Senior Moments

[Broomjockey]

Ah, the rare and elusive gentleman. Once found proudly roaming this great land in vast herds, their numbers have been thinned and reduced to the point where they are an endangered species. The biggest threat to the gentelus homonus is the jackous buttockeous (common jackass), as they compete for resources in the environment, and the jackous buttockeous is willing to use any trick to get what it wants while gentelus homonus is too nice to fight back in kind.

Help support the gentelus homonus. They need a generous portion of politeness in each encounter to help survive. Do your part to help this noble breed survive.

[air914]

Ah, the rare and elusive gentleman. Once found proudly roaming this great land in vast herds, their numbers have been thinned and reduced to the point where they are an endangered species. The biggest threat to the gentelus homonus is the jackous buttockeous (common jackass), as they compete for resources in the environment, and the jackous buttockeous is willing to use any trick to get what it wants while gentelus homonus is too nice to fight back in kind.

Help support the gentelus homonus. They need a generous portion of politeness in each encounter to help survive. Do your part to help this noble breed survive.

I love this - you've got me rolling! Ahh they are elusive sometimes..... I'm all for women having rights - but I do still like it when someone opens a door for me or treats me like a lady...like walking me to my car when it's dark or something.... it seems a lot of guys don't think they should "have to do this" b/c we want to be "equals" with them - okay this is starting to turn into a little rant for me so I'm just gonna stop.... anywa, very funny broomjockey!

[Sphinx]

Ahh they are elusive sometimes..... I'm all for women having rights - but I do still like it when someone opens a door for me or treats me like a lady...like walking me to my car when it's dark or something....

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I like being treated that way, kinda makes me feel good inside ya know

[Dips]

The women's rights thing aside. What the heck is wrong with a human being doing something nice for another human being?

I'm female and I hold doors for people, both male and female, all the time. So does my daughter. My son tries, but some doors are too heavy for him.

It doesn't bother me when I don't get thanked, but if one of my kids holds the door and the person just marches through as if my kids were only put on this earth to serve them, I get mad.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I agree wholeheartedly.

How about teaching your kids to say "thank you" regardless? After all, it's good to always be courteous.

[Mixed Bag]

Finally, she quit driving altogether....I hope I'm sensible enough to do that when I'm her age.

With all due respect to your grandmother's struggles and courtesy, I'd rather you made driving decisions based on your personal circumstances as they unfold rather than a fixed timeline. I don't like problematic senior driving moments any more than the rest of you--and I trust the suggestions I hear for curtailing it aren't literally based on set chronological ages in the minds of those who speak of being "too old to drive."

I like holding doors but as a progressive (in some ways) I'd prefer it not be interpreted differently based on the other's gender (if I were in an old-fashioned mood, I'd say I'm too much of a gentleman to want to be seen as one .) I wonder if there's an acceptable way, when confronted, to pretend to make it clear we didn't notice the gender of the person we were extending a courtesy for?

[Athena]

Up until recently i worked at the local bar/restaurant. A while ago we had a group of senior citizens visiting from a nearby city. They made their meal orders and wanted to charge it to their rooms. The policy is you have to ask to look at their room key before charging. Four of the five people had absolutely no problem with this. The last guy huffed and puffed and glared before pulling out his key. Then he said he needed a reciept. I printed him one. He glared at me, slapped it on the counter and yelled, "NO, i need one that is itemised. This isn't. You didn't trust me, so i don't trust YOU!" I was a bit startled at this point, but i said calmly. "I never said i didn't trust you."
"YEs, you DID! You asked for my room key! You didn't ask anyone else!" Now he'd been standing about two feet from the rest of his group when i was asking them for their keys. In his tiny mind however, he was convinced i'd singled him out. Then he went a complained to my manager. Fortunately he was pretty cool. We laughed about it later.

[I_Hate_SCs]

I, being well-raised, got up, said, "Of course," and stood aside so she could sit down. Woman plopped into the seat and, without ever saying "Thank you", or anything, turned to another woman in the neigboring seat. She then started complaining loudly about "young people nowadays, and back in my day they'd have gotten up on their own without being asked, and...".

Thats when I would have politely said "And I bet in your day, ma'am, that adults had the decency to keep their derogatory opinions of others to themselves and not be rude. If it wasn't for me, you would be standing." With that said, I would give up my seat for anybody who is ailing or has disabilities, regardless of age. Being a senior with a bad leg, though, doesn't give you permission to be rude to another person who gave you their seat!

Thankfully, most of the elderly people I've encountered at my store are either very nice and respectful, or they simply ignore you and don't give you the time of day. I have, though, experienced many who seem 'out of place' and act like they were time warped from 1955 to 2006, looking at awe at the products the store sells that were invented after 1955. Or, they think that stores like mine operate like the ones of yesteryear, with full service like personal shopping and other things.

[HYHYBT]

Whatever people are, they tend to get more and more so with age. The nice ones grow into the sweet old ladies you'd do anything for, and the unfortunately numerous jerks, well... you get the idea.

Naturally this topic reminds me of Grandma. Among other oddities, she's always been afraid of burglars. When I was little, this meant she kept a heavy flashlight by the bed, left the radio and lamp timers on when no one was home, and checked for broken windows before going back into the house. Later on, she put a latch (the bent nail in a loop kind) on the attic ladder, so if anyone hid up there she could tell and leave. Before she went to the nursing home, upon coming home she would look in the fireplace, in the shower, behind chairs, etc to make sure no one was hiding in the house, even with a burglar alarm.