Category: Retirement

cleaner living in retirement produces positive results

whbeebe

I had my teeth cleaned today. I’m not a fan of dentistry, not since I was old enough to be taken to see a dentist as a child. Those were bad sessions, especially when the dentist drilled and filled cavities. There was a period starting in my early 20s where for nearly 10 years I refused to go see a dentist. I didn’t go back until I started dating my future wife and she convinced me to see her’s. That turned out to be fortunate for me, as her dentist was highly competent. The only downside to going to a dentist was when I had seven (yes, seven) wisdom teeth removed in my mid-30s. Why seven? Four were through, three were still buds.

Since retirement I’ve been paying better attention to personal health and hygiene. It started with the simple things, like greater activity rather than commuting and sitting behind a desk for hours at a time five or six days a week. Diet was another target for cleanup. Proper dentil hygiene was another.

Since last year’s checkup I’ve included the use of GUM Soft Picks and an H2ofloss Portable Dental Water Flosser when I brush every morning. When I went back in today my gum “numbers” were 1’s and 2’s and some 3’s, instead of mostly 3’s and 4’s and a few 5’s sprinkled in. What’s more my gums didn’t bleed this time, which surprised the dental technician who was cleaning my teeth. I had no bleeding at all compared to the last time where there were spots sprinkled all over my gum line. Even the cleaning was shorter and faster than before.

Diet changes and exercise are showing results; for example my blood work from the prior week showed my A1C level was back down to 6, the top of the “green zone.” Even my blood sugar level is back down to the 110’s, although it should be below 100. All the numbers are moving back into healthy territories.

None of us will live forever, but while we’re here we can all live as healthily as possible. That means breaking bad habits with regards to personal living. Too much of contemporary living is self-destructive. It’s never too late to wind that back enough so that the quality of your life improves. While I’m still here I want to be as productive and contributory as reasonably possible, to help others rather than having to depend on someone else because I was too lazy to do the right things. You can’t help others, and the world at large, if you’re too busy living a thoughtlessly destructive life.

publix, where job shopping isn’t such a pleasure

whbeebe

A half century and more ago while I was growing up in Atlanta I started working part time jobs at various local stores, one of which was a Winn Dixie grocery near where I lived at the time. Other nearby stores where I held part time jobs included JC Penney’s, Sears, Radio Shack, and a Rexall drug store. Those specific store locations have long since gone the way of all flesh. Those part-time jobs helped support me while I attended college, paying for books, tuition, and other basic necessities. Once I had an official degree I moved on to more official jobs, working my way through adulthood and into retirement.

Because I’ve worked as long as I have, I’ve developed considerable intolerance towards institutional stupidity; I do not suffer fools gladly. Nevertheless I threw caution to the wind and filled out a Publix online job application for a chance to work part time at one of three Publix grocery stores local to where I live. Local means ten minutes or less to drive from the front door of my home to the front door of those stores. I’m fortunate that there are three Publix stores in this area that fulfill that one basic requirement. I filled out the online application and took the online psych test in May, then sat back and waited for a nibble. Unfortunately for me there’s a 30 day timer on a Publix application in that it goes “stale,” meaning if you haven’t heard anything in 30 days you need to log back in again and re-fill the application to re-activate it for another 30 days. Here’s what my application looks like right now:

There’s one more part I need to show you on my Publix application:

Note I’ve selected not to receive updates, meaning text messages.

So today I got a text message from Publix that my application had been selected for a job interview at a store twenty minutes north of me, not one of the three I had selected. I got both the email message which I wanted as well as a text message that I did not want. I’m very strict about nuisance text messages from any and all. If possible I block them all.

You can say I should be thankful for the opportunity to apply. And I am, but not the opportunity you imagine. Job interviews are an opportunity to judge a prospective employer as much as an opportunity for them to judge a prospective employee. Publix doesn’t impress with just grabbing me out of their on-line collection and sending me off to wherever. If there are no openings in the three stores I selected, then that’s fine. But don’t send me off a lot farther than I’m willing to commute, especially in this day of $5-plus/gallon gas. Furthermore, when I say don’t text me, I mean just that. If you as an employer can’t follow your own basic rules, then what else are you going to break when it suits you?

I wanted a grocery store job because I thought it would be nice to get out and interact with people. Except I’m still wearing a mask these days, and I’ve noticed recently that Publix employees are no longer wearing theirs. I’m not ready to give mine up just yet.

This experience with Publix shows I’m really retired and that I should stay retired, at least from retail.

Update

I wanted out of the Publix job application system, so I went back looking for a way to delete my application. There is none. Instead I deleted my cell phone number and put a bogus email address guaranteed to bounce if Publix uses it.

Update 2

I was finally called to two interviews at two different stores close to me. I didn’t get called back for either.