Retired, But Not Shy And Retiring

When I started long-term work, I had one boss. By the end of last year, I had six. And most of them had nothing better to do than to stuff their noses up my butt and tell me how to do my job (despite the fact that I had more experience than all of them, combined).

It got to be really irritating.

My doctor put me on antidepressants and blood-pressure medication.

Work was a risk to my health.

It occurred to me a few months ago that perhaps I could retire, so I looked into that. Yup.

I can't get So-So Security, 'cause I'm not old enough. But I could dip into the half-million I'd saved into a 401(k)  and other accounts.

So I filled out the paperwork, got that going, and dumped my retirement notice on one of the managers' desks.

Now, I'm bringing home about what I was making at work. I just don't have "managers". Sweet.

But, after a couple of months, it's got kind of stale. Forward:

Oddly enough...my printer's running low on colored ink, so I went over to the Raleigh Hills Fred Meyer (they're close by the house) because they have cartridges on sale. Unsurprisingly, they don't carry anything for the Brother multifunction series. Figures.

However, one of the reasons why I went to the RH Freddies was because I assumed they wouldn't have what I needed - and since their electronics sections are all the same, there was no need to go to a bigger store. But I'd recently noticed a small place nearby.

They sell ink. Cruised over there, and found they'd only been open a few months. This is their first retail store; apparently, they've been working strictly with businesses until a few months ago.

It didn't seem like an especially auspicious start; the girl there started rooting through screens, trying to find the cartridges I wanted. So I pointed them out - they actually had 'em.

We chatted a bit. They had a bunch of printers on display; apparently they're getting into the printer biz as well.  As I turned to leave ($15 for 3 print cartridges; not bad), I commented that if they had any part-time openings, it could be a cool shop to work with.

She stopped me and asked how much I know about computers and networking and printers, and how much time I thought was "part-time". So...I mentioned that I can build computers, know ethernet and wi-fi networking, and pointed out that I'd saved her some time in finding the right cartridges. It turns out that they have all the sales people they need, but they need somebody to do the tech stuff.

Turns out that she's one of the principals, though the main principal is some guy. They want to talk. She suggested 3 to 4 hours a day, "but we're really flexible".

How weird is that? You walk in as a potential customer, and walk out as a potential employee. I'd never have figured....

Comments

[TMI]

It's a blessing, and a curse.

Dude! Cool!

I've always thought that I'd never be employable, so, I've worked to take my own money, to give me an investment that would pay the bills. So far, so good.

My elation with your situation is, it doesn't matter if you own our own business, or work to make someone else's business better; if you can do it, you're employable.

The problem has always been, why should I work for you?

I've had two rules: work me for fewer hours, and; pay me more.

Looks like your on track.

Cheers!
.

[Max]

Weird, isn't it? I'm just getting settled into retirement mode - which means that I chainsawed a couple of dead trees a few weeks ago and stashed them in the garage, and they just happen to be great for heating the house now that the weather's turned cold. I have 9 more to take out, as time allows,

So, money comes in (because I actually saved it into retirement accounts), and So-So Security may (or not) start paying in another 12 years or so. As it stands, I get about what I was making each month. Of course, I'd like to do a little better.

Weird to walk into a shop and walk out with "We're interested in having you do some stuff for us".

On another note: my Bride was griping about how messed-up her computer is, so this morning I asked when she'd last cleaned it. Umm...never.

So I took it apart, and she had around 1/4 inch of dust clinging to the heat-sinks in there. As I cleaned, I described what happens to the cpu and other stuff: dust is an insulator, which traps heat, which causes circuit expansion, which causes short-circuiting, which means the computer can't do its job. After I reassembled it, she fired it up and: surprise! It runs like new.

[ZZMike]

Having a well-stocked tool bag certainly isn't a drawback.

[T D]

As Gingrich said last night, it's cool to be able to work and earn money. Congratulations both on your 401(k) earnings and the possible job!