# I used to make fun of people who.... and now I am one **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 5, 2018, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-make-fun-of-people-who-and-now-i-am-one/819128 "2018-08-05T14:40:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2018, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-make-fun-of-people-who-and-now-i-am-one/819128/61 "2018-08-08T00:04:07Z")
> [@fjs1fs](#): > > I’ll chime in. I’m 53. Growing up in Queens in the 70s and 80s, most people never thought about putting seat belts on. Same here, but rural Utah. Everyone _knew_ it was better to thrown clear of a wreck through a window (yep, no). Since about 1987 I’ve never not worn a belt. This summer a NJ family lost five of its six members in a car wreck on I-95-- none of them were wearing a seatbelt in their mini van. The mom, the only survivor, is a freakin ER trauma nurse – WTH? An official remarked that most, if not all of them, would have survived if belted in. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2018, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-make-fun-of-people-who-and-now-i-am-one/819128/62 "2018-08-08T00:54:17Z")
> [@fjs1fs](#): > > I’ll chime in. I’m 53. Growing up in Queens in the 70s and 80s, most people never thought about putting seat belts on. Same here, but rural Utah. Everyone _knew_ it was better to thrown clear of a wreck through a window (yep, no). Since about 1987 I’ve never not worn a belt. This summer a NJ family lost five of its six members in a car wreck on I-95-- none of them were wearing a seatbelt in their mini van. The mom, the only survivor, is a freakin ER trauma nurse – WTH? An official remarked that most, if not all of them, would have survived if belted in. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2018, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-make-fun-of-people-who-and-now-i-am-one/819128/63 "2018-08-08T10:38:39Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I used to laugh and point at those weird looking wheelchair people. Now I am one. ☹ Seriously, you did that? Why? What was going through your mind? (that’s an honest question, if I’m not wooshed) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2018, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-make-fun-of-people-who-and-now-i-am-one/819128/64 "2018-08-08T12:59:10Z")
I’m assuming he’s either exaggerating, or just kidding. I’m assuming that because I’ve never seen or heard of anyone laughing at a wheelchair. I mean, even tasteless “comics” who’ve done a bad imitation of mentally challenged people (yeah, I remember the 50s) wouldn’t laugh at someone in a wheelchair. No one would laugh along. It’s just not funny. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2018, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-make-fun-of-people-who-and-now-i-am-one/819128/65 "2018-08-09T01:42:30Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I’m assuming he’s either exaggerating, or just kidding. > > I’m assuming that because I’ve never seen or heard of anyone laughing at a wheelchair. I mean, even tasteless “comics” who’ve done a bad imitation of mentally challenged people (yeah, I remember the 50s) wouldn’t laugh at someone in a wheelchair. No one would laugh along. It’s just not funny. Kids would. They think it looks like a cool, fun device but why not just get out and run? If your experience with them is nil, they might look funny. My buddy, a paraplegic with only one leg, gets asked if he can get out “so I can have a go” by kids. Wheelchairs confuse them. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2018, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-make-fun-of-people-who-and-now-i-am-one/819128/66 "2018-08-09T03:29:53Z")
> [@brainstall](#): > > I used to snicker at the oldies and their reading glasses. I openly laughed at my boyfriend the first time I saw him wearing a pair some years ago. I’m not laughing now. Well, only at myself, as I search for my own pair of readers. I used to be amused by people who used reading glasses, and had several pairs scattered around the house. Now, me, at age 53: - Four pairs in my house (family room, living room, bedroom, office) - A pair in my car - A pair in my work backpack - A pair in my gaming backpack - A pair on the desk in my office - A small, very portable pair that I try to remember to take with me when I go to my guitar lesson (I should just put that pair in the guitar case) - A pair that I once accidentally left at my parents’ house, and that they now keep on the nightstand in the guest bedroom for when I come to visit And, _still_, I sometimes wind up not having access to a pair. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2018, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-make-fun-of-people-who-and-now-i-am-one/819128/67 "2018-08-09T13:29:56Z")
Women who always wore comfortable shoes. I used to wear platform heels everywhere. I couldn’t tell you the last time I wore heels. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2018, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-make-fun-of-people-who-and-now-i-am-one/819128/68 "2018-08-09T16:15:59Z")
Slow fucking old people. Me, until I fell and broke my elbow. Breaking something is not only expensive, but takes forever to heal, if it even heals correctly. So yeah, I’m a little slower now ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-make-fun-of-people-who-and-now-i-am-one/819128/69 "2018-08-09T17:42:42Z")
> [@DummyGladHands](#): > > Slow fucking old people. Me, until I fell and broke my elbow. Breaking something is not only expensive, but takes forever to heal, if it even heals correctly. So yeah, I’m a little slower now Points for post content/screen name combo. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bowlweevils](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e5b9ba/32.png) [@bowlweevils](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bowlweevils)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-make-fun-of-people-who-and-now-i-am-one/819128/70 "2018-08-10T08:23:13Z")
I said I won’t be one of those old men complaining about ringing in my ears from going to loud concerts in my 20s because surely future science will have a cure for tinnitus. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-make-fun-of-people-who-and-now-i-am-one/819128/71 "2018-08-10T14:17:18Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Going to bed before 10:00 and getting up before 7:00. > > Last night I went to bed at 8:45, today I was up at 5:15. This was presented as total conjecture but I read of an anthropologist who lived with one of those stone-age tribes in New Guinea for a couple months. He noticed that the kids stay up late and the granthers get up early, just like civilized folk. He kept track and found on average, there was only a 17 minute gap where everyone was asleep. Defacto guarding, he surmised. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-make-fun-of-people-who-and-now-i-am-one/819128/72 "2018-08-10T15:08:53Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > This was presented as total conjecture but I read of an anthropologist who lived with one of those stone-age tribes in New Guinea for a couple months. He noticed that the kids stay up late and the granthers get up early, just like civilized folk. He kept track and found on average, there was only a 17 minute gap where everyone was asleep. Defacto guarding, he surmised. Nah, it’s because nothing good was on cable during those 17 minutes. Just informercials. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-make-fun-of-people-who-and-now-i-am-one/819128/73 "2018-08-10T15:35:50Z")
I used to laugh at the oldsters complaining about their funny ailments and bowel movements. Now I have about 7 conditions and I’m deeply concerned if I don’t have to take a dump at a certain time in the morning. Did I already do it and forget I did it? Do I have to take a laxative? Do I have any? Maybe the snack bar has something. Will cheese help, or does that block me up instead? I can never remember. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-make-fun-of-people-who-and-now-i-am-one/819128/74 "2018-08-10T21:29:59Z")
I swore I’d never be one of those middle-aged professors who didn’t zealously participate in zillions of committees/initiatives/“making things better all of the time” stuff. But I’m becoming one because I’m burned out by the politics. I teach well, do things that support good teaching, and ignore stupid, pointless crap generated by admins who lurve paperwork. I’m finding out this amazing thing: a lot of stupid stuff, if ignored long enough, just goes away. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-make-fun-of-people-who-and-now-i-am-one/819128.md?page=3)