There was a retirement party at my husband's workplace yesterday

The woman who runs the office retired after 25 years. Her husband retired last year & they plan to travel & kick back while they are both healthy.

My husband's fantastic boss had the party catered, and had everyone knock off for the day (with pay) ,at noon.

After all the festivities were over, my husband noticed her crying & went over to give her a hug.. Between sobs, she said. "look at THIS!", and pulled a check out of the card the boss had slipped to her.. It was a check for $12,500.00.. with a note that said.."Here's $500 for every year you gave us...for your trip...."

She's union, and was always well paid and every year she got a generous bonus.. This was from him..from his personal account.

We all hear about terrible bosses, but there are a few good ones too :)

probably that is just me. This is somebody who was "well paid" for 25 years and is now going to enjoy a prosperous retirement, and she gets another big chunk of cash. "Yeah, an already rich person got another free bag of cash!!" Oh, joy. It's a little bit like hearing about the millionaire who won the powerball. Or like the scriptue "To those who have, more will be given, to those who have not, even that which they have will be taken from them" Matthew 13: 12

I just watched "Trading Places" (with fast-forwarding) and noted the ending. Both the Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy characters had experienced poverty, and the prostitute and the butler had experienced servitude, and yet when they become rich they are shown living it up in the Carribean with a private boat and waiters. Having stuck it rich, they were living it up, and not concerned about the rest of the poor and desperate they had left behind.

very odd comment

nor does a $12K bonus. Good grief, man, you begrudge someone having a comfortable retirement? This is the sort of recompense that was not all that uncommon a decade or two ago, and now it's almost a singularity. This is what we may never get back to. Why not focus your ire on the CEOs pulling down millions/year while their employess struggle to make ends meet?

25 years of a job well done and you would belittle this show of gratitude? Granted ALL work has dignity, but the boss didn't have to and the retiree didn't expect it.

I have been very fortunate in my life in that I have had some of the best (and yes- worst) bosses anyone could pray for. A boss of this caliber is as rare as an employee of her worth.

Good Democrats want the best for all people. I can't imagine why this poster is equating a hard working employee who earned her retirement with overpaid bazillionaires who cheated the rest of us out of our retirements.

Today it's this story. Some of us, even on DU can be total schmucks!

Sorry for not feeling celebratory when somebody who is far richer than I am gets another years salary. Having a different perspective equates to you as total schmuckhood?

Not being able to be happy for someone else's good fortune because they have it better than you is pretty much the textbook definition. How sad to go through life hating like that. It makes me feel sad for the poster, actually.

Why do you care. The money came from her employers wallet!! It's his money, if he wants to give her a bonus it's no one else's business. Least of all yours. Damn, some people just want to fucking dictate everything.

...and more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nobody is asking you to jump for joy, but if you're going to rain on someone's parade for no other reason than sour grapes, you should be prepared to get called on it.

Cheers!

You have no idea what the couple in question does with their money, besides the information they're both retired, and are planning to "travel around" for awhile. In other words, those who worked hard and managed to save enough to enjoy the few years they have left together have no right to that, because you've decided it's not appropriate.

I can't believe you had time to watch a movie. After all, there are "poor and desperate" out there you should be helping. There's something unbelievably sad about anyone that would begrudge another person a bit of happiness.

In the meantime, good luck to the retirees, and I hope they will enjoy themselves. They earned it.

$12,500 over 25 years is about $1.35 for every day she was employed there, a far cry from the millions you're talking about - it's a great thing when a boss feels that kind of attachment to their employee's!

Nothing like being hateful/resentful - sheesh.

and wow, you must be fun at parties!

I wonder how you'd feel about the owners of SAS Shoes, who give bonus checks before Christmas to every employee, about $1000 for each year they've been there (and quite a few have been there 10, 15, 20 years).


dg

"To those who have, more will be given, to those who have not, even that which they have will be taken from them"

Didn't the nice boss do just that? I think you will change your mind. God Bless you.

Quoting scripture while in the same breath criticizing a woman who worked hard for her money for 25 long years. "Paid well" does not equate to being a millionaire, just that one can afford a decent roof over one's head and buy groceries. What a twisted sentiment, too suggest that a hard-working, valued employee doesn't deserve a paltry $500 for each year worked, nor does she deserve to take a much-deserved vacation in return for giving nearly half her LIFE to her job.

And to quote biblical scripture to justify your criticism? Geez, that sounds so... so..

Republican.

I did not say all that much about the woman. It is the situation which I do not find all that awesome. This woman a) has been well paid for 25 years, and b) is apparently retiring at a young age. This woman is already better off than many, many people even in this country. So when an already fortunate person gets even more good fortune set before them, I am supposed to be thrilled? I didn't say anything about what she deserves. She was already going on the trip.

The scripture was supposed to be ironic, since you do not normally think of scripture as favoring the already fortunate. Scriptural or not, it does not warm my heart.

I am sorry you are not "thrilled".. I just posted this to show that not all bosses are assholes....did not post it to "thrill" anyone:)

and to an earlier comment of yours, she is not "rich".

I am 44 and I am not that hopeful that I will retire at her age of 66.

And now the talking point of the day is that if one plans for their retirement and to take the trip of a life time that's good fortune. Wow!

The fact that she was able to stay at the same company for 25 years is amazing. These days companies seem to like to shed the older employees for cheaper labor.

There are many good things about this story.

You seem to think you know everything about this couple, you don't know if they have had hard times and you don't know if they have sufferred tradgedy in their lives.

I guess since it's easy for some that believe they alone are allowed to pass judgement on the rest of us little people it's easy to look down on others and criticize them for any good fortune that may come their way.

This woman isn't rich, she is a "pink-collar worker," and I think this is a great story. There are still bosses and owners like that, and they are wonderful.

Why would you begrudge this woman her HARD-EARNED money, including the gift? She isn't Paris Hilton.

Very odd post.

What I tried to say is that I do not cheer when a fortunate person receives more fortune. It does not strike me as awesome. It's kinda like seeing Tiger Woods win ANOTHER golf tournament. Well paid for the last 25 years? That sounds pretty fortunate to me.

Or just one of the bitter people who have made nothing with your life and feel a need to criticize people who have worked hard for what they have earned.

My guess is you are the latter

Maybe you'll get lucky and a tragedy will befall this woman.

:eyes:

just because someone has life pretty good now.

I think it's a sweet story and shows how much the boss liked and respected the woman who worked for him.

I do not believe that anything I said was as hateful as the replies I got. See below, for example. Amd above people are calling me names, and there you are cheering them on. Seriously. You think I am the one hating here?

Seriously, I do not know what is wrong with people sometimes. I thought this was supposed to be a discussion board. Like how you did it at the end. See, we have an OP and the responses respond TO THE OP and then to the other responses as people can disagree. "I think Stephen King is a hack" or "I think Stephen King is a great writer" or "I think Spider solitaire is a stupid waste of time".

The point is that we are discussing a topic, and it should not veer off into a discussion about me, just because I am the most important person in the world. Sheesh. People here need to get over myself already. It ain't about me.

That one well paid worker was liked and respected by their boss does not really do anything for all the low paid workers who are not liked or respected by their bosses. We already know that there are some people with good jobs and good bosses.

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It is just you.

Cheers!

Good to hear that there are still some good people out there.

he paid for our rush-job passports, paid my husband while we were gone (we had already taken our vacation time) and gave us $1k in spending money

like this boss, was as generous and caring about his employees and friends?

and I would bet that in spite of all his generosity, this man lives a rich and comfortable life. Being generous has not cost him his own benefits. Unlike so many who behave as if every penny they give to an employee costs them a piece of their own comfort.

A great and kind man who must be admired by many.

And then the national meme was changed by Reagan, may he burn in hell. Greedy assholes have no reason to breath, IMHO. Ok - off my soapbox.

Great story. I wonder if I need to move to CA to get a job there.

Business acquaintances call this boss "stupid" and a poor business man, all while wondering why he has such a low turn-over rate, when their's is consistently around 30% ... and why they can't get their workforce to go even "the entire mile", let alone the "Extra mile."

My wife's a couple of years from retirement and there's the distinct possiblity that the plan she's been paying into for 25 years (which is well solvent, BTW) is gonna be plundered to help bail out the state's financial woes.

to be ambassadors at Wishadoo.

Those with resources, giving back to their communities directly, without concern about a "write-off."

Balance things out directly without waiting for legislative action. I realize his type is few and far between, but I'm grateful to have been privy to this awesome story.

Thanks for sharing that inspiration today. :hi:

;)

:)

Where I used to work they never even thought about replacing someone until after they were already gone.

there are people in the world who look upon employees as family, or almost the same as. this company owner is one of them. good to hear.

mvs

Does anyone have a tissue? A little misty here...

What a wonderful gesture and a bright shining light amonst so much darkness.

human beings can be truly wonderful!

What kind of business?

What kind of business is your husband in? i.e. service, manufacturing doing so and so...

especially if they are an union shop - we are looking for a great deal on cabinets right now....

:hi:

people in this world.

That's how people should treat each other.

There are so many places that don't seem to have ever heard the phrase
Corporate Social Responsibility.

It's great to see that some people actually do care about their fellow humans and go the extra mile to demonstrate it.

Once. About 20 years ago. I'd go back to work for him in a heartbeat. Without a second thought. Doing anything he asked.

:)

Good news!

The kindness, loyalty, and/or unselfishness of the boss is remarkable, but it seems to me the underlying backstory here is that he recognized that her work over all those years deserved more compensation than it was given BY the corporation. As a "boss", I know how "the corporation" generally prevents "the boss" from doing right by their "lower level" employees. Raises are to be handed out in proportion to one's current salary, for example, and the pretense is that 3% of $150,000 means the same to a high-level employee as 3% of $25,000 means to a low-level employee. It seems the role of HR departments is to enforce an incredibly skewed compensation system.

They've been in business for about 45 years & he's the second owner, if I recall correctly.

over the years.
dc

I just got a $6k raise... whew... I can use it too!

I always love hearing about generous people! We so often hear about greed, but rarely about generosity.

Thanks again... great story!

sorry, that was a snark - It really is a feel-good story. :)

But since it's union, we can assume that they lean left:)

Lot of pricks too, but the good ones made up for them. I am still great friends with many of my old supervisors. See them all the time.

Never received a going away gift from any supervisors like that when I retired but a lot of them kicked in for my retirement gift when the workers had a collection as we always did when someone retired.

I was grateful when one would just buy us a quarter cup of coffee when we would work a little harder and longer to knock out some hot job the higher ups were dogging them on. It wasn't the amount. It was the thought. Meant a lot to me. More supervisors should think about doing that type of thing. Pays off in spades.

Don

what a great boss.

We only hear about the bad ones, most of the time.

Thanks for pointing out one of the good ones.

MANY moons ago, my boss encouraged and facilitated my 'maternity' time, compensated, after I'd put in many uncompensated hours of overtime on a LARGE project. After 3 months of full-time leave, I took Mondays off for many months!!!

Good guys/gals DO exist!

I worked for him some 30 years ago but I never forgot him. Best job, best boss I ever had.

There are a few of them out there, and they deserve to be appreciated.

Bless him.

Most of us would probably be happy with just a "thank you!" every now and then.

Loyalty, on both sides (Management and workers) can make for a formidable competitor.

Many large companies have almost completely erased that traditional human value in the work place by their despicable behavior, which has made some work places almost unbearable.

thanks for sharing :toast:

(usually in the summer), he has a sign up sheet for epople who WANT to take an unpaid day here or there, and when they went to 4 days-a-weeks for a month, they rotated so that everyone shared the "pain" and no one had to be laid off..

and when they go to Vegas for the "new merchandise shows" , he takes a few of the worker-bees so THEY can weigh in on what new equipment they might like to have:)..and they get to bring their wives for a nice weekend stay at The Paris.

Yes, there are very good business people out there. My family had a business since before I was born. I started a few more. I did my best to try and show the people that worked for me appreciation. That was one of the good ones to take that much out of personal funds. He should be held out as an example in the community.

and they earn the loyalty of their employees. Unfortunately they are not the rule.

and then some :applause:

Wonderful boss, loyal to the end to his employees.

K&R

a story about the good bosses.

Wonderful story. She's a lucky woman.

I wish we all had generous, thoughtful employers. I've had a couple and it makes ALL the difference in the world!

that only a few people in this world realize that you can't take it with you and if you spread the wealth, you get more respect.

they will go the distance for you. i wish employers would get the picture. they treat their employees poorly, don't reward their efforts and expect them to do 20 things at once and then wonder why people stop doing more than they have to. this place is a great example. it's not all about money. it's about treating employees with respect and valuing their contributions. so glad to hear this. thank you for sharing it with us.

:-)

This story contradicts the rightwing corporatist worldview in which we're all supposed to be motivated only by greed and selfishness, and those with power and money must dominate, exploit, and control those without.

I wish this person was more the norm than the exception.

I wish there were more like him. :)

There's so much bad news, I love hearing about acts of generosity.

:9

Love the new sig pic (I think)! Cant condone putting the cat in the swimming pool, but that expression is priceless.

He sounds like a great boss, and someone who knows how to inspire dedication and a sense of real worth in his employees.

:)

There's plenty more where that came from.

while others flounder. It's good business to treat your employees like human beings.

I wish that for all of us. :grouphug:

K and R

I wish them all the best!

One time, they had an employee with some emotional problems. He turned into a fanatic Christian evangelist, trying
to convert employees, his wife left him, and he just became a drag on the company and they let him go. They nevertheless
kept him on at some nominal salary on paper for six months until he could find something new, just so his medical insurance
wouldn't stop.

This place has some 400 employees, and they buy expensive pizza for the whole company on a regular basis and have company
picnics etc etc, even when times are bad, and the owners pay for it out of their own pockets.

There really are places like this, even in Texas. Maybe they're still still to small to be uncaring.