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Gringo
Been in the food busniess most of my working life. Learned to cut meat when still in high school.
Took a job at a slaughter house after that. Killed 200 cattle and 100 hogs a week for the better part of 5 years.
Then took a job as a meat inspector for the Island Nation of Ohio.
After 11 years jumped to the Food Safety division.
A total of 29 years with the state and I am ready to go. In 1 year, I will have to decide what I want to do when I grow up...maybe we should have swapped careers?
Brad
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I worked in the baking industry for 27 years. 2 years short of retirement we shut the doors. I was told I could age into the retirement which was good but as far as I was concerned life was over. spent a year on unemployment doing odd jobs here and there. One day my daughter said go apply for customer service at the sears credit card call center. They will hire anyone. In the baking industry I was making 18.05 an hour working a average of 18 hours a day. At sears I started at 8.50 a hour and worked 32 hours a week. Spent three years with them being promoted and then quit and went to work for a cell phone comany in customer service. Still don't make a lot of money but I have time off every week with 3 weeks vacation a year. I love my job and look forward to going to work a lot of times. I don't have a lot of money but I do have things much more important, friends, family, and time to enjoy them.
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Gringo my friend, I don't think your gonna regret it at all, you may miss a friend or two at your other job ( a phone call here and there will take care of that if you do) but I think your gonna find life a great deal more happy for you and yours...
Money does not even begin to touch what life's all about...:)
God Bless,
Tim
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I spent a few decades in the business world as an executive in small-mid sized company. Earned some nice money. I got caught in a classic management turnover. Bounced around for a few years doing direct sales.
I finally decided to make a real switch, I quit work completely to get certified to teach. [it was kind of funny having a Masters degree sitting in a college classroom again with a bunch of 18yro kids taking Education 101].
I earn about a third of what I used to but I love what I do. I feel like a make a real difference in peoples' lives. Plus I have more time off to spend with my own family and to do the things I love to do.
We often forget that as adults we spend most of our waking hours either at work or getting ready for work/coming home from work/unwinding from work. It's real important to do something you can enjoy doing and get satisfaction from. Easy to say, harder to find.
I hope you love what you do.
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Gringo,
Been there...done that! On 9-20-2001 my job was eliminated by the spawn of Satan, and it was time to have a new look at my life. I was 51 years old and working for people with no moral compass, and I had made two overnight visits to the ER thinking I was having a heart attack. You guessed it, stress was all they could find, and I was advised to "lighten my workload" and to "take more time for myself." Easy for the doc to say, he was not working for the devil.
Anyway, they actually did me a favor, and today I have a successful small business as a Handyman, and I love what I do. No, the money is nowhere near the 6 figure corporate pay, but I sleep well, take vacations when I want to, and enjoy getting up each and every day. I go out and do my very best every day for every customer, and I know they appreciate it.
Live every day like it was your last, and try new experiences as they present themselves. You'll know when it "feels right" and when it doesn't. And, by all means, pray every day and have faith in yourself and your abilities, because "God don't make no junk."
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Congratulations on making a very tough decision. Enjoy.
- Jeff
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Adventure
Gringo -
In late '93, after 29 years and a very successful career with one company, at age 51 I was reengineering my life while they were reengineering their company. My values and interests had changed and a job that had suited me well for most of those 29 years no longer fit in any way with how I wanted to go about my life.
I quit after making a deal with the company over a severance package and my retirement plan, expecting to go get another job, take my retirement benefits early after the severance period was over, and have a new career and lots of bucks.
Funny thing happened. It dawned on me that since I was a child, I had been full time at school, or work, or both and had never really had time for myself. I decided to take a couple months off before job hunting. After a couple months, I decided I would take a year off. At the end of the year, I thought maybe I could do that again. At the end of that year, I thought I'm getting pretty good at this and could probably handle a third year if I worked at it. At the end of the third year, I knew I would never look back.
What I learned was that the things I enjoy most in life - being active outdoors in natural settings ( hiking, camping, backpacking, biking, and more recently, fishing ), cost very little. So by giving up the "toys and luxuries" I had wanted and pursued, but not needed, before I reengineered my life, I could get along on very little and enjoy life very much.
It worked for me. It won't work for lots of folks, for various reasons, but it probably would work for more people than believe it would work for them.
You have an opportunity for a new kind of life. Hopefully it will be one that suits you just fine. As Mike would say - "all the best," as you explore your new world on this adventure that you've undertaken.
John
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'Nuther side to it
our daughter had to give up a fancy profession because of the stress it caused. her health suffered a lot. now she is "in retail", manning a cash register and working the cash office for a chain craft store. yep, she's happier and healthier. and yep, she's making a tenth of what she used to, which means she's needed help from us.
is it worth it? yep. she can give back in so many more ways now, not to mention how much it means to have a happier, healthier family member.
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I was a carpenter for 14 uears on New Jersey. Sweating all summer, being cold and wet in the winter and flat broke the whole time. My back is shot, I have developed carpal tunnel syndrome fro the hammer and nailgun. And all that time I was telling myself : "I gotta get me a office job". Finally things got so bad I gave up. Our partnership went out of business and I hung up my toolbelt. It took few months and all of the savings we had but I eas able to "formalize" my computer know how and git a job as a computer technician. That was 10 years ago and I have not looked back once. In the old days I used to get home eat and pass out. Now when I come home I actually can enjoy few hours with my family. Stress is almost non existent and I actully have enough cash to pay the bills with few bucks left over for fishing. But what is the most important thing: no matter what is going on at my work every single day I enjoy my job.
I am glad to get up in the morning and drive to meet my coworkers and my babies - about 120 servers. I like it so much that I even passed a promotion once since that would change my area of resposibility.
If a dumb Polack like me can do it so can you. When you get a paycheck handed to you and you find yourself saying: "I cannot belive someone is acually paying me for this" you have found your "niche".
Good luck.
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I worked in general aviation for 23 years. The first 7 as an employee, the next 11 as a partner in the biz and the last 5 as an employee of the company that we sold it to.
Then I had the bright idea to become a school teacher. I thought 4th or 5th grade would be fun. I was hired as a 1st grade teacher, 5-6 year olds. Uh oh! They don't know the letters or sounds. Many think LMNOP is one letter, and I have to teach them to read?!?!?
After almost 2 years, I wouldn't trade my job for anything. 19 of my 20 can read and most can read fluently. It's pretty cool to see their progress.
Changing careers can be scary but also rewarding.