# Old people suck **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 25, 2003, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-suck/150804 "2003-01-25T03:48:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-suck/150804/41 "2003-01-27T22:40:57Z")
Well, the media caters to young people because they buy like crazy. And the government caters to the elderly because they vote like crazy. So the rest of us reside in the middle, in un-cool, taxed-out purgatory. What sucks is being middle age. ---
**Author:** ![Daniel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Daniel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-suck/150804/42 "2003-01-27T22:43:24Z")
Young people swallow ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-suck/150804/43 "2003-01-27T23:29:40Z")
Old people running credit accounts at a hardware store? Indicia of a healthy S&M sex life if you ask me. Of course a young clerk wouldn’t understand such things. ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-suck/150804/44 "2003-01-30T21:34:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by blowero \* > \*\*You really shouldn’t be asking people for their Social Security number unless you are their employer. \*\* They shouldn’t be asking, period. That number is not for identification purposes and was never designed to be, hence the incredible quantity of identity theft. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-suck/150804/45 "2003-01-30T21:46:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lissa \* > They’re something very fun hearing about a time when PVC pipe was a fantasy. Old people used to fantasize about PVC pipe? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-suck/150804/46 "2003-01-30T21:53:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bongmaster \* > \*\*They shouldn’t be asking, period. That number is not for identification purposes and was never designed to be, hence the incredible quantity of identity theft. \*\* Um, you kind of HAVE to give them to your employer. That’s the whole point of Social Security? :wally ---
**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-suck/150804/47 "2003-01-30T22:10:03Z")
Judging by my Mum who is now 73, I think old people are just a stronger version of their young selves. I agree with most of you, but they do change as they get older - their personalities seem to get more entrenched, inhibitions are less obvious? ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-suck/150804/48 "2003-01-31T00:45:37Z")
Whew! I thought this was going to be another **Uekte** -style “hate old people” thread. Glad it took a less strident tack. I’m 60 myself (hence my username), and I care for a 94-year-old. I’m usually pretty nice to clerks, but if I’m having a bad day and the clerk gives me a hard time I guess I _could_ get a little peevish. My soon-to-be 95 ward can be pretty brusque herself, but she’s always been that way. I don’t think age has much to do with it. On the SS number thing: the county medical service where I live uses my SS number as my medical ID number. That’s their policy, and if I want their service I have to let them use it. But I **never** show my social to someone for a credit sale. By law, they can’t insist on it as ID, and I just tell them that and say no. I’ve never had to give up a purchase on that account. I’d have to say most of the older people I come into contact with are pretty nice folks. There will always be exceptions, but, in general, I like old people. (Shhh…I like younger people, too, but I have some reservations about teenagers.) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-suck/150804/49 "2003-01-31T01:22:09Z")
> [@](#): > > _Old people suck_ Only if they fail to wear their dentures to the dinner table. [sub]::Ducks, runs, &c.::[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-suck/150804/50 "2003-01-31T05:29:45Z")
dammit, drew, even after 2 “suck” comments in the thread already, I thought it STILL would be funny to post a denture thread, but SOMEONE had to beat me to it 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-suck/150804/51 "2003-01-31T07:30:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bongmaster \* > \*\*They shouldn’t be asking, period. That number is not for identification purposes and was never designed to be, hence the incredible quantity of identity theft. \*\* Wouldn’t your employer need it so that they can pay into the system? ---
**Author:** ![badmana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@badmana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badmana)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-suck/150804/52 "2003-01-31T16:28:19Z")
In canada SIN cannot be demanded for ID. I do credit checks a hundred times a day. We can ASK, but we cannot demand. We (as policy against fraud) need 2 pieces of ID (DOB, Credit card # or SIN, any 2). I don’t find old people much of a problem. They might be harder to educate when you’re trying to explain something difficult like a cell phone bill, but I don’t have many issues with them. The middle aged people with 4 bankruptcies are the fuckers who like to bitch when we deny them a cell phone without a security deposit. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-suck/150804/53 "2003-01-31T18:35:29Z")
What I hate about old people is when they reminisce. Why, back in my day, they never did that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-people-suck/150804.md?page=2)