Aaaaand that's a wrap

After 46 years, 44 of which working as a mechanic of some sort I finally pulled the plug.

 I transitioned from auto mechanic to industrial early on and have been working in factories since forever. I'm really going to miss the social aspect, especially with the ladies, that was always a big part of my game, but I won't miss the work. My heart's not been in it for the last 4-5 years, and I've really just been mailing it in.

A requirement of this job was to mentor the apprentices which, for some reason, was difficult for them to fill.  Nobody wanted to work with apprentices, but for me it was the most appealing part of the job. I've seen a lot, I've accumulated a lot of knowledge, wanted to pass that on, and it's worked out beautifully.  These last few years I've had apprenticeboy, as energetic as I once was, to take up the slack. We hit it off immediately, and worked together naturally. It seemed like we were practically the same person at times, and I've spent a good deal of time teaching and guiding him. He finished school about a month ago. Given everything else, I'm not surprised that he finished with marks almost identical to mine, passed his Millwright exam with the same mark as me almost 40 years ago, and has now earned his certificate of Qualification as a licensed Millwright.  When I told people I was retiring everybody in the plant said the same thing. You guys are never apart, you do everything together, you're really going to miss each other, which is kind of odd being that I'm 62, and he's 26.

These last few years have been the most satisfying and rewarding of my career, and my work is done.

In reply to Peabody :

Congratulations 🎈 🎉 

Congratulations and what a great story. As I am also on final approach, I too find a lot of joy in working with the "kids." It's so easy to tell who has the passion vs those that will job and career hop. Sharing experience is very satisfying. 

What a great story!  Enjoy the transition to retirement and whatever you decide to do next!

Congratulations!  Enjoy your freedom!

My wife and I turn 62 this year she regularly hangs out with three other ladies from Junior High School and they met up last week.

She was shocked at how everyone is discussing retirement plans and the latest health issues.  Where did the time go?

In reply to Peabody :

Congratulations on  a successful career and I'm really glad you got your "dream" apprentice.  I'm in a similar stage of my career, very close in age to you and can relate on so many levels. 

I've mentored several guys through the years in learning sales / estimating and project management.  My current "project" is a guy I identified to the owner close to 15 years ago when he was still an apprentice. He's been with the company since he was a teenager and had grown to be one of our lead field techs.  I've been working with him for the past year and a half.   It's gotten to the point when we're out in the field looking at a project and I'm thinking something that he ends up saying basically the same thing while I'm having the thought.  He completely gets what I'm showing him and if anything I'm starting to worry that I'm holding him back.  He's been really satisfying to work with, I'm quite proud of what he's doing and how he approaches the work.

I'm hoping to continue working for another 3 years or so, the company wants me to stick around and have given me more flexibility and shorter work weeks as an incentive.   I like to be busy and see the guys and the customers and it's a lot less stressful to work as "the consultant" so I'm optimistic things will work out.

Congratulations again, I'm sure you'll stay busy doing your own things.

Congratulations, man!  You've worked hard for a long time and I'm glad you've been able to pass that on to the sidekick.

Enjoy your leisure!

Congratulations!  

I hope your transition into your new life of retirement is nice and smooth!  (I certainly enjoy it)

Congrats! That's an amazing career, 46 years! I just retired after 34 years. I just couldnt keep doing my job. I did take on another job but one just for fun money. I think it's important to keep busy...

Peabody said:

After 46 years, 44 of which working as a mechanic of some sort I finally pulled the plug.

These last few years have been the most satisfying and rewarding of my career, and my work is done.

Passing experience on to a new generation is a blessing! If you enjoyed teaching/mentoring don't be afraid to continue to do so in retirement. Enjoy!

That's the best way to hang up the keys at the end of it all, on a high note knowing that "my job is done here." 

Congrats!

Thanks for the well wishes. I've been thinking about the last few years, some of the big wins we had, and times when I'd teach him something, it would come up on the job and he'd look like a hero. We got lucky and had a bunch of those.

I have plans. I'm volunteering with my club, on the board of directors now, and between riding and looking after the trail system I expect to stay pretty busy. I dropped the ball in trying to buy a van to do a conversion on, so hopefully I can make that happen this summer in time to do some camping. We're planning a trip to the east coast in July, and I'm trying to line up a place down south for a few months over winter.

Apprenticeboy texted me from work yesterday, hey where's the peanut butter? A joke because I cleaned out my locker (what they called the kitchen - nobody ate better than us), and now he has nothing to eat.  He sold his house Friday. He and his GF had been looking at properties in the country, offered on one conditionally,  and put his up for sale. He's moving 10 minutes from me, nice little house on a few acres with two modern shops, one huge. He's worked part time for Krown rustproofing for a number of years and had developed his own clientele. When that owner retired he bought their mobile setup with the intention of doing more side work. That will happen now in his new shop, and I'm going to work for him part time shuttling cars and helping out.

I will have no shortage of things to do, and now I'm going riding.

In reply to Peabody :

Your retirement plan is a lot better than mine was.  Congratulations.  

Cheers, Peabody. That was funto read. I hope to do the same in about ten years or less if I'm lucky. Working harder at the mentoring in recent years.. and I agree that it's enjoyable.