Oh, you're not working, why not

L

LoveTulips

Senior Member
Location
British Columbia, Canada
I don't know why but people around my age who are still working will ask me why am I not working still? I will be 70 years old very soon. I look 70 years old because I don't bother with make up or color my hair, etc. When I'm in a bus, I never have any trouble getting a seat, so I must look my age. I'm only saying this above because I don't look younger than my age.

So I'm in Fabricland (but it has happened elsewhere) and we get chatting a customer, a sales rep and me. And they ask me if I'm working and I say no I'm retired. And they say, oh, you don't want to work?? When did this happen?? Why would I want to work? I worked as a receptionist or admin support all my life. Some of the horrid bosses that I worked for, you would not believe. At one company, my boss smashed the wall with his fist because I had asked a question about creating printed labels. That is one of the crazy people I worked for in over 52 years of working.

When my mother retired and she was much younger, no one would say to her, oh, so you don't want to keep on working?? When did this happen and why should I feel guilty at being retired, well, I actually retired at 67....but regardless....
 

LoveTulips said:
I don't know why but people around my age who are still working will ask me why am I not working still? I will be 70 years old very soon. I look 70 years old because I don't bother with make up or color my hair, etc. When I'm in a bus, I never have any trouble getting a seat, so I must look my age. I'm only saying this above because I don't look younger than my age.

So I'm in Fabricland (but it has happened elsewhere) and we get chatting a customer, a sales rep and me. And they ask me if I'm working and I say no I'm retired. And they say, oh, you don't want to work?? When did this happen?? Why would I want to work? I worked as a receptionist or admin support all my life. Some of the horrid bosses that I worked for, you would not believe. At one company, my boss smashed the wall with his fist because I had asked a question about creating printed labels. That is one of the crazy people I worked for in over 52 years of working.

When my mother retired and she was much younger, no one would say to her, oh, so you don't want to keep on working?? When did this happen and why should I feel guilty at being retired, well, I actually retired at 67....but regardless....
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Dam cheek.. just tell them to come and ask again, if they ever get to working for 50 years or more..
 
I enjoyed my work but didn’t enjoy working.

I stopped working at age 51 and have never regretted my decision to accept a lower standard of living in exchange for my freedom.

Tell them it wouldn’t be right for you to take a job away from someone that needs one.
 

Some like to work well into their old age and others prefer to retire early (before 65). It's a personal choice so it should not be judged by the standards of others.

If you can afford to retire early and have interests to keep you busy then there's no reason not to retire? Maybe those judging you for retiring earlier than them is really just jealousey?
 
Or say something like I was thrifty with my spending and planned carefully for Freedom 55. I really wouldn’t say anything like that, even if I were thinking it.

(Freedom 55 is a promotional phrase from one of our Canadian big banks.)


Some people enjoy working and I don’t criticize them nor should they try to shame you.
 
LoveTulips said:
I don't know why but people around my age who are still working will ask me why am I not working still? I will be 70 years old very soon. I look 70 years old because I don't bother with make up or color my hair, etc. When I'm in a bus, I never have any trouble getting a seat, so I must look my age. I'm only saying this above because I don't look younger than my age.
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Fact is, there those who simply cannot just mind their own business. So many have asked me why I still work, I'm 78 but I don't tell them that, what I do tell them is unprintable here, but it does involve sex and travel.
 
I quit my job at 65 because they changed our start and finish times, almost immediately I realised that I wasn't ready for retirement.
I enrolled in a community services course and got a casual job, I now have a mental health qualification. It's all positive because I work when I want and/or I'm needed.
I ride to work and work to ride I probably couldn't do as much riding as I want if I didn't have the income. The last time I adjusted the chain was, just that, my arthritic hands aren't up to that anymore. Now I'm participating in the economy and providing a needed service. I plan to keep doing this until I have to call it quits. If I wasn't working I'd be counting my pennies and waiting to die.
 
Working a labor intensive job, or even a lighter labor intensive job is not the same as, well say office work. As such IMO those in the afore mentioned jobs retire ASAP in most cases. The last eleven years of my job was more office, and yet even at that, I retired when eligible [30years] . Age 51 . and I indeed enjoyed my freedom [mostly for travel] , had a good pension, and never lived above my means so $$ was never a worry .

Over the years [retired years] people would sometimes ask if i ever considered going back to work ......... Nope !
 
I took an early retirement incentive in 2010 when I was 58. I get 80% of the last three years of salary (averaged) as a pension and with SSI, I'm making more than I was when I was working. The only drawback is that I lost my vision and dental insurance. I just pay OOP for dental. The premiums for dental insurance for 1 year is more than I would usually spend in 3 years for regular visits.
 
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I am not making excuses, but I had a very stressful job that also contained a lot of responsibilities. I can say that I held the lives of up to 400 people in my hands at times. Being an airline pilot has no room for any whoops. I retired at 63, even though I could have worked up to age 65. I was given a buyout package that no sane man would walk away from. I didn’t want to quit, so it was a terribly hard decision to make and took me four days to sign the separation papers and letter of retirement.
 
horseless carriage said:
Fact is, there those who simply cannot just mind their own business. So many have asked me why I still work, I'm 78 but I don't tell them that, what I do tell them is unprintable here, but it does involve sex and travel.
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Your first sentence hit the nail on the head. I worked part time a few years after leaving my job, but left for personal reasons. I had a number of people ask me why I wasn’t working. Number one question was “Are you sick?”
 
nahi said:
Work is to earn money to make a living. If having enough money to make a living, why work?
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Why work? Quite simply because some people enjoy work, it gives them a sense of purpose, engagement with others and a pleasure in doing what they do.
Take for example, David McCallum, a Scottish actor, who gained wide recognition in the 1960's for playing secret agent Illya Kuryakin in the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E He then went on to star on stage and in film and television until 2003 when McCallum gained renewed international popularity for his role as N.C.I.S. chief medical examiner Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard in the television series N.C.I.S., which he played for 20 seasons until his death, at the age of 90, in 2023.

In a television interview McCallum said: "Acting is my whole life and as long as I'm working at that, I'm happy."

You don't have to be a famous celebrity to be of that ilk.
 

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