Why Retire?

This is a real no brainer. Even though I have been told repeatedly that I am doing a good job and that I have totally unique and valuable experience, my salary has been "redlined" for the past four years and my "incentive plan" has been cut below normal. When I asked why I got two responses: 1) "You make too much money." and 2) "You are not meeting expectations." When I asked what those expectations were (since I met all the objectives on my performance review) the answer was "I will let you know in two weeks." That answer was 13 months ago. The VP is still uable to articulate any expectations that I have not met.

The Board Chairman and CEO got a 17% raise this year. Employee raises this year will only average 2%. Based on my discussions with others, I suppose that CEO raise was included in the pool. Nationwide, job openings are exploding. People are about to leave this company in droves.

The Clock is Ticking

Not much going on related to my retirements. As stated below, I took the deal, even though they had sent a letter that said that it was not a good deal if one was planning to retire within 18 months. I took it anyway because: 1) I could use the money now [I was going to take a similar amount out of my IRA and pay the penalty] and 2) I don't trust them any further than I can toss a cat.

My clock is now down to 44 workdays. That equates to a February 27th last-work-day, followed by vacation, followed by an April 1st retirement. Even here they are getting shifty. They just changed the computer program that calculates retirement and it has a field that says my 85-point retirement is April 30th. If I actually run the calculator for a termination date of April 01, it shows that I get the full amount. The saga continues.