Working After Retirement in My 60s: I Turned Down a Job in Japan

One day I got a message from someone I know.

It was work for the city. The Silver Jinzai Center, a public job center for retirees in Japan, was short of people. He asked me, “How about it?”

That person is my former boss. At my wedding he came as the representative of our company, and I even asked him to give the congratulatory speech. When a man who has looked after you asks, it is hard to say no from the start.

Contents

I Asked About the Terms
I Went to the Information Session
I Made One Phone Call
Turning It Down Is Also a Choice

I Asked About the Terms

From 17:00 in the evening until 6:00 in the morning. About 10 times a month.

Simple arithmetic. 10,000 yen a day. So 100,000 yen for 10 days.

Honestly, I did want the money.

But something bothered me right away. 17:00 in the evening is an important time for me. I take a bath. I drink a beer. I eat dinner with my wife and we talk about nothing in particular. For 40 years, my life was work, work, work. That is exactly why, when I asked myself whether I would let go of that time now in order to work, the answer was almost already decided.

Even so, I had told my former boss in advance, “I do not want night shifts. I am done with work.” And still he said, “Do not say that. Just come and listen.” He pulled me to the information session, a little by force.

I Went to the Information Session

When I arrived at the hall, a young woman from the town office gave the explanation by herself. The participants were me and one other person. Just 2 of us.

One look at that room, and I was sure. This is not for me.

Even though there were only 2 of us, she explained with everything she had. That attitude was not bad at all. But the more I heard, the clearer it became that it did not suit me.

There seemed to be frequent training sessions, something like classes. Much of the work is done in groups, so communication is naturally required.

I am tired of communication at work now. Even more so with people whose values do not match mine. It was not my head saying that. It was my body. I did not register there. I went home and thought about it once more. Then I decided to turn it down.

I Made One Phone Call

Honestly, that call to my former boss was hard to make. This is the man I asked to give the speech at my wedding. I could not treat him coldly.

And he had said, “Just come and listen,” and I had gone all the way to the session. After going that far, turning it down might mean failing in my obligation to him. Part of me thought that too.

Even so, what I chose in the end was my own feeling.

When I called, he said, “I see. Understood.” That was all. It was so easy that I almost felt let down. It was that simple. And that is fine.

After I put the receiver down, I had the feeling of being released from a weight, the half-forced weight of having to repay an obligation.

Turning It Down Is Also a Choice

I have no regrets. If anything, I want to forget it soon.

If I really did not have enough money, doing it would also be a choice. But right now, I do not feel that I want to work that badly.

In my 60s. I think I have reached the age when I decide not by whether I can still work, but by how I want to live. Not by the convenience of someone else. I choose for myself how to use the time I have left.

Turning something down is a fine choice too.