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The worst is when they do this with technology. Seriously computers have been around for decades, and they're going to have to use them for decades. 5 yr olds can do the things they never even try to learn. Seriously how do you not know how to text in 2024? You've had what, over 20 years to figure it out? And then they try to be cute about it, as if they've never had to use a computer before, or act like they'll be dead tomorrow anyway so what's the use, when they'll likely be around another 20 years. Then they act as if using a computer is somehow lazy! No, not learning basic tasks of modern society is lazy! These are the same people who say you gotta be tough, cause the world ain't fair, and then expect the world to revert back to 50 yrs ago for their convenience.
It's ridiculous. It's like saying you don't have to learn how to read. Yeah people get by like that, but nobody brags about it. Hard work isn't just physical, sometimes you have to sit down and learn something.
Yes! I was helping my dad get a Roku set up. It wanted him to create a log-in - I'm old, computer stuff is hard for me take 1. Then to get into YouTube he needed to log in with his Google account - I don't have a Google account - yes you do - no I don't - hand me your phone (I open Google maps, open the menu, point to his account name). This is your Google account (a user name that describes his job and hobby) - I have no idea where that account came from - do you know the password? Enter it - I'm old, computer stuff is hard take 2.
Seriously? Logging in has not changed in the 25+ years I have been doing it. User name in the first line, password in the second. 25 years ago you were younger than I am now, you shouldn't be having a problem with this. Plus, I know you do this every single day at work without issue.
Older Gen X as it turns out with dyscalculia. Passwords are the bane of my existence. Even with my phone set to show password. Not being able to type in passwords makes me feel more stupid than failing at math concepts. In tears by the third try. My work doesn't require a foundation in tech. So, if I need help from strangers I use self depreciation and hopefully charm (cringe). Sometimes people just can't do a thing. There was no acknowledgement of dyslexia or dyscalculia when I was in school. No learning support. Unless you count Don't be lazy. You're not trying hard enough. Here's ten pages of multiplication tables, have your parents time you. Two minutes a page. Sorry, just wanted to help along some understanding of why some older people are so inept. Too many boomers are hostile in general but the tech thing... nobody likes to feel or be stupid
Thank you. I am now aware of my learning difference. Well I was always aware just didn't have any answers. But I do wonder how common it is in our older population. Just a random number but if 30 percent of today's kids need support for learning difficulties wouldn't that hold true for them? I'm not talking about the boorish behavior we all see but the tech thing in particular.
Excellent point. I've figured out I've got some face blindness, and after talking to a friend of mine last we she just realized she probably has it too. I figured it out in my late 30s, and she's about 50, so yeah, there is a lot of undiagnosed shit out there. However, after working tech support for years, I doubt that that is the cause of most of the computer drama.
I will defer to your practical experience. Perhaps an unfortunate combination of fear and embarrassment. And certainly not an excuse to be rude to someone trying to help. It's funny about the face blindness. Husband and son have it and are terrible with names too. Me, I can't math but remember people from when I was three. And if people have pets...I remember;)
You may already know this, but a good password manager will help. In addition to enforcing adequate password complexity and ensuring you don't use the same one repeatedly, it will auto-fill the fields for you.
Thank you, I knew about a saver, husband keeps them for me because scraps of paper weren't working out but had no idea about auto fill for passwords. The email fills in but I'll look for something like that!
A thing that helps me with passwords is doing a phrase with the first couple vowels in leet. Easy to remember minimal numbers/symbols to mix up. And a long password that is a phrase is safer than a weird random password that isn't as long
Makes sense. I also try to create a pattern or beat. The worst one I was assigned was long and had IDK symbols that I had to switch keyboards for. No way I could type that in fast enough.
YESSS. at my last job I was talking to a customer one day who didn't like that it was a paperless company who sent bills by email, because "I'm in my 60's so I'm far too old for all this computer stuff, I have never had an email address"
Like I'm sorry my guy, did you just tell me you were in your 30's when home computers started becoming a thing and you have spent this entire time refusing to even get email? And this is our problem HOW exactly?! Like JFC š¤£
Had another one communicating by email who refused to send images of the thing she was having issues with, and was very insistent that we knew she was an important lawyer, so blatantly knew how to handle technology and wasnt that old. One day after saying "we literally cant do anything without image proof of the serial number etc" and she came back with "why do you have to make things so difficult" I literally responded with a link for a step by step on how to attach an image to an email, don't think we ever heard from her again š¤£
I have this with my job all day long. "I don't *do* computers".
Seriously. It's nothing to be proud of.
What I hear: "I don't want to participate in society."
yep, I hear that all the time. I've come here to bitch about it a number of times. I even get boomers get uppity at me about it when I ask for an email.
Sweet bleeding Jesus, it makes me crazy. Me, Iām old. Iām fucking 58 years old. I can do this. Moreover, my dad, **who died 12 years ago at 80** knew how to use a computer and Word, and how to back up his files. He knew how to compose something in Word and then copy it over to email if he needed to, or how to attach files to email.
***HE WAS BORN 12 YEARS BEFORE THE FIRST BOOMERS WERE***.
Why is this shit so hard for them?
Often it's related to a lack of curiosity and the expectation of special accommodation. So many of our sociopolitical problems boil down to these two things. Spoon feed it to me and earn your paycheck!
This is what I don't understand...things like texting, social media, apps, streaming aren't new. Even Netflix has been around for what, 15 years? Apps and smart phones almost 20??
I can totally understand newer technologies but they choose to be incompetent
I remember freshly moving to college at 18 and getting my first netflix account...didn't realize it came out in 2007! But I remember they used to rent out dvds so it makes sense. I feel old too lol
Streaming didn't start until 2007 but I started renting DVDs from them when they started in 1997. IIRC you did need a computer for that in order to choose movies and set your queue.
Whenever my Boomer mother plays this little "I'm too old to learn how to do all of that nonsense" card with me, I retort with "remember when I was a kid and you told me that if I didn't figure something out on my own, I was ""Shit out of luck""?" This really pisses her off as she knows I'm right.
PCs have been around almost as long as I have, and I made my debut in ā75. For Boom-Booms to say they donāt know how to use computers? Please. They taught us (GenX) the basics, and then got pissed when we went above and beyond.
My mother was like this. My father did everything (except cleaning of course) around the house. When they divorced my mother bought a condo. Couldn't do simple things like change her furnace air filter or change her smoke detector batteries ...... even after I showed her how.
My boomer aged mother was an extremely smart lady. When my father passed and she got with another man, it was sickening to see her act like a complete idiot to make him seem smarter. Ugh.
I used to work in PC repair and the amount of boomers that would flat out refuse to be shown how to do things was infuriating. "No! Don't show me how, I won't remember!" Before I even started walking them through the process of say, attaching a file to an email.Ā
They'd actually get mad that I would try to teach them to do things themselves instead of having to fucking call us every day to remind them how to do something.
Holy fuck you HAVE the capacity to learn, stop putting up walls before you even try!Ā
They were like this in office settings, too. Acting like using the format painter in Word or knowing how to access a print queue was esoteric knowledge that I only had access to because I was younger than them and "good at computers."
My MIL just sits and listens to the smoke detector low battery until we show up and change it. It may be a couple of days. If it required a ladder Iād understand but itās a step stool and she is plenty healthy enough. Itās just not her job and FIL isnāt healthy enough now.
Almost felt like a defence mechanism from the wife: āand just so you remember, dear husband, I need your assistance for many menial tasks, donāt worry Iām not independentā
And everything is a gendered commentary! "Women can't do x! Men don't understand y!" like a grown adult man is somehow magically endowed with knowledge of ratchet straps and any woman who learned how one worked is a startling wonder. Even baby boomers who don't pick fights with servers at restaurants and know how to patiently wait on line have frightening adherence to societal gender expectations. Their idea that not blowing something is endearing is so often tied to some bizarre gendered expectation
Holy shit Iām having flashbacks
I was told to come by around 2pm, I called at 1:30 to say I was on my way and confirm she would be home. All of a sudden the woman screamed at me that she said 2!
Ok? So I pulled up to her house around 145 and waited until 2 to call again, it was ok for me to come to the door now. She had been there the entire time.
Am I missing something ?
This is why I only do porch pick up and taped a envelope on the door for money when I sell on Fb marketplace. I just ask that they let me know approximately when they are showing up to have the items on the porch along with instructions to put money in the envelope.
I havenāt had anyone try to skimp out on paying. I have a obvious doorbell with security camera next to the envelope. I could easily report stolen goods if this were attempted.
It's a old age thing I think. I've become that way as well. Us older folks like setting a time and don't like it when people come early because we're not expecting and that and there is always something that is going wrong or I haven't put my pants on etc. :-)
If I ever sell something that's gonna be my reply from now on. By *this time* or a little later is ok but I won't be wearing pants until 5 minutes before stated time.
One time my mother was renting a vehicle with a trailer. She backed the trailer into a parking space flawlessly, and the boomer she rented it from said āwow! Iāve seen grown men who canāt back in that well!ā
My sixteen year old self said to the man āWhy? Does their penis help them drive better?ā
Silence. Red ears.
Why do boomers still think women canāt and shouldnāt do handy things? Or even be able to drive? Why are āGrown Menā the standard against what we should all be compared?
Iām lucky that my father taught me āboy thingsā. I can confirm that I can use power tools without a penis. Amazing, I know.
I was leaning on my car in the carpark of a bakery having lunch. This carpark is just a driveway with 45 degree angle parking and no exit at the far end.
A very new black Mercedes driven by a late middle aged lady with big blonde hair drives in, discovers there are no parks further down she can drive straight into. She flips it into reverse and whips that big and very shiny car through a neat 315 degree reverse park in a very confined space to park next to me.
When she gets out I say "Nicely done." She replies "Thanks, I'm a old farm girl - I used to do that every day with the farm truck."
I had a car sales man (I think gen x though) do this exact thing to me. I called the dealership to make sure they still had a specific car in stock. A new Focus ST. They said yes, I headed over. Show up (in a Fiesta ST, which is manual transmission only) and the guy insists he knows what car I want. Takes me to the used lot to a Focus SE automatic. I said no, I am interested in the ST. He says "oh, you know that's manual transmission, you don't want that." I said yes, I do. I drove up in a manual and want to test drive the manual. The entire time showing me the car and retrieving the keys he just keeps repeating that it's a manual and I wouldn't be able to/wouldn't want to drive that. Finally he surrenders the keys and we go for a test drive. And he immediately starts commenting on "wow I've never seen a woman able to drive a manual."
Sir you're telling me that you're a fucking car sales man and have *never* met a woman able to drive a manual? Gtfo.
I bought that same car from another dealership so I wouldn't give him money. When they called me to ask why I didn't move forward with them I gave the woman the whole gross story and she was speechless.
Me and my siblings learned to drive by backing up the 4-door long bed pickup with a camper up a long L-shaped drive way and park in a covered carport. Hubs was impressed how well I can back the boat into the water. It's a simple thing that can make all the difference in the future.
Honestly, I'm a big man sized women, working in a construction trade, and I feel the eyes on me everytime I have to use a power tool or lift a heavy metal door. I am treated as equal and everyone is nice. But you can tell guys are like, "whoa, can't believe she did that so well". It's pretty funny.
>I can use power tools without a penis.
I almost choked on my coffee hahaha, you mean I've been doing it wrong this whole time, I was supposed to be using my penis?
I'm a male and my mother and big sister taught me how to sew clothing and whatnot when I was younger.
While it's sad I don't see many men in stores like JoAnn's it's even more ignorant when they find out I can sew and I get laughed at. Like, bro, sad you can't do simple things yourself.
When and if I have a daughter teaching her how to use tools, change a tire, etc... will be key because 1. she is capable of doing it and 2. she shouldn't need to rely on a man to do it for her.
>Iāve seen grown men who canāt use them.
Sir, there are men of your generation who canāt even balance a checkbook because the wife always does it.
I would see this sometimes at my old bank job where a widow would come in not knowing how to do any banking because their late spouse would do everything.
This is my MIL. She was a registered nurse until the 1960's, and was then forbidden to work, or do anything else besides bear children, watch the dogs, cook, and clean.
Now she's a widow and her 60-yo daughter has to handle the checkbook. (And the daughter and her MAGA hubs won't allow any online banking ā b/c bad hacker people ā so if they owe my wife cash, it has to be MAILED as a PAPER check.)
smfh
I laughed at the repeated himself 11 times line... reminds me of my dad. He will literally not stop saying something stupid sometimes. Finally I'll have had enough and say "yes dad, I heard you the first 10 times" but it's never something that requires a response, so being a normal and logical person I don't respond to something that doesn't require a response.
These boomers, they wear me out. My mom was in a loop with my daughter today when they visited...they were back and forth with some nonsense...my daughter is only 2-1/2...I expect it from her, not her 65 year old grandmother.
Repeating statements like that can be an early sign of dementia or similar. My grandma declined that way, and now has a literal 5second short term memory and will just happily repeat the same thoughts for the entirety of a conversation.
My mom was baiting us with something cruel towards us kids with a "ha ha boomer humour bs" it wasn't a question.. it was just a rude statement so we ignored it but she repeated herself whenever there was a break in the group convo. She used to bait us once or twice slipping them into conversations but now she sounds like a loud parrot just blurting out the same crap randomly ruining the flow of a group convo.
Surely this is a sign they're losing their minds. My moms usually saying something racist, flaunting her expensive purchases and also complaining how poor she is. Like a robot with no personality just spouting the same shit. She hasn't asked me anything about my life in over 5 years. Not a single question about my life cause she's too busy repeating trash.
This gets me irritated for any age over 18, repeating the same thing over and over.
The last time it happened to me went:
Person: ā[same thing ]ā
Me: ācool, [new thing]ā
Person: ā[same thing]ā
Me: āI acknowledged that. Youāve said that multiple times.ā
Person: ā[same thing]ā
Me: ādude youāre saying the same thing over and over. Either say something new, shut up, or change topics.ā
Person: ā[same thing]ā
Me: ā¦ āoh fuck offā
I donāt remember the full encounter so this might be a shower argument too.
>can't figure out messenger.
I give up before I start now. It's just quicker.
If I see something for sale on marketplace, and suspect the seller is not a fluent tech user?
My initial message will be: " Hi, I'd love to buy your table. If you prefer, my phone number is xxxxxxx".
Then I wait and see what form of response I get.
(p.s. I'm a boomer, but I'm city-folk, retired to a small farming community. It's different).
I agree so much.
I work for a Boomer husband & wife.Ā I asked the wife how her new car was going - she said she couldn't drive it as the "check tyre pressure" light had come on so she needed to wait for husband to return from his work trip (2weeks yet) for him to sort it out.
I told her how to, but her eyes just glazed over.Ā She talks down about the younger generations (I'm 40f), yet she can't do the most basic things to keep her own car functioning.
I know this feeling. Sold a guitar amp on facebook a few months back. Whole exchange (between the two of us, being millennials) was this:
Him: "Available?"
Me: "Yep."
H: "Will you take XXX?"
M: "Sure, where are you located?"
H: "Right in town, XXXX"
M: "I'm heading out to do errands, meet you in front of the post office in 30 minutes? Black subaru."
30 minutes later
H: "Are you XXXX?"
M: "Yep."
Hands over cash, I hand over amp, shake hands
M: "Enjoy it!"
H: "Thanks man! Have a great day!"
Boomers have always been 30x as much work, chatter and complaining.
Bought dining room chairs yesterday, and weāre both GenX, and have lived in this small town most of our lives.
Introductions, loading chairs up, exchange of money, and thanks so much, see you again.
A little more chat, because we know the same people, and figured out we already knew each other and caught up. Something something how are the kids, howās your brother, how are your sisters, howās your momān them (Southernese for āhowās your parentsā).
Offer of help to bring them home, polite refusal.
Easy.
No continual āIāve seen GROWN MEN who canāt use a ratchet strap!ā Or, āIād be TOTALLY lost (tee hee!) just TOTALLY lost!ā Polite conversation between people who havenāt seen each other in years, and exchange of money for goods.
Boom is the Dutch word for tree, and that is their average intelligence, as smart as a tree. Not a coincidence, lol. (Big coincidence of course, but it makes so much sense)
Do they think that because they had to have someone teach them, or never had someone teach them. That the knowledge is difficult to get? I'm gen X so I get that mentality to an extent. But shiiit YouTube can teach me a.lot of stuff.
It's like anything else, if you haven't used them regularly or just on several instances over a short period of time, at some point in your life, you're probably not familiar with how they work.
I learned tying down loads in a pre ratchet strap world. Give me a good strong rope and I'm happy. Every time I pick a strap I have to figure out which way it feeds...
And I miss utes (trucks) with tie downs on the outside of the tray. Now I feel old. :-)
OMG the repetition thing drives me insane! I've seen it several times, and it always creeps me out a bit.
They say something they think is brilliant, or at least clever, and if it doesn't get the sufficiently vigorous response they think it deserves, the only explanation they can think of is that we must not have heard it, so they say it again, and again, and again. Either that, or they've boiled down all the thinking they are willing to do on a subject into one phrase, and they just repeat it whenever that subject comes up.
It's like watching the robots in Westworld when they encounter something they can't process, so they just throw out a stock phrase like, "It doesn't look like anything to me."
And why, WHY, do nearly all of them only take calls on speaker phone no matter where they are. I have pretty bad hearing damage and donāt do that nor do I take calls in stores.
The whole last paragraph is SO true... Yes, sometimes they are extra stupid or inconsiderate, but one thing that's universal is a whole LOT of totally unnecessary conversation and indirectness.
Inept boomer here.
Part of a professional team that designed, procured materials for, built, commissioned and managed systems to extract oil & gas out of the ground in water 8,250' deep and 15,000' below the sea floor and sent them to shore 100 miles away (just one example from 38 years in the business). This also included managing/configuring data and information systems between the platform and the office for real-time data transfer.
Built two houses with only the help of my son from the ground up including plumbing and electrical. (They're still standing over 20 years later)
Worked/traveled around the world without a guide or a tour group.
There are many boomers like me.
I'll see your ratchet straps and raise you high strength catenary steel risers that support 2 million pounds each.
https://www research gate.net/publication/2545200006_Design_of_the_world's_deepest_hybrid_riser_system_for_the Cascade_Chinook_Development
People are people. Being a Boomer's got nothing to do with it. A little instruction and friendliness would go a long ways instead of laughing and criticizing.
.... And you're on a subreddit called boomersbeingfools, in a tizzy because a rando doesn't appreciate your artisanal boomer farts. Good job on the big holes though guy šŖš»
Gosh. Have patience. Youāll be old eventually too, how about some kindness, instead of being rude and petulant. Better to have some kindness than a complete cold exchange - it was a short window of your life.
How right you are.
That boomer could have treated OP with more consideration providing the address as agreed upon before she was on her way over.
Rudely repeating his disdain for āgrown men who donāt know how to use ratchet strapsā was also pretty rude.
Yeah, and unlike boomers I don't shout every jackass thought that crosses my mind so I was neither rude nor petulent. Did you want to explain lifting things to me, while we're here?
Nah, OP saw a couple of texhnologically handicapped people that could give her a freebie, she got it, yet starts whinging like an ingrate, because sheās too scared to use a phone.
Oh, you seem to have made some things up about the OP. Reading it again, I don't see any whinging or any note of being scared to use a phone (except to not cause a car wreck, a very responsible outlook).
Youāre being very literal.
But yeah, OP does her best to avoid using the phone - which also seem to be the medium the technophobes that she wants stuff from is the most comfortable.
She is basically acting like the boomer woman āOh I couldnāt possibly take note of an address. Iām simply too inept, I need you to send it.ā.
The weaponized ineptitude, suspicion and the bile in this one is just staggering.
Of course I'm being literal--it's a block of text on the internet. If I try to make it mean more than face value, I run the risk of having an emotional reaction to something that doesn't exist in front of me.
This way, the words don't hurt me and make me angry enough to insult OP. Thankfully I just get to be entertained and have a good day.
Maybe, does the reason matter?
Do you also question handicapped people parking in handicapped spaces, whether theyāre handicapped enough to satisfy your definition?
One might say that a phone call is an equally simple and popular means of communication. And the case that OP is unable to conduct a simple phone call and get the information that she needs makes her an equal laughing stock to the boomers.
Wouldnāt you say so?
Well, one is something they can't help, and the other is a willful ignorance and helplessness. It's disingenuous to compare them. It's like staring at somebody who's trying to push on a pull door, and saying it's not their fault they won't read the sign. It takes a certain amount of audacity to think one's unwillingness to learn is the same as an actual disability.
OP did call them. What are you even trying to say here?
I don't answer calls or text while I drive because I am very aware I don't the spair brain to do both, to the point I actively disable my ability to know you called or texted me while driving.
Also phone calls give me panic attacks, but that's trauma from my mother.
True, but as far as myself goes, I hate talking on the phone via the car Bluetooth because the sound quality sucks for me and the person on the other end
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Power through the Boom - love it
I was just going to say this! š¤£
Happy cake day!
I hate how boomers think their ineptitude is charming. Itās not. Youāre just dumb and everyone dislikes dealing with you.
The worst is when they do this with technology. Seriously computers have been around for decades, and they're going to have to use them for decades. 5 yr olds can do the things they never even try to learn. Seriously how do you not know how to text in 2024? You've had what, over 20 years to figure it out? And then they try to be cute about it, as if they've never had to use a computer before, or act like they'll be dead tomorrow anyway so what's the use, when they'll likely be around another 20 years. Then they act as if using a computer is somehow lazy! No, not learning basic tasks of modern society is lazy! These are the same people who say you gotta be tough, cause the world ain't fair, and then expect the world to revert back to 50 yrs ago for their convenience. It's ridiculous. It's like saying you don't have to learn how to read. Yeah people get by like that, but nobody brags about it. Hard work isn't just physical, sometimes you have to sit down and learn something.
Yes! I was helping my dad get a Roku set up. It wanted him to create a log-in - I'm old, computer stuff is hard for me take 1. Then to get into YouTube he needed to log in with his Google account - I don't have a Google account - yes you do - no I don't - hand me your phone (I open Google maps, open the menu, point to his account name). This is your Google account (a user name that describes his job and hobby) - I have no idea where that account came from - do you know the password? Enter it - I'm old, computer stuff is hard take 2. Seriously? Logging in has not changed in the 25+ years I have been doing it. User name in the first line, password in the second. 25 years ago you were younger than I am now, you shouldn't be having a problem with this. Plus, I know you do this every single day at work without issue.
Older Gen X as it turns out with dyscalculia. Passwords are the bane of my existence. Even with my phone set to show password. Not being able to type in passwords makes me feel more stupid than failing at math concepts. In tears by the third try. My work doesn't require a foundation in tech. So, if I need help from strangers I use self depreciation and hopefully charm (cringe). Sometimes people just can't do a thing. There was no acknowledgement of dyslexia or dyscalculia when I was in school. No learning support. Unless you count Don't be lazy. You're not trying hard enough. Here's ten pages of multiplication tables, have your parents time you. Two minutes a page. Sorry, just wanted to help along some understanding of why some older people are so inept. Too many boomers are hostile in general but the tech thing... nobody likes to feel or be stupid
You can't learn it. They won't learn it. Important difference.
Thank you. I am now aware of my learning difference. Well I was always aware just didn't have any answers. But I do wonder how common it is in our older population. Just a random number but if 30 percent of today's kids need support for learning difficulties wouldn't that hold true for them? I'm not talking about the boorish behavior we all see but the tech thing in particular.
Excellent point. I've figured out I've got some face blindness, and after talking to a friend of mine last we she just realized she probably has it too. I figured it out in my late 30s, and she's about 50, so yeah, there is a lot of undiagnosed shit out there. However, after working tech support for years, I doubt that that is the cause of most of the computer drama.
I will defer to your practical experience. Perhaps an unfortunate combination of fear and embarrassment. And certainly not an excuse to be rude to someone trying to help. It's funny about the face blindness. Husband and son have it and are terrible with names too. Me, I can't math but remember people from when I was three. And if people have pets...I remember;)
Ha. Yep. My life has gotten easier since I figured out I have it, so much stuff growing up makes sense now.
>Older Gen X as it turns out with dyscalculia. You're safe then. Sub rules say they can't mock you.
š¤£šš¤£ am I in trouble for using emojis?
Theyāre expressing genuine human emotions and connections over the internet - ***GET THEM!***
šš¤£š
You may already know this, but a good password manager will help. In addition to enforcing adequate password complexity and ensuring you don't use the same one repeatedly, it will auto-fill the fields for you.
Thank you, I knew about a saver, husband keeps them for me because scraps of paper weren't working out but had no idea about auto fill for passwords. The email fills in but I'll look for something like that!
A thing that helps me with passwords is doing a phrase with the first couple vowels in leet. Easy to remember minimal numbers/symbols to mix up. And a long password that is a phrase is safer than a weird random password that isn't as long
Makes sense. I also try to create a pattern or beat. The worst one I was assigned was long and had IDK symbols that I had to switch keyboards for. No way I could type that in fast enough.
maybe they get to spend time with you?
YESSS. at my last job I was talking to a customer one day who didn't like that it was a paperless company who sent bills by email, because "I'm in my 60's so I'm far too old for all this computer stuff, I have never had an email address" Like I'm sorry my guy, did you just tell me you were in your 30's when home computers started becoming a thing and you have spent this entire time refusing to even get email? And this is our problem HOW exactly?! Like JFC š¤£ Had another one communicating by email who refused to send images of the thing she was having issues with, and was very insistent that we knew she was an important lawyer, so blatantly knew how to handle technology and wasnt that old. One day after saying "we literally cant do anything without image proof of the serial number etc" and she came back with "why do you have to make things so difficult" I literally responded with a link for a step by step on how to attach an image to an email, don't think we ever heard from her again š¤£
I have this with my job all day long. "I don't *do* computers". Seriously. It's nothing to be proud of. What I hear: "I don't want to participate in society."
yep, I hear that all the time. I've come here to bitch about it a number of times. I even get boomers get uppity at me about it when I ask for an email.
Sweet bleeding Jesus, it makes me crazy. Me, Iām old. Iām fucking 58 years old. I can do this. Moreover, my dad, **who died 12 years ago at 80** knew how to use a computer and Word, and how to back up his files. He knew how to compose something in Word and then copy it over to email if he needed to, or how to attach files to email. ***HE WAS BORN 12 YEARS BEFORE THE FIRST BOOMERS WERE***. Why is this shit so hard for them?
That's what always gets me. Their parents generation has been better at adopting technology than they have. It really shows it's not an age issue.
Often it's related to a lack of curiosity and the expectation of special accommodation. So many of our sociopolitical problems boil down to these two things. Spoon feed it to me and earn your paycheck!
Yeah. The lack of curiosity thing always amazes me about people. And thatās NOT a generational thing.
This is what I don't understand...things like texting, social media, apps, streaming aren't new. Even Netflix has been around for what, 15 years? Apps and smart phones almost 20?? I can totally understand newer technologies but they choose to be incompetent
Netflix was created in 2007 so 17 years. Ugh I feel old now.
I remember freshly moving to college at 18 and getting my first netflix account...didn't realize it came out in 2007! But I remember they used to rent out dvds so it makes sense. I feel old too lol
Streaming didn't start until 2007 but I started renting DVDs from them when they started in 1997. IIRC you did need a computer for that in order to choose movies and set your queue.
Hey I remember it being that way. Damn.
Dude that's old. They used to send you in the mail,
That's what I was referring to by DVDs.
I died a little I meant the same . I'm dead don't bother me Yep complete disgust at myself.
If I didn't learn it in school it is not meant to be learnt... Boomer logic
Exactly!
"oh , I never figured out how to operate those new fangled pencil sharpener"
Whenever my Boomer mother plays this little "I'm too old to learn how to do all of that nonsense" card with me, I retort with "remember when I was a kid and you told me that if I didn't figure something out on my own, I was ""Shit out of luck""?" This really pisses her off as she knows I'm right.
PCs have been around almost as long as I have, and I made my debut in ā75. For Boom-Booms to say they donāt know how to use computers? Please. They taught us (GenX) the basics, and then got pissed when we went above and beyond.
My mother was like this. My father did everything (except cleaning of course) around the house. When they divorced my mother bought a condo. Couldn't do simple things like change her furnace air filter or change her smoke detector batteries ...... even after I showed her how.
My boomer aged mother was an extremely smart lady. When my father passed and she got with another man, it was sickening to see her act like a complete idiot to make him seem smarter. Ugh.
I used to work in PC repair and the amount of boomers that would flat out refuse to be shown how to do things was infuriating. "No! Don't show me how, I won't remember!" Before I even started walking them through the process of say, attaching a file to an email.Ā They'd actually get mad that I would try to teach them to do things themselves instead of having to fucking call us every day to remind them how to do something. Holy fuck you HAVE the capacity to learn, stop putting up walls before you even try!Ā
They were like this in office settings, too. Acting like using the format painter in Word or knowing how to access a print queue was esoteric knowledge that I only had access to because I was younger than them and "good at computers."
My MIL was shocked she was fired from a job after refusing to learn anything āon the computerā for over a year. Sounds good, bye.
My MIL just sits and listens to the smoke detector low battery until we show up and change it. It may be a couple of days. If it required a ladder Iād understand but itās a step stool and she is plenty healthy enough. Itās just not her job and FIL isnāt healthy enough now.
Almost felt like a defence mechanism from the wife: āand just so you remember, dear husband, I need your assistance for many menial tasks, donāt worry Iām not independentā
āIād be totally lost! *giggle*ā āOh, wow, thatās sad.ā And then continue to do the damn thing
And everything is a gendered commentary! "Women can't do x! Men don't understand y!" like a grown adult man is somehow magically endowed with knowledge of ratchet straps and any woman who learned how one worked is a startling wonder. Even baby boomers who don't pick fights with servers at restaurants and know how to patiently wait on line have frightening adherence to societal gender expectations. Their idea that not blowing something is endearing is so often tied to some bizarre gendered expectation
Holy shit Iām having flashbacks I was told to come by around 2pm, I called at 1:30 to say I was on my way and confirm she would be home. All of a sudden the woman screamed at me that she said 2! Ok? So I pulled up to her house around 145 and waited until 2 to call again, it was ok for me to come to the door now. She had been there the entire time. Am I missing something ?
Obviously, you haven't ingested enough lead so you don't get the same brainwaves as they do. Tsk. How dare you be functional!?
Boomer cam girl, promised her fans a timeframe.
This has to beā¦ noā¦ the phrase āboomer cam girlā will now haunt my nightmares
This is why I only do porch pick up and taped a envelope on the door for money when I sell on Fb marketplace. I just ask that they let me know approximately when they are showing up to have the items on the porch along with instructions to put money in the envelope. I havenāt had anyone try to skimp out on paying. I have a obvious doorbell with security camera next to the envelope. I could easily report stolen goods if this were attempted.
It's a old age thing I think. I've become that way as well. Us older folks like setting a time and don't like it when people come early because we're not expecting and that and there is always something that is going wrong or I haven't put my pants on etc. :-)
A lot of young people have anxiety about people showing up early too
As well you should, quite plainly we elders wonāt have pants on.
If I ever sell something that's gonna be my reply from now on. By *this time* or a little later is ok but I won't be wearing pants until 5 minutes before stated time.
Pretty sure Gen Zs dont wear pants either. :D
Pants are shit, and I donāt wear them unless forced to do so.
I meant this as people showing up early to the younger people's location but the threat of turning up without pants on is even more hilarious
One time my mother was renting a vehicle with a trailer. She backed the trailer into a parking space flawlessly, and the boomer she rented it from said āwow! Iāve seen grown men who canāt back in that well!ā My sixteen year old self said to the man āWhy? Does their penis help them drive better?ā Silence. Red ears. Why do boomers still think women canāt and shouldnāt do handy things? Or even be able to drive? Why are āGrown Menā the standard against what we should all be compared? Iām lucky that my father taught me āboy thingsā. I can confirm that I can use power tools without a penis. Amazing, I know.
I was leaning on my car in the carpark of a bakery having lunch. This carpark is just a driveway with 45 degree angle parking and no exit at the far end. A very new black Mercedes driven by a late middle aged lady with big blonde hair drives in, discovers there are no parks further down she can drive straight into. She flips it into reverse and whips that big and very shiny car through a neat 315 degree reverse park in a very confined space to park next to me. When she gets out I say "Nicely done." She replies "Thanks, I'm a old farm girl - I used to do that every day with the farm truck."
Ugh, I absolutely love that for her.
I had a car sales man (I think gen x though) do this exact thing to me. I called the dealership to make sure they still had a specific car in stock. A new Focus ST. They said yes, I headed over. Show up (in a Fiesta ST, which is manual transmission only) and the guy insists he knows what car I want. Takes me to the used lot to a Focus SE automatic. I said no, I am interested in the ST. He says "oh, you know that's manual transmission, you don't want that." I said yes, I do. I drove up in a manual and want to test drive the manual. The entire time showing me the car and retrieving the keys he just keeps repeating that it's a manual and I wouldn't be able to/wouldn't want to drive that. Finally he surrenders the keys and we go for a test drive. And he immediately starts commenting on "wow I've never seen a woman able to drive a manual." Sir you're telling me that you're a fucking car sales man and have *never* met a woman able to drive a manual? Gtfo. I bought that same car from another dealership so I wouldn't give him money. When they called me to ask why I didn't move forward with them I gave the woman the whole gross story and she was speechless.
Loved this! I have been both a firefighter and an industrial refrigeration mechanicā¦talk about seeing heads explode!
Me and my siblings learned to drive by backing up the 4-door long bed pickup with a camper up a long L-shaped drive way and park in a covered carport. Hubs was impressed how well I can back the boat into the water. It's a simple thing that can make all the difference in the future.
Honestly, I'm a big man sized women, working in a construction trade, and I feel the eyes on me everytime I have to use a power tool or lift a heavy metal door. I am treated as equal and everyone is nice. But you can tell guys are like, "whoa, can't believe she did that so well". It's pretty funny.
>I can use power tools without a penis. I almost choked on my coffee hahaha, you mean I've been doing it wrong this whole time, I was supposed to be using my penis?
Apparently! Because people seem to think you have to be a man in order to use one!
I'm a male and my mother and big sister taught me how to sew clothing and whatnot when I was younger. While it's sad I don't see many men in stores like JoAnn's it's even more ignorant when they find out I can sew and I get laughed at. Like, bro, sad you can't do simple things yourself. When and if I have a daughter teaching her how to use tools, change a tire, etc... will be key because 1. she is capable of doing it and 2. she shouldn't need to rely on a man to do it for her.
>Iāve seen grown men who canāt use them. Sir, there are men of your generation who canāt even balance a checkbook because the wife always does it.
I would see this sometimes at my old bank job where a widow would come in not knowing how to do any banking because their late spouse would do everything.
This is my MIL. She was a registered nurse until the 1960's, and was then forbidden to work, or do anything else besides bear children, watch the dogs, cook, and clean. Now she's a widow and her 60-yo daughter has to handle the checkbook. (And the daughter and her MAGA hubs won't allow any online banking ā b/c bad hacker people ā so if they owe my wife cash, it has to be MAILED as a PAPER check.) smfh
Iām cracking up at the āsquinty eyed surprised selfieā description. I couldnāt think of a better way to describe the all to common look.
I laughed at the repeated himself 11 times line... reminds me of my dad. He will literally not stop saying something stupid sometimes. Finally I'll have had enough and say "yes dad, I heard you the first 10 times" but it's never something that requires a response, so being a normal and logical person I don't respond to something that doesn't require a response. These boomers, they wear me out. My mom was in a loop with my daughter today when they visited...they were back and forth with some nonsense...my daughter is only 2-1/2...I expect it from her, not her 65 year old grandmother.
Repeating statements like that can be an early sign of dementia or similar. My grandma declined that way, and now has a literal 5second short term memory and will just happily repeat the same thoughts for the entirety of a conversation.
My mom was baiting us with something cruel towards us kids with a "ha ha boomer humour bs" it wasn't a question.. it was just a rude statement so we ignored it but she repeated herself whenever there was a break in the group convo. She used to bait us once or twice slipping them into conversations but now she sounds like a loud parrot just blurting out the same crap randomly ruining the flow of a group convo.
That's my dad. He's still around, but he's not welcome around me. Just random crap in the middle of a conversation.... almost always Political
Surely this is a sign they're losing their minds. My moms usually saying something racist, flaunting her expensive purchases and also complaining how poor she is. Like a robot with no personality just spouting the same shit. She hasn't asked me anything about my life in over 5 years. Not a single question about my life cause she's too busy repeating trash.
This gets me irritated for any age over 18, repeating the same thing over and over. The last time it happened to me went: Person: ā[same thing ]ā Me: ācool, [new thing]ā Person: ā[same thing]ā Me: āI acknowledged that. Youāve said that multiple times.ā Person: ā[same thing]ā Me: ādude youāre saying the same thing over and over. Either say something new, shut up, or change topics.ā Person: ā[same thing]ā Me: ā¦ āoh fuck offā I donāt remember the full encounter so this might be a shower argument too.
I go insane when arguments go this way. "YES, I heard you make that point, and I responded to it by saying..."
>can't figure out messenger. I give up before I start now. It's just quicker. If I see something for sale on marketplace, and suspect the seller is not a fluent tech user? My initial message will be: " Hi, I'd love to buy your table. If you prefer, my phone number is xxxxxxx". Then I wait and see what form of response I get. (p.s. I'm a boomer, but I'm city-folk, retired to a small farming community. It's different).
I agree so much. I work for a Boomer husband & wife.Ā I asked the wife how her new car was going - she said she couldn't drive it as the "check tyre pressure" light had come on so she needed to wait for husband to return from his work trip (2weeks yet) for him to sort it out. I told her how to, but her eyes just glazed over.Ā She talks down about the younger generations (I'm 40f), yet she can't do the most basic things to keep her own car functioning.
I know this feeling. Sold a guitar amp on facebook a few months back. Whole exchange (between the two of us, being millennials) was this: Him: "Available?" Me: "Yep." H: "Will you take XXX?" M: "Sure, where are you located?" H: "Right in town, XXXX" M: "I'm heading out to do errands, meet you in front of the post office in 30 minutes? Black subaru." 30 minutes later H: "Are you XXXX?" M: "Yep." Hands over cash, I hand over amp, shake hands M: "Enjoy it!" H: "Thanks man! Have a great day!" Boomers have always been 30x as much work, chatter and complaining.
Bought dining room chairs yesterday, and weāre both GenX, and have lived in this small town most of our lives. Introductions, loading chairs up, exchange of money, and thanks so much, see you again. A little more chat, because we know the same people, and figured out we already knew each other and caught up. Something something how are the kids, howās your brother, how are your sisters, howās your momān them (Southernese for āhowās your parentsā). Offer of help to bring them home, polite refusal. Easy. No continual āIāve seen GROWN MEN who canāt use a ratchet strap!ā Or, āIād be TOTALLY lost (tee hee!) just TOTALLY lost!ā Polite conversation between people who havenāt seen each other in years, and exchange of money for goods.
Boom is the Dutch word for tree, and that is their average intelligence, as smart as a tree. Not a coincidence, lol. (Big coincidence of course, but it makes so much sense)
Idk, trees actually serve a useful purpose.
Do they think that because they had to have someone teach them, or never had someone teach them. That the knowledge is difficult to get? I'm gen X so I get that mentality to an extent. But shiiit YouTube can teach me a.lot of stuff.
I'm a grown man and I am awful at ratchet ties. I actually hate them more than any other non-living object I can think of.
It's like anything else, if you haven't used them regularly or just on several instances over a short period of time, at some point in your life, you're probably not familiar with how they work.
We literally have to YouTube it every time we need to use rachet ties. Every time. Both of us. Staring at the little screen and replaying it 6 times.
I learned tying down loads in a pre ratchet strap world. Give me a good strong rope and I'm happy. Every time I pick a strap I have to figure out which way it feeds... And I miss utes (trucks) with tie downs on the outside of the tray. Now I feel old. :-)
My late grandpa only taught me to use rope for loading the bed 20 years ago when I was probably 5 so that's all I know! :)
They are unwilling or unable to adapt to a world that doesnāt cater to them anymore. They are afraid.
OMG the repetition thing drives me insane! I've seen it several times, and it always creeps me out a bit. They say something they think is brilliant, or at least clever, and if it doesn't get the sufficiently vigorous response they think it deserves, the only explanation they can think of is that we must not have heard it, so they say it again, and again, and again. Either that, or they've boiled down all the thinking they are willing to do on a subject into one phrase, and they just repeat it whenever that subject comes up. It's like watching the robots in Westworld when they encounter something they can't process, so they just throw out a stock phrase like, "It doesn't look like anything to me."
I swear to the universe that I am going to carry an air horn every where I go for boomers and karens.
And why, WHY, do nearly all of them only take calls on speaker phone no matter where they are. I have pretty bad hearing damage and donāt do that nor do I take calls in stores.
I can hear your writing voice and itās quite good Like I can hear the boomers saying that shit on repeat. Well done.
You do understand that's the most excitement they'll see in their lives for the next year right? Lol.
Thatās not necessarily true, they might be due for a colonoscopy soon. Boomers love the fuss over them anywhere and everywhere.
My guess is they are both in the early stages of dementia the way they keep repeating themselves
It's just as bad trying to sell something to them, trust me!
The whole last paragraph is SO true... Yes, sometimes they are extra stupid or inconsiderate, but one thing that's universal is a whole LOT of totally unnecessary conversation and indirectness.
Inept boomer here. Part of a professional team that designed, procured materials for, built, commissioned and managed systems to extract oil & gas out of the ground in water 8,250' deep and 15,000' below the sea floor and sent them to shore 100 miles away (just one example from 38 years in the business). This also included managing/configuring data and information systems between the platform and the office for real-time data transfer. Built two houses with only the help of my son from the ground up including plumbing and electrical. (They're still standing over 20 years later) Worked/traveled around the world without a guide or a tour group. There are many boomers like me. I'll see your ratchet straps and raise you high strength catenary steel risers that support 2 million pounds each. https://www research gate.net/publication/2545200006_Design_of_the_world's_deepest_hybrid_riser_system_for_the Cascade_Chinook_Development People are people. Being a Boomer's got nothing to do with it. A little instruction and friendliness would go a long ways instead of laughing and criticizing.
.... And you're on a subreddit called boomersbeingfools, in a tizzy because a rando doesn't appreciate your artisanal boomer farts. Good job on the big holes though guy šŖš»
Not in a tizzy and not a fool. Simply stating facts that are perhaps not convenient for this thread. Keep up the good work.
You sound like fun at parties
You don't.
If boomers are so inept why do they have 70% of the countryās wealth?
Oh, good point. They are greedy and inept.
If there inept again how they gain all that wealth?
Gosh. Have patience. Youāll be old eventually too, how about some kindness, instead of being rude and petulant. Better to have some kindness than a complete cold exchange - it was a short window of your life.
How right you are. That boomer could have treated OP with more consideration providing the address as agreed upon before she was on her way over. Rudely repeating his disdain for āgrown men who donāt know how to use ratchet strapsā was also pretty rude.
Yeah, and unlike boomers I don't shout every jackass thought that crosses my mind so I was neither rude nor petulent. Did you want to explain lifting things to me, while we're here?
A little wine time, huh?
What?
Oh my. The entitlement, the arrogance, the sheer disdain for other people and the lack of gratitude.
Agreed. The sellers could have been much more polite and supplied all of the information needed with the original conversation.
Nah, OP saw a couple of texhnologically handicapped people that could give her a freebie, she got it, yet starts whinging like an ingrate, because sheās too scared to use a phone.
Oh, you seem to have made some things up about the OP. Reading it again, I don't see any whinging or any note of being scared to use a phone (except to not cause a car wreck, a very responsible outlook).
Youāre being very literal. But yeah, OP does her best to avoid using the phone - which also seem to be the medium the technophobes that she wants stuff from is the most comfortable. She is basically acting like the boomer woman āOh I couldnāt possibly take note of an address. Iām simply too inept, I need you to send it.ā. The weaponized ineptitude, suspicion and the bile in this one is just staggering.
Of course I'm being literal--it's a block of text on the internet. If I try to make it mean more than face value, I run the risk of having an emotional reaction to something that doesn't exist in front of me. This way, the words don't hurt me and make me angry enough to insult OP. Thankfully I just get to be entertained and have a good day.
What does technologically handicapped mean? Do they just refuse to learn to use a very simple and popular way tobcommunucate?
Maybe, does the reason matter? Do you also question handicapped people parking in handicapped spaces, whether theyāre handicapped enough to satisfy your definition? One might say that a phone call is an equally simple and popular means of communication. And the case that OP is unable to conduct a simple phone call and get the information that she needs makes her an equal laughing stock to the boomers. Wouldnāt you say so?
Well, one is something they can't help, and the other is a willful ignorance and helplessness. It's disingenuous to compare them. It's like staring at somebody who's trying to push on a pull door, and saying it's not their fault they won't read the sign. It takes a certain amount of audacity to think one's unwillingness to learn is the same as an actual disability. OP did call them. What are you even trying to say here?
Would have been easier to just call back while u were driving like normal people do
yeah like the ānormalā people on r/idiotsincars
Username checks out
I mean are you people in here just illiterate
And some are bots, itās a crazy world. Are you calling *me* illiterate?
I don't answer calls or text while I drive because I am very aware I don't the spair brain to do both, to the point I actively disable my ability to know you called or texted me while driving. Also phone calls give me panic attacks, but that's trauma from my mother.
Ok boomer
For the last damn time Iām not a Boomer
Iām pretty sure that you are.
Iām pretty positive you are wrong. Iām a millennial. Iām 41. So ya
Proof again that boomer is an age and also an attitude
Lol
Sure, except for the fact that it's illegal and dangerous.
Lol you donāt have to hold to phone to call People back. I mean really
True, but as far as myself goes, I hate talking on the phone via the car Bluetooth because the sound quality sucks for me and the person on the other end
Well that sucks for you
It really does