Member-only story
The Thought of Going Back to Work Terrifies Me
I’m Working Harder to Stay Home Than I Worked at Work
I retired July 1, 2023. It was my birthday, and the first available date for retirement, and buddy, you better believe I took it!
I was miserable at my job.
In fact, I’d been miserable for 24 long years, but I worked for the state government, and I was vested, so I couldn’t just drop everything and run like I wanted to.
The last three years were particularly hard on me. Because of Covid, I was taken from a travelling position to a work from home 12 hours a day job. The department monitored every move I made. If I had to go to the bathroom, I had to let them know and could only be gone for a few minutes. Lunch was thirty minutes. Those were my only breaks.
It was a call center, but not just any call center. This one involved people calling and screaming their heads off and blaming me for all their shortcomings in life. Eventually, before the call was over, they’d either give up all their savings or make arrangements to do so. As soon as our department closed for the day, my job turned from “them calling me” to “me calling them.”
