For starters, retirement work can be something to toast

    My ever-indulging wife rolled her eyes the other day when I mentioned my latest idea for a "retirement" job.  Not to worry, faithful reader:  I have no immediate plans to leave my post as editor of GolfCommunityReviews, but one must always look ahead.
    "Bartender," I announced to her.  "I'll take one of those $500 courses that teach you how to mix the perfect Cosmo, and I'll be golden."
    The beauty of a bartending job is that you can find one virtually anywhere there is a restaurant with a bar, or a bar without a restaurant.  And that is virtually anywhere, including near golf communities.  And

bartenders span all age categories.  Okay, so I won't qualify for the job at Hooters, but there are many other choices open to an aging mixologist.  More importantly, the hours won't interfere with golf, and if I have to close up after midnight, I can sleep in the next day.  It won't be as if I have many places to go; my days of rushing to a business meeting at 8:30 a.m. are long passed.
    Bartender, of course, isn't the only job well suited to the retired person who wants to do something part-time other than play golf.  An article in the Wall Street Journal today suggests that other positions, at a chain bookstore or pharmacy for example, are retiree friendly.  (Note:  If you don't have a WSJ online account, you may not be able to access the article.  Let me know and I will be happy to email it to you.)  Such companies like older workers because they are more reliable than younger ones and look like a large percentage of the drug chain and bookstore customers.  CVS Caremark, for example, has grown its over-50 employee population by 7% since the 1990s, according to the Journal.  Many of these older employees work up north in the summer and down south in the winter as they move between homes.  The abysmally run Starbucks - I can say that since I am a frustrated shareowner - could take a page out of the CVS playbook and encourage the recruiting of some older baristas who look like many of their customers.
    The ultimate part-time job for many of us when we retire will be on a golf course.  Some of the happiest retirees I have met are "starters," those employees who hand you your scorecards and remind you about pace of play just before you tee off on a daily-fee course; and the "rangers" who drive around in their carts ostensibly to ensure a 4 1/2 hour pace of play.  In more than 30 years of playing golf in Myrtle Beach, I have never seen one of these rangers admonish the slow group in front of me.  But I have played plenty of five hour rounds.  In the universe of stress-free jobs, ranger and starter are up there. 

    What rangers are best at are their ambassadorial roles, stopping to chat and ask how your round is going, offering advice on how to play the trickier holes and, of course, asking where you are from.  In short, they engage in the kind of chatter characteristic of those who are not in a hurry to go anywhere. 

    It sounds just like the job description for bartender.