@Porwest 31 August 2021 more from that month

Is This The Start of Semi-Retirement?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog-style article wherein I mentioned that I would be making A Major Decision in the Next Couple of Weeks (read.cash) If you want to know the whole story, it's all there in that post. But the long and short is that our warehouse worker had put in his two-weeks notice, and it was up in the air as to what the company would decide to do about that. https://read.cash/@Porwest/a-major-decision-in-the-next-couple-of-weeks-1c3543ff Replace him, or sit it out and replace him later? As I mentioned in the previous article, I have no interest in resuming any duties in the warehouse in the interim, and for a variety of reasons which I will not rehash here. For now the warehouse worker is still *in* the warehouse. *But*, his status is still a sort of an *unknown* at this time.

He did decide, with some enticement from the boss, to stick around with us for a little while longer. But at this time we have no idea how long that will be. It could be a week, a couple of weeks, a month. We do not know right now what the answer is, or when we might be sans a warehouse guy. But he did have a phone interview today with another company. With all of that having been said, I *did* discuss with the boss what *my* intentions are. And it was actually a fairly productive conversation in that he told me that his aim was to hire someone to replace him, should he leave, as quickly as possible. These were words I wanted to, and *needed* to hear. So, for me, as far as *I* am concerned, the short term decision I have made is also to wait and see. I can only say that I have more confidence after having that conversation with my boss that I may decide to stick around as well.

But semi-retirement is also something I have been talking about quite a lot lately. And the thing is, it is perfectly doable. There is nothing stopping me from being able to do it except for having made a clear decision about whether or not I will do it. I said before that I make good money, so that is definitely a consideration. My job is also not that physically demanding. I am in a sales position, so I spend most of my day in my office. My job is also very flexible. If I have to make a quick trip to the bank I can do that. If I need to run off to the chiropractor for a treatment, I can do that too. If I need time off for something, I have plenty of vacation time or sick time that I can use, and nobody really keeps track of any of that so long as you are not abusing it. My job is also 8am-5pm for the most part, Monday through Friday, and I always have weekends off. So, this is a consideration as well. I said *for the most part* because my job does require me to travel on business, and I run my operations in six states. Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, and Iowa. Traveling can be long days and grueling, and you spend a lot of time in hotels and eating crappy food on the go. But it is what it is. Semi-retirement can really mean one of two things. Either it means I quit my job and take on part time work doing something else. Or, it means spending a little less time on my current job. Maybe on some days I come in a little bit later. On other days maybe I leave a little bit earlier. And maybe it also means on two or three days in a given month I don't come to work at all. But instead burn sick days or vacation time, or simply take a day off without pay.

We are paid both on commission and by an hourly wage. The commissions are worth far more than what they pay us on the base hourly wage. And because the accounts I manage are mine, I get paid regardless of who is there to take the call and fill the order. On one of the days last week I skipped out 15 minutes early. Today I skipped out a half an hour early. Granted, there are plenty of days I am still in the office past 5pm. But the point is that right now I am more apt to decide for myself what *I* want to do. I am less concerned about filling the gaps in the "time card." And I am less concerned if my weekly paycheck for my base wage is a little bit less because of it. Because I also know my pay would be *dramatically* decreased anyway if I took the other course of action. To actually quit my current job and thrust myself into semi-retirement. The bottom line for me is that right now this seems to be the direction at least my mind is leading me. And if right now I can do a little bit of it now, and still make good money while doing it—and kind of *feel* like I am in a sort of semi-retirement mode even if it isn't really that at all.

Maybe that's enough. Maybe it is enough to allow me to better manage how I feel about staying in my current job a little while longer. But there is also still the warehouse to consider. What happens there could change everything back to where it was before. And I may still have a major decision to make in the next couple of weeks. *Lead image courtesy of Pixabay, user Free-Photos.* *Writing Pen Man - Free photo on Pixabay* https://pixabay.com/photos/writing-pen-man-ink-paper-pencils-1149962/