"I See Old People" Taking Over The Service Job Economy

[TheMastersNemesis]

More and more I am seeing retirees in jobs that were considered "entry level" work in the past. I have even seen some with oxygen tanks in tow in the retail industry. In fact I even saw an old grocery bagger with his little tank. These "retired" and tired seniors are in just about every sector of the service economy and are as common as snow on a mountain. McD's, Home Depot, Walfart, Lowe's, , et al are our new senior centers.

America is supposed to be better than this. It is despicable that seniors are now in this fix when they should be enjoying their older years with dignity and a reasonable sense of economic security. This trend reveals how sick his country is now. And the GOP and its allies want to make the older hers intolerable.

[Laelth]

1. Quite sick, yes.

I saw a statistic yesterday that really shocked me.

With the average turnover rate at typical retail stores running 200-300 percent in a single year, it quickly becomes abundantly clear why organizers like Andrews have such a difficult task trying to rally marginalized workers who hate their jobs so much, they’re constantly looking for a way out.

http://laborpress.org/sectors/union-retail/3060-the-hardest-organizing-job-in-labor

200-300% turnover in a year? That means the average retail job lasts from four to six months. That's not a job. It's an eternal conveyor belt of disposable humans--train/torture/terminate. That has got to be crushing on the human spirit. Something needs to change ... fast.



-Laelth

[Cal Carpenter]

21. Fucking hell

In the context of organizing workers it makes the situation seem impossible.

I knew it was really bad but seeing the stark numbers still made me

[Laelth]

25. Me too. I was shocked by those statistics. n/t

-Laelth

[jtuck004]

35. Maybe they need to quit organizing them to support Walmart and find ways to quit supporting

them. Teach them to run their own stores, find ways to raise and provide their own food, health clinics, etc. Maybe figure out how to pool the resources they have and create a more modern version of a commune to make living cheaper so they don't have to work at the largest employer in the country. Become lobbyists and raise funds to organize people for increasing social security ceilings. Teach them to do web sites and other relatively mundane IT tasks.

Because of the difficulties of the above, organizing them to support what business "as we know it" wants is perpetuating the problem they are fighting against.

It won't be fast, and may not be possible, in which case there is no hope. But it beats helping the tyrant keep the people in servitude. Which is what the Industrial Unions were trying to show us.

[Laelth]

45. I don't know what the answer is.

You make some great suggestions, though. All I can say is that this needs to change. I think a significant increase in the minimum wage would be a good start.

-Laelth

[jtuck004]

47. I do think that would be a good one as well. It hasn't kept up at all. n/t

[Laelth]

48. Quite. Not even close.

Elizabeth Warren noted that, adjusted for inflation and massive increases in productivity, that the 1962 minimum wage, had it been adjusted for those factors, would be $22/hr. today.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/18/elizabeth-warren-minimum-wage_n_2900984.html

This, of course, is one of the main reasons I am encouraging Elizabeth Warren to run for President in 2016. She gets it. Labor in the US has been getting the shaft for a long, long time.

-Laelth

[madrchsod]

2. not enough money on social security and medicare pays only 80%

i can`t afford the insurance for the 20% medicare doesn't pay.

only in america...

[RKP5637]

6. When I was a kid America had a lot of opportunities to move up, true, not for

everyone because of the horrible discrimination and oppression America forced on minorities, but at least there was some progress forward. At least one might be able to survive.

... now, America is marching full forward into dystopia. It's the boiling frog syndrome, and many suffer the Stockholm syndrome. It is NOT a healthy country.

I am concerned about the youth of today, I hope they are looking at the big picture and not falling for manipulative propaganda to vote in the wrong people and for the wrong reasons. Most politicians today are in it for the $$$$$, not for "we the people." This is not true of all, but many IMO.

[CountAllVotes]

53. You forgot women

I was advised in my younger years that I had some options for my future.

They were quite grim I thought at the time.

Take your pick of a job right here:

1. Teacher
2. Nurse
3. Secretary
4. Get married and have a load of kids

Great options those were. Are they not the same options today? Seems so to me and women still do not earn what a man earns. They likely never will, at least in my life time.

[RKP5637]

58. So true, thank you! Equality in American is often a joke, we boast about it to

other countries and then discriminate like hell. I also find it unbelievable that someone can be fired from their job, for example, because someone 'thinks' they might be LGBT. America remains a discriminatory and bigoted country against many many people, millions. And just looking/listening to some in our 12% approval congress is a joke. The worst often buy their way to the top influencing the information limited voters.

[JNelson6563]

3. I've got news for you.

I have been pretty shocked to learn how many people work who do not have to. For many it is something to do. I work with several people like this. Some have a lot of money actually. One lady I know owns between 20-25 properties they (she and hubby) rent out (she forgets how any exactly) but boy does she get pissed if someone hired after her gets any more hours than her!

There are also people not of retirement age who hold jobs they don't need. Several co-workers who have spouses with good-paying jobs hold two jobs. One full-time and a part-time elsewhere. They don't need the money but they are well trained, thoroughly conditioned consumers. Frankly it annoys me because there are so many out there that desperately *need* a job.

I know a lot of seniors take jobs that wouldn't if they didn't have to and that is horrible. I'm just saying don't be too certain of the situation when you see an older person working a job.

Julie

[marble falls]

11. Most of us need to suppliment our SSI. I have three part time jobs. I'd love to give up two ...

and just do my own business. But I need the three or fours days a week. And my employers can't get a younger person to work only a couple of days at six hours a day. Thank the Lord for my Tri-Care or we'd be in a world of hurt.

[magical thyme]

18. Note that they are in "good" jobs

They probably wouldn't be choosing to work if it was at McDonald's or Walmarts.

There is a semi-retired lab tech where I work. She says she works to get out of the house, but also to pay for her insurance (she's not yet Medicare age).

Although she was very helpful to me the last 2 years, I really wish she would finally retire to make room for me. I get 1-2 days/week, and then work 3 days/week as a telephone rep. Lab tech pays a lot more -- I could do 3 days/week at lab tech to make what I currently make working 4-5.

[enlightenment]

65. I think you should

swap the two "reasons" she gave you, because most assuredly paying for her insurance is a more pressing reason than getting out of the house.
Maybe you could locate a nice ice floe for her - that would free up the position for you and she wouldn't have to worry about paying her insurance as she floats out to sea.

[CountAllVotes]

69. +1

n/t

[magical thyme]

75. well that was pretty rude and uncalled for.

In fact, that was extremely rude and uncalled for.



Here I'm hoping that ACA will lower her healthcare premiums enough that she can afford to retire into her two homes, and you accuse me of hoping she dies.

Excuse me for wanting to make a decent living so I don't lose my one home and so that I can have a halfway decent retirement. I've already given up hope of ever paying off the student loan I foolishly took out because I believed the government lies about 100% employment in my field.

Welcome to ignore. You and your reccer, you #$%$#@@!!!!!! Enlightenment, my ass.

[enlightenment]

78. Yeah - that's sure what you

talked about in that post. A desire for the ACA to help her - and her two homes. Strange that I didn't see that; perhaps if you had written it there instead of here? I'm familiar with the issues you have faced - you've shared them pretty freely over the years - but that has jack all to do with this, really.

Can't say I'll miss the interaction in future.

[eridani]

86. With single payer health care and expanded Social Security, she could

I made that choice specifically to open up a slot for my younger assistant, but I was able to because I had a defined benefits pension, was old enough for Social Security, and had subsidized COBRA to get me to Medicare age. If she doesn't have those things, she doesn't have much choice but to be hanging on to what she has.

Want to change this? Lower the retirement age and scrap the FICA cap. Lower the Medicare eligibility age in 5 year increments.

[magical thyme]

89. she's already on Social Security

and has been for 2 years now. She took it I think at 62, so still too young for Medicare. Because she's reasonable well off -- lives in Florida now from November until April or May -- ACA may or may not lower her health insurance costs. I'm hoping it will enough for her to decide to fully retire. She was looking very tired this summer (especially after she got into a brawl with a ladder at home) and is making more and more serious mistakes, which in a hospital lab is not a good thing. The fact that she does take 6 months off from work every winter tells me she's working for the insurance, not to "get out of the house." (Not to mention there are *tons* of volunteer places and things to do in this tourist region.)

I have another co-worker that I'm hoping will be able to retire soon. When I was in my training period, a day did not go by that I didn't hear her muttering "I wish I could retire soon. I wish I could stay home." Made my training period there pretty sad, because she was vocalizing what I was feeling every day but didn't dare say out loud, lol.

I agree, we need to scrap the cap, lower retirement age at least to what it used to be and lower Medicare age as well. If they lowered retirement age enough, I couldn't retire fast enough. You get to where you are counting the years, months and days. I get so effing bone tired. They closed the emergency room of the nearest other hospital, which on the one hand is keeping our hospital going, but on the other hand most of our work is ED so high speed and very stressful. There is nothing so stressful as trying to work up a messy CBC with a panicky doctor standing over your shoulder

[A Simple Game]

34. Don't be so certain they are being honest with you,

and maybe themselves, when they say they don't really need the job. Sure some don't but I suspect most do even if only for the extra things they may not need but do want.

[JNelson6563]

44. This is a small town.

And yes, many do work who just *want* to buy more stuff and such.

The claims I mentioned were tossed in as asides in conversation. Nobody goes around bragging, quite the opposite. I've never known anyone to cry poor more loudly and often than those who are comfortably middle class (of better) but cannot have every single thing they might want. It's rather maddening really. They wouldn't know what to do if they woke up poor one day. Oh and they tend to be conservative.

Julie

[Awknid]

56. A lot of people support other family members.

Be it their sick elderly parents or their young nieces and nephews, etc. There is also a fair amount of people who are convinced they will be out of work soon and are basically scared to quit their jobs, even though it seems they could. I always try not to make assumptions about people's situations.

[TeeYiYi]

49. One way to tell the difference...

...is to look in their eyes. The old people working the checkout stand at Walmart because they have no choice have a sad, defeated, tired look in their eyes. It makes me want to cry.

TYY

[JNelson6563]

50. Yes, agreed!

It is very easy to tell the difference!

Julie

[enlightenment]

68. Oh, hell - just go

one step further and maybe you can get a sense of their soul, too. Just like Bush and Putin.

[JNelson6563]

71. Very enlightened comment.

Sorry if you find it impossible to believe that there are humans who can tell the difference between a person who is miserable and one who is not.



So, just wondering, how'd you come up with that user name? I ask because it is not evident.

Julie

[enlightenment]

73. Your snark

is not impressive, Julie. You have positioned yourself as both selfish and self-righteous on this issue and you're getting your ass handed to you - so you are lashing out. All that does is point to how weak your position is in the main.

[TeeYiYi]

79. What's NOT impressive...

...is you taking a cheap shot at my post by inserting a rude response to Julie.

Not very enlightened.

TYY

[WinkyDink]

57. "hold jobs they don't need." Who made you the arbiter? In the U.S., "What do you do?" is crucial to

our social identity.

[kiva]

66. Yes, because it's so much fun to bag groceries when you're on oxygen.

I'm sure that old guy at the building supply store who could barely stand who 'greeted' folks was only there because he 'wanted something to do'.

Whenever I see someone of retirement age working at one of these service jobs, I don't assume they are doing it for fun or that they are selfishly doing it to annoy others who 'need' jobs.

And what the hell are "thoroughly conditioned consumers"? Seniors who like to pay their medical bills and insurance and eat and maybe buy a birthday present for their grandkid?

[JNelson6563]

70. lolz

I've had no problem agreeing that there are certainly seniors who HAVE to work that don't want to (and shouldn't have to). perhaps you missed that part of the thread...hmm? A little bit of a trigger finger there on the self-righteous gun my friend. Take it easy.

With that said, yeah, I *personally* know at least a dozen people who could've retired (or already have from a successful career) that are currently working non-career jobs even though they are quite comfortable financially.

And you don't know what is meant by the term "thoroughly conditioned consumers"? Really? You think I'm begrudging some poor senior with an oxygen tank a present for little Johnny's birthday?? Wow. I guess you needed some sort of twist in there to prop up your soapbox. Kinda sad.

Julie

[kiva]

80. You posted in a thread that was specifically about seniors working in

service jobs, so don't be so shocked when that's what people are talking about.

And I have no idea in what circumstances you would 'begrudge' a senior working for pay, a since descriptor such as "thoroughly conditioned consumers" is vague, regardless of your defense of the phrase. What about someone who has enough money to pay the bills but wants to go on vacation once in awhile? Is it OK if they drive somewhere and stay in a Motel 6, but not OK if they fly and then stay in a nice resort? Are they "conditioned consumers" in one case but not the other?

What if a senior could afford to buy clothes at KMart but wanted to be able to afford to buy a sweater from Dillards? Conditioned?

The fact that you think you know whether or not someone 'needs' to work do not make it so.

[noamnety]

82. Your attitude used to be an enforced norm.

When my mother got married, her scholarship was terminated because it was determined she didn't "need" to go to college and work if she had a husband with a job.

It's very disconcerting to me to see similar thought processes 50 years later.

[JNelson6563]

84. Wow! Well done!

So my observations make me a sexist eh? Yeah, I'm saying women shouldn't be in the workplace if they are married case they have a man to take are of them. Oy.

My gawd by the mental gymnastics some DUers perform when they read something that is counter to their views.

For the record, and not that anyone will read this since everyone seems to be to quick to knee-jerk react to a view they don't agree with, I am coming from the perspective of a poor person who sees desperation every day because, being poor, I live in a poor neighborhood. It makes me sad to see people who are well off working jobs that they don't need (cause they're well off, and yes, plenty of men doing it too~~I actually know some). Why? Why do I care? Because I am surrounded by folks who really need work very badly! No jobs, some have no car, some have kids and they struggle to feed them. It seems so unjust and rather selfish.

If you take issue with that, well that's your problem.

Julie

[RKP5637]

4. And the future for all of us as America marches forward into full dystopia. Young people

are hopefully observing this, as this is their future or worse if this continues. Here, all the ads are on TV from the Wall Street shysters running the gambling casinos of Wall Street investing. ... to start saving for retirement. They want your pennies too! Hell, most people don't even have enough to survive month to month, let alone put money in the the Wall Street casinos. Also, unless you are a really big buck person, the odds are all against you. Very sophisticated algorithms manage their investments, as a peon, you're promised something, but don't kid yourself.

The only solution for your future is to vote and work to get these fuckers out of office that are destroying you, your country and your future. ... if that is even possible anymore.

Many, maybe most, Americans live in denial at to WTF is going on. They might see temporal rewards, but in the big picture they are fucked.

[Marrah_G]

14. What young people are seeing is that they can't find a job now

Jobs that were typically for teens, students, young adults are now being filled with an older age group.

[RKP5637]

23. Yep, much as I said in my reply #19 to you just recently, the model is broken. n/t

[Marrah_G]

24. Totally!

[flamingdem]

30. Maybe they'll vote in the midterms

for a change!

[awoke_in_2003]

38. The problem is...

in order to be a viable candidate you have to have corporate backing. We are given a choice asshole A and slightly more palatable asshole B. the system is rigged.

[RKP5637]

40. I hope so, because I don't think any are going to do much for them, we seem to be

beyond that now ... in fact, they now work to exclude them from voting. I liken what we have now as being akin to working/living in a cutthroat corporation.

[Enthusiast]

36. Excellent observations

and well said.

This is a crisis. Elected representatives (fuckers) or candidates (fuckers) that do not recognize this as a crisis, they must go.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

5. My grandfather still works even though he has 2 pensions, 1 of which is military.

He -- get this -- WANTS to.

[Divernan]

7. I can understand the need to feel needed and keep busy.

Might you suggest to him that if he doesn't need the income, and I mean NEED it, he could keep very active as a volunteer at any number of organizations, and open up his job to someone who desperately needs it.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

8. no

[Peregrine Took]

52. I agree with you. I have a friend with a high paying gov't job

who is pushing 70 and who, I know, has inherited wealth. Why she doesn't retire and let some young person have that job I don't know

[WinkyDink]

60. Oh, why doesn't she just DIE?! She has a right to her employment.

[WinkyDink]

59. You and grandson need to MYOB.

[devils chaplain]

55. My father is the same way...

He has a civil service retirement pension and now works full-time as a cashier. He has stated his desire to work until the day he dies. Some people don't like idleness and live off momentum.

[lumpy]

76. Lots of retired folks want to work, after all, that is what they have done for most of their lives.

Not always easy to transition to finding other interests in life.

[Warren Stupidity]

83. Well that settles it. Economic insecurity doesn't exist for old people.

Because, like your grandfather and such.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

90. It's amazing how so many rely on broad assumptions and their own infallibility

The point of my post was NOT to dismiss the possibility of economic hardship amongst the elderly but to demonstrate that the OP has no idea whether the people he claims to be observing are in economic straits or simply choose to continue working. And your defense is simply more of the exact same thing.

[Festivito]

9. Imagine what happens to those unable to take those low end jobs. eom.

[CountAllVotes]

54. Yes, the same ones that have not paid into Social Security

So, what they must do is go on SSI which means they cannot have a nickel to their name (more or less).

What a grim reality for someone that has lived their life. Many people (esp. women) fall into this trap.

There are many reasons why an older person would have to seek employment -- most likely because THEY NEED THE DAMN MONEY TO LIVE ON!

[valerief]

10. The owners of America don't need an American workforce anymore. They've got the world now. nt

[RKP5637]

15. Exactly what is going on. America is just another slot in their portfolio. Many, most?

Americans live in denial of what is going on ... somehow thinking they are important in the scheme of things, somehow thinking it's about "we the people." It isn't, it's all about $$$$$$$$$$$$ and where the next $$$$$$$$$ is coming from. If this were not the case, they would not spend time trying to decimate America for profit and shipping every job off shore. We live in disaster capitalism, but I fear many just don't get it ...

[valerief]

26. People actually sign up to get their brains blown out to protect the interests

of these owners.

If no one went to battle for them, the owners would lose their power in a heartbeat.

[RKP5637]

37. What keeps coming to mind for me is we have a national Stockholm Syndrome going on ... n/t

[Marrah_G]

12. My son can't even find a job in fast food

He graduated from the auto shop program at Job Corp, but no auto place will hire him until he gets his license. He has bee trying to find a job doing ANYTHING so he can earn the money for driving hours and his license. It's been 2 months of constant searching. The only place he has even gotten an interview is McDonald's and someone else got the job. The Manager told him she had interviewed a couple dozen people. It's incredibly frustrating.

[RKP5637]

19. The country does not have jobs to sustain the population. Worker productivity

increases and increases and jobs also get shipped off shore, and prices keep gong up in many areas. The model makes absolutely no sense. The country is being skimmed for $$$$$.

Many in positions of power know what's gong on, economists aren't stupid, but there is so much hostility, tension and ignorance in the country the problems will not probably get addressed until disaster capitalism reaches its limit of a full dystopia.

[Stargazer09]

13. For some seniors...

...certainly not all, having a job is important, regardless of money. It gives them a reason to get out of bed in the morning, it provides a sense of independence, and it also allows for more human interaction than they may have at home.

I'm not saying that we treat our seniors well, because I know we don't. I am simply pointing out that not all of them are working only to supplement their incomes.

[magical thyme]

20. if I'm ever able to retire, I plan to volunteer at a local animal shelter

and also at MOFGA.

There are wonderful organizations out there doing really important work -- more important than what a lot of corporations do -- that I would love to be part of as a volunteer.

There just is no good reason to take up a paying job if you don't need the money. Kids need a chance to live, too.

[JNelson6563]

46. That is my plan too!

I've done volunteer work throughout my life and would gladly do more upon retirement! If I don't *need* the money, I won't be working! I would rather someone who does need it have the job.

Julie

[Stargazer09]

81. Oh, I agree

But I simply wanted to point out that some seniors feel that they need to work, regardless of the money. And I know some, particularly men, who actually think that they need to earn money for that work.

[Divernan]

16. Often ending up in "working themselves to death".

I've seen it repeatedly. Seniors with fragile health who work at jobs requiring them to stand on their feet for entire shifts - whether operating a cash register or stocking shelves or retrieving shopping carts from parking lots in cold, heat, rain and snow. Lower energy levels and arthritis? As one said to me, the only way I get through my work day is diet Coke (caffeine) and Advil. One really elderly woman was bagging my groceries. I felt like crying! I wanted to say, here, you sit down and rest - I'll fill in for you. I did NOT see fragile seniors working in grocery stores in Mexico, Central America, Turkey or the EU.

[RKP5637]

22. I've had some older people help me locate things in big box stores and I was really wondering

if they were going to be able to get to the location they were taking me ... they had trouble walking and were frail. When I think they will be receptive to it, I politely say, oh, I see it's down there, I can find it OK now. Thanks!

[duffyduff]

17. I'm probably going to be joining them in a few years, provided I EVER get

full-time or even regular part-time work again.

I have a sister who is 73 years old, and she is STILL working. She drives cars for Hertz.

[Turbineguy]

27. Last night there was a woman who appeared to be well in her 60's

directing our plane at CLT.

[Hoyt]

28. Being well into one's 60s ain't old, nor is it time to head to the pasture. Just saying. :)

[flamingdem]

31. +1 agree!

mooo

[CountAllVotes]

61. You are lucky

I suppose you have no health problems.

My spouse began going blind when he was 62 years old. Today he can barely see.

Who would hire him?

Answer: No one.

Same story with me -- an aging disabled woman. No one in their right mind would hire me either even if I could work.

Reality is a bitter pill to swallow for many as they age and watch what they once took for granted not being so damn easy to do if can do at all any longer.

[Hoyt]

64. I have plenty of issues, but still don't consider myself washed up. I do understand

your situation, and wish you the best.

[CountAllVotes]

67. Thank you very much

I appreciate your good wishes.

Many do not understand and wow does it ever suck like all hell!

This is not the life I'd hoped for, that is all I will say ...

[fredamae]

29. Just like they kick our Veterans

to the curb...amongst many other groups. They've created a divide with-in these various groups to hide the bigger picture...but when you fully embrace (think about) All the victims of their Economic War? It's a poison which engulfs the heart of America.

These "takers" are sick of heart and mind....

They earn nothing--they simply usurp from those of us who have the least to give to them to help their "Pirated Booty" grow.

[RKP5637]

41. For some the more they grow the MIC, the more $$$$$ they make. And then they

kick the Veterans in the face because it might cost them some of their greedy outrageous $$$$$. And, we inflict disasters and deaths on other countries for MIC $$$$$$ and other profiteers.

It is disgusting, and I feel sorry for Veterans that signed up for noble reasons and then some get fucked over. It is a horrible mess. I wish I could see the way out ... but the US has become a very oppressive place for many and under the thumbs of disaster capitalism and the greedy fuckers pulling the strings.

[tavernier]

32. I'm 67 and a full time nurse

I use my paycheck for travel money and fun stuff. I'm not taking away work from a younger person because they can't hire enough nurses. I've been drawing SSI since age 62, but after two months of being retired I was bored silly. Decided to go back a couple days a week, then got sucked in.

Hubby lasted two years, then applied as a part time guard attendant at a condo, just for something to do. He is 70. He applied with two other old guys and got the job because he used to manage condos. He only wanted part time, but they keep adding on to where he is now eligible for all the benefit perks.

I don't know... We see signs from time to time on shops, restaurants that say, "help wanted", so things aren't that stark down here.

[LibDemAlways]

33. Some of us in our 60s are still putting

kids through college and paying off mortgages. We work for the same reason we've always worked -- to pay our bills and take care of our families.

[awoke_in_2003]

39. If this is the future,

and I have no doubt it will get worse, I will not die of natural causes.

[RKP5637]

42. Sadly, I think it's going to get worse. Also, the cost of food keeps going up and up. It's

outrageous.

I've talked with some that now have relatives living in tents, it's just impossible to make ends meet. I've also traveled cross-country and I was appalled at some of the conditions I've seen ... and MSM, they make it look like la la land, all of the time. Some do a bit of reporting about what is happening to many Americans, but for the most part, it is glossed over, out of sight, out of mind.

[awoke_in_2003]

43. They control a mass propaganda machine...

if Goebbels saw our media he would blush.

[RKP5637]

51. Definitely! Often I think 'what if' a really totalitarian force arose in this country and

had the reigns of gov., with the surveillance of today, the weaponry, drones, propaganda machines and so much of a nation that seems unable and/or unwilling to think, it would be the end of everything probably for the foreseeable future.

[WinkyDink]

62. When the HELL did it become a "thing" that older workers somehow OWED IT to younger Americans to

quit their jobs? I'm seeing posts like that in this thread.

Even the G-D QUEEN OF ENGLAND AT 87 isn't quitting.

(BTW: I retired at 52 from 30 years of h.s. teaching, so I'm not arguing for myself.)

[CountAllVotes]

63. Agree

If a person is ready, willing and able and wants to continue to work for the rest of their life, that is their option, not some bitter person out there that cannot find a job sneering at an older person working at McDonald's or Walmart.

Shame on people that do this!

It is no one's business why the individual continues to work past a normal retirement age.

If they can still do it, enjoy it and it makes their life more meaningful (and yes, they may very well need that crap job so yes, it does serve a purpose!), all I can say is may the force be with such persons.

[mia]

88. Well said!

Thank you.

[CountAllVotes]

93. You're welcome

I find it to be quite idiotic that someone would be JEALOUS of a person that is old working a crap job for whatever reason it may be.

I bet those sneering at the old in the workforce wouldn't even take that McJob if it were offered to them as they are too busy sneering at the elderly and allowing their hatred to manifest in ways that are most unbecoming!

[HappyMe]

95. Exactly.

Very well put.

Elderly people don't owe anybody a damn thing.

[grasswire]

72. USSR used to have babushkas (grandmas) sweeping the streets...

.....with twig brooms.

Is that next?

[TBF]

74. My mom works in one of those jobs part-time -

she is proud to be contributing. And that's ok.

What is not ok is young graduates working 2 or 3 of these jobs (part-time everywhere, low wage, no benefits) and not being able to cobble together a living. I'd love to see the Social Security age dropped to 60. Then those who would like to retire could be replaced with young workers who need real jobs to raise their families.

[grasswire]

77. the trillions of dollars stockpiled offshore...

...are allowing stagnation.

MUST change the rules.

MUST tax idle money that was made here, at higher rates.

Use that money to make jobs -- even community service jobs would do.

The pugs love to tell us of their adoration for work, yet they deprive the country of capital expenditures that would provide jobs.

[The Midway Rebel]

85. Welcome to life in the age of the Great American Republic Sonny boy.

Now get the hell off my lawn.



Slams door.

[nilesobek]

87. Interesting juxtapositions between

those who live the life and those who speculate on the life and circumstances. I'm on SSI but it was no safety net for me. Its not enough money to live on and I can't find a doctor who will take medicare. So I went back to work, cutting and installing cemetary monuments, then working graveyard at a convenience store. I have to walk to work. My house is crumbling. My wife is disabled. While twirling in front of space heaters we contemplate the real kind of character poverty is instilling in us. Defeated? No. But the check is in the mail.

[Igel]

92. It's a set of interesting juxtapositions between a few groups.

One is people like you, who have to go out and work to make ends meet.

Another group are those who don't need to work but do so after retirement. Like my father. He retired, gained 25 points in 6 months, and got another job. He worked until his wife made him quit (because she was under the impression every dollar earned reduced her SS benefits and couldn't learn anything different). Then he volunteered at a hospital until he was 82. He committed suicide Saturday night and Monday morning I answered the phone--the volunteer coordinator was wondering if he'd be coming to "work" that day.

There's the group like me--not near to retirment but I know people in both camps and know that the answer depends on the person. There isn't just one. And I like to argue for nuance and understanding: There's not just one group of seniors working scut jobs.

Then there's a group like some others here. They're like me, not retired, but firmly believe that there can be only one kind of senior working after retirement, and even if there are counterexamples given show enough ill-will to discount them or somehow say these people don't really count as people.

In other cases there are plainly ableist people who would never dream of being such if it wasn't required to justify their beliefs. So the very idea of a senior citizen working with a small oxygen canister. Why, they're clearly incapacitated and must stay at home, helpless, because they're, well, crippled. (And I use the term because the attitude expressed is precisely that: They are inferior and can't live an independent life.)

Needing to defend one's views drives one to stupid positions. Lots of implicit denigration and all-or-nothing kinds of thinking bubble up from the reptilian brain. So to speak.

[CountAllVotes]

94. Wow, sorry to read this

This is a horrific tragedy needless to say.

I'm so very sorry for you and the rest of your family.

May your father rest in peace!

As for the rest of your post ... I think you hit that proverbial nail on the head.

[NCTraveler]

91. There can be so many reasons for this.

Some good, some bad. Many of these people truly did lose a lot of their retirement. Others have lived through a gas crisis and multiple recessions/depressions. Work probably gives their psyche a great deal of comfort. I am also sure that making your way on SS isn't as easy as it once was. Not that it was ever easy, or designed to be easy. I just doubt it has kept up with inflation. There are so many reasons that this could be a trend. They also didn't grow up with the 24 hour news cycle. All of the problems of the world are brought right into their living rooms.