Retired - Now What

You are retired, perhaps a bit earlier than you expected. This you see as a blessing and a curse. First, it is great not to have to get up every day and go to that "job", right? However, this is not when you planned on retiring. As a result you now find yourself with extra time but not always extra money.

For the first couple of weeks or even months it is fantastic. All those jobs you were going to do around the house but never had time on weekends are able to be finished. You have been able to get to the golf course mid-week when it is slow. You are able to work on your yard on a Tuesday when it is sunny rather than wait for the weekend or rush to cut the lawn after a full day at work.

Now reality is setting in. You have a whole lot of years ahead of you and no specific plans for them. Perhaps your life partner is still working so you are home alone. Again, nice for a while but soon you miss the simple pleasure of adult conversation during the day.

Now is the time to think outside the box. Take an inventory of what it is that you really liked about what you did when you were working? Were you also good at that particular task? Great! Now you have the opportunity to share with someone else.

Recently heard a presentation by the Dean of Workforce Development at Sheridan College. The demographics of the GTA are changing rapidly. A great number of local residents are immigrants. Many are talented folks who need help either in learning English, getting their credentials recognized, upgrading their skills, or learning how business works in Canada.

If you were in business and had a passion for what you did why not turn that passion into a hobby/job? Determine what you are good at. Ask yourself that question posed by my friend "Who cares". Then set up your own business providing that skill to the market.

The values are numerous:

1. you get self satisfaction from helping someone
2. you have an opportunity to earn some extra income
3. you get to do what you most love to do
4. you still have the opportunity to take time off when you want to
5. you keep yourself active and evidence shows that active people live longer happier lives

The pluses are there. The question is how are you going to make it work for you. As the commercial for Everest schools says, What are you waiting for?

Customer Service

Had an opportunity today to experience customer service close up and personal from two different yet similar organizations. That is to say that they both provide quite different services yet both are large corporate entities with countless layers of control and management.

In the first instance it was to have been a simple transaction. Having taken over as treasurer for a service organization it was necessary to go in to the bank and change the signing authorities. In preparation of this a letter, on letterhead had already been obtained bearing the signatures of the two individuals presently signing, stating who the new signatories should be.

However, the branch officer informed me that those two individuals who signed the letter could not sign on the account according to her computer file records. This in spite of the fact that they have been writing cheques for the past two years. Upon insistence that they were the signing authorities, the manager was called. Again, the same line was given. However, I did manage to prevail upon them to check the paper documents files. To their surprise, the paper files were up to date and the computer files were out of date by two years. Not exactly a glowing report for the "control" of that financial institution is it?

Upon getting back to the office the mail produced my monthly Bell phone bill. Mid June I had talked to an individual and arranged to change the service to reduce the monthly charge. However, to my surprise the bill was not reduced but was rather over $60. higher than before.

This resulted in a call to Bell and a fun experience with voice activated service. After telling them I wanted to be serviced in English a billing officer answered the phone in fluent French.

When he was switched to English the situation was explained and the comment made, "that should not have happened". Understandably that is a valid statement. However, not what you want to hear as a customer.

To be fair, the individual did check into the situation and determine there was an error and provide an instant credit on the account. The question this begs is; what would have happened if it had not been spotted? What if that bill went directly to an accounting department solely charged with tracking expenses and writing cheques?

Overall, these two experiences lead to a serious question:
"What has happened to quality control in large organizations and to customer service?"

For readers of this item, it raises another question. What is your quality control like and what is your customer service like? Errors happen, we all understand that but how they are handled is critical to maintaining a satisfied client base.