On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
> I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you
> must be retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis.
> Working full time puts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm
> usually too pooped to mess with a lot of prep or complicated dishes
> when I get home.
>
> I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through
> the week. One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but
> not yet.


I have been retired for almost 1o years, but I was posting here long
before I retired, and probably did a lot more cooking then. Sorry, but
I have trouble sympathizing with people not having time to cook when
working. We always managed to have a proper sit down dinner from
scratch. It was very rare to have a prepared food dinner.... very rare.




> envious of you guys.

You should be. It beats the hell out of working.

On 2/7/2014 5:45 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:

>> envious of you guys.
>
> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.

People were concerned when Ron decided to retire early.
They said But what will you do??!

You're kidding, right? I know what I won't be doing,
driving out here every day, holding status meetings etc etc.

nancy

On 2014-02-07 19:07, Nancy Young wrote:
> On 2/7/2014 5:45 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
>> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>
>>> envious of you guys.
>>
>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>
> People were concerned when Ron decided to retire early.
> They said But what will you do??!
>
> You're kidding, right? I know what I won't be doing,
> driving out here every day, holding status meetings etc etc.
>


It has been almost 10 years and I have never been bored. I made a deal
with myself that if I ever found myself watching Jerry Springer in the
afternoon I would go out and get a job. I don't even watch daytime TV,
except for the news. There have been the occasional snow days when we
watched movies. Between bicycling, hiking, dog walking, kayaking, going
to the gym, my days are pretty full.

"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> On 2014-02-07 19:07, Nancy Young wrote:
>> On 2/7/2014 5:45 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
>>> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>>
>>>> envious of you guys.
>>>
>>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>>
>> People were concerned when Ron decided to retire early.
>> They said But what will you do??!
>>
>> You're kidding, right? I know what I won't be doing,
>> driving out here every day, holding status meetings etc etc.
>>
>
>
> It has been almost 10 years and I have never been bored. I made a deal
> with myself that if I ever found myself watching Jerry Springer in the
> afternoon I would go out and get a job. I don't even watch daytime TV,
> except for the news. There have been the occasional snow days when we
> watched movies. Between bicycling, hiking, dog walking, kayaking, going
> to the gym, my days are pretty full.

.... and cooking!
--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

"Nancy Young" > wrote in message
...
> On 2/7/2014 5:45 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
>> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>
>>> envious of you guys.
>>
>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>
> People were concerned when Ron decided to retire early.
> They said But what will you do??!
>
> You're kidding, right? I know what I won't be doing,
> driving out here every day, holding status meetings etc etc.

Amen to that)

--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

On 2/8/2014 4:57 AM, Ophelia wrote:
>
>
> "Nancy Young" > wrote in message
> ...
>> On 2/7/2014 5:45 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
>>> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>>
>>>> envious of you guys.
>>>
>>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>>
>> People were concerned when Ron decided to retire early.
>> They said But what will you do??!
>>
>> You're kidding, right? I know what I won't be doing,
>> driving out here every day, holding status meetings etc etc.
>
> Amen to that)
>
Right? They think all that stress and aggravation is Something
to do? It's not that kind of job, that you love and want to
keep doing.

nancy

"Nancy Young" > wrote in message
...
> On 2/8/2014 4:57 AM, Ophelia wrote:
>>
>>
>> "Nancy Young" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> On 2/7/2014 5:45 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
>>>> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>>>
>>>>> envious of you guys.
>>>>
>>>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>>>
>>> People were concerned when Ron decided to retire early.
>>> They said But what will you do??!
>>>
>>> You're kidding, right? I know what I won't be doing,
>>> driving out here every day, holding status meetings etc etc.
>>
>> Amen to that)
>>
> Right? They think all that stress and aggravation is Something
> to do? It's not that kind of job, that you love and want to
> keep doing.

Ahhh! I have to say I did love my job and was sorry to retire but I
wouldn't go back now. I didn't have to retire (they didn't care about age)
but I wanted to travel with my husband so I did. I did miss it for a while
but as I said, I wouldn't change anything now


--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

On 2/8/2014 7:55 AM, Ophelia wrote:
>
>
> "Nancy Young" > wrote

>> Right? They think all that stress and aggravation is Something
>> to do? It's not that kind of job, that you love and want to
>> keep doing.
>
> Ahhh! I have to say I did love my job and was sorry to retire but I
> wouldn't go back now.

It sounds like you had an interesting job. We both enjoyed what
we did, it's just that over the years, the bullshit stuff took
over. Less and less fun every day, and more and more of the life
sucking crap. We saved and saved so we would have options.

> I didn't have to retire (they didn't care about
> age) but I wanted to travel with my husband so I did. I did miss it for
> a while but as I said, I wouldn't change anything now

You did the right thing, in my opinion.

nancy

"Nancy Young" > wrote in message
...
> On 2/8/2014 7:55 AM, Ophelia wrote:
>>
>>
>> "Nancy Young" > wrote
>
>>> Right? They think all that stress and aggravation is Something
>>> to do? It's not that kind of job, that you love and want to
>>> keep doing.
>>
>> Ahhh! I have to say I did love my job and was sorry to retire but I
>> wouldn't go back now.
>
> It sounds like you had an interesting job. We both enjoyed what
> we did, it's just that over the years, the bullshit stuff took
> over. Less and less fun every day, and more and more of the life
> sucking crap. We saved and saved so we would have options.

I do agree. The further up the ladder you go the less time you have for the
fun things.


>> I didn't have to retire (they didn't care about
>> age) but I wanted to travel with my husband so I did. I did miss it for
>> a while but as I said, I wouldn't change anything now
>
> You did the right thing, in my opinion.

Thanks, I think so and I regret nothing )


--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

On 2/7/2014 7:07 PM, Nancy Young wrote:
> On 2/7/2014 5:45 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
>> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>
>>> envious of you guys.
>>
>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>
> People were concerned when Ron decided to retire early.
> They said But what will you do??!
>
> You're kidding, right? I know what I won't be doing,
> driving out here every day, holding status meetings etc etc.
>
> nancy
>
I was RIF'd (Reduction in Force) years ago along with a bunch of other
people in IT. It turned out to be a good thing in the long run. I
loved my job. But towards the end it became meeting after meeting.
Management sure liked to listen to themselves talk! Talk about how we
could do our jobs better. How about you let us go back to our desks and
*do* our jobs?

Don't get me started on the stupid "teambuilding" exercises...

Jill

On 2014-02-08, jmcquown > wrote:

> Management sure liked to listen to themselves talk! Talk about how we
> could do our jobs better. How about you let us go back to our desks and
> *do* our jobs?
>
> Don't get me started on the stupid "teambuilding" exercises...

LOL!!..... oh, the memories.

Wasn't it all so stupid? Middle mgt is the biggest waste/drain on
corporate structure of all time. Astonishingly, it was identified as
such way back in the 1970 in the brilliant book, Up the Organization
by Peter Townsend.

It was another 20 yrs before I actually experienced the fact that it
was still alive and well and flourishing, Even in enlightened and
progressive Silicon Valley, we had that nonsense. I can remember all
the incredibly lame mid/mgt nonsense that went on. Team building,
monthly meetings (the whole division!), PowerPoint presentations,
weekly dept meetings, sig-sigma, mission statements*, etc. What
hogwash!

I didn't hafta retire and I tried not to, but after the third
retraining effort and subsequent crash, I jes gave up and retired at
53. I shoulda retrained in investments, cuz I eventually lost my nest
egg. But, a higher calling, my mom, prevailed and I'm now where I am.
In fact, I'm currently picking around for a supplementary income, so
am not above working, again.

Life .....one step at a time.


*Scott Adams, author of Dilbert, pulled the ultimate "mission
statement" expose:

http://articles.latimes.com/1997/nov/16/news/mn-54489

There's now mulitple "mission statement" generators on the web. I
can't look!


nb

On 2014-02-08 5:13 PM, notbob wrote:
> On 2014-02-08, jmcquown > wrote:
>
>> Management sure liked to listen to themselves talk! Talk about how we
>> could do our jobs better. How about you let us go back to our desks and
>> *do* our jobs?
>>
>> Don't get me started on the stupid "teambuilding" exercises...
>
> LOL!!..... oh, the memories.
>
> Wasn't it all so stupid? Middle mgt is the biggest waste/drain on
> corporate structure of all time. Astonishingly, it was identified as
> such way back in the 1970 in the brilliant book, Up the Organization
> by Peter Townsend.

We went through a major restructuring at work that saw every second
level of management removed. We were in a branch office and had an area
supervisor. There was another area supervisor in the district office
for the crew there. He reported to the district supervisor who reported
to the district manager... all in the same building. The district
manager reported to the regional manager. They stripped out the area
supervisors and district managers.

Later on they converted us to self directed work teams. Theory was that
middle management was waste space, that they did more to impede
productivity than to improve it. We went to a number of sessions to
learn about the new system and how it was to be implemented. It was
working great... we thought... but the middle management that was left
fought it tooth and nail. They saw themselves loosing power.

Over the next few years front line staff numbers fell through attrition,
but more management jobs opened up in the head office.





>
>
> I didn't hafta retire and I tried not to, but after the third
> retraining effort and subsequent crash, I jes gave up and retired at
> 53. I shoulda retrained in investments, cuz I eventually lost my nest
> egg. But, a higher calling, my mom, prevailed and I'm now where I am.
> In fact, I'm currently picking around for a supplementary income, so
> am not above working, again.

Working for the government has some advantages. It also helps to have a
good union. The current mindset seems to think that all civil servants
are inherently lazy and useless and the government wanted to get rid of
a bunch of us and privatize the work. We were save in the enforcement
branch because that is too hard to contract out, but the deal for others
to retire early applied to us. I opted to take the early retirement
package at 53. I liked my job and my son was still in university but I
had a 6 month window to take it. If I didn't go I would not have the
opportunity for another 5 years.... so I took it. I never looked back.

On 2014-02-09, Dave Smith > wrote:

> but more management jobs opened up in the head office.

I have theory about mdl mgt. See, upr mgt doesn't wanna hafta deal
with the common worker, cuz when upr mgt comes out to the production
area and asks a question, like "What's that?", the everyday working
stiff is likely to reply, "It's a screwdriver, ya' ignorant git!".
Upr mgt doen't like it when that happens. They wanna paper report
with charts and graphs and where a simple answer is couched in a lotta
nonsensical horsepucky, like, "What we have here is a hand driven
device for applying mechanical force to metal fasteners yada
yada......". Hence, middle management is needed to provide an
insulating layer between the upper elite and the poor working slob
down in the trenches. Simple, eh?

nb

On 2/9/2014 10:19 AM, notbob wrote:
> On 2014-02-09, Dave Smith > wrote:
>
>> but more management jobs opened up in the head office.
>
> I have theory about mdl mgt. See, upr mgt doesn't wanna hafta deal
> with the common worker, cuz when upr mgt comes out to the production
> area and asks a question, like "What's that?", the everyday working
> stiff is likely to reply, "It's a screwdriver, ya' ignorant git!".
> Upr mgt doen't like it when that happens. They wanna paper report
> with charts and graphs and where a simple answer is couched in a lotta
> nonsensical horsepucky, like, "What we have here is a hand driven
> device for applying mechanical force to metal fasteners yada
> yada......". Hence, middle management is needed to provide an
> insulating layer between the upper elite and the poor working slob
> down in the trenches. Simple, eh?
>
> nb
>
And quite plausible! Most of the upper eschalon was clueless about what
each department in IT actually did. They hired middle managers and
supervisors (usually equally clueless) to deal with us.

I recall one time a wanna-be, thought-she-was, upper-management type
freaked out because her email was down. (I was on the early shift, the
only one in my dept. at that time of the morning). I said yes,
everyone's email is down. One of the servers crashed. Well DO
something about it!

What the heck did she expect me to do? Get out a tool-kit and repair
the server?! The department I worked in didn't do *that* kind of tech
support. I didn't even have access to the mail servers. But you don't
*dare* tell a manager it's not your job, even when it isn't. It's
ridiculous.

Shortly after *she* implemented the RIF's in the IT departments she was
in charge of (which was in itself a joke since she was definitely no
techie), she got RIF'd herself. The REAL upper management people
finally realized she'd let all of the most experienced staff go. Gee,
how sad she never got that big corner office! LOL

Jill

On 2014-02-09 10:19 AM, notbob wrote:
> On 2014-02-09, Dave Smith > wrote:
>
>> but more management jobs opened up in the head office.
>
> I have theory about mdl mgt. See, upr mgt doesn't wanna hafta deal
> with the common worker, cuz when upr mgt comes out to the production
> area and asks a question, like "What's that?", the everyday working
> stiff is likely to reply, "It's a screwdriver, ya' ignorant git!".
> Upr mgt doen't like it when that happens. They wanna paper report
> with charts and graphs and where a simple answer is couched in a lotta
> nonsensical horsepucky, like, "What we have here is a hand driven
> device for applying mechanical force to metal fasteners yada
> yada......". Hence, middle management is needed to provide an
> insulating layer between the upper elite and the poor working slob
> down in the trenches. Simple, eh?
>


The upper management spends their time trying to figure out ways to make
it look like they are doing something useful and the middle management
are responsible for collecting the numbers to make themselves look good.
>

On 2014-02-08 5:13 PM, notbob wrote:
> .... Middle mgt is the biggest waste/drain on
> corporate structure of all time. Astonishingly, it was identified as
> such way back in the 1970 in the brilliant book, Up the Organization
> by Peter Townsend.

And yet both practical experience and multiple studies have shown that
for the military, the optimum span of control is 6-10.

Why would anyone think that the military would be so different from any
other large organization?

-- Larry

On 2/8/2014 5:13 PM, notbob wrote:
> On 2014-02-08, jmcquown > wrote:
>
>>
>> Don't get me started on the stupid "teambuilding" exercises...
>
> LOL!!..... oh, the memories.
>
> Wasn't it all so stupid? Middle mgt is the biggest waste/drain on
> corporate structure of all time. Astonishingly, it was identified as
> such way back in the 1970 in the brilliant book, Up the Organization
> by Peter Townsend.
>
> It was another 20 yrs before I actually experienced the fact that it
> was still alive and well and flourishing, Even in enlightened and
> progressive Silicon Valley, we had that nonsense. I can remember all
> the incredibly lame mid/mgt nonsense that went on. Team building,
> monthly meetings (the whole division!), PowerPoint presentations,
> weekly dept meetings, sig-sigma, mission statements*, etc. What
> hogwash!
>
It was all a major waste of time. And yes, they hired "consultants" to
plan the teambuilding exercises. Of course this was supposed to make us
work better together and be more productive. They never saw the irony:
you can't be productive if the entire "team" is stuck doing
"teambuilding" exercises rather than working.

I remember one departmental teambuilding thing: popcorn and a movie in
one of the conference rooms. Really? How's that supposed to help? (Of
course the movie *was* fun - 'Office Space'.)

When we had any kind of meeting someone had to carry the department
pager in case there was a critical software problem. Guess who
volunteered most often to have the pager? I'd much rather deal with a
database crash than sit and listen to the managers spouting nonsense.

> *Scott Adams, author of Dilbert, pulled the ultimate "mission
> statement" expose:
>
> http://articles.latimes.com/1997/nov/16/news/mn-54489
>
> nb
>
That's more fun than 'Undercover Boss'.

Jill

On 2014-02-09 10:48 AM, jmcquown wrote:

> It was all a major waste of time. And yes, they hired "consultants" to
> plan the teambuilding exercises. Of course this was supposed to make us
> work better together and be more productive. They never saw the irony:
> you can't be productive if the entire "team" is stuck doing
> "teambuilding" exercises rather than working.
>


I had to chuckle at one out our consultants, a psychologist who spend
more time telling us his qualifications than about the topic. When
asked if the reason we had to go on this course was an incident (that
involved on of our officers who have been assaulted a couple times) he
said not really.... but that it was the catalyst. Thinking he was so
much smarter than the rest of us, he went of to explain that a catalyst
is something that speeds up a chemical reaction. He was a little upset
when I pointed out that catalysts could also slow down reactions, and
that the catalyst remains unchanged.





> I remember one departmental teambuilding thing: popcorn and a movie in
> one of the conference rooms. Really? How's that supposed to help? (Of
> course the movie *was* fun - 'Office Space'.)

We had a lot of update training as policies changed. We also had to have
training sessions to deal with changes in statutes and regulations.
What was disturbing was the number of times we had to attend "changes
and transition" meetings where councellers talked about how losing your
job should be looked at as an opportunity to try something new. Now that
we had all this valuable work experience we could apply it to doing what
we always really wanted to do.



>
> When we had any kind of meeting someone had to carry the department
> pager in case there was a critical software problem. Guess who
> volunteered most often to have the pager? I'd much rather deal with a
> database crash than sit and listen to the managers spouting nonsense.

My last supervisor seemed to love to stir up shit. We would announce all
sorts of idiotic changes that she wanted to make and get everyone all
worked up. Then she would go back to doing nothing and brown nosing.


>

On Sun, 09 Feb 2014 13:01:27 -0500, Dave Smith
> wrote:

>On 2014-02-09 10:48 AM, jmcquown wrote:
>
>> It was all a major waste of time. And yes, they hired "consultants" to
>> plan the teambuilding exercises. Of course this was supposed to make us
>> work better together and be more productive. They never saw the irony:
>> you can't be productive if the entire "team" is stuck doing
>> "teambuilding" exercises rather than working.
>>
>
>
>I had to chuckle at one out our consultants, a psychologist who spend
>more time telling us his qualifications than about the topic. When
>asked if the reason we had to go on this course was an incident (that
>involved on of our officers who have been assaulted a couple times) he
>said not really.... but that it was the catalyst. Thinking he was so
>much smarter than the rest of us, he went of to explain that a catalyst
>is something that speeds up a chemical reaction. He was a little upset
>when I pointed out that catalysts could also slow down reactions, and
>that the catalyst remains unchanged.

Demotivational poster:

Consulting - if you're not part of the solution, there's good money to
be made in prolonging the problem.

Doris

> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
> I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you
> must be retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis.
> Working full time puts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm
> usually too pooped to mess with a lot of prep or complicated dishes
> when I get home.
>
> I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through
> the week. One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but
> not yet.

I'm retired, reaping the benefits of having put away for it.


--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.

---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com

"Janet Wilder" > wrote in message
eb.com...
>
>> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>> I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you
>> must be retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis.
>> Working full time puts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm
>> usually too pooped to mess with a lot of prep or complicated dishes
>> when I get home.
>>
>> I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through
>> the week. One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but
>> not yet.
>
> I'm retired, reaping the benefits of having put away for it.

Oh yes! It would be a miserable existence if we hadn't done that!

--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>
>> envious of you guys.
>
> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>
But it depends on your occupation. I'm still working years after the normal
retirement age, in fact yesterday I signed a 2-year contract with a major
company. The projects are interesting and the interaction with the clients
is always stimulating.
I really don't see any point in retiring yet. Most of my uncles retired at
~80!
Graham

On 2014-02-08, graham > wrote:

> retirement age, in fact yesterday I signed a 2-year contract with a major
> company. The projects are interesting and the interaction with the clients
> is always stimulating.

Seems to me there are two kindsa ppl. Those that gain benefit from
someone else and those who don't.

I have never derived any benefit from working for someone else, other
than plain ol' survival grade "mo-nay!". If I never work another
day (as in "job") in my life, fine by me. I'm not against doing it if
need be, but given a choice...... sheeeeei.....!

nb

"graham" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Dave Smith" > wrote in message
> ...
>> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>>
>>> envious of you guys.
>>
>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>>
> But it depends on your occupation. I'm still working years after the
> normal retirement age, in fact yesterday I signed a 2-year contract with a
> major company. The projects are interesting and the interaction with the
> clients is always stimulating.
> I really don't see any point in retiring yet. Most of my uncles retired at
> ~80!

You are just a workaholic

--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

On 2014-02-08 6:39 PM, graham wrote:

>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>>
> But it depends on your occupation. I'm still working years after the normal
> retirement age, in fact yesterday I signed a 2-year contract with a major
> company. The projects are interesting and the interaction with the clients
> is always stimulating.
> I really don't see any point in retiring yet. Most of my uncles retired at
>

In my case, I liked my job. It was interesting, challenging and I was
out on the road without a boss breathing my back. We had been working
with a sword over our heads for years as the government kept cutting
back and privatizing our jobs. There were a number of unpleasant changes
and I didn't like the way things were going. When that window opened for
an early retirement I grabbed it. I promised myself that if I ever
found myself sitting around watching Jerry Springer I would go out and
get a job. It has been almost 10 years now and I still don't watch
daytime tv.

"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> On 2014-02-08 6:39 PM, graham wrote:
>
>>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>>>
>> But it depends on your occupation. I'm still working years after the
>> normal
>> retirement age, in fact yesterday I signed a 2-year contract with a major
>> company. The projects are interesting and the interaction with the
>> clients
>> is always stimulating.
>> I really don't see any point in retiring yet. Most of my uncles retired
>> at
>>
>
> In my case, I liked my job. It was interesting, challenging and I was out
> on the road without a boss breathing my back. We had been working with a
> sword over our heads for years as the government kept cutting back and
> privatizing our jobs. There were a number of unpleasant changes and I
> didn't like the way things were going. When that window opened for an
> early retirement I grabbed it. I promised myself that if I ever found
> myself sitting around watching Jerry Springer I would go out and get a
> job. It has been almost 10 years now and I still don't watch daytime tv.

But has usenet substituted for Springer? {;-)

I see Tony Clement is trying to put controls on accumulated sick leave in
the public service. I know of people who have accumulated so much that they
use it up by retiring a year early!! I think they stopped that in Ontario
and possibly the Federal service but it's still happening in some public
sectors.
Graham
Graham

On 2014-02-09 3:06 PM, graham wrote:

>> In my case, I liked my job. It was interesting, challenging and I was out
>> on the road without a boss breathing my back. We had been working with a
>> sword over our heads for years as the government kept cutting back and
>> privatizing our jobs. There were a number of unpleasant changes and I
>> didn't like the way things were going. When that window opened for an
>> early retirement I grabbed it. I promised myself that if I ever found
>> myself sitting around watching Jerry Springer I would go out and get a
>> job. It has been almost 10 years now and I still don't watch daytime tv.
>
> But has usenet substituted for Springer? {;-)


It could. but I filter the worst offenders.

> I see Tony Clement is trying to put controls on accumulated sick leave in
> the public service. I know of people who have accumulated so much that they
> use it up by retiring a year early!! I think they stopped that in Ontario
> and possibly the Federal service but it's still happening in some public
> sectors.


That is the federal public service. I worked for the province and FWIW
we switched from bankable sick days to short term and long term sick
leave plans about two months after I started. We got to vote on it and
it passed easily. It worked for me. A friend of mine had had a heart
attack before the age of 30.

Sick leave monitoring was another reason for me being fed up with the
way things were heading. I don't dispute that there are some slackers
who abuse sick leave. I never did. The year before I retired I broke my
collar bone in a riding accident. I was off work for two months. There
was no way I could do my job. I was taking Oxycontin and was not even
supposed to drive. It wasn't enough to have a doctor's note. I had to
have a special form filled out.

After I returned to work I had to attend an attendance review meeting
with my supervisor. He said he thought it was silly because I had rarely
taken any sick time.... but... because of the program we had to go
through the process.

That wasn't so bad but six months later, and with a new supervisor I had
to go for another one to monitor my progress. I had not taken any time
off since my return after the injury. I was sent a notice and it said I
could have a union rep with me.

I didn't think I needed a rep but when I showed up for the meeting the
supervisor wanted me to sign a waiver about the representation. I
wouldn't sign it so we had to reschedule so a union rep could attend. If
they were going to make me jump through all those hoops for their silly
program that should not even apply to me, then they could jump through
some hoops themselves.

I retired the next year.... and I called in sick often enough to use up
all my sick days before I left. That is how motivating their attendance
improvement program was.