Time Flies

[bigtiller]

Time does seam to fly from time to time. Yesterday I remembered that it was 5 years to the day that I walked out of the plant where I had worked for 30 years for the last time. Ya know what? I never went back for a visit and I never missed the place. But I do wonder occasionally how some of the guys are doing.

 

[dex3361]

bigtiller
Have you enjoyed your retirement so far? Most of the guys I talk to say they are busier now than they have ever been. Why isit that you dont go back and say hey to the guys at the plant? I have noticed the same with the men that have left ahead of me. It seems when they hit the gate for the last time its good bye for good.

 

[Bird]

Time does seam to fly from time to time. Yesterday I remembered that it was 5 years to the day that I walked out of the plant where I had worked for 30 years for the last time. Ya know what? I never went back for a visit and I never missed the place. But I do wonder occasionally how some of the guys are doing.

Yep, I don't know whether you yet understand just how fast time flies. Five days ago was 21 years since I walked out of the police station for the last time. I never went back either . . . except . . . when the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2004 was passed, I went to the new police headquarters, which I'd never seen, to get a new ID card. ID cards used to only show date of retirement and rank, but now they show total full years of service and "honorably" retired. I do occasionally visit the Firearms Training Center to practice and/or qualify periodically.

 

[bigtiller]

I was always near the bottom of the seniority list because 3 years after I was hired the company stopped hirring. They never hired another wage employee for 20 years. It took 26 years for me to reach the mid point in the seniority list. By the time I had 30 years and was eligible to retire, most everyone I knew had already retired. I probably should go back someday to see all the changes. Some buildings were torn down and others were added on to. In 1987 they had 67 acres under roof and it was a 3 mile walk to tour the plant during their 150 year anniversary.

 

[Bird]

Now that would really seem unusual to me; for a company that big to stay in business that long without hiring new employees. I guess it must be a pretty good place to work to have very little turnover.

 

[bigtiller]

Now that would really seem unusual to me; for a company that big to stay in business that long without hiring new employees. I guess it must be a pretty good place to work to have very little turnover.

1979 & '80 were weird years. They would hire one month and lay off the next month. Then in 1982 the farm crises hit John Deere hard. The lay-offs came and some guys never made it back untill 1988. Anyone that was hired after July 1976 lost their recall rights and never worked there again. They did hire a hand full in the early '90's but they were all skilled trades guys in the IAM union. I was in the UAW. In 1997 we signed a new 6 year contract with a two tier pay scale. The following spring they started hiring again. The guys that I worked with that were hired in july of '76 sure were glad to have someone under them in seniority in '98.

 

[Uncle Doug]

Over the 21 years I have worked at my current chemical plant job I have seen lots of guys retire. A few do come back for a few years to drink coffee or fish in our big pond. I will be one who leaves and never sets foot on the place again. Times have changed over the past 10 years. More pressure to produce more with less people. Lots more stress which causes conflict between management and even between employees. Most can not wait to get out of there. The youngest in my department is over 50 with no new hires in over 10 years. The company plans to bring in contract workers as each retire. At one time my department had 24 technicians, 4 supervisors and 3 specialists. Now we have 11 technicians, 1 supervisor and 1 contractor.

We had 3 retire at the end of last year, all had over 20 years of service. To save money the company only gave 1 party with 1 cake.

Nope, when I leave I better take everything with me because I will not be back.

 

[CosmoAU]

My dad is similar. He taught Ag at the same school for almost 30 years. In the 10 yrs. since his retirement he's been back once. A 15 yr. reunion of my graduation this past year. Funny thing is I didn't even graduate from there. Went there thru the 8th grade and then transferred to the school in the town I lived in. They invited us both to the reunion though.

Time does fly. I always figured I would change jobs often. (I seem to be eaten up with ADD, just couldn't sit still long enough to take the test to confirm it.) I realized recently I've been going to the same place of employment for 12 years now. It's an upscale country club in a small town so I've climbed to the top of the food chain and seniority ladder. Hopefully the economy improves soon because it's hurting my business bad.

 

[ToadHill]

It's been 24 years since I worked in a plant. When I started they had 6200 employees. When they decided to close , I was the manager of employee benefits. Every person who left, retire or layoff came in to discuss the benefits they were to get. When I left there were only 270 people left in the plant. I'd been dealing with people loosing their job for over 3 years, and by that time your glad when your number comes up.

 

[wjoerob]

Nearly a year since I retired. Before I left, they SWORE up and down they would not, could not ever offer a buyout, bonus or incentive. Then 2-3 months after I left they offered $15,000, and 2 of my coworkers took it. That was hard to explain to my wife. But you can only operate on what you know at the time, right?
As for the school reunions, I moved to a different area of the state, went back once and realized most of the people I went to school with didn't like me and I didn't like them. So why bother? Some of us don't recall school with fond memories, just a lot of struggle and grief. Things are better now.

 

[MossRoad]

Well, as a younger guy with only 23 years in my current job, I miss the guys that trained me, then retired and never came back. They had a wealth of knowledge that they took with them and were excellent teachers... kind of like 2nd father figures.

I do see a few of them once in a while outside of work and really enjoy catching up with them. Our company has a 25 year club that gets together several times a year. From what I hear, a few of them still show up. I'll find out in 2 more years (if we stay in business).

So, you "old dudes" need to think about us youngins once in a while and keep in touch!