[DAB]

Originally Posted by Wathen1955

I'm 65 and just retired this year. Like Aerovette, I started at the bottom as a busboy as a part time job. I quit that and got a full time job doing visual inspection, then moved up to doing mechanical inspection, then finally moving to doing measurements on a surface plate using lots of measurement tools I never seen before. Did I have education for this? No, but I showed initiative wanting to learn new things, and it also helped because I liked what I was doing. This finally lead to a field called calibration which I remained in for 40 years.

At one point, I had 2 supervisors, one engineer, and 15 techs reporting to me, including 2 others 500 miles away. With cut backs and the emergence of the CCP virus, my 65th birthing coming up, I decided to retire from the company.

I was recently contacted by the company as they want me to come back as a contractor. They were offering only $70/hr. I said nope - I want $120/hr. They are in the process of getting the contract ready. It will be for only 20 hrs/week with no travel - all working from home.

I think my dad said it best - when I was a kid, we would see some expensive houses and I would ask my dad - where does one get the money to buy that?" My dad would say, "if you work hard and smart, you can make lots of money to buy the things you want. That is why everyone in the world wants to come here and work, because they can be flat broke and become millionaires with hard work."

some years ago, my last company contacted me and wanted my help here locally. they were looking to bid on a large contract, and wanted me to attend the pre-bid meeting downtown. ok, doable. how much are you offering? how much you want? how about $125/hour? long pause...um, can we limit it to 4 hours of involvement? hour travel to town, hour back, hour for the meeting, hour to write things up...sure, agreed.

they have never called me again for anything. fine with me.

"but you are just going to a meeting!"

"yes, i'm going to a meeting as as expert in this topic"

or i could have stayed home, and you could fly someone out here, pay for meals, travel, hotel, and be out $2k. your call.