Work is killing me.

[artimrj]

72 & 74 hour weeks are getting hard to do. We got even more busy after Memorial Day, very unusual. But taking home a $2K check is fun too. I am just getting too old for all of it. The new guy is working out great so I can retire with good feelings of not screwing my boss when I leave. I got the older guy, younger than me though, working the computer doing the CAD work. Listen to the old guy. Everyone comes to me but I have no one to go to...

[gtrtroger]

You are to be commended for wishing to making sure the newer employees are “in the groove” before leaving for retirement. In this day and age, this care about the “job getting done” just doesn’t exist anymore. I fault the companies who no longer care about their employees; they’re just disposable labor. Times have changed for the worse in my opinion.

...”This Bud’s for you”...

[artimrj]

I got the boss everyone wants. Never yells at me, but some of the others get some action from him. Got lots of perks. 2 bedroom, 2 story condo. My car broke down after 6 months when I first started. He gave me his. It was 3 months old. I had it 12 years. I only live 5 miles from work, so I don't drive much. I also had Season tickets to the STeelers for the last 3 years. 4 seats for me and whoever. In the club house. $285 a seat. Lots of other perks as well. How can you not help this kind of boss out?

[GSkid]

Well as baby boomers are drifting into the sunset over the next 20 years or so, any business in the death industry should see a major increase in volume and revenue. I expect your replacement to face workloads you've never seen before as a result. Then I expect the spike to flatten out and return to a somewhat normal average.

I do see some major changes coming to your industry. Generation Y (millennials) and the Generation Z after them seem to have the mindset of waiting to have children in their late 20s to early 30s. That's 10 years later than the WW2 generation and baby boomers on average had their children. And if Gen Z carries on the current Gen Y trend of having less children on average than past generations, then expect another tweak to the norm. Also.... it has been my general anecdotal observation that people are choosing cremation more and are increasing in the mindset that they need no plaque, headstone or monument to remember them. The attitude of simply sprinkling their ashes somewhere they want to be laid to rest or want to be remembered at has exploded over the past years.

Part of that change in attitude came with the rise of environmentalism where the mindset is at reducing our global footprint. They think it's silly to spend money to take up space in this world with a physical object with their name on it, that nobody will likely visit beyond those friends and family that knew them. After that, they are basically objects that clutter our world until some future generation decides to remove them. I'm of that mindset too (minus the global footprint angle), although I'm not an environmentalist. I just don't see the point. People's memories of me matter far more than visiting an inanimate object with my name on it, that nobody will care about in 100 years unless I had some big impact to my community and the world at large.

The longest stretch I've done was 23 days straight of work without a day off. I feel ya! Just be happy retirement is right around the corner. But my advice to you is to keep some level of purpose in your retirement. Take up a hobby or activity that keeps both your mind and body in shape. People tend to live longer and happier lives that way.

[jgvaughan]

Totally empathize with how you feel. Retirement is just around the corner for me as well. Luckily I have a boss that realizes the importance of cross-training and cross-leveling between sections. While I'm probably looking at a year and a half to two years before I retire, I feel comfortable that when the door closes behind me I won't have to feel concern or guilt over leaving and calling it a day. My 50-60 hours weeks have been in the past for months now but every now and then, one pops up and it makes me grateful that retirement is on the horizon, that light at the end of the tunnel.

[dejoh]

Hey Bob. Enjoy your retirement. Have fun, but don't forget to check in once and awhile.

headstone.jpg

[buzz456]

He might find time to enjoy this forum and creating stuff. Call me crazy.

[artimrj]

Still got a few more years before I retire, unless I hit the Powerball. 63 this November. It is getting there.

[PNWR1854]

Live each day better than the last.

[artimrj]

!*salute*! Live each day better than the last.

Time is already going too fast, a week feels like a day. I take what I can each day for playing ;)

[KevinWS]

Just wait Bob. You will be there before you know......

Tip - never stop working. When it's time do something part time etc.

[artimrj]

Just wait Bob. You will be there before you know......

Tip - never stop working. When it's time do something part time etc.

It will depend on where I am living. If I stay where I am I can do the CAD at home and just email them in. If I make it to Florida, The Villages, then I will be on the beach every day sandblasting large pebbles with sayings and pictures and anything you want. I do it while you wait ;) Bob's Lawn Ornaments & Plaques. You can buy 12 x 12 x 1/4 inch granite tiles in all kinds of colors. The people here love them for pets, addresses and lots of other things. I made a template of the "Roswell Rock" and made a few for friends of Ancient Aliens.

[ex-railwayman]

Well, don't kill yourself BEFORE you retire, Bob, what good will that do you.......

Cheerz. Steve.

[artimrj]

Well it is not physical pressure, but mental pressure. I have to keep 7 others guys busy. Then I have 14 sales people to deal with and what they promised to the people. When 10 of them promise people a stone in 2 weeks at the same time, it gets hectic.

[buzz456]

I have forty years of those "Your people promised me" phone calls. Deep breathing and think about train sim stuff or other fun things.