{"id":888,"date":"2026-06-07T06:26:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T12:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/talesofmanythings.com\/blog\/?p=888"},"modified":"2026-06-06T22:11:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T04:11:14","slug":"the-true-value-of-a-milestone-and-the-devil-you-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/talesofmanythings.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/07\/the-true-value-of-a-milestone-and-the-devil-you-know\/","title":{"rendered":"The True Value of a Milestone and the Devil You Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

My manager retired this week. Twenty-eight years with the same company. Let that number sink in for a moment.<\/p>\n

She was a tough woman, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, an absolute hard-ass when the mission demanded it, but a human shield for her team when the corporate avalanche started sliding. She was, in the absolute best sense of the phrase, the devil we knew.<\/p>\n

The funny thing about devils you know is that you don\u2019t fully appreciate them until they\u2019re gone. After many years of working for her, I realized that people like that are becoming increasingly rare, not because younger workers lack character, but because the workplace itself has changed.<\/p>\n

In an era where the average millennial is lucky to spend a tenth of that time at a single gig, nearly three decades of service isn\u2019t just unusual. It\u2019s monumental. Longevity like that is not something to casually dismiss. Sticking with one job for more than a generation isn\u2019t exactly viewed as a badge of honor these days. It almost feels like an artifact from another civilization. But that\u2019s a cultural debate for another time.<\/p>\n

Lack of workplace longevity isn\u2019t necessarily because younger workers are lazy or disloyal. Modern work culture is simply different. Companies restructure. Careers pivot. Loyalty has become transactional in both directions. Staying at one job for thirty years is no longer considered the gold standard of professional life that it once was.<\/p>\n

Where I work, corporate longevity isn\u2019t rewarded with the classic gold watch anymore. Instead, you get \u201cperk points\u201d for work anniversaries and unexpected project successes. To be fair, it\u2019s not entirely unimpressive. The points can be spent at an online company store. It\u2019s not exactly thrilling, though I\u2019ll admit I used mine to score a snazzy tablet and a nice winter jacket, one that blissfully doesn\u2019t make me look like I\u2019m conducting a search and rescue mission<\/a> while browsing the grocery store produce aisle.<\/p>\n

But the real<\/em> perk for an old salt at our company comes at retirement. They pay for you to go out to eat and you get to bring family and coworkers along on a very liberal budget.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s where the story really begins.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stepping Into Another World<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think my boss picked the restaurant herself. I suspect her boss did. We ended up at one of those upscale establishments where dinner costs around a hundred dollars per plate before anyone starts ordering appetizers, drinks, sides or dessert.<\/p>\n

This was not a \u201cshow up in cargo shorts and a baseball cap\u201d kind of place. This was a \u201crespect the establishment\u201d venue. The kind of a restaurant where if you show up dressed like a bum, you won\u2019t even make it through the front door, although one of my coworkers walked in wearing a kilt. He\u2019s tall enough to have to file a flight plan and as thick around as any two men. Most people stay out of his way, also due to respect.<\/p>\n

Now, before I settled down, my career required heavy travel. I have literally eaten my way across the North American continent (and a couple of others). I\u2019ve tried everything, a lot. And while I won’t say the $85 steak on my plate was poor quality, I can honestly say I\u2019ve had steaks a quarter of that price that tasted every bit as good.<\/p>\n

In my travels, the absolute best dining experiences I\u2019ve ever found were small hole-in-the-wall mom-and-pop joints, tucked between gas stations and laundromats, family restaurants that could outperform half the culinary world with one handwritten recipe card and a grandmother who refuses to measure ingredients. Those are the places that leverage love and a generational family tradition to offer an unparalleled experience. Food, not dining.<\/p>\n

Some of the best meals I\u2019ve ever eaten came from places where:<\/p>\n