Posted on 12/26/2018 9:30:48 AM PST by Incorrigible
Austin Murphy
Author and longtime Sports Illustrated senior writer
Holiday parties were right around the corner, and I needed a cover story. I didn't feel like admitting to casual acquaintances, or even to some good friends, that I drive a van for Amazon...
...Let's face it, when you're a college-educated 57-year-old slinging parcels for a living, something in your life has not gone according to plan. That said, my moments of chagrin are far outnumbered by the upsides of the job. There's a certain novelty, after decades at a legacy media company, Time Inc, in playing for the team that's winning big, even if that team is paying me $17 an hour (plus OT!). It's been healthy for me, a fair-haired Anglo-Saxon to be a minority in my workplace, and in some of the neighborhoods where I deliver. As Amazon reaches maximum ubiquity in our lives, as online shopping turns malls into mausoleums, it's been illuminating to see exactly how a package makes the final leg of its journey.
There's also a bracing feeling of independence that attends piloting my own van, a tingle of anticipation before finding out my route for the day. Will I be in the hills above El Cerrito with astounding views of the bay, but narrow roads, difficult parking, and lots of steps? Or will my itinerary take me to gritty Richmond, which, despite its profusion of pit bulls, I'm starting to prefer to the oppressive traffic of Berkeley, where I deliver to the brightest young people in the state, some of whom may wonder, if they give me even a passing thought: What hard luck has befallen this man, who appears to be my father's age but is performing this menial task?
Thanks for asking!
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
All true, but it doesn't stop these social media and iphone addicts from thinking themselves morally and intellectually superior to people who are a couple of decades older. After all, as good "progressives," they're the foot soldiers for trendy causes like transgender bathrooms and gender-neutral language like "Latinx", unlike us troglodytes \s
How disappointing! “The Sweet Season”, chronicling St. John’s (the “Johnnies”) football and John Gagliardi - the winningest coach in college football history - was a great book. One that I’ve recommended many times.
No longer.
After the gratuitous and totally unnecessary dig at Trump (Trump makes Bush look Churchillian), pound sand Mr. Murphy.
Actually, it was a very good article. He and his well-employed attorney wife wanted to refinance their house, so that’s why he needed more income (it was obviously not a modest little house, but in CA, such things probably do not exist). So this was voluntary, not survival.
But his job had gone away: “I haven’t come down in the world. What’s come down in the world is the business model that sustained Time Inc. for decades.” And that happens.
This man rose to the challenge, however, and I think he’s learning a lot about life outside of the media bubble. And he’s kinda happy! Good article.
Try and be a 65 year old roofer,
I’m a 65 year old roofer, my dream was to write for SI but I put in my articals every time the red Sox and Patriots are pawns of satan.
Let's all pause for a moment and feel sorry for this man married to an attorney!
The sad part was the store manager walking around like some bigshot, giving out annual "raises" of .25 cents per hour. Seriously, you sweat and bleed for those suckers for a year, schedule changing weekly, freezing in the winter and soaked in sweat all summer and maybe the top 25% of employees are lucky to be rewarded with a 25 cent increase in their hourly rate. I got the highest increase one year when I got 29 cents/hr. Made it a whole lot easier to go back to facilities engineering (and a salary above and beyond the store manager's) when the time came for recess to end.
I met quite a few others whose experience and education far exceeded the job requirements at Home Depot. But that seemed to be the case. Most were laid off and looked at HD as a way to enjoy a little break without sitting at home and going stir crazy.
How about delivering 279 parcels in one day AND delivering the mail that accompanies it. That’s what I do. Christmas was brutal this year but it’s over and I can relax.
Ok, ok...... I’ll choose you to reply to.
First, in retirement think long. Not necessarioly large, but long.
Then think career. Then for many think rut. Retirement must be thought of as living long, out of the “career” rut.
My advice is to not worry too much, don’t overthink. In the words of Mr Mcabre, something will turn up. and, if you pay attention, it can and will.
Working after retirement should be a certainty, not because you have to but because you want to. Work becomes something out of all you know about merely one or a small combination of all those things. You become the company. You become the seller of needed services or labor.
In the coming days of full employment, reliable providers of limited services will find outlets for application of specific knowledge and abilities.
Don’t continue to try to do what you always did. Do something different using the specific knowledge and abilities you have doing something you like. Start slow....... one day a week and you will be suprised to learn you might very well soon get tot hepoint you have more requests and more work than you want. Turning people down garners more work.
The problem with what I promote is that it will soon intefere with travel plans or fishing or golfing or such. That is the goal....... doing what you want on your terms, making a few bucks, living
Cool! My brother has a degree in history and volunteers on archeological digs. He works in mini-storage, analyzing sites for income potential.
that is very cool
Likely not - it is an Atlantic piece after all and he didn't do it for free. Still, yes, it's good for him to widen his circle of acquaintance even if it's the literary equivalent of Jonah wading ankle-deep in some whale's stomach contents. It's a paying gig, bud. Welcome to the real world.
“It was a nice story right up until the gratuitous and needless dig at...”
...COURIERS? He can say whatever he wants, but us at the Big Two make good money and have good benefits and 30+ year careers. We have all the fun he’s in wonderment at (while snooting at it).
While many are pursuing fantasies in college, we are steadily employed and, via OT, can make six figures if we WANT to. Over many years I have seen all kinds of careerists end up here and STAY. But they are at the back of the line. No one on the ground floor level jumps ahead in this business. Put in that time. At 20 years I’m still unable to get certain vacations slots off because of the 30-35 year emps ahead of me.
I’m happy for the careerists to come and stay. As I will be for some of their kids coming up. There’s always real work available when the fantasies disintegrate.
Journalists are the center of the story. They take no responsibility but do steal all the credit.
I like Mr Arthur’s plan in “The Girl who got Rattled” in “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” which was
“don’t use all the bullets on the Injuns - make sure you save the last one for yourself”
Mr. Murphy, I find nothing menial about honest work.
yeah, that alone caused me to stop reading his article.
I’ve worked in jobs with mostly minorities and frankly, I didn’t give a fig nor did I consider it ‘ healthy for me . It was just a fact of my employment.
Big, white liberal guilt.
Imagine the virtue signaling when he informs his pals how HE is the minority among minorities at work.
” Look at me! I work with brown people! Aren’t I special! ‘
I left the nuclear power industry at 60 and entered the scuba industry - if you don’t like what you’re doing, do what you like doing.
As a retired person I drive for a wheelchair van company that specializes in transporting one person at a time in converted Toyota Sienna wheelchair van.
It’s a great retirement job, with layovers from time to time and meeting nice people who really appreciate what I’m doing.
Oh, and the bathroom thing, I get bathrooms in some of the cleanest places on Earth, hospitals.
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