Posted on 04/23/2006 7:49:45 AM PDT by SmithL
One of my readers is an underemployed 59-year-old man from among us here in the South Suburbs. Call him Harry. He works in information technology. Slowly and wearily, he says: "Once you get past 50, I swear, it gets tough, it gets really tough."
For instance, Harry applied for a job with a city of Chicago department that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He got an offer for some contract work. There were no benefits, but it was a paying job.
A woman from the city called him one Monday morning and wanted to know if he could start at midnight. Harry said he'd like to give his current employer a week's notice. That wasn't good enough. The job was gone. The caller told him: "This is a brave new world. Learn to live with it."
(Excerpt) Read more at starnewspapers.com ...
Welcome to my world. In fact, most of my friends of the same age have been laid off. One was fired after telling her boss that she planned to retire in two years.
That is the point. No employer is going to be liable for benefits to an older person.
The medical/insurance unholy alliance is at work again. Markets can't provide solutions when they are warped to distortion by ill conceived regulations; but "black-markets" will arise...
I know a 60 year old man who worked for Astro cap for about twenty years untill he was laid off. Today he stands at a plunge grinder for ten hours a day at $8 an hour.
bump
But, this is the "live for the now" society where many spend every penny rather than save for the day when they get laid off.
You tell 'em!
Today, it really starts getting tough at 40. There recently was a FReeper who offered this advice: "Young workers should find a good job and start saving their money so that by the time they turn 40, they will be in a position to start their own business.
What a crap thing to do, if you expect two weeks notice from your employees be damn sure to grant two weeks to people you hire..
I guess it depends on where you work. We beg nurses to continue working. By law you can't be discriminated by age unless it affects your job. Personally, though I frown on hiring anyone thst tells me they can start tomorrow and does not care about giving their old boss a resignation period. If they will up and quit on her then they will do the same to me when something better comes along.
You tell 'em too!!!
Sadly morons don't learn from history, their mistakes, and the mistakes that they see their friends make. Then they go out and don't save for retirement, expecting the govt. to take money away from others and give it to them when they want it. Although Harry doesn't seem to fit the moron definition perfectly, he didn't bother saving for retirement.
I am closing in on 50 years. I saw the hand writing on the wall a few years ago. I quit smoking and got in shape just in case I need to look for a new job.
Actually by 45-50 I plan on going into teaching its always been a dream of mine and if I get into it early enough 45 I can do it for 20 years and get some kind of pension in addition to my savings now as an Engineer..
It's tough, that's sure. But to borrow a phrase from Michael Medved, "I am not a victim!"
No problemo. Plenty of Reconquistas to take our place without the pesky matching funds and health benefits packages to bother employers bottom line.../S/
I read nothing of the sort in this article about Harry. You are just using him to express a point of view even though there is a vacuum of fact.
That Harry is 59 and would like to continue to work is laudable. I'd guess he has a 401k somewhere he'd like to continue to contribute to, though I have no facts to support the guess.
The one fact is, we tech oldsters do have to face the fact that there is a pasture and we will be put out in it if it is the will of the boss. You bring up proper points, but I'm not sure they apply to Harry.
Exactly!...
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