TARGET PRACTICE...

AT FIRST

NOW

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I just realized recently that every time I talked about "retiring from United", it was nothing but target practice.  In fact after reading President Uchtdorf's First Presidency message in the January 2017 Ensign, what I was really doing was putting a date out there and then trying to draw a target around it.

First, it was" the MINUTE I reached my amended 15 years as a flight attendant seniority".                  January 6, 2016.  Scrap that!  Still no contract for the flight attendants, so hang on for a possible signing bonus--maybe even another buyout since I was sixteen months shy of having enough seniority for the last one. 

Then, I drew a target for the end of May 2016.  Got the profit sharing in February.  Surely by May we would have a new contract, maybe a signing bonus, too.  But there was definite news there would be NO additional buyout--just natural attrition, so why pay people to leave?  Dunno....?   So, scrap that, too.

Please by the end of summer 2016 so I wouldn't have to go to yearly requalification ONE more time in September! I hate that month of preparation and testing.  Drew another target. 

Oh, we got the contract in July.  NO signing bonus.  Why would they give a signing bonus?  Their reasoning:  People would just vote to ratify the contract for the signing bonus and then jump ship, not caring what kind of provisions they voted for since they didn't plan to be there.  Take the money and run...!     Another practice run for retirement.

In August I found out another important factor.  United Airlines requires SIX MONTHS notice before an employee can retire.  That's a huge commitment to stick with once the ball has started to roll.  What if this?   What if that?  What if...?  What if...?  What if I find out down the road I have made a HUGE mistake in the date I choose to retire?  These are some pretty BIG "ifs".  Another target drawn on the blank paper.

In addition, I was really hurting because I had accidentally shot myself in the foot, as well.  I had "looked ahead" and thought "Why not take my vacation by the end of May so I would be sure to leave nothing behind?"  Well, I got the vacations I wanted in those first five months....and then I stayed.  That meant I went from May to the end of 2016 with NO vacation.

By then I was at my 71st birthday--AND had a brand new car with payments.  Then the retirement plans got more definite.  "I'll stay at United until my 72nd birthday and use some of the increase in pay--which we DID get with the new contract--to pay down as much of the financed cost of my new car as I can."

And THAT was the plan Louis and I agreed upon.  At the beginning of 2017, we transferred all the ACH withdrawals for the mortgage, the insurances, the utilities, etc. from my bank account to his so we would have enough time during this year to tweak whatever needed to be adjusted before we were minus all contributions from me except for Social Security.

I began to ready the retirement papers which would have to be submitted in June to satisfy the six month requirement.  I thought all was set.  Noooo....

I have been talking with some of the other flight attendants about my retirement, now slated in my mind for the end of 2017.  Wrong!  They asked some important questions....Why go clear until the end of the year and quit then?  Profit sharing is announced the end of January and disbursed the end of February.  "You must stay for that!"  That sounded reasonable.  That means a few thousand dollars to pocket before I fly into the wild blue yonder for good.

Plus, next year after having passed my 17th year mark with United Airlines (not as a flight attendant, but as an employee), my vacation is increased to 33 days.  Then the other flight attendants suggested, "Bid for three 11 day vacations each of the first three months of 2018.  That way you won't even have to work much since it is the slow time of the year.  Stay through the first quarter and retire on March 31, 2018."

Well, why not?!?!?!  What's another three months after 17 years?  I will have to do yearly requal in September 2017 anyway.  Might as well have something additional to show for it.  Paperwork for retirement will have to be submitted by September 30, 2017.   And then, I will be holding the short stick.

So, THIS time I fixed the target first, and now I am aiming for that bull's eye. 

Red letter day!  March 31, 2018