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I'm 52 years old and I'm not even thinking about retirement. I'm having too much fun in my job.

No doubt you are, but why should you extrapolate from your personal situation and think others are the same, as you post suggests? Not everyone is in your situation. How would you enjoy slinging hash and banging asphalt shingles on a roof every day?

Not everyone has a desk job and doesn't engage in hard physical labor.

That's the kind of bitter post I've come to expect whenever I talk about my career and how much I like my job. I suppose you assume I'm some sort of Louis Winthorpe III, a product of the best schooling and all the advantages of good breeding.

Well you would be wrong. I came from the working classes, served a hitch in the Marine Corps and spent a few years slinging baggage at airports, bussing tables and washing dishes. It wasn't until I was in my 30s that I learned how to properly wear a suit and know which fork to use for the salad.

I'm tired of the whole lunchpail working class hero routine. There is no reason for somebody to be banging asphalt shingles on a roof for 40 years. It's honorable work when you are a young stud and just looking to have a few cold beers at the pub at the end of the day. But if you are 60 years old and still banging shingles or slinging hash - you went wrong somewhere.