Work.......... What's That???

I awoke this morning at 7:30, then carried on with the morning rituals, including preparing a lunch because I had to be at work at 8:50 a.m.  Work???? I HAVE to go to work???  No, I absolutely don't have to go to work!  I CHOOSE to work.  But I'm retired, so I don't HAVE to work anymore.  No I don't have to work, I CHOOSE to work a few hours a week. 


 It's a part-time position and it provided 7.5 hrs of work today.  It's a retail position and since I'm pretty new back at the store, I'm paid the Ontario minimum wage of $10.25 per hour.  Do the math and you come up with the total, minus a few dollars for Employment Insurance and Canadian Pension Plan contributions.  Was it worth my time to work for an employer for these hours?  Yes it was.  I enjoy the work and the place I am working at.  I meet friendly people every day, and a couple of cranky's too.  Some of the customers are my neighbours who if I don't catch up during the week, I can have a pleasant brief chat with while they are there.  So it becomes a bit of a social occasion also.  But when I am there, I do work.   I have always had a strong work ethic.  I recall early on in my work days/years being told that anyone who doesn't work is stealing..... stealing from their employer.  And because most of my work life has been in foodservice, that saying "if you have time to lean, you have time to clean".  If I had a dollar for every time I was graced with that saying, I would be outstandingly rich by now. 

Sorry for rambling friends....... any job I have worked at, I have always given my all and have been rewarded for it.  Sometimes with "thank you" but that has been enough.  The time will come when I won't work at a paid position anymore, 'til then I will enjoy the one I am at.  The wage I make is extra money.  Right now, it goes into my savings because my thinking is that I will live on the pensions because I can't count on the work income being there forever so I don't want to be dependent on it.  Retail can disappear overnight, although I doubt that will happen with this organization, but you never know. 

Another Change..... Perhaps???

Could there be another work related change in the works?  I don't know for sure but there is a rumour. 

This is an exterior picture of the pharmacy where I work part-time. 

 

  It's not a great picture, just grabbed a screen shot off Google maps street view, but you get the idea.  There are several of these little franchised pharmacies around town and pretty much every small town in the province has at least one or more.  And there is the big guy in town.

The  small IDA has operated for approximately 20 years; the big SDM for 5 yrs, and business has slowly been drained from the little guy by the big fella.  The picture above is not of the store nearby, just an illustration of what the bigger one looks like.   Customer loyalty in the dispensary at IDA has kept the business running successfully but it's become apparent that the store front, which is the area I work in, is failing.  Sales through November are down year to date from what they were last year and aren't likely to increase due to Christmas being here as there aren't many items on offer that could be classed as gifts.   The owners have been throwing around some ideas apparently to change the store front to bring in more customers,  but I'm not privy to the details.  So it will be a wait and see situation.  For now, I will go to work on my scheduled time period.  The future will take care of itself. 

Retirement

I made the decision last week to leave my job which is doing in my feet.  At the end of every day the feet hurt so much.  No amount of soaking, putting them up, massaging them relieves the pain and discomfort.  I gave notice last week and my last day will be Wednesday, October 10th.  Looking forward to the end of employment and starting another chapter in life.  :)

Sore feet, Tired legs

One week into being back to work and my feet are tender.  I can't remember ever before, my feet hurting as much as they do today and I have been off them for 24 hours, except when I was out briefly this p.m. to fetch some yarn to carry on with my cross stitch project.  I did little walking, just from my car to the shop and even that little bit was excruciatingly painful. 

I am thinking that the the pain from my arthritic knees and feet is going to put me into a position where I may have to leave work earlier than the end of the year.  One of my government pensions has started already and the other one will begin Nov. 1.  If I find I need to leave my job earlier, I will be okay financially.  I just wanted to stuff as much into savings as possible before the end of the year.  But right now, right today my feet are just screaming with pain, hinting loudly that maybe staying 'til 2012 is finished is not to be. 

This has been me a few times this week.  LOL!