As many of you who read my blog know, I was employed at a large home improvement chain store (the blue one), working as an RTM (Return to Manufacturer) Clerk.  My days were filled with contacting various vendors and obtaining credit for returned or damaged items, sending out appliances, mowers, and power washers for repairs, or taking care of the cataloging and proper disposal of any HAZMAT items we had on premises (to name just a few of my many duties).

That was; however, until this past week.

At age fifty-one, I am once again starting over in my career.  I have worked in many industries, holding jobs in healthcare, food service, theme parks, information technology, and – most recently – retail.  For the tenth time in my working life, I will once again be beginning at the bottom of a new sector – this time in the world of manufacturing.  I’ll be starting a new job this week with a large multi-national consumer goods corporation, working on the manufacturing line and making such products as dryer sheets, shampoo, and dish soap.  It’s a big plant that is just ramping up production, and thus hiring on a lot of new workers.  There will be a lot to learn, and hopefully – a lot of room to grow and quickly advance.

If you asked me fifteen years ago if this is where I thought I’d find myself at this stage of my working career, I would have laughed you right out of my office – either in Orlando or in Burbank (I had one in each city).  My employer back then was represented by a very famous rodent, and I was sure my IT career would continue to prosper and I would continue to climb the corporate ladder.

Alas, as experienced by many others in my career field at the time, I was first the victim of outsourcing and then – ten years later, fell prey to that closely-related cousin of outsourcing – offshoring.  I realize now that these were circumstances and decisions that I had no control over, but it still stung like the devil.  Nothing like being told your services are no longer needed (over the phone) – not because your performance is lacking, but because the company can hire a kid half your age (and for 20% of your salary) in another hemisphere to do it instead.  Ouch.

Then, for a variety of reasons, the next IT job never came along.  I was too young retire, needed health insurance coverage, and still had a family to take care of, which is why I found myself celebrating my fifties by performing such tasks as unloading appliances from the back of a tractor-trailer twice a week, making 75% less money than I had just a few years before – and entertaining you with my stories of retail frustration.

Still, I’m thankful for the new opportunity.  It pays better than retail, I’ll have more time off to be with my wife and kids, and it’s a very modern plant, using all of the newest and most cutting-edge manufacturing technology.  Maybe there’s even room for an old, salty IT guy to get his hands back in the game.

Time will tell – and I’ll let you know.