Advice on work shit

What do you stand to lose if you resign now instead of next year?

Next year begins in just a few weeks. Can’t you lie low, use your vacation time and sick days, and then just be done with it?

I can't imagine being as old as OP. OMFG!

OP - quitting and retiring are two different things.

Don't give this any more thought. 40 years is ENOUGH for any job!

Wind this thing up post haste.

I need to stay until next spring. Need to sell a home in Colorado. The. I can quit.

R3 I know, I’m old as fuck

Just ignore the new manager, OP, as long as you can. When she finally confronts you on that, pretend like you never received her message. Rinse and repeat with every message. Ignore phone calls.

Keep quiet, behave, and hold on as long as you can. In other words, do what you're told, bite your tongue.

Or...

She realizes you are retirement age and that she is likely going to have to pick up the slack when you go.

She was also put in a job where you report to her and she needs to understand what it is you do so that when someone asks her about it and what you are up to, she can give them an intelligent answer.

Do you know anything about her that would lead you to believe that she has ill intentions in asking you? Is there anything you need to hide?

Sounds like she needs your help to know how to do her job. Is that evil? Very mundane workplace situation.

Do what you need to do to ride it out until you can officially retire. If it's just to next year, then do what you need to do so you can leave your job of your own free will and retire. Like the above poster said she need to learn what you do so she or someone else knows the process so things continue smoothly when you do leave.

Why can’t you just retire now? Use up all your leave, first, though.

On the other hand, in 40 years, I’m sure you’ve dealt with micro-managers before. How is this one so different?

Kiss her ass with a smile, OP, all the while knowing you'll be gone soon. You don't want to break a leg in the final furlong. You're almost there.

You sound like an asshole, OP. Your manger ISN’T retiring next year and maybe she needs her job. Let her do it.

I’m more or less in the same boat OP. When you eventually have to talk to her about your territory, just give her the bare minimum of information.

She’s not my manager r14. She’s a team leader. I don’t need her to lead me, I know as much, if not more than her. Also, We have regular meetings that keep us updated on everything

If that makes me an asshole, so be it.

[quote] She’s not my manager [R14]. She’s a team leader. I don’t need her to lead me, I know as much, if not more than her.

"Team leader" is corporate-speak for manager who doesn't get paid that much. So, you do need to suck it up with her. You might not need her to lead you, but she may feel the need to lead you. She's been given some authority by the bosses, so there's nothing you can do.

I'd just deal with her via email. Put everything in writing.

Can you explain to us then OP why you don't want to have this conversation with her?

It sounds relatively benign - she is the team leader and she wants to know what the people on her team are up to.

What are you afraid she is going to do either during the meeting or as a result of it that would be so dreadful?

[quote] she wants to learn about about my territory, etc. two paragraphs full off bullshit.

You could do what a person who was suppose to be training me did. We are just sitting there in his, soon to be my new office and he says. "I wish something would happen so I could show you what to do." He managed to disappear pretty soon and that was the end of my training.

Good question r18. Couple of things, the territory she supports (she has same job as mine) she’s has a close relationship with the VP and that VP is close with the HR director. The HR has to approve these team leader roles, so she was a shoe in. And, this subjective, but she’s a know it all blow-hard. If I was brave, I’d take a screenshot of the message she sent me. Ridiculously over the top.

Don't worry, R3--you'll never make it to OP's age.

I still don't see the problem OP which is why I am beginning to think this is a not-very-well-thought-out EST.

But on the off chance it's not... explain to her what you do and pretend it will be great fun to work together. Offer to be as helpful as possible.

She can't fire you--the age discrimination lawsuit would be a slam dunk.

Worst case is they are hoping to force you to retire at age 65 which is your plan anyway.

I cannot waste my professional wisdom on someone with such a careless relationship concerning punctuation and other necessary features of written communication.

Yeah, just let it go. Your manager already gave the answer. The team lead is not going anywhere. Your time there is almost up; it's like a concert, where what people remember most of all is the last note played. Play it well.

Hi OP --Your Team Lead here. Please tell me everything you know. I need to wrap this up before we lay everyone on the team off and outsource your work to cheaper netserfs.

[quote] She can't fire you--the age discrimination lawsuit would be a slam dunk.

Where's the indication that there's been any age discrimination? There's also rarely a "slam dunk" in the law. It takes years to get a settlement or a trial. Meanwhile, you do need to pay an attorney.

R15 Let he without "manger" cast the first stone.

If we're giving asshole lessons today, I'll point out basic business etiquette says the team lead should request a meeting for such a subject, not send a diatribe through Teams.

OP you ate, you are^

I retired early in March, at age 62.

In dealing with your team lead, you have more or less a year to drag out. Never answer a question directly, take some time to "recheck" information (make it a crucial piece of information). Give the easy stuff freely. Drip...drip...drip. I don't remember exactly, I have to check my notes. Don't get back to her until she brings it up (it'll be about a week). You can drag this out. Problem is, you get bored.

OP doesn't sound like someone who's managed to survive 40 years in a major corporation. But I also refuse to believe someone would write such a pathetic scenario as fiction.

OP, the company knows they cannot fire you as a male over 55 without cause. They are also likely aware of your plan to retire. So they are attempting to accommodate you as the company moves forward with a younger workforce. I expect that given your age and the years with the company, the majority of the management team, including team leaders, are younger than you and less experienced.

Either suck it up or do them - and yourself - a favor and retire now. You might also approach your manager and ask about an early retirement package.

This is not the fault of the team leader, who is taking direction from your manager.

R30 or anyone. Please do a thread on what it takes to survive or thrive in a major corporation. I'm a first generation white collar worker and feel like I don't have the master manipulator genes/skills necessary to thrive.

Why can’t you start a thread, R32?

r29 has the right idea.

I was in much the same boat as you, OP, retiring after 39.6 years. If I were in your shoes, I'd do an r29 on her, keep answering (slowly) with the likes of, "I'm not sure specifically what you'd like to know . . . ?", and just spin things out as long as possible.

My own (long and boring, but please excuse me, I want to vent) tale is that, as the end approached, I started writing long and extremely detailed procedures concerning the very arcane duties of my job. I wouldn't have cared, except that the beneficiaries of many of my duties were not my co-workers but rather graduate students, whom I didn't want to see hobbled in their academic careers by the potential blunders of my successors. Fortunately, I had already completed the most important of these written student-related procedures when one day my supervisor deigned to visit my office to ask questions about where various files and so on were located in my office. I was showing her around when we came to where I had recently put up a photo of my BF. I proudly "introduced" her to the pic, and anticipated a courteous comment. She got a stony look on her face and said, "We don't discuss personal matters." Taken aback, I abruptly ended her visit ("That's all I have to say"), stopped writing detailed procedures, and spent my remaining couple of days enjoying the nice view out my window. [bold] TL;DR: [/bold] Higher-ups don't have the respect for long-term workplace veterans one might expect; don't hesitate to return the (dis-) favor.

Thank you r34 ❤️🤍

OP - is your company that fucked up that you can't go to your actual boss and say "Hey, I am going to be retiring the middle of next year. There's a lot I've learned over the years and it would be good to pass it on and put some sort of transition plan in place too over the next six months so that [Team Leader] can pick up where i left off."

[quote][R30] or anyone. Please do a thread on what it takes to survive or thrive in a major corporation. I'm a first generation white collar worker and feel like I don't have the master manipulator genes/skills necessary to thrive.

If you want to thrive, quit now. FFS, there's no reward for people who have to teach themselves the master manipulator skills. You will always be behind. You will waste your life improving maladaptive behaviors trying to compete with assholes who come by such behaviors naturally. If you want to stay in that environment, learn how to slack. If it ever feels like a matter of survival, walk the fuck away. It's not oxygen. You don't really need it.