I didn’t want to retire, but the owners of the company wanted me to.
I was given no choice, I could either bow out gracefully, or they would fire me anyway. The problem was that I wasn’t ready to stop working yet. It wasn’t about the money so much as being about having something to do with my time. I have worked for the same company for 30 years, and at this late stage of my life I don’t have very much else. The kids have moved away, the wife divorced me for a younger fellow, so my work as an HVAC tech has become my whole life. I decided that it was time for a major change, so I picked a far-off tropical destination on a Caribbean island and I started looking for HVAC jobs. Much to my surprise I found that in the tropical islands there is a strong need for certified HVAC techs. Most of this work is for exclusive resorts and hotels, because large numbers of the local population don’t have air conditioning at all. A/C is mostly for the tourists, but because tourism is so lucrative, these places are willing to pay top dollar for experienced help. In a couple of weeks I went from being depressed about retirement to being stoked about a new HVAC position in a beautiful new place! Although I have 30 years of HVAC experience, I feel that I can still work for another 15 or 20 years before I get too old to handle it. I’ll see you on the beach!