Part-time work eases retirement
Helen is 56 and until two months ago she was managing a full-time job as well as a family of adult kids. When she made the decision to ease her way into retirement with a part-time job she met with a lot of resistance from her co-workers and boss.
“At 56 they considered me far too young to be taking things easy,” laughs Helen, “and my boss put a lot of pressure on me to fulfill my obligations to the company on a full-time basis because of my high profile with it.”
"They thought I was letting them down," explains Helen "but I was adamant that my family life was far more important than my job - and so was my freedom to enjoy life while I was still young enough to enjoy it - and finally they relented."
“But the transition wasn’t easy,” says Helen. “I was really surprised by the bad feelings of jealous co-workers when I started working short hours.”
“Some were openly hostile - denigrating my new values, calling me lazy for working fewer hours,” sighs Helen, “and some had the nerve to call me a cheapskate for the new frugality I had adopted in order to live on a lower salary.”
“Some idiots even called me ‘uncool’ for not being interested any more in fashions and fads!”
“What these people were doing, of course, was trying to justify their values - the values I once shared with them - by denigrating my new values,” laughs Helen, “but I’m so ‘cool’ now that I just let it all wash over me!”
“At 56 they considered me far too young to be taking things easy,” laughs Helen, “and my boss put a lot of pressure on me to fulfill my obligations to the company on a full-time basis because of my high profile with it.”
"They thought I was letting them down," explains Helen "but I was adamant that my family life was far more important than my job - and so was my freedom to enjoy life while I was still young enough to enjoy it - and finally they relented."
“But the transition wasn’t easy,” says Helen. “I was really surprised by the bad feelings of jealous co-workers when I started working short hours.”
“Some were openly hostile - denigrating my new values, calling me lazy for working fewer hours,” sighs Helen, “and some had the nerve to call me a cheapskate for the new frugality I had adopted in order to live on a lower salary.”
“Some idiots even called me ‘uncool’ for not being interested any more in fashions and fads!”
“What these people were doing, of course, was trying to justify their values - the values I once shared with them - by denigrating my new values,” laughs Helen, “but I’m so ‘cool’ now that I just let it all wash over me!”
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