By Ken Siegal

Went off to the beach for an extended long weekend, and found sun, sand and some interesting career conversations.

Along with the assortments of families and tweens and teens (not many working folk), I ran into a number of what used to be called "pensioners". These are people who worked long enough to earn a pension, one that would be paid to them monthly when they retired.

So how relevant is that to current and future workers? It seems like every day the news is filled with auto companies and newspapers cutting employees, cutting pensions, thinning out unions. The slant is almost always a negative one -- the inference that pensions are a drain on the economy, contributing heavily to the current recession.

I asked the "pensioners" what they thought, and they all gagged on my questions. Turns out that they weren't living off huge corporate pensions at all. These were folks who had been "underpaid" teachers and civilian government employees and ex-military (National Guard).

They put in 30 years or more in some form of public service with no employer-subsidized 401(k), and just looked ahead to the day (today) when they could retire and get by on their pensions. They were proud of their career choices, but happy they had something to look forward to after those careers were over. Something like going to the beach during the week.

P.S. If these folks are retiring to collect their pensions, where do you think some job openings will be starting to happen?