What do I do with my time in retirement they ask

last year

last modified: last year

Well, I have an appliance repair person out four times to fix my dishwasher. I schedule a different appliance repairman at my lake place to do some repairs. I drive 3 hours (one way) on two different occasions for a 10am appointment and leave that afternoon after the person doesn't show up. Call someone else? No one is reliable in this area code and this is the SubZero authorized repairman.

I try for at least an hour - maybe more - to book two Delta airline tickets using an ecredit. After two days I give up and call. I wait on hold for close to an hour before I finally speak to someone. With some difficulty the Delta representative finally books my tickets. She says you often can't make the ecredits work when you try to book on the website - great.

Then I wait on hold for an hour with the SSA because my account has been fouled up for 40 years as I received SSDI in 1983. After finally speaking with a customer service representative, I will now wait two weeks to receive a snail mail letter with a pre-scheduled phone appt with the local office sometime after April 14. I may or may not be available on the preselected date at which time I will wait on hold for gawd knows how long to try to get an appointment at a time I'm available.

Okay end of rant. I do fun things too but every time I'm stuck in one of these horrible customer service nightmares I think how thankful I am that I'm no longer working so I can spend hours plodding through these situations. I will say I'm always kind and courteous to the frontline people because I just don't think it's their fault things are so f'd up. And I'm extremely grateful someone is out there working in these jobs.

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Comments (16)

Fun2BHere
last year
One good thing for me about retirement is I have more patience with the exact type of things you listed. Just today, it took me about 90 minutes to book a bulky item pick-up from our trash service. I first tried online, but couldn't set up an ID because I didn't know my customer number. We don't receive bills because the fees are included in our property taxes. So, I tried live chat. I was number 4 in the queue with no change after an hour. Meanwhile, I was trying to get through telephonically. The menu took multiple branches, all the while telling me how much easier it would be to use the web site. I finally reached a rep. but they sounded like they were in a car with an open window. I couldn't understand what they were saying and they disconnected me. I called back and got a rep. who was on a clear line and who took care of everything I needed, including giving me my customer ID so I could use the web site in the future.

It's like a recipe. Prep time 2 hours, actual cook time 3 minutes.
pricklypearcactus
last year
Sometimes it boggles my mind how much time and effort has to go into just getting crap done. Time on hold with customer service. Challenges of scheduling and waiting for service or delivery people to arrive. I feel so lucky right now that I have been working from home. I can do work while I'm on hold waiting for customer service. Or sit around for hours waiting for a delivery or service person to show up. I don't know how I made this work when I went into the office 5x/week?! I went to schedule the delivery of my new sectional (yay!) expecting to be given a few days or one week window. Nope. My choice was all of March or all of April. WTH. Now my husband is wanting to plan a trip and I have no idea when I have to be home. Surely they can't expect me to be home the entire month waiting to see if they show up? Guess I need to call customer service (and be put on hold) to figure out what's going to happen.
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gigitn
last year
Yes, to all of these!!! Add in a few phone calls to your insurance provider to inquire why they didnt pay a bill.
jojoco
last year
Not retired, but I spent the whole day today on kitchen installation issues. The guys showed up at 9:45 am to install the kitchen counters and two bathroom vanity counters. The friggin' brand new Kohler cast iron sink was broken in one corner (but hidden by the styrofoam padding.) Fortunately, the local store was able to replace it asap. But sheesh! Nothing worse than having a crew ready to go but unable to do the job.

FF to end: the countertops and sinks are in and look great.
eld6161
last year
High jack, Jojo post the counters please!
dedtired
last year
I mostly go to doctors appointments. Fun, fun.

Yes, Jo Jo, pictures please.
Fun2BHere
last year
@jojoco, that's bad luck on the sink breakage, but excellent luck that they had another one in stock. My Kohler sink is backordered for 60 - 90 days. If it arrives broken, I know there won't be another one in stock.
3katz4me
Original Author
last year
@nicole___ Ha - my life is nothing like yours thankfully. Never had any interest in being a landlord.
1929Spanish-GW
last year
I just went back to work after seven months, but recently had one of those days. It involved my hormone prescription renewal which took a week and wasn’t pretty. DH and the dogs stayed clear!😂
nicole___
last year
last modified: last year
@3katz4me...Gee thanks. ...maybe I shouldn't have commented? I deleted.
Tina Marie
last year
last modified: last year
Ya'll are making me very thankful for my retirement life, which seems to be pretty calm. @1929Spanish-GW we once took a gals trip with me, my sis, 2 good friends, my mother and my grandmother. We were stopping a couple of nights along the way to our main destination. My mother FORGOT her hormones and by the second day she had turned into a completely different person. Once we got to our main stop, we made her call her dr and have a prescript called in. @nicole___ THEY REMOVED THE CARPET???!! 😮‍ 😮 😮‍

I do hate issues that involve time on the telephone. I also get tired of people asking me what I do now that I'm retired. I usually reply "whatever I want to"!
1929Spanish-GW
last year
@3katz4me that’s hilarious! I didn’t realize what a difference they made across my life. Just thought they were helping with hot flashes and sleep.
Arapaho-Rd
last year
Side note to Jo - when we remodeled our kitchen many years ago I chose a Kohler white cast iron sink. !st arrived, warped. 2nd arrived, warped. 3rd arrived, warped. Had to switch to SS with a hard to find size. Still wish I had my white sink though.
PRO
MDLN
last year
👍
nekotish
last year
People always say "now that I'm retired, I am busier than ever." That was certainly true for me the first couple of years. I retired at the end of February 2020 - right at the beginning of Covid. We took a trip to Costa Rica that we had planned for a year and when we left - Covid was just a whisper. We ended up cutting our 3 week holiday short by 8 days due to insecurity about getting home. Once home, the need to isolate spurred us on to many chores and much purging, a renewed love of baking, bread in particular. The luxury of long walks with our dog and cooking involved recipes. It was great timing as it was about the same time that my Dad suffered serious decline and had to be moved to long term care. I was able to spend a lot more time with him than I would have been if I were still working.
3katz4me
Original Author
last year
On a more positive note we drove 6 hours one way to Warroad this weekend - the home of Marvin Windows. DH wanted to skate the five mile River Bend Skate Path and they had an outdoor river festival today. It was a fun adventure but we cut it short by a day due to the winter weather advisory for 3-6 inches of snow for tomorrow morning. So we made it home in time for 8-12 inches of snow here over the next few days ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

What do I do with my time in retirement they ask

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Fun2BHere

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