Log Cabin Chronicles

No more 9 to 5

CHARLES LONG

Not long ago we invited friends over for dinner. Ray and Sarah are about our ages -– early 50s. He retired at the end of April, 2000 from an electric company -- along with some 1400 of his colleagues.

I retired a little over two years ago from the federal bureaucracy.

Ray and I both took "early retirement" and got golden handshakes -– packages to get rid of senior managers in their early fifties. There is a huge, and still growing, number of us out there.

Following retirement, I took six months off . I travelled, read, exercised, painted, and visited friends. I even leaned how to operate a tractor, drive a skidoo; and make maple syrup with a retired teacher friend had built a hobby sugar shack.

After five months, my spouse got tired of having me around the house so much. For years she complained regularly that I was never home, that I liked the office more than her, and that I was going to die, young, at my desk. But in 25 years of marriage, she had made adjustments in her activities and schedule –- and they didn't include me, except for social activities on weekends, and on an occasional week night or two.

I was also getting restless.

So I decided to do some consulting work, part-time. Two or three days a week would be fine, I thought. Enough to keep me busy and out of trouble. But anyone who has done consulting work knows that that's not the way it works.

I ended up working as much, or more, as when I was working full-time. And I was supervising staff again. The same pressures of work and stress started creeping back in.

Secretly, I just wanted to be hired at the local grocery store to stock shelves on the midnight shift. And I knew how to do this type of work.

I spent seven summers and many, many weekends working at a grocery store while I was going through high school and university. I even worked the weekend night shift at one of the local supermarkets the first year I taught school –- to pay for my flights to see my future wife.

Or I wanted to be hired to clip press clippings and prepare the daily press pack weekday mornings from 6:30 to 9:30 at my old place of work. I'm an early bird and this would have given me the rest of the day to do what I wanted to do in my retirement.

However, I never breathed a word of this to anyone.

What would people say or think about a well-educated, former senior executive in the government, lugging cans and boxes around a store in the middle of the night, or cutting out newspaper and magazine articles every day before the crack of dawn?

I even secretly envied another friend of mine.

He is a former government supervisor who, after five years of retirement, took on several odd jobs –- delivering and stocking bread on shelves at the local fruit and vegetable store early in the a.m., and driving cars from one dealership to another.

After dinner, Ray and I took a walk to work off our meal. That was when I told him about my secret desire to work in the local grocery store. I wanted to be active and earn a little extra cash. But I didn't want any responsibilities.

I was surprised to find that he was harbouring the same feelings. Men, you know, often harbour feelings.

He told me that one of his neighbours had night-shift job and that he might be able to get him a part-time job next year when he decided to do a little work on the side. Ray's neighbour, a retiree from the army, has been working there for several years. He's 59, shows up for work regularly, and on time.

After that, I began to wonder how many people like us there are out there are in the same position.

The consulting work pays well but, with my pension, I end up giving most of it back to the government in taxes.

I know I should be using my education and looking for challenging jobs to match my qualifications and experience. I know that old colleagues and friends will say -- when and if they find out what I'm doing: "Can you believe what's become of Charles since he's retired" or "If retirement does that to me…", or "Boy I'm glad I didn't take early retirement like Charles did".

But, bottom line: I don't want to be challenged in the workplace. I don't want to work from 9 to 5, or more. I don't want make the tough decisions –- and take responsibility for them. And I don't want to mentor, train, supervise or have to deal with the trials and tribulations of employees any more.

I think I've earned the right to challenge myself in my own way, on my own time, when I feel like it.

If it weren't so much trouble, I'd set up an employment agency just for people like Ray and me. And all the others like us out there. I'd find part-time, odd-jobs for us early retirees so that we can still enjoy our pensions, play a little golf, paint, read, and still contribute to the working world.

But chances are that, if I did, I'd end up back in the old rat race again –- full-time.

Charles Long is a freelance writer and communications consultant based in Gatineau, Quebec.


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