’m wishing you best of luck as well!
Happy retirement...