how many do not work?

[armedoldhippy]

whether retired, physically unable, too f'ing lazy, whatever. i have known retirees etc bitch "i wish i was still working, this is boring!" well, i'm not bored. i didn't know just how much shit that there actually IS to do. i'm raking leaves, rebuilding my "shed", splitting loads of hickory firewood & stacking it, fixing shit around the house i've put off while i was employed, turning part of my backyard into a greenhouse (and may build a free-standing one) contemplating trying aquaculture with "other" endeavors, fishing for smallmouth bass, ...fuck, i aint got time to go deer hunting much less be bored! i have to schedule smoking bowls unless my youngest son does an intervention & hands me a lit joint. i'm working harder now than before i fired my employer...LOL!

 

[D. B. Doober]

 

[tobedetermined]

I retired a couple of months before Covid hit. I went from being a frequent flyer to a full ground stop. But I had reached my personal saturation point anyway, because in my last year, the new overseas overlords had actually put me in charge of a continent. Fools. Didn’t they know I was a serious stoner? Anyways, as soon as I retired, my cell phone instantly became a silent appendage –for which I am extremely thankful I should add.

I had no real plans for retirement. Do stuff around the house. Travel to a couple of places that we have missed. Covid spoiled these of course but so far, the god’s have had their own plan for me anyway, and my physical self has taken a beating. I can safely say, that I know all of the benefits and the weaknesses of cannabis for pain management.

 

[unclefishstick]

i guess growing is sort of a job...at least trimming is...i just pretend that's what i get paid for,the rest is mostly fancy janitor work anyway...

get high and ride bikes in the desert,that was my plan...

 

[Switcher56]

 

[HempKat]

I've been disabled for about 20 years now, at first it wasn't so bad and I even tried to start my own business but that was right around the time of 9/11 and with the way things got not long after that the business tanked. I did try to become a real estate agent but right after I got my certification the housing bubble burst and real estate jobs dried up. So I took all this as a sign that normal work whether it be for someone else or myself was over. Around that same time was when I acquired my first home that I owned (in conjunction with the bank at first) that also had a yard. So much like the OP I settled into doing stuff around and to the house and yard as well as growing and while it was physical work I enjoyed it way more then any "job" I ever had. Now my disabilities had my on moderate pain pills (Vicodin) which made it possible for me to get things done but then the opioid crisis hit and suddenly the doctors started telling my I couldn't have narcotics any more even though I had no history of abusing them or misusing them over a period of several years. Without the help they gave me I slowly became less and less able to do things, even growing and no life sucks almost as bad as when I had to punch a clock. To make matters worse being unable to be as active my health declined in a number of ways that I'll not list in detail. I'll just say that I firmly believe that if the government had handle the Opioid crisis in such a way that people like me who weren't abusing them and legitimately benefited from them, were allowed to continue I would be a much happier and healthier person then I am now. And by happy I am not talking about any "effect" I might have felt from the pain medicine. To be honest I never felt much "effect" from them other then relief from chronic pain which has led me to form the theory that people with legitimate pain that use the appropriate level of pain meds to treat that pain don't tend to abuse them or feel much more then relief from them. Nor do I feel they get "addicted" to them. I realize this is just anecdotal but when I had them taken from me it was cold turkey, no gradual tapering off and I experience none of the classic side effects of withdraw. Sure I bitched about it a lot and still do but these is now what 6+ years later so whatever is going on it's not the narcotics it's the constant pain and the decreased ability to do the things I enjoy doing.

 

[Loc Dog]

Stopped working as Network Security Specialist for large pharmaceutical in 2005 to take care of father with Alzheimers (he had most of my life, but was awful at that point and could not be left alone). He died 2 years later, and could not get back into it, since no one would hire someone unless they were currently working in that horrible economy. Tried a few things then mother became bedbound. Would have cost $150K a year to have someone care for her, and she would rather have died then be in a nursing home. Now living in poverty till I die, with property taxes insanely high, paying for rich kids children to have best schools.

 

[EV3R]

I'm going out on my own next year. I'm tired of working 60 hours a week to make other people rich. I'm going full time indie game dev, and I'm going to eat with the bit of money I have in the market. I might starve, but you'll never know if you don't try. Worst case scenario I have to get a job.

 

[Switcher56]

I'm going out on my own next year. I'm tired of working 60 hours a week to make other people rich. I'm going full time indie game dev, and I'm going to eat with the bit of money I have in the market. I might starve, but you'll never know if you don't try. Worst case scenario I have to get a job.

I retired in '06 and couldn't adapt to "civy" st. I thought the Navy was incompetent, my wife told me you haven't seen civy st yet. She was right. At one point I was working 72 hr weeks as a stationary engineer. We worked 4x12 shifts, then 4 fays off. What 4 days off? 2 of them were spent on overtime. @ time a half, is cheaper than hiring adequate staff. I was making more money (pension) sitting on my couch drinking beer, than what they paid me. I quit after 11 months and never looked back because of safety reasons.

 

[Lester Beans]

I am a workaholic and I need to stop. 100 hour weeks. I just can't relax. Always wanting to get more done like a fucking sickness sometimes. How people do nothing blows my mind and makes me jealous all at once.

 

[Switcher56]

I am a workaholic and I need to stop. 100 hour weeks. I just can't relax. Always wanting to get more done like a fucking sickness sometimes. How people do nothing blows my mind and makes me jealous all at once.

That comes out to 14 hr days. I did that when I was at sea, nothing much else to do. I am retired It doesn't mean I don't do nothing. I simply chose what I want to do. That is the delta. Yesterday I was suppose to go for a hair cut. It was raining. There is always tomorrow Today it was sunny, I went for my haircut.

 

[Lester Beans]

My problem is that, there isn't always tomorrow. And before there isn't, I want to accomplish what I set out to do.

Congrats you are retired. I can't imagine 14 hours of nothing to do. That would be like prison. I like hair on fire busy, multiple projects, etc. But I need to slow down. Doctor and wifey both think it's time. I will retire when I take the ol dirt nap.

 

[Hammerhead]

I'm retired Disabled since 2008. Opps, I had the date wrong.