Abuse of “Retired”

I see more and more people referring to themselves as retired and obviously not at the age to really be retired. Now I know that there are some younger people who can legitimately be retired at a young age.

  • Spouse who remains at home, often to raise children, sometimes not.
  • Military person who left service because of disability can legitimately be called retired – same goes with a policeperson.
  • You can retire from some public service jobs after 20 years and look awfully young, especially to an old fart like me.
  • You can win the lottery.
  • You can make a lot of money and no longer have to work.

I am sure I am missing some people that fall under the classification of retired in my book. I am not talking about these. What I am talking about is people who have changed professions and, for whatever reason, want to revisit the cache of their previous profession so they refer to themselves as being retired from it.

Most notably, I see this on True Crime shows where you will see people who were in a position during the actual events that were in the military, police, journalism, or whatever that are no longer doing those jobs. Instead of being “former” they are referred to as “retired”. I called BS.

You are still working or trying to get a job. You are not on a pension. You are not retired for God’s sake.

8 Comments