I meet up with Astrid Eisenhut-Sattler in her café in the town hall. It's very hot and we drink "Hahnenburger", cold tap water, together.
Astrid Eisenhut-Sattler has been running the "Stadthauscafé" at Stadthausgasse 13 for 10 years now. It's wonderful there in summer, especially when you can spend time in the beautiful inner courtyard of the listed Stadthaus (the seat of the civic community of the city of Basel). It's quiet there, you can hear the chatter of the guests, the twittering of the birds and the splashing of the fountain.
Ms. Eisenhut, you have a strenuous job. How long should you work?
For me, running my own small restaurant is a dream. I grew up in a family of restaurateurs, so nothing else was ever an option for me. And I think the advantage of being self-employed is that you can decide for yourself when you want to stop.
How do you know?
You can feel it - or at least you should! And of course, external factors such as financial security are also important components of a retirement decision. The day you say goodbye will come at some point.
How do you deal with this day of farewell?
It's not an issue for me at the moment. And after that... I need challenges, have ideas and am open to new things. Doing nothing is not for me!
Seniors@Work has many senior citizens who would like to work part-time. You also offer catering yourself. Would you need any helping hands?
I can imagine working with senior citizens at club events. However, large catering events are very physically demanding. You have to be able to carry, the operation is usually hectic and stress resistance is required. And honestly: do you still have to carry and stress as a senior citizen? Let's let the youngsters do these things!
But I can certainly imagine a project in which senior citizens get out their old recipes, bake cakes and then offer them in a coffee shop. There is something similar in Vienna called "Vollpension". There, grandmas and grandpas bake cake highlights and much more according to traditional family recipes... However, legislation here in Basel stipulates that you cannot bake cakes at home and bring them to the café. It has to be produced on site.
You can tell that Astrid Eisenhut-Sattler is undergoing a thought process. I would like to thank her very much for this interview and wish her lots of fun developing and implementing new ideas.
Beatrice
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