Hey, I don’t take offense – I personally use a debit card.
And there are a dozen things that can make me angry enough about retail transactions to start a Pit thread that don’t have anything to do with age – like when that damn fool scanner thingy doesn’t work.
But face it, old people have “senior moments,” which include forgetting pin numbers and that makes them uncomfortable. Broomstick mentioned old people who can’t find their pen or remember the name of the store. If you think writing a check slows down the line, wait until you’re behind someone struggling to remember four numbers, in order.
As for the myths about unsafe or expensive debit cards, let’s have a show of hands. How many of us know people who won’t get their kids vaccinated because it will make them autistic? How many of us know someone who’s convinced that 9/11 was a setup, or that the nice Middle Eastern guy who works at the 7-11 is actually a terrorist? There’s a huge amount of bullshit out there that people believe, and it isn’t age related.
When I started this thread, I had no idea that getting stuck in line maybe one percent of the time behind someone who takes maybe 60 seconds longer to compete a transaction than you want would be such a hot button.
Generally I am greeted with blank stares if I ask about changing my PIN to something that I can more easily remember. And while I can remember a handful of PINs, it seems that every freaking thing now requires a PIN, and you only get two or three chances to punch in the RIGHT number before the device and/or account locks up and needs to be reset or re-activated.
Even if you’re a cranky old man, the general slowing down of life can be a very good thing. You know all those things people say like “stop and smell the roses” and “no one ever died wishing they spent more time at work”? Old people can actually live that out.
If you’re healthy, you can pretty much do all those things you never had a chance to do when you were young – golf, travel, gardening, whatever.
Sex can be a lot better when you’re older.
And I don’t have to worry about forgetting my PIN because I can write checks and no one dare challenge me!
That your relatives who are nuttin’ fucks and have been so their whole lives also age, and reach a point where people assume they’ve got Alzheimer’s and crack open a fresh bag of Patience, instead of calling Security and informing you that no family members will be welcome in that place of business again.
Hey! I am in my 80’s and am not old!..Just older. We all get older every day from the time we are born.My great grandchildren are getting older every day too.
To me the ER in older stands for emergency Room, when you can’t be helped there then then they can say she/he was Old! Age is a matter of how you look at it. If a person dies as an infant, toddler, teenager, young adult etc. they may never get the chance to know or see the things older people can, so inspite of the changes in one’s body, the grey hair (and maybe wrinkles) I say the one with the most years wins!
As a post script..I still shovel snow, rake leaves, helped my (85 year old) husband fix the roof, cut and haul trees etc. Plus do my own housework. We keep up 5 acres. Drive a small car, follow the speed limit. My husband put stainless steel siding on our barn 3 years ago( because we didn’t want to paint anymore). It takes us longer to do things but we do get them done.
Good for you, Mona! I’m 85, my DH is 92. We are still fairly active. We shovel snow, rake the leaves, have a garden, keep up our house, play on the computer. Life has slowed down for us, but we stay active. We’ve got a lot of happy memories of when we traveled the world, but now life is much quieter. We are active in our church, have many friends, are enjoying life these days.
Living our lives with an attitude of gratitude - that’s what most older people do, IMHO.
This reminds me of my mother’s sister who in her 90’s,she helped out in a nursing home in Texas. My sister and her husband went to Texas and called her,She told them" If you get here by 7 I will fix you breakfast,but then I have to go to the nursing home and help the old people"! The nurses told my sister that most of the people there were younger than her:). She died just 6 months before her 100th birthday!
