Monkey Wrench

This is going to be a problem.

I've been informed that getting three months' leave of absence from my day job is extremely unlikely. Were my mother terribly sick (she's been dead for three years) or if there was a baby on the way (my now ex-girlfriend is moving out next month) it should be rather easy to get approval, but because I want leave for "personal reasons", I'm unlikely to get it.

I could play the German medical system and claim burn-out but I'd rather not go that route. For one I'm still self-insured. More importantly that would some sort of record with both the firm and the medical system. But I have to do this. I have to open a restaurant.

I need to do this because financially I'm hosed. Having only really worked and contributed to the social system here since I was 35 and with a contractual obligation to relinquish my current job at the age of 62 (despite the ever-increasing age of retirement, now 65), I won't have enough pension built up to pay even the rent.

I will work until the day I die. I've always known this and in and of itself it's not a necessarily a bad thing because after 10 days of vacation and doing nothing I'm champing at the bit to get back to being productive in some way. The cold, harsh reality is that whether or not I want to, whether or not I'm physically able, I will have to work.

I work in the software industry. I'm very good at what I do but it's getting harder to remain this good because there's always more to learn and this dog can only absorb so much information. I can still learn but it's harder; I'm on the wrong side of 40 and getting further from that every minute.

Yeah, I could probably tend bar until I stop breathing but who the hell wants a 60-some-year-old schmuck standing behind the bar? Not me, and I'm old enough not to make jokes about that age anymore. How long would I actually be able to hold up doing that physical work? Working at someone else's whim? For a pittance?

Why a restaurant? Because I know what I'm doing. I've chosen to take the safe route of working for someone else to relearn how the business works here in Germany. I've moved to (quasi-)management and picked up much. There are a couple restaurants I'd really like to open but this sports bar seems the safest way to begin as an owner and the least likely to be able to bankrupt me quickly.

Few are turned off by an old owner. On the contrary, whether it's a 3-star palace or a sports bar, the old guy who runs the place is respected.

I need around three months to rebuild this bar, rip out, replace, rehab and refit everything that's currently keeping the customers away, and get everything running smoothly after which I shouldn't have to show up more than a few a week. I'm not in this one for the cash any more than Apollo 8 was in it for a landing.

They paved the way for Apollo 11 by testing and observing and learning. Despite a free-return trajectory to bring them home automatically in case things went badly, the Apollo 8, 9 and 10 missions were busy and difficult and necessary for the eventual Moon landing.

I'm trying to play it safe as well. Tend bar, manage, learn what's necessary with bookkeeping, taxes, inspections and other gubmint matters, get to know other owners; I've done my Mercury and Gemini missions. I've experienced my own Fire on the pad and I've rebuilt from there. It's time to break out of orbit. While I won't have any free-return -- I stand to lose a lot of money -- it shouldn't be able to bankrupt me.

This is the only way I know to secure my future and I can do some good for others at the same time.