Old people complaining

CarolinaFever

CarolinaFever

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Went out to dinner tonight with the family. My dad complained the whole time. Complained about having to wait to get seated, complained about the food, and complained about wanting to go when everyone was talking after eating. That led to he and my mom arguing. Fun times. Would have been better if he just stayed home. I hope I don't get like that when I am old.
 
I thought this was going to be about the board.

Do you know why your dad attended since he seemed to not want to be there?
 
Unfortunately both of our fathers are much the same. It's gotten to the point that now our moms make excuses for the dads to stay home when we travel. Drew's dad and mine are both 77. They are both great people but have reached a point in life where they are generally bothered by almost anything that isn't part of their very insular little circle at home.

I had to take Xanax to deal with getting my dad to Omaha for the CWS last year. He wants to be there but he is so bothered by absolutely everything about the journey that it's borderline misery to deal with him.

I echo the sentiment that I hope to never get to that point.
 
CarolinaFever said:
Went out to dinner tonight with the family. My dad complained the whole time. Complained about having to wait to get seated, complained about the food, and complained about wanting to go when everyone was talking after eating. That led to he and my mom arguing. Fun times. Would have been better if he just stayed home. I hope I don't get like that when I am old.
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So you're complaining about people complaining?
I'm thinking the apple won't fall far from the tree...
 
wmheel1287 said:
Unfortunately both of our fathers are much the same. It's gotten to the point that now our moms make excuses for the dads to stay home when we travel. Drew's dad and mine are both 77. They are both great people but have reached a point in life where they are generally bothered by almost anything that isn't part of their very insular little circle at home.

I had to take Xanax to deal with getting my dad to Omaha for the CWS last year. He wants to be there but he is so bothered by absolutely everything about the journey that it's borderline misery to deal with him.

I echo the sentiment that I hope to never get to that point.
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I've posted this before, but growing up in church in the 70s and 80s I used to hear the older men in church (mainly WW2 vets, although some were even older) complain a lot about how awful my generation (Gen X) was, and the complaints they made were the same you hear today - nobody respected their elders anymore, people had gotten lazy, teens played on video games too much, and so on. I swore I'd never become like that when I got older, and I don't think I have, but it is depressing at the number of Boomer and especially Gen X friends and coworkers and relatives I have who now make the same complaints about younger people that I heard when I was growing up. And the complaints of older people never seem to change, generation to generation - everything has just gone to hell since they were younger and everything - literally everything - was better back in the day. And I still think the actual reason for all these complaints is that these people wish they were still young and still had their health and looks and could be carefree again, and they resent younger generations for that. I've been convinced for a long time that it really is that simple.
 
Mulberry Heel said:
I've posted this before, but growing up in church in the 70s and 80s I used to hear the older men in church (mainly WW2 vets, although some were even older) complain a lot about how awful my generation (Gen X) was, and the complaints they made were the same you hear today - nobody respected their elders anymore, people had gotten lazy, teens played on video games too much, and so on. I swore I'd never become like that when I got older, and I don't think I have, but it is depressing at the number of Boomer and especially Gen X friends and coworkers and relatives I have who now make the same complaints about younger people that I heard when I was growing up. And the complaints of older people never seem to change, generation to generation - everything has just gone to hell since they were younger and everything - literally everything - was better back in the day. And I still think the actual reason for all these complaints is that these people wish they were still young and still had their health and looks and could be carefree again, and they resent younger generations for that. I've been convinced for a long time that it really is that simple.
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Well, I am Gen X, and the music was better overall back then. I think childhood was better back then compared to today, too. It's a lot more stressful today for kids and teens than it was back then. But I don't act like a bitter old man about things and seem miserable all the time.
 
CarolinaFever said:
Well, I am Gen X, and the music was better overall back then. I think childhood was better back then compared to today, too. It's a lot more stressful today for kids and teens than it was back then. But I don't act like a bitter old man about things and seem miserable all the time.
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I'm Gen X too, and I don't agree with either of those assumptions. I don't think childhood was any less stressful or better back then - juvenile crime was actually a good deal higher back then, among other things. And while I still listen to 80s music all the time I'm well aware that it's a matter of personal taste and so what you or I like may not be what younger generations necessarily want to listen to.
 
I am 57 and think about this a good bit, and it comes up in conversations with my wife and others. Some thoughts:

I am pretty active in my church, and get to be around a number of 70+ dudes who are always cheerful, always in good humor and never complain about the younger generation. Those are my role models. They are growing old gracefully; they recognize the good in others and they realize that the world belongs to the young'uns. And they are funny as hell.

On the other hand, one of the guys I run with on the weekends likes to talk current events, and damn, I am sick and tired of statements that begin with, "In this day and age..." What usually follows is a complaint about lazy people, gay or trans, oppression of "Christian values", etc. He is gonna be a grumpy old man. (Yes, he's a Trumpy.) My takeaway is that while our attitudes affect the words we use, the words we use also affect our attitudes, so I try not to say shit like, "In this day and age," or "kids today..."

All of that being said, I suppose if I were 80, in chronic pain, unable to hear or see well, it would be easy to be grumpy. I guess I should give them some grace.
 
8992Tiger said:
I am 57 and think about this a good bit, and it comes up in conversations with my wife and others. Some thoughts:

I am pretty active in my church, and get to be around a number of 70+ dudes who are always cheerful, always in good humor and never complain about the younger generation. Those are my role models. They are growing old gracefully; they recognize the good in others and they realize that the world belongs to the young'uns. And they are funny as hell.

On the other hand, one of the guys I run with on the weekends likes to talk current events, and damn, I am sick and tired of statements that begin with, "In this day and age..." What usually follows is a complaint about lazy people, gay or trans, oppression of "Christian values", etc. He is gonna be a grumpy old man. (Yes, he's a Trumpy.) My takeaway is that while our attitudes affect the words we use, the words we use also affect our attitudes, so I try not to say shit like, "In this day and age," or "kids today..."

All of that being said, I suppose if I were 80, in chronic pain, unable to hear or see well, it would be easy to be grumpy. I guess I should give them some grace.
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That's a good post, and I don't mean to imply that everyone my age or older is a chronic complainer. But I would say at least half of them are, at least the ones I know, and it is rampant on social media. And while I agree about showing grace to those who are truly old and infirm, I know a good many who are in their 50s and 60s who are already grumps, and it would be nice if they were honest about the reasons for the complaints and not covering it with, as you said, "in this day and age" remarks and talk as if everything was better back in the day.
 
CarolinaFever said:
Went out to dinner tonight with the family. My dad complained the whole time. Complained about having to wait to get seated, complained about the food, and complained about wanting to go when everyone was talking after eating. That led to he and my mom arguing. Fun times. Would have been better if he just stayed home. I hope I don't get like that when I am old.
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Is it “old people” or your Dad or your family?

I just drove my 86 and 85 year-old parents to Gainesville, FL, to see high school friends.

We had a great visit. Even my 85 year-old mother who has Alzheimer’s (it’s in its early stages) and macular degeneration had a good time.

My Mom pretty much personifies “bitch.” She did at 25….30, 35, 40, 50, etc.

I saw 10-12 people my parents’s age. They were kind, friendly, and good company.
 
Zoo_View said:
Is it “old people” or your Dad or your family?

I just drove my 86 and 85 year-old parents to Gainesville, FL, to see high school friends.

We had a great visit. Even my 85 year-old mother who has Alzheimer’s (it’s in its early stages) and macular degeneration had a good time.

My Mom pretty much personifies “bitch.” She did at 25….30, 35, 40, 50, etc.

I saw 10-12 people my parents’s age. They were kind, friendly, and good company.
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I think it's more referring to people who have aged into that sort of complaining...folks who were not that way in the past.
 
CarolinaFever said:
Went out to dinner tonight with the family. My dad complained the whole time. Complained about having to wait to get seated, complained about the food, and complained about wanting to go when everyone was talking after eating. That led to he and my mom arguing. Fun times. Would have been better if he just stayed home. I hope I don't get like that when I am old.
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Sounds like most of the posters on IC.
 
My wife and I are both about to hit 73. I think it's your basic personality without the governors. She's always been a little temperamental, (I tell her 90% temper) and has gotten more critical as she's gotten older. I think I'm lucky to be alive and functional these days and don't have anything except the stupidity of the average person to complain about. Since that's the same as it ever was, I think I've mellowed.
 
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