March 2, 2012
Dear Everyone:
It’s been a busy week.
On Monday, I attended my first, ever Company
Retirees Association (CRA) luncheon (Contra Costa Chapter.)
Someone must know someone (company executives also retire, just a
lot more “comfortably”) because the luncheon was at a
country club and,
at $25 a pop, the food was pretty good.
I knew exactly two people out of about 50 there.
Both had been managers in my various work groups, and they’re
married; and, not surprisingly, one of them is on the current board of
directors of the Contra Costa Chapter (once a manager…)
I was interested to note that men outnumbered the
women (including spouses) by about seven or eight to one.
You would think it would be the other way around since, in the
higher age brackets, women outlive men.
But then, women currently in the higher age brackets were
“encouraged” to be “stay-at-home-moms” instead of pursuing careers of
their own. Maybe, in years
to come, the ratio will change.
Or maybe, the women prefer one of the other
chapters.
I recognized a number of other names.
In my position as “system administrator” of various software
applications, I frequently saw names but never actually met the people
that went with them. As a
former supervisor once told me, “Once you get into
Records Management,
you never get out.” Ditto
Facilities Management.
The guest speaker was vice president of some part
of “upstream” with the company.
Upstream signifies xxx before it comes from where it comes from,
as in “Exploitation” (finding) and “Profiteering” (selling.)
He had lots of pretty maps with lots of colored dots indicating
places where the company was doing well.
Remember: He was
talking to dozens of retirees who depend on their
monthly pittance and
want to hear that the source of their “fixed income” is still
operational.
On Tuesday, “Jeannie” and I drove to
Palo Alto,
where her ear specialist has his office (he had closed the one in
San
Ramon after she found him.)
I read my book while “Jeannie” got an injection in her ear.
Then she laid down on her side in the back seat of the car while
I drove home.
This is much better than last time, when she drove
herself. Can’t exactly drive
and lie on your side at the same time.
Yet another advantage to being unemployed; you can play chauffer
whenever necessary.
Yesterday, just for fun, I decided to “get started”
on my
taxes. I already had
the software; just needed to install it, go through “many” updates, and
so on. Rolled the file box
for last year’s records out to the computer and began filling in
question boxes.
Needless to say, last year was a bit complicated.
Not only because I ceased to be employed around the middle of the
year, but also because of something called a “severance package”.
This is money the company “gives” you to shut-up-and-go-away
without hiring a discrimination lawyer.
A typical package consists of two weeks’ pay for
every year that you worked for the company.
Now, I know what you’re thinking:
“Two weeks, times 38 years, that’s a lot of dough!!!”
But there’s a catch.
Or rather, a “cap” of 52 weeks.
In other words, one year’s salary, tops.
Not that this is something to sneeze at.
In fact, it’s what I’ve been living on since the middle of last
year, with enough left to last a while yet.
So, technically, last year I got paid 1-½ year’s
salaries. And the
IRS (and
state) took a big chunk out of it.
But now, having filled out all the boxes, it seems I’ll be
getting a nice bit of that back.
Enough to live on for a couple more months, before I start
dipping into that retirement portfolio.
Isn’t that lovely?
I think I’ll celebrate by taking myself to lunch.
Love, as always,
Pete
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