Uh-oh! #2

First chapter of "What, Me Retire?"   

*Continued from previous post

(Covid-19 has forced many people to retire and, as expressed in their social media posts, home 24/7 is such a lonely place. Perhaps by sharing my own retirement story, they can find humor in their change of pace, and may even discover that retirement is a blessing in disguise.)                                                    

Why I upped and left in four scenes 

Scene 1: The Tin Man Cometh 

Unlike doctors, lawyers, and professors who get more respect as they age, oldish (40s and up) advertising practitioners are reviled. Growing old is taboo. Advertising is an arena for the young with edgy ideas  at much less pay and perks. So when one reaches a certain age, pay, and perks like I did, fresh, young talents swagger their way in. 

Retirement? It was a constant push and pull when I was pushing 50. “I am old; I am young; I am old; I am young.” In denial? My friend Oski, who is a joker and jumbled quotations, had the answer, “Age does not matter, so long as matter doesn't age.” 

Then like a stray bullet from nowhere, a new boss pinged our comfy nest. My shaken, mind went into overdrive. His reputation as a non-nonsense man preceded him, so my brain's eye saw him as the Tin Man in human form.

Nothing wrong with the Wizard of Oz character who had no heart, but this Tin Man of a boss looked at the world in black and white—you were either in or out, young or old. So when we, members of management, came face to face with him in the boardroom, it was obvious he was a left-brainer, as opposed to me, a right-brainer from birth. 

Looking around, I saw my reflection on the faces of the other VPs — my dearest friends through the years: coiffed hair, crinkle-free suit, a demeanor of maturity way past young and daring.  

Closing my eyes, I listened to Tin Man and heard cling-clang instead of lub-dub. The ex-boss he just replaced, who retired at 50, had a humongous heart so big you could hear his lub-dub a mile away. On top of that, he had two giant ears that listened to what you had to say, careful not to break your spirit. 

I tried to delete the Tin Man metaphor from my brain, but the VP on my right furtively took my little notebook on the table and wrote on it, then the next VP beside him took the same notebook and wrote on it, too, and on to the next. When I got my notebook back, I read these scribbles, Uh-oh, What now? and I'm outta here! 

Now, now, that's not a nice way to welcome Tin Man, I thought. I glared at the three of them and mouthed, “chicken!” These three guys and I had fought the fiercest client wars and survived, with battle scars as our badge of courage. 

As affirmed by the three notes, the mindset of our new boss was obviously different from ours but I psyched myself for what was coming. Like David, the shepherd boy in the Old Testament, I was facing my giant Goliath (only figuratively, for he was slight in stature). He was poised to change the rules; I was poised to stick to them. 

To be continued next post