The boss called me in today.
According to the official notice, I have been SELECTED for permanent layoff and I’m ELIGIBLE to participate in the Resource Action. Lucky me. 
My employment will permanently end on July 17, 2008.
It could be a sign…
You’ve been around Washington, DC too long.
Can you translate that to English?
Are you retiring or being fired?
July 18th? Are you even going to be “In Country” to participate?
Fired is so cruel. It use to be laid off. Now it’s “Resource Action”. I’m a resource! Just not a very important one any more.
I plan to be Invading on that date. Got to make sure I turn in my laptop before I go.
Retirement is under VERY serious consideration.
That is pretty much how I was “Selected” to retire from the Navy during Clinton’s destruction of our armed forces.
You have my sympathy, if you want it. OTOH, I will celebrate with you if that is your desire! :lol:
madwolf
It’s also been know as a “RIF”. (Reduction in Force)I had that happen to me while I was in management. Just a trendy way to say " Don’t Let the Door hit Ya in the Ass"…
And you also have: (A) my sympathy or (B) my congrats
Pick one…
As you all have demomstrated, there is life after retirement! NOw you could fail like I did and end up still working! However, I am giving major consideration to closing the business on the 31 of December and letting the Wonderful Government fend for themselves! Find someone new to rob!
I have more than enough Loco’s to play with and a large number of projects to work on. Of course I will not be able to run as often on the CCRy but I guess I’ll just have to tuff it out!
Bruce, try it you’ll like it! Just remember you have the cash flow working for you!
Paul
Just a warning Bruce…retirement is very hard. No paid holidays, no vacations, no coffee breaks, no commendations (in lieu of pay raise) and absolutely no prestige. You’ve been here and seen how rough I’ve got it! Sigh!
Lessee now, shall I watch TV, have a beer or just take a snooze…?!?
:o
Bruce… Welcome to the real world on, as they say re-structure comp.programs. Mine was a little better than yours…They had a servence pay that helped for some trains… I think they were wooden ones and the wife got the rest… lol
They waited until I was 67 and call me in on my day off being I was working weekend shift as a Sup. Yup… that was my Birthday July 17th. eight yrs. ago… hahahaha
So… like Richard says. Let see … Well may have to wait for that new train Eng. or Hummmm …do I really need that new truck… not this month!!! Or shall I take a nap … oh… Go play with the garden R. R. naaaaaaaaaaaaaa get a cold ice tea and take a nap on the Swing and think about the R. R. 
Now the wife and I are enjoying retirement. I wished I had retired earlyer…
I start the day in notch one, and then taper off…
I seem to be hearing a good bit of that lately. The drummer in a band I played in got laid off–47, three kids. He’s been having a very hard time finding work.
I hope you get to to retire–I’m looking forward to seeing more of your projects
Bruce Chandler said:Ahah! You REALLY mean 'salary payment DE-qualified', or 'employment-impaired', or even 'de-jobbed'.
The boss called me in today. According to the official notice, I have been SELECTED for permanent layoff and I'm ELIGIBLE to participate in the Resource Action. Lucky me. ;) My employment will permanently end on July 17, 2008. It could be a sign...:D
Makes ya feel real lucky AND kinda privileged, now don’t it?
tac
I usually just start the day in ““Idle””… Then I spend the rest of the day, trying to figure out which way I am going… By the time I figure that out, it’s time to go back to bed…
Jetson, you’ve been resource de-allocated!
Nope, doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Hey Bruce -
Been there, done that. Kinda sucks but it sure was nice to have time to get lots done around the house and nap whenever I felt like it.
If you can afford to retire I’d highly recommend it based on my brother’s experience. Joel, my brother who’s 63 now, got laid-off two years ago. He decided he was done ‘working for the man’ and started a little landscaping business and worked about 15 hours a week. Then a friend asked if he wanted a dream retirement job: He goes to work 20-25 hours a week as a grounds keeper at a retirement village. Gets paid to hang out with the residents for about half that time. The rest he spends designing and improving the gardens and grounds. Something he does at home for relaxation.
Me, I didn’t plan so well and two years out of work really put me behind the 8 ball financially. I’ll end up working full-time 'till I’m 70 and the house is paid off. But heck, that’s only another 15 years
Whatever you decide, I’m sure things will work out for the best. They always do, eventually.
Jon
That’s rough.
Been there, done that, couldn’t afford to buy the tee shirt.
mike omalley said:I think we'll be seeing a LOT more of it in the coming months, unless by some miracle fuel prices suddenly drop back down from "totally insane" to "highway robbery".
I seem to be hearing a good bit of that lately.
The idiot treehuggers who’ve been crying for years that gas is “too cheap”, don’t seem to realize that EVERYTHING in this country, the entire economy, is affected by fuel prices. The economy can’t take such a huge hit as we’re seeing, for very long.
On top of that, the government has stupidly encouraged the use of food crops for fuel, which is both inefficient and drives up the cost of food even further.
I think we’re going to see some very hard times ahead, unlike anything since the Great Depression.
Bruce - Sorry to hear this. I’ve seen it happen to many a person … dedicate your entire working life to a company … in comes the new generation of management and different economic conditions … and out with all the “old” resources that appear to be making too much money anyway. (Then struggle like heck with a bunch of kids trying to figure out what is going on for the next X number of years).
I was fortunate enough to be able to leave on my own terms. I only hope you are in a position that you can actually retire, if you want to. With our hobby, finding something to do is no problem, but you still need financial security (or at least feel like you are secure).
When I was shoved out to pasture it was called PIP. That stood for Profit Improvement Program. Some finincial garu figured it was better (meaning cheaper to the company) to replace full time employees with contracted people hired at negotiated prices. These contract engineers would be brought on board and let go immediately after a project was completed. I can honestly say being PIP’ed was not a happy time. However, I had enough service time in to elect voluntary retirement with no reductions in benefits. Sorry to say it was not very good for a lot of my friends who did not have the service time. I also had enough money put aside to suplement the retirement pay to at least keep some semblance of my previous lifestyle. Now that eight years have passed I can look back and say it was not so bad after all. I even went back to the same company as a contract engineer for several projects the same year I was PIP’ed. Seams like the could not find anyone with the experience and understanding of what the hell the company was doing to pick up the ball and run with it. Now I enjoy my grandchildern, fishing and of course my trains.
John
Sometimes these cost cutting measures by companies are shear nonsense. One place where I worked was bought out by another firm. They decided that the salary they were paying the company computer guru, a retired Navy Commander, was too much so they let him go with almost no notice.
A couple of weeks later I see him walking in the halls and asked what was going on. He was happy as a lark. No longer an employee of the company he was called back as a consultant and was making more money working short hours than he ever had as a full time salaried employee.
His fee was now on a separate budget from the “hired help” so to the enlightened management’s mind they had reduced labor costs and were quite happy. Of course the computer guy was even happier.
It’s really nice when a silly decision results in a happy ending…one of the few in my experience.
Retirement is looking like a good option.