What do you miss and not miss about your job?

[Talk Host]

Most Villages residents are retired. Is there anything about your job that you miss?

In my case, being on radio and television, I had a great platform for shaping community opinion and effecting change. I miss being able to do that. Maybe there's a little of it here on TOTV. I also miss being around so many creative people all the time.

I don't miss getting up at 4:30 every morning.

JLK

[otherbruddaDarrell]

I missed the rate of pay that is available up north. I worked full time my first year here doing the same job for the same company for a lot less money.

[gary42651]

After 40 years of Plumbing, Heating and A/C, 36 years as the owner, the only thing I wll miss are the weekends, long weekends, and vacations, I use to look foward to the time off. Now every day is saturday and I will be stuck with working on my golf game, fishing, dancing, sleeping late, traveling ect. Life can be tough sometimes.

[784caroline]

Loved the job but the LONG commute was pure h_ll...50 minues on a good day to 2 hours plus on a bad day

[graciegirl]

I miss being an apparel rep............sometimes. I miss the presentation of the new line and the great places the company would take us for the annual sales meeting. Aruba, London, New York, New Orleans, Porto Rico, Washington DC, Green Briar...etc. etc.

I do not miss the department store buyers, they were ruthless and cold and you would always lose somehow, with chargebacks, advertising money, less commission, always.

I loved the mom and pop stores, because you truly could help them hands on with their merchandising and advertising.

I still have friends from those days and one of them lives here in The Villages and they were the ones who poured our first glass of Kool....I mean Villages water.:clap2:

[getdul981]

The main thing I miss is the people I worked with. I certainly don't miss the job itself. I used to enjoy going to work, but over the years there were cut offs and reorginizetion and downsizing to the point that 1 person was doing what was done by 6 or 7. No fun at all. And the BS increased by the amount of the decrease in work force.

[red tail]

i miss the airline business. i miss the good people that worked there. i dont miss the few union rebel rousers! i also misss the worldwide travel on expenses!!!!!! not as much fun now that im footing the bill. it was a great life. im only 2 months here but this is shaping up to be a great life also!

[2newyorkers]

Nothing!!!!

[golf2140]

Not a thing. Walked out the door, never returned.

[bluedog103]

Nothing, nada, zip, zero. Certainly not leaving for work at 6:00 AM and returning home at 7:00 PM or later.
Like getdul981, the last few years were miserable. B.S., cutbacks, impossible workload. Whew, I'm glad I finally got out.

[njbchbum]

put me in with the 'not one blessed thing' group! as golf2140 stated - walked out and never went back. and life has never been better than it is now. amen!

[BobKat1]

When I retired after 33 years with the same great company I felt guilty that I didn't miss it all. This was after day 1 of retirement! I thought that I would miss the people and the camaradiere(?) but that wasn't the case. I guess I was ready. It was time to enjoy the great benefits accrued over those years.

[philnpat]

I'm so envious of people who truly loved their jobs. The 1st 20 years at my job was rewarding and fulfilling. The last 15 years were different...cutbacks, givebacks and downsizing. When an offer was made, I took it. It was time. I miss my co-workers but still have breakfast with them once a month.
Now it's time for "life - part 2"

[Tom Hannon]

Ditto- PhinnPat. I'm with ya

[getdul981]

All you folks that are in the same boat as I am - you didn't work for a railroad, did you? (Maybe I should say on the same track as I am)

[Barefoot]

Not a thing. Walked out the door, never returned.

I don't miss a thing. Retirement is the best job of all!

[2 Oldcrabs]

The "meetings". We had meetings to determine when to hold the next meeting! And the people who called in sick all the time so I had to stay at work longer!:a040:

[jtdraig]

I have been retired for five years now...recalled once to IBM and worked for 3 months in Europe...but I don't miss it at all. Those three months were a lesson in life that once you have left you don't need to go back. I am loving retirement, every single moment of it.

[laryb]

I don't miss the months without a day off, being called in the middle of the night, and changing hands 4 times.... I really miss working beside all the great friends I had there.

[teach232]

I miss the look of 'the light bulb going on' when a child finally gets it......and the smile that follows.

[diskman]

Most Villages residents are retired. Is there anything about your job that you miss?

In my case, being on radio and television, I had a great platform for shaping community opinion and effecting change. I miss being able to do that. Maybe there's a little of it here on TOTV. I also miss being around so many creative people all the time.

I don't miss getting up at 4:30 every morning.

JLK

I would miss that pay check! ,but not the work:a20::beer3::bowdown:

[eweissenbach]

I had three careers:

Teacher/coach/activities director 14 yr; Missed preparing the team to play, and the excitement, and competition of the season. Didn't miss the penny pinching administration.

District Manager for New York Life, 20 yr; Missed the fast paced lifestyle and the people I worked with. Didn't miss the recruiting demands and the high stress deadlines.

Home Office Marketing Manager for Principal Financial Group 5 yr; Miss almost everything about the job and the company and especially the fantastic people I worked with. Definitely don't miss living 120 miles from home and commuting on Sunday evening and back on thursday or friday afternoon.

Still working two days a week in marketing for my childrens medical care staffing business, but I am non-essential personel for the most part.

[Pturner]

My dad owned "mom and pop" ladies clothing stores. I worked in them since I was a kid. My first "job" was making bows at Christmas when I was about 6. Then wrapping gifts. What fun! Later I learned to post sales tickets and check in merchandise. As a teenager in high school, I was a saleslady or cashier during summers and weekends. During/ after college did advertising, window and store displays and, best of all, bought merchandise in New York Garment District. It's funny, sometimes I didn't like working in the stores. Yet, looking back-- I loved all of it, and learned so much.

After graduating with a journalism degree, I was a reporter for a daily newspaper. Also designed and edited a weekly photos/features section. I got to name the section, and called it "Images". I won 10 journalism awards and loved everything about the job-- except the non-living wage.

Switched to PR and public affairs. Last office job was Public Affairs manager for a utility. Same experience as others mentioned: Loved it at first! Worked with elected officials, regulators, media and public. Worked on corporate strategic plans and responsible for website content and publications. Over time, with downsizes and re-orgs, was expected to do more and more with less and less. Eventually was working 70-80 hour weeks, as did some of my dedicated staff. Pay was great, but workload growing and not sustainable. My last year there, I developed a spreadsheet with detailed account of entire dept. workload, along with itemized time-on-task. Proved I needed four more people or some combo of reduced load/more staff to keep up with the next year's demands. I was commended for developing the workload sheet-- and offered two people, a sizable raise and not one thing cut from the workload. I shocked them and resigned. Started private consulting. They replaced me initially with three people, but added the forth within a few months. They also contracted with me as a consultant virtually full-time for the next two years.

Colleagues in my last job often asked me how I possibly produced so much work with so little staff. I used to tell them that if I wasn't somewhat stressed out, I didn't have enough to do. Now that I'm mostly retired, I can only laugh at myself about this and say, "what was I thinking!"

It was all fine in its time, but I miss none of it.