Notice of Unretirement

I officially left the ranks of the employed on January 16th, 2014 following over 50 years in the workforce, in several capacities. I must say, I am not impressed with this so-called life of leisure. I wasn’t very impressed when it started and my impression of retirement is not any more favorable after several years. I realized almost immediately that I was not cut out for retirement but many people encouraged me to keep at it, that it would get better with time. So I did, but it did not. I have tried retirement with fervor for over two years and tried to talk myself into how much I was now enjoying life. It did not work. I did not convince myself. I am still retired and I am still quite dissatisfied with this life style. I feel I have no choice but to declare that I am coming out of retirement. As of now, I am no longer retired. Unfortunately, I also do not have a job so I guess that makes me officially unemployed. So, this is what it feels like to be out of work. I wonder if I can file for unemployment compensation?

Officially declaring that I have come out of retirement is, of course, only the first step. Next I have to find someone who might be interested in the services I have to offer. I can only fall back on the skill sets I have acquired over the past 50 odd years and use them as a reference point to point me in the right direction. After the fall of the Twin Towers in 2001 I tried to re-enlist in the U.S. Navy. They obliquely told me that I was too old, without actually saying that I was too old. However, probably the skills I left 30 years before that would have become somewhat outdated. There seemed to be very little use for radio utilizing teletype, Morse code, or radio wave propagation. Apparently, these days they are bouncing radio off of satellites and other heavenly bodies and using computers to communicate. So my skills as a Communications Technician, Radioman and teletype repairman do not seem to be skills highly sought after. However, if anyone is looking for some historical knowledge and wants to hire me as a historian on Naval Communications, I’m your man.

Following my Navy Days I became a police officer and spent a good part of my life engaging in that endeavor. I realize, of course, that being a police officer is pretty much a young person’s game and although I could still direct traffic or take a report, I would quickly fall behind in a foot chase and definitely lose the fight in a physical encounter with a younger person. I am dieting so I might still look good in a uniform, making the broad assumption that I ever did in the first place. All that being said, I did retire as an active police officer and have, unfortunately, allowed my skill set to go stale. I do not know how to work a dash cam, I have never fired a taser, and observation skills are not what they used to be. Even if all this were not true, I have seen very little, if any, indication that any municipality would be interested in hiring a senior citizen to be a member of their police department. Sadly, I know this, and sadly I know I would foolishly jump at the chance should it be offered. Consequently, I probably have about as much chance of becoming a police officer as I did of re-enlisting in the Navy, and for most of the same reasons.

That brings me to my next skill set which was the next 18 plus years working in Information Technology. I spent those years practicing my trade as a network administrator, systems administrator, email administrator, website administrator, and Certified Netware Engineer (CNE) as well as troubleshooting and repairing computers and mobile devices. This was interesting and challenging work and I would love to still be doing that. However, based on a recent job announcement from the City of Cincinnati for a similar, but lower grade position to do that work, I apparently am no longer qualified. The positions now require a degree which I do not have. I guess it is fortunate that this was not required previously or I would not have been qualified to do the work that I did every day for all those years. However, I am in good company as Bill Gates would also not qualify for the entry-level position. Anyone wishing to fill a gap in their company’s computer support, please keep me in mind. On the plus side, they can justify paying me less because I am capable but do not have a degree.

That pretty well sums it up,except for  a few minor skills I have acquired in the past several years since retiring. I have become an excellent dish washer, bed maker, furniture duster, and vacuum cleaner operator. I have put this out there, it is now known what I can do, so I will wait for the emails and offers to start rolling in. Okay, I’m waiting. . . waiting. . .
Those are my thoughts, what are yours?

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