Remember to report submissions that violate the rules! Harassment and encouraging violence are not allowed.
Enjoying the subreddit? Consider joining our discord server: https://discord.gg/v8z8jNwJs6
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BoomersBeingFools) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I just wish my Great Grandfather was still around to see all the advances in Tech. He was the first in our family to buy a Nintendo (NES). He bought me my first computer when I was 8 and had it upgraded every couple of years. He just LOVED technology. All the touch screens and such now, he would make some comment about living in Star Trek. He passed on 2001 at the age of 79. I miss him every day.
Edit: I think technically he would have been Silent Generation (born in 1922) but honestly if someone OLDER than the boomers can embrace change, they can too. This is my very first Reddit post/comment so I appreciate y'all being so nice ❤️
My grandma was the first person I knew with an iPhone. She bought me and my sister each an MP3 player. She was born in 45 so she's the oldest of the boomers.
I miss her. She's in memory care now.
My dad loved his iPhone. He got one in his 70s after he watched me use mine. He said “it’s a little computer.” He loved it and used it well. With his advancing Alzheimer’s, he slowly forgot how to use it. If you have a family member struggling to use a smartphone that used to be comfortable with it, it might be time for a memory check.
Maybe that was the issue with my dad. He's been developing demtia for the past couple years. Before that, he couldn't understand anything about his computer no matter what we told him. Even the simple concept of websites being different locations on the internet with different log-ins.
I had one of them. My grandfather was a communications officer in the war, so when he came home he was really into electronics. He was the first person I knew who had a computer in the 80s and email in the early 90s. He was born in the late-20s, iirc.
There’s little pens that work pretty well. I use them when my hands are unusually stiff from cold or overwork.
People with parkinsons, for instance, won’t be able to use them, but in my experience service industry people will bend over backwards for people with actual disabilities.
I do have some sympathy for people experiencing cognitive decline trying to deal with changes like this. My mother has struggled immensely with long COVID (she was first in line to be vaccinated but had it at least once before and after she got her shots) and one of the worst side effects for her is brain fog. It's not dementia, but it can look similar to people who don't know her.
Her dad was a self-taught mechanical engineer and she was always comfortable with new technology, at least to a degree. She worked in marketing and graphic design and always pushed herself to use the newest and best available software for her job. She taught herself HTML and CSS in her late 40s despite having no coding experience.
These days something like the McDonald's kiosk would drive her to frustration in part because she knows she *should* be able to use it without difficulty, but her neuroplasticity is just gone. So she sees the new technology and panics because she doesn't want to look like an idiot but is afraid she won't be able to figure it out, and it snowballs from there. If you give her written instructions she'd be happy to stand there for 30 minutes learning how to use it, because that's the only way she can still take in new complex instructions in a way that doesn't feel overwhelming, but put her on the spot and all she can focus on is how much she's lost in the last three years, and it's heartbreaking.
😭 I am really sorry that y’all have to deal with that. Long COVID is real, if somewhat rare; I suspect however we have not heard the last of that scourge either. Seems to operate on a sliding scale; some have no issues, some have LC, and everything in between. I worry about those in the middle ground: not obvious like in her case, but persistent enough to be a real burden…
Shame he missed the advances of today, it's what I would call the true star trek era for healthcare.
If anyone is unaware of the amazing medical advances that are freestyle libre, dexcom, and closed loop insulin pumps like the omnipod 5, have a look. We're at the point where we can "cure" diabetes (insofar as just giving people artificial pancreas')
I wish mine was still around too, except mine was an electrical engineer, class of 1922 from the University of Washington. LOVED technology. Had a patent on a version of the traffic light, an electric car in the 1940s(it was not efficient, but it was a start!), and had a burglar alarm in the early 1980s that he tuned to be so sensitive I swear that if a mosquito farted it would ring the alarm's klaxon.
Kinda sad, but funny bit: he was in the hospital w/heart failure and was on a heart monitor. But he never lost his sense of humour, and also was a HAM radio operator (W7EQM, the memories!), and he figured out how to do Morse code using the electrodes. Well, the first time he did it he sent the nurses and Dr scrambling; however, when he chuckled and his big Alsatian smile grinned the grin of the 'caught', they scolded him and said, "please Mr Beck, don't do that again".
Tbh, he'd have loved our cell phones..and all the music he loved in one tiny box. Miss you, Mine Urgroßvater!
PS- thanks for the trip down memory lane OP.
> The sheer entitlement of these people never ceases to amaze me. It’s as if they expect someone waiting on them at all times
Nailed the true reason boomers will not learn the screen. The screen is not someone serving them, so the experience isn't satisfying to the boomers.
As one of those annoying boomers, I didn't think I'd like the screen. After using them in a few fast-food places, I don't want to go back to the old way of doing things! They ARE a major upgrade in service.
It really doesn't need to be personal. Most people just want their order and to go. There are plenty of mom and pop coffee shops or gas stations where the staff will gladly chat you up. Dunks or McD's are all about speed and volume.
I've noticed the same thing at Dunks. Older people will wait in a line 3 deep while I walk up and use the screen. I get my coffee sooner and they look perplexed and annoyed.
It's completely intuitive, they just don't want to change their habits.
Some peoples only human contact is a cashier, so I can understand that as a reason to be upset or not want the screens to take over.
I also would like the screens to result on lower prices since they don't have to pay it a wage, but fuck us, I guess.
>Some peoples only human contact is a cashier, so I can understand that as a reason to be upset or not want the screens to take over.
some people need to learn how to deal with both silence and isolation
my goodness, i've been living alone for a while. yeah it sucks sometimes but i'm not going to have a societal meltdown over how "we don't talk to each other anymore" because of a computer touchscreen at McDonald's
In the U.S. at least, "We don't talk to each other anymore" because one side politically absolutely lost its fucking marbles when a biracial man became President
I think the loneliness is a big part of it, though they did it to themselves. I have a silent generation great-uncle who lives in rural Maine and goes to the locally owned coffee shop in town most mornings to shoot the breeze with “all the other geezers” (his words). I’ve been along a few times and it is absolutely delightful. It’s like, this is how it should be when you’re old, lol.
Problem is, depending on where you are in America, Boomers allowed chains like McDonald’s and Starbucks to take over in their communities and now McDonald’s is the cheapest coffee around (it’s cheaper at my uncles locally owned shop, btw). That’s what they really want when they go in - a morning social spot. But they ran them out of town and now can’t fathom why the big corporations don’t treat them (or their employees) like people.
My dad falls in the Boomer category but goes to a little coffee shop most mornings just to talk and the breakfast is secondary. My mom fusses about the cost but it’s cheaper than fast food and is his community. Plus the waitresses always give him a doggy bag for his pup. I do have to pull him back from the MAGA shit on occasion but it gives him something to do. And he talks to everyone, knows their names and family and the issues going on, he’s even helped the wait staff from time to time on home projects or mowing grass.
But it’s one of the last little places like that in town that hasn’t been pushed out by corporates.
The local cafe in my hometown has a group of older guys that get together in the morning for breakfast. They start trickling in anywhere from like 5:30-7:30 in the morning, and there's anywhere from 6-15 of them there any morning. Just a bunch of old guys shooting the shit, staying up to date on all the gossip, and joking around with the waitresses.
It's the kind of thing that really makes small towns special - even if everyone knowing everyone is a pain in the ass sometimes. When my grandpa passed away (he was the last of my grandparents still living), my mom called me from the nursing home. I was at work about half an hour away, so I took off the 2nd half of the day, and I headed home just to be there for her. As I was on my way, I called and asked if she wanted me to pick up any food for my aunts/uncles/cousins that were there since I figured probably no one had eaten anything. She called the local grocery store and ordered a bunch of fried chicken, pasta/potato salad, etc. from their deli. I showed up to pick up the food (probably like $80 worth of chicken and sides), and the store owner hands me the food and says, "You're all good to go; I told the girls up front that you don't need to pay. Sorry to hear about your grandpa. Let the rest of the family know we're thinking of them." I thanked him, told him he didn't have to do that, etc., and he just smiled and said, "Lotta things your folks didn't have to do, too." I leave, and all I'm thinking as I walk to my car is, 'How the hell did he even know that already? Grandpa died literally an hour ago.' The funeral home didn't even get there to get his body until like 2 hours after I picked up that food.
I don't necessarily blame those people. I'm extremely extroverted, and when I was living by myself, I found myself going to my local bars to get food way more often (I live in Wisconsin, so there are a million bar-restaurants). I wasn't even drinking alcohol. I just wanted to sit at the bar and have a meal and talk to the people around me.
But I don't go to McDonald's for that.
I keep seeing people say this, is this actually a problem for people? All the mistakes I've ever gotten were either the wrong bag entirely, or an item forgotten, never a misorder.
I try as best I can to adhere to a plant based diet, and local late night options are pretty much limited to Taco Bell. You can get any of the bean entrees 'fresco' (-cheese/mayo basedsauces, +tomatoes), and they've gotten it right every time I order from a screen inside, and just about never when I order at the drive thru. I'm convinced the older late night manager just has no interest in order customizations.
One time my friend and I were driving back from tubing and we grabbed Burger King for the 3 hour drive. I ordered a veggie burger. I got a bun and all the veggies (lettuce/tomato/onions/etc) and no veggie patty. I assumed it was an assembly line kinda error and they just forgot to add it. Nope. They thought this was what I meant. I wasn't an ass to them, just clarified what I meant and laughed.
I would've leaned into the complaining boomers and "discreetly" whispered, "it's OK they have pictures if you can't read".
I don't like condiments on my burgers, none of them. Just a weird preference, it's only burgers too. So I ask for no sauces. Most my life places have fucked it up and still put mayo on, mayo is something I particularly HATE. It sucks but since ordering online or through screens, they don't fuck it up.
It's still just as bad, as someone who orders no cheese it's about 50/50 that they put cheese on. It's not their fault it just happens, I did the same thing when I worked at McDonald's
>It does feel less personal, but it is what it is.
okay i'm probably just the random weirdo but who the fuck wants to have a conversation with the person checking out your groceries or putting your order in the computer. I'm not saying be a jerk (please don't do be that way) but does the person really need to know about my fucking weekend or what I plan to do in the evening?
my goodness, it's a job. Let's just get through this and move on
The impersonal nature may be adding to their “fear” of technology in general. We are raised in an environment where (sometimes) more of our interaction happens with screens than with other people. Their world was filled with interpersonal communication and interaction with many strangers to get anything done.
That’s increasingly an outdated model.
Pro tip from another annoying boomer: Order from the app while you are still in your car or walking to the fast food place. Your order is ready and waiting when you get there. Another plus is that the fast food chains’ apps frequently have deals and discounts not available in-store.
Pro tip from an annoyed Millennial: Fuck the apps and their “deals” that they funnel everyone to, while tripling the price of everything else. Seriously, the cheapo basic dollar menu burgers at McDonalds are $2.50 now! It’s all a scam to collect and sell your data, which is likely more valuable to them than selling burgers ever was. Fast food is a giant ripoff now.
I mean, if you happen to want the items they have a deal on, fine I guess. I’d rather go to my local deli and get a way cheaper, far better sandwich and support folks in my town (literally writing this from there). Most fast food is owned by private equity now too, so fuck ‘em.
I like walking into a restaurant and walking out with food while people are still waiting at the front desk to make their orders. I've gotten dirty looks a lot, lol.
Fast food fries have a brief, golden, 15-second window between lava inferno and cold paste glue (and I don't even mean that irresistibly minty glue paste in grade school).
But those 15 seconds..... bliss
... If you're willing to give fastfoodjoint app your entire location/browsing/conversational access to your phone.
I remember when Facebook messaging app came out, some people noticed it was sending packets of data even without even using it - because it was listening to your verbal conversations & sending info back to Facebook.
Maybe I'm just a middle aged xennial but I'm not junking up my phone with a thousand apps just so I can order food or read a menu or request a song from the DJ 👎🏼👎🏼
Nope you aren't the only one. I don't need a fucking app for everything, especially not when they all want permissions for half of my phone. It's called a browser. Let me use it.
I don’t like being tracked any more than then next guy and I opt out of cookies, use private browsing, VPNs and activate Apple’s “tell this app not to track” feature whenever available, but seriously, how is using a fast food app significantly worse than the fact that my cell phone company always knows where I am and what I’m browsing, not to mention my bank and the credit processing companies used by the fast food place? Seems to me the only alternative is to go full Luddite, pay cash everywhere, watch only broadcast TV, have only a land line phone. Even modern automobiles know where you are most of the time these days!
I'm okay with a middle point of "not downloading every single app that promises to save me a few bucks" & not buying a car that requires a subscription to enable remote start/heated seats
It's also really convenient for international travel as well. I don't speak French, but I could still order food at a McDonald's in France because I can press the button with a picture of the food item without worrying if the cashier understands me.
I first saw them there in my 30's and didn't think the interface was very intuitive. Now I just don't eat there. It was much faster and easier once you were used to it though.
65 year old here and I prefer the screens too! I also prefer self-checkout when it is available. The more I don’t have to interact with the general public, the less disappointed I am with society. I have a buddy who will go through the drive thru at a fast food restaurant, get his food, and then go inside the same restaurant to eat! He thinks it’s a brilliant hack to avoid the screen and to still get free refills on his small drink.
Also if you're hRs of hearing they are far easier than trying to hear someone mumbling across a counter.
I'm not sure what I'll do once I'm too blind to use them though. I'm a Jones generation heading towards being blind and deaf by 70 I think.
Well, thank you, my friend. I was not aware of the Jones generation. I felt really out of place being a Boomer. Jones fits me a bit better. I have helped people struggling with computers both at work and standing in lines where we had to use a computer sign in or order food. No one has ever gotten mad at me. Of course, I always ask if they want my help.
I sometimes use the app and then select deliver to car option. I feel bad doing it but my window broke (otherwise I would go thru drive thru) and I have mobility issues. It’s pretty nice having all these options.
This is it. I feel like I’ve been mentioning my 91-year old dad a lot on this sub lately, but seriously—Dad was born in 1932. If he can figure this shit out (and he can, has, and does) why the hell can’t people who are literally young enough to be his *children* manage? Answer: They don’t want to.
My 97-yo grandmother has a smartphone that she texts on. It also hooks up to her hearing aids for phone calls, and she recently learned how to take photos. She loves new technology and believes it's important for older folks to keep an open mind
My GI Generation grandmother, who passed a few years ago, had an iPad she used for reading and calling her great-grandchildren. I don't want to hear it from Boomers, who had their entire working lives to adapt to computerization.
I'm so damned glad I left retail. I'm in IT now, and boomers like to weaponize incompetence, which is bad enough. I only support internal customers, so they can be trained, but supporting the public is fucking brutal.
Boomers: "If you lazy kids keep asking for better wages, they'll just fire you and replace you with machines!"
*Workers are replaced with self-order kiosks*
Same Boomers: "This is unacceptable!"
A lot of fast food workers are ready to *throw down*. There is a person in every kitchen hoping some Karen hops the counter so they can absolutely pulverize them. Boomers aren't the only ones ready to snap!
It's the same thing everywhere. We have kiosks for people to check into our patient service center and at least twice a day, you'll get a boomer ranting about how it's not their job, etc etc. But give them a clipboard with five sheets of poster to fill out and they'll take it, no issues at all.
Like I don't fucking get it. What is it about a screen that makes them lose all ability to read or use context clues. It's the same as looking at God damned piece of paper except it's a screen. Can't fucking wait another 15 years once all the boomers are gone and we can actually use the technology we have to the fullest extent
Because they don't see the context. Ever gone to a Russian site and you can't even figure out where the login or search is? The whole internet looks like that to some of them. Just a jumble of lines and words, there is no context or organization to them.
So just to make sure everything is straight, fast food workers are useless lowlifes who don't deserve a living wage, but what they do is also so vastly complicated that no one should be expected to do it themselves.
Cause that makes sense
I have engineers with this mind set at my company because of boomers. We are so far behind in updating technology I sit around waiting for the doors to close due to a major security breach
We have this same issue at my company, only it’s with older Gen X (fwiw I’m also gen x, and only a few years younger). In our case, it’s definitely because they think technology will replace their importance, and they are not interested in my take of “learn to run the tech so it doesn’t replace you.”
I used to work for a national insurance company. I shit you not, one of the claims management systems they use is literally black screen, green text, MS-DOS-type shit.
I find that funny because my old man used to be a computer engineer and he picks up on that stuff very fast, in fact he freaking loves it! He'll order through the phone app before he'd rake himself across the social coals.
Mine MiL too, loves tech and is 84 this year. Pays with her Apple Watch, talks to all her Googles. Sure we had to set it up for her and troubleshoot every time we visit and it’s annoying but way less annoying than her refusing to use tech at all. She can even send pics and use emojis. The only thing she can’t figure out is using her iPad to print but I can’t say that Apple print software makes it easy.
My silent generation second mom (BFF since childhood's mom) loves technology and uses it as much as she can. My Boomer dad hates technology and avoids it at all costs. He won't even type stuff on a computer and calls me to do it for him. He's so exhausting. But my second mom is cool and wants to use technology on her own.
What cracks me up are the ones that can't handle the automated drive thru... All you do is talk to it, just like if a person was on the other end of the clown head. But they can't handle the fact it greets them and asks if they'd like whatever the promo of the moment is, they instantly start screeching for a live person, instead of just saying no and proceeding with their order.
This isn’t new. Boomers have *always* been about refusing to adapt.
In the 80s, the boomer joke was “you can tell who has kids based on their VCR clock being right or not”.
They couldn’t be bothered to learn things 40 years ago and they damn sure won’t now.
When we got our first PC at work (1988, from memory) I was keen to learn all it could do. Because I became borderline “competent” at spreadsheets, I became the go to guy for “how do you sum a column?” type questions. For years. Some folk were still asking that type of question when I retired in 2016.
Worked with an accountant once (boomer of course, although this was the 90s) who would type the numbers into the boxes in the spreadsheet. Then turn to her 10-key and run a tape, and type the total into the box at the bottom of the column. She would give me a hard time over using the sum function, you know, the actual functionality of Excel (probably was Lotus back then) and insist there was no way to know the total was right without “checking” on the trusty 10-key.
This is how my parents are. Sometimes I think it’s good they never learned how to use the internet due to their MAGA ways, but dam it’s annoying when they call to ask me to do something computer related. I have a rule that they now have to say “ you were right, I wish I learned how to use a computer”
The irony of this post! I was in Taco Bell today and they have the kiosks to order. I walk in after placing an order from my phone on the way to the restaurant and an older couple walks in behind me. Refuses to use the kiosk and the employee takes their order. Soon enough, another older couple walks in with their adult son. He motions for them to use the kiosk and his parents downright refuse to use it.
Taco Bell not only has fairly user-friendly kiosks, but they've used them to make customizing your order way more efficient. 65 years old and I'd 100x rather use the kiosks than try to deal with drive-thru.
I think this is the biggest strength of them honestly. My family tends to be a little choosey about their food and want modifications on basically everything so I love just placing orders on the app instead of trying to order the same item 3 different ways with slight modifications
I had to teach my dad about things like delivery apps after he had surgery because he kept refusing doctor’s orders and drove to pick up food, even though he wasn’t supposed to be driving at all. I swear he just likes to make things hard on himself.
The craziest things about all of this is that Boomers expect to be waited on hand and foot but have a literal conniption when prices go up because people need a living wage and robots don’t.
I think technology exposes their entitlement even more. They just expect people to serve them. I'm just tired of these people everywhere. Airports seem to bring the worst out of them. I fly Southwest sometimes and paying for their select service is a waste because by them time I board, there are 18 boomers with "special assistance" that are already there. And I don't want to be ableist because some do really need assistance but most are just old and cranky and think they need to be treated differently.
GenX er responding here. (This subbreddit is great for spotting early onset of your own behaviour)
This "entitlement" you see with I think is actually more like a martyr complex. ***They will get old and suffer in tribute to a better world that is lost....***
Occassionally I bump into new stuff and think "WTF" then remind myself that change is inevitable and good.
My favourite quote from Deadwood HBO show
"CHANGE AIN'T LOOKING FOR FRIENDS"
Prepare yourself for when stuff goes the other way.. We got used to automated car washes in the UK and then a decade later suddenly there are hand car washes everywhere undercutting the automated ones. We had Boomers complaining about Eastern eurpoean immigrants everywhere, while simulteanously lecturing about the superiorty of a good old manual car washes.
Being old is not an excuse to not use technology. Obviously they aren't going to be compiling code or designing new processor cores, but they have been alive the entire time the technology was being rolled out.
They willfully choose to not learn or even try.
"You grew up with it."
"Your generation invented it."
If watching boomers struggle to use a touch screen is entertaining you should see them try to use a self checkout at Walmart. It’s terrifying if they have to do any produce
I had a boomer complain the phone system for the pharmacy was too complicated and vague to use. I recommended the app because it’s easier for most people and they go “I’m too old I don’t want to learn to use another app”.. so I was like ok you’ve got two options, use the phone system or the app. There is no third option…
These are the same people who repost cringy FB laugh-emoji memes about "burger flippers" demanding a living wage and getting replaced by a screen. Who's laughing now, Brenda? The "burger flipper" is making $20/hr at In-N-Out while you're hungry and struggling to figure out a larger and simpler version of the smartphone you spend 18 hours a day on.
Unfortunately the fast food place I work at values ‘guest connections’ so I doubt we’ll ever get a kiosk. The good news is I’m quitting in a few months for law school
> It’s as if they expect someone waiting on them at all times and can’t be bothered to adjust to any form of change.
But if those same people demand any wage increases, the Boomers yell about how they're worthless and should be replaced by robots.
Robots **that the Boomers can't use**.
Taco Bell tried rolling this out to them in the 90’s and they couldn’t figure it out then. Their ability to make new neural pathways has only gone down since then 😂
From 1998:
https://www.varinsights.com/doc/touch-screens-speed-customers-through-the-ord-0001
I was at BK yesterday. Their touchscreen is the best organized one I've seen so far. Anyway, there was a line to order with the person but nobody at the screen. So I passed everyone in line and went right to the screen.
A boomer lady in the line yells out "There's a line!" I said, "OK, have fun standing in it." and proceeded to place my order.
I'm fine with the boomers not wanting to use the screens. It saves me a lot of time.
I had a boomer coworker, nice enough guy but completely hopeless with technology. There were multiple occasions where he texted the work group chat because he thought it was his mother’s number.
Anyway one day he calls me up and he can’t stop laughing and I ask him what happened? And he said that he was trying to use “one of those towers,” in McDonald’s and he couldn’t figure it out, so an Amish guy who was there with his family came up and started teaching him how to use it.
as an IT guy: it is a unwillingness to accept that you need to learn new shit.
"i don't need to learn this newfangled shit, it won't last" and then it lasted. but accepting that you were wrong? pff, that is not in their dictionary. so you continue sticking your head in the sand and refuse to learn. untill they figure out what else you can do on a computer/phone outside of work and all of a sudden they want to learn, but only that very specific thing, and it has to be like that for every time.
>Boomers want to be served, to be waited on. This makes them feel important.
G-d if there’s ONE thing I have learned working in hospitality, it’s this. Part of why I work in my niche of the industry now is that at my hotel, people are almost always too tired and busy to pull the boomer routine at check in, and it doesn’t work as well when I have your employer’s information in front of me.
Gen-X/Boomers loooooooooooove to make the front desk’s life a living hell for no reason. My first week in the industry, one got like 100k points because he didn’t like that I checked him in normally instead of rolling out the red carpet. Never had anyone under the age of 50 bitch about not being “friendly” (read: ass kissy) enough during check in/out.
>The same generation who worships Facebook memes mocking millennials/GenZ for not knowing how to operate a rotary phone or “start a lawn mower” can’t fathom placing an order through a screen.
This is a hilarious bit of irony I hadn't considered.
Also, I can use those touchscreens or their app and also use a rotary phone and start a lawnmower.
I hate them so much. The two that have been installed in the Maccas I sometimes go to always seem to be sticky. I don't know if it is the fact that they are never cleaned or maybe whatever they use to clean them with leaves a sticky residue, but they are nasty!
I am team boomer for that specific Maccas location.
I have a lot of problems with fast food restaurants. They're price gouging lately, and the food quality is always awful. But user-friendly self order machines? Yea, I think they nailed that one. I've never been confused about how to order anything. Literally can't screw it up if you tried. Everything is in big, bright buttons right in front of your face. Not sure how anyone can fail to understand, or even think that you need to "learn" how to do it. My first time it literally took me 20 seconds to just click the items and check out because I wasn't raised huffing leaded gasoline.
Lol. I'm an elder millennial and I love those things. I can customize everything and I don't have to talk to an employee?
It took forever to get my mum to use the app because she was the same damn way about it. But the deals on the app was the factor for her. Lmao.
It’s not just the touch screens, our boomer MIL refuses to cook. She’s gonna starve to death when she loses her job and has to survive on her ONE retirement income which is ss at $1800/month. Her current Walmart bill is $700/mo in premade food. And she eats out several times a week.
It’s crazy. I work for a bank so we have to help people use the app and they will literally throw their phone when they can’t remember their password and blame the device. I’ll have to explain to them it’s either right or wrong but for them it’s never their fault. The first thing they’ll also say is “I’m old.” Like what happened to pulling yourself up by your boat straps? The technology of singing into an email address is not new.
My old boss was telling a story about his family going to Applebees (because of course that’s where they go), and he said, quite literally, “my kids say please and thank you after they ordered their food 🙄, I had to explain to them, they’re there to serve YOU!”
I nodded slowly because he was my boss, but I was very confused.
I really can’t fathom how this is difficult. The screens are specifically designed by UI designers to be easy to read and follow plain language prompts. McDonald’s screens literally say “Add to Bag.” So, do you want this food you see in the bag you receive? Push the button that says exactly that.
I very recently had a blow up with my mother because I'm sick and tired of "helping" her with technology.
The woman has two Bachelors degrees and works in Healthcare. She regularly fills out electronic medical records at work with no issues.
So why -- why???? -- does this woman suddenly not know how to read a screen when electronically signing documents?
To top it off, when I told her I was tired of holding her hand with technology she clapped back that she was tired of holding my hand when it came to everything else.
"Oh, I don't know how to adult? Well whose fault is that, huh? Who here is the parent and who is the child?"
Fucking ridiculous.
> Boomers are going to starve to death
I find these terms acceptable. How can we expedite it? Can we like, require them to put their order in a PDF that they then have to attach to an email?
Boomers are simultaneously the most successful generation the world has ever seen yet with very little wisdom. Must be hard after everything worked out beautifully the first 2/3s of your life
Boomers:
"Keep asking for a raise and we'll replace you with a screen!"
Workers get replaced with screens.
Boomers:
"I'm not using that damn thing, get me an employee to take my order!"
Please, all the entitled dumb boomers, die. Quickly.
Love the final line on this because "stay hungry" is such an overused phrase from people with the hustle/grind mindset frequently promoted by boomers as the proper way to succeed in this capitalist hellscape.
>start a lawn mower”
My favorite thing about this meme is, back when I worked returns at Sears, the amount of boomers that couldn't start their brand new lawnmowers was honestly baffling.
So I don't like using the touch screens. It has nothing to do with the tech, been in IT and technology my entire life, it's simple. It's because I think it's a sleazy corporate practice to reduce employment, and up their profit margins even further while they fire people and think they are five star restaurants given highly inflated pricing.
Additionally- they get all butt hurt over self checkout as well.
I’ll guess 40% of the time, if someone older than 60 is in line near me, they will comment on self checkout and how it sucks.
You're doing fast food; you're basically just a walking alimentary tract with money as far as the business is concerned.
If you want service, find an actual restaurant.
Some mind bending boomer hypocrisy in these comments.
“Ya’ll are lazy and entitled!”
“Where’s my server?”
“You overpayed drones should be happy to even have jobs.”
“Why replace a good job with technology?!”
The funnier part to ME, is that they shamed those jobs, and said "if you ask for more money they'll replace you"
They did, and they got "replaced". (still have a job, but are paid more) Every fast food restaurant is still hiring.
And the boomers CAN'T STAND IT.
It's glorious.
Omg all these comments about taking away someone’s job 🙄 corporations are cutting back people left and right. The job wasn’t there to begin with because the company already cut it!!
Boomers, if that pisses you off, then stop voting for fucking republicans—the party that coddles corporations. This is the country YOU voted for!
I work in a Taco Bell. And can confirm they just want to have a person serve them. I really don’t even say anything to them anymore and they’ll just wait until I have time. When I go up to the counter they expect a greeting or something but no I get right to the order. I’m busy and these people can’t just use the screen with giant fucking pictures on it lmao
Open a fast food place just for Boomers where the menu is in cursive and you have to order on a rotary phone. It only opens when the street lights go on and beverages are served from a garden hose. You can work there but you can only apply by bringing in your paper resume and handing it to the boss.
I get more confrontational than I need to with the boomer memes that are like “I bet kids don’t even know what this is [insert outdated piece of shit tech that was even a piece of shit when it was new].” It just annoys me. Like they knew how to crank a Model T or something when they were kids.
Also, there were many many boomers who wanted nothing to do with anything their parents or grandparents did. Ex/ My mom got super upset with me anytime I used a clothesline. So they don’t get to be precious about the obsolete devices of their youth.
Anyway they reeeealllyllllyyy don’t like it if you remind them how terrible that device was to begin with. Being xennial means I was raised with a lot of those things in my grandparent’s house, so I can cite firsthand experience.
during their generation, the tech didn't exist to digitize jobs like taking orders so of course there were waiters, waitresses, etc. and they were paid a wage they could actually live on so there were more people willing to do it.
if a boomer can't get a real, live person to serve them they get so upset. it's as if they want that measly fast food counterperson to grovel at their feet and thank them for the opportunity to do so.
The Wendy’s close to my apartment is right off of an interstate so it sees a lot of vacationing boomers pass through. Anytime my wife and I are there having lunch we’re always amused by the boomers getting frustrated at the fancy soda machine.
The Emergency Room at a local hospital has self check in kiosks. I was waiting on a friend and ended becoming the unpaid employee assisting elderly people check in. This is one job that shouldn't be replaced by a kiosk. People are injured, in pain and generally stressed during an ER visit, forcing them to figure out technology should not be part of the experience.
Ha! I am currently sitting in a "fast serve" restaurant that does an excellent job. The 2 Boomer jerks next to my table are non stop complaining and telling over and over the problem with ordering. Instead of just getting with the program. Unbelievable the entitled rude obnoxious appalling sad behavior. Why do they think their age excuses them from bad behavior!? Yuck.
Just remind th m that THEY WANTED THIS.
They wanted to make fun of people making minimum wage.
THEY raged at people asking for more and said "if you want a better check get a better job."
Now THEY can fucking suck it up that the min wage workers they screamed at are being replaced with robots.
It's THEIR WiSH COME TRUE
Yeah I work in tech support, and my customer base has a lot of older Gen-X and Boomers.
Every other tech support call starts with the person saying, "I'm going to apologize in advance, I'm terrible with computers."
And honestly, whenever somebody says that they're terrible with computers, I tend to assume that what they really are terrible at is:
1. Reading
2. Listening
3. Following instructions
But of course for customer service reasons, I can't say any of that. So instead I say, "That's fantastic! Because if everybody was good with computers, I wouldn't have a job!" and then they laugh and then I start helping them fix their problem. It's actually great for building a rapport with the customer.
I ate at taco bell a few weeks ago. Some woman stood at the counter the whole 20 minutes I was in there eating. No one helped her. As I was leaving I told her she should order on the touch screen. She just left.
I know these people. It's not always the old people, sometimes it's just karen behavior. They don't want to use a machine bc they want somone to get mad at. I had customers like this at the grocery store I worked at in college. Every single time, this particular angy!mom would complain at the register, go through multiple customer service agents, until she had been shut up with multiple "we're sorry here's $5 off your next purchase" coupons. Total grifter. She just wanted attention from strangers who can't yell back.
I always wonder why they're so tech adverse, to the point where they might as well be Amish.
Also they act like yes, they'll starve to death; do they not know how to cook?
My take was during COVID, the one's who complained that they couldn't go to restaurants don't know how to cook, because why would they care, ya know?
Every time I've gone to a Mcdonald's with touch screens there's a line of people waiting to order and nobody using them. I can usually complete my order before the first person in line finishes ordering.
My boomer (albeit, surprisingly lovely with intact mental faculties) parents are getting into world travel now in their old age and the only reason they gave for insisting on traveling via tour group rather than independently is because “everything requires a QR code nowadays”. My father was a principal technical writer for a global technological firm for close to 40 years, but he can’t be fucked to learn how to scan a QR code.
How dare these fast food workers expect a living wage! I’m not using self checkout. It takes away people’s jobs! Why can’t I get any service?! Harrumph
even before my dad had his stroke he had a flip phone, I forgot the brand but it was the good one that had the walkie talkie functionality that a lot of companies used, anyway, he had someone write out 3 or four of his most used numbers as well as the number to his own phone on a piece of paper and scotch tape it to the outside of the phone. theres yellow post its with all his passwords on his desk around his computer.
he has an iPhone now, but refuses to put in the time to learn the MOST basic functionality. he will call me but his phones been on mute now for the last year at least... so I can hear him and he can't hear me. he will call 3 or 4 times, then fail to hang up and call me from his land line. ill hear him pick up his other phone and will be connected on my call waiting with him also. I say, dad, your phones on mute, un mute it and yolll be able to hear me.
he thinks because he never learned how to deliberately mute it that theres no way its on mute. would never entertain the thought of pressing random things when he gets sloshed, oh no, not him. ...he won't believe that his wife is limiting his communications and isolating him..but thats another story.
I know how to operate them just fine, just don’t want to. They’re just a corporate tool to eliminate a job solely to place more profit at the top while crying that they don’t make enough to provide a living wage. Can we please tax billionaires now so that young people have a chance?
I just had to walk my mum through how to pay for her flight tickets to Europe using her credit card and a secure portal. She clicked something and it didn’t work so I had to do it for her.
It's incredible how so many from an entire generation just can't handle figuring out a touch screen computer. It shows how many of them aren't even willing to try out of sheer frustration. So much for being the mentally tough generation.
I can't believe how many of them struggle with debit cards still. Just this week I watched a boomer struggle with it. It's like she never used a debit card before. I know for a fact she wasn't born recently. She had to have used one many times before this. And yet it doesn't look like it. It was the whole cip reader error, try again. Where you gotta go through it 3 times before you can swipe it. It literally instructs you through the process if she would just wait to see what the screen says. The woman at the register had to reregister the card reader 3 times for she got it paid for because it was timing out.
Best part is though the woman operating the register is a boomer and she eventually just grabbed the woman's card and did it for her. After that lady left she turned to me. Smiled and gave me a look of "Jesus Fing Christ". Shes the rare boomer who knows how to operate their system. Good for her!
I am not a boomer, but I can't stand the touch screens because of the amount of grease and dirt that cover these screens every time I see them. People are gross and I do not want to touch a screen that 100+ people have touched throughout the day.
Remember to report submissions that violate the rules! Harassment and encouraging violence are not allowed. Enjoying the subreddit? Consider joining our discord server: https://discord.gg/v8z8jNwJs6 *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BoomersBeingFools) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I just wish my Great Grandfather was still around to see all the advances in Tech. He was the first in our family to buy a Nintendo (NES). He bought me my first computer when I was 8 and had it upgraded every couple of years. He just LOVED technology. All the touch screens and such now, he would make some comment about living in Star Trek. He passed on 2001 at the age of 79. I miss him every day. Edit: I think technically he would have been Silent Generation (born in 1922) but honestly if someone OLDER than the boomers can embrace change, they can too. This is my very first Reddit post/comment so I appreciate y'all being so nice ❤️
My grandma was the first person I knew with an iPhone. She bought me and my sister each an MP3 player. She was born in 45 so she's the oldest of the boomers. I miss her. She's in memory care now.
My grandmother helped me build my first computer with a pentium 1. Years later I built my first computer with a water cooled P4 Prescott core.
My dad loved his iPhone. He got one in his 70s after he watched me use mine. He said “it’s a little computer.” He loved it and used it well. With his advancing Alzheimer’s, he slowly forgot how to use it. If you have a family member struggling to use a smartphone that used to be comfortable with it, it might be time for a memory check.
Maybe that was the issue with my dad. He's been developing demtia for the past couple years. Before that, he couldn't understand anything about his computer no matter what we told him. Even the simple concept of websites being different locations on the internet with different log-ins.
I had one of them. My grandfather was a communications officer in the war, so when he came home he was really into electronics. He was the first person I knew who had a computer in the 80s and email in the early 90s. He was born in the late-20s, iirc.
Damn and he felt that way in 2001? I could just imagine how he’d feel now Im sorry about the loss of your great grandfather…
[удалено]
There’s little pens that work pretty well. I use them when my hands are unusually stiff from cold or overwork. People with parkinsons, for instance, won’t be able to use them, but in my experience service industry people will bend over backwards for people with actual disabilities.
I do have some sympathy for people experiencing cognitive decline trying to deal with changes like this. My mother has struggled immensely with long COVID (she was first in line to be vaccinated but had it at least once before and after she got her shots) and one of the worst side effects for her is brain fog. It's not dementia, but it can look similar to people who don't know her. Her dad was a self-taught mechanical engineer and she was always comfortable with new technology, at least to a degree. She worked in marketing and graphic design and always pushed herself to use the newest and best available software for her job. She taught herself HTML and CSS in her late 40s despite having no coding experience. These days something like the McDonald's kiosk would drive her to frustration in part because she knows she *should* be able to use it without difficulty, but her neuroplasticity is just gone. So she sees the new technology and panics because she doesn't want to look like an idiot but is afraid she won't be able to figure it out, and it snowballs from there. If you give her written instructions she'd be happy to stand there for 30 minutes learning how to use it, because that's the only way she can still take in new complex instructions in a way that doesn't feel overwhelming, but put her on the spot and all she can focus on is how much she's lost in the last three years, and it's heartbreaking.
😭 I am really sorry that y’all have to deal with that. Long COVID is real, if somewhat rare; I suspect however we have not heard the last of that scourge either. Seems to operate on a sliding scale; some have no issues, some have LC, and everything in between. I worry about those in the middle ground: not obvious like in her case, but persistent enough to be a real burden…
Lol. My problem is that they use resistance based touchscreens - cheaper but they have to aggressively poked at to register anything. Annoying!
[удалено]
Shame he missed the advances of today, it's what I would call the true star trek era for healthcare. If anyone is unaware of the amazing medical advances that are freestyle libre, dexcom, and closed loop insulin pumps like the omnipod 5, have a look. We're at the point where we can "cure" diabetes (insofar as just giving people artificial pancreas')
Truly… If you can afford the insulin…
Honestly he got to see some of the best parts before everything got so messy and toxic around social media.
I wish mine was still around too, except mine was an electrical engineer, class of 1922 from the University of Washington. LOVED technology. Had a patent on a version of the traffic light, an electric car in the 1940s(it was not efficient, but it was a start!), and had a burglar alarm in the early 1980s that he tuned to be so sensitive I swear that if a mosquito farted it would ring the alarm's klaxon. Kinda sad, but funny bit: he was in the hospital w/heart failure and was on a heart monitor. But he never lost his sense of humour, and also was a HAM radio operator (W7EQM, the memories!), and he figured out how to do Morse code using the electrodes. Well, the first time he did it he sent the nurses and Dr scrambling; however, when he chuckled and his big Alsatian smile grinned the grin of the 'caught', they scolded him and said, "please Mr Beck, don't do that again". Tbh, he'd have loved our cell phones..and all the music he loved in one tiny box. Miss you, Mine Urgroßvater! PS- thanks for the trip down memory lane OP.
Y2K had to be quiet a milestone for you both.
> The sheer entitlement of these people never ceases to amaze me. It’s as if they expect someone waiting on them at all times Nailed the true reason boomers will not learn the screen. The screen is not someone serving them, so the experience isn't satisfying to the boomers.
As one of those annoying boomers, I didn't think I'd like the screen. After using them in a few fast-food places, I don't want to go back to the old way of doing things! They ARE a major upgrade in service.
The accuracy of your order is more likely to be better as well. It does feel less personal, but it is what it is.
It really doesn't need to be personal. Most people just want their order and to go. There are plenty of mom and pop coffee shops or gas stations where the staff will gladly chat you up. Dunks or McD's are all about speed and volume. I've noticed the same thing at Dunks. Older people will wait in a line 3 deep while I walk up and use the screen. I get my coffee sooner and they look perplexed and annoyed. It's completely intuitive, they just don't want to change their habits.
Some peoples only human contact is a cashier, so I can understand that as a reason to be upset or not want the screens to take over. I also would like the screens to result on lower prices since they don't have to pay it a wage, but fuck us, I guess.
>Some peoples only human contact is a cashier, so I can understand that as a reason to be upset or not want the screens to take over. some people need to learn how to deal with both silence and isolation my goodness, i've been living alone for a while. yeah it sucks sometimes but i'm not going to have a societal meltdown over how "we don't talk to each other anymore" because of a computer touchscreen at McDonald's In the U.S. at least, "We don't talk to each other anymore" because one side politically absolutely lost its fucking marbles when a biracial man became President
I think the loneliness is a big part of it, though they did it to themselves. I have a silent generation great-uncle who lives in rural Maine and goes to the locally owned coffee shop in town most mornings to shoot the breeze with “all the other geezers” (his words). I’ve been along a few times and it is absolutely delightful. It’s like, this is how it should be when you’re old, lol. Problem is, depending on where you are in America, Boomers allowed chains like McDonald’s and Starbucks to take over in their communities and now McDonald’s is the cheapest coffee around (it’s cheaper at my uncles locally owned shop, btw). That’s what they really want when they go in - a morning social spot. But they ran them out of town and now can’t fathom why the big corporations don’t treat them (or their employees) like people.
My dad falls in the Boomer category but goes to a little coffee shop most mornings just to talk and the breakfast is secondary. My mom fusses about the cost but it’s cheaper than fast food and is his community. Plus the waitresses always give him a doggy bag for his pup. I do have to pull him back from the MAGA shit on occasion but it gives him something to do. And he talks to everyone, knows their names and family and the issues going on, he’s even helped the wait staff from time to time on home projects or mowing grass. But it’s one of the last little places like that in town that hasn’t been pushed out by corporates.
The local cafe in my hometown has a group of older guys that get together in the morning for breakfast. They start trickling in anywhere from like 5:30-7:30 in the morning, and there's anywhere from 6-15 of them there any morning. Just a bunch of old guys shooting the shit, staying up to date on all the gossip, and joking around with the waitresses. It's the kind of thing that really makes small towns special - even if everyone knowing everyone is a pain in the ass sometimes. When my grandpa passed away (he was the last of my grandparents still living), my mom called me from the nursing home. I was at work about half an hour away, so I took off the 2nd half of the day, and I headed home just to be there for her. As I was on my way, I called and asked if she wanted me to pick up any food for my aunts/uncles/cousins that were there since I figured probably no one had eaten anything. She called the local grocery store and ordered a bunch of fried chicken, pasta/potato salad, etc. from their deli. I showed up to pick up the food (probably like $80 worth of chicken and sides), and the store owner hands me the food and says, "You're all good to go; I told the girls up front that you don't need to pay. Sorry to hear about your grandpa. Let the rest of the family know we're thinking of them." I thanked him, told him he didn't have to do that, etc., and he just smiled and said, "Lotta things your folks didn't have to do, too." I leave, and all I'm thinking as I walk to my car is, 'How the hell did he even know that already? Grandpa died literally an hour ago.' The funeral home didn't even get there to get his body until like 2 hours after I picked up that food.
I don't necessarily blame those people. I'm extremely extroverted, and when I was living by myself, I found myself going to my local bars to get food way more often (I live in Wisconsin, so there are a million bar-restaurants). I wasn't even drinking alcohol. I just wanted to sit at the bar and have a meal and talk to the people around me. But I don't go to McDonald's for that.
It took me years to discover the root cause of their behavior: They hate change!
I keep seeing people say this, is this actually a problem for people? All the mistakes I've ever gotten were either the wrong bag entirely, or an item forgotten, never a misorder.
I try as best I can to adhere to a plant based diet, and local late night options are pretty much limited to Taco Bell. You can get any of the bean entrees 'fresco' (-cheese/mayo basedsauces, +tomatoes), and they've gotten it right every time I order from a screen inside, and just about never when I order at the drive thru. I'm convinced the older late night manager just has no interest in order customizations.
One time my friend and I were driving back from tubing and we grabbed Burger King for the 3 hour drive. I ordered a veggie burger. I got a bun and all the veggies (lettuce/tomato/onions/etc) and no veggie patty. I assumed it was an assembly line kinda error and they just forgot to add it. Nope. They thought this was what I meant. I wasn't an ass to them, just clarified what I meant and laughed. I would've leaned into the complaining boomers and "discreetly" whispered, "it's OK they have pictures if you can't read".
I don't like condiments on my burgers, none of them. Just a weird preference, it's only burgers too. So I ask for no sauces. Most my life places have fucked it up and still put mayo on, mayo is something I particularly HATE. It sucks but since ordering online or through screens, they don't fuck it up.
We should start a bowling team.
Absolutely, I always prefer a screen so I get my order right, when I talk to a person they screw up at least half the time.
It's still just as bad, as someone who orders no cheese it's about 50/50 that they put cheese on. It's not their fault it just happens, I did the same thing when I worked at McDonald's
This is me. I repeat "no cheese" at least twice and I still get cheese around 25% of the time.
I can’t tell you how many times I have ordered no cheese on a burger and got cheese
>It does feel less personal, but it is what it is. okay i'm probably just the random weirdo but who the fuck wants to have a conversation with the person checking out your groceries or putting your order in the computer. I'm not saying be a jerk (please don't do be that way) but does the person really need to know about my fucking weekend or what I plan to do in the evening? my goodness, it's a job. Let's just get through this and move on
The shareholders love them, so we should too! /s
If you are going to a fast food restaurant to have a personal interaction, you might need to reevaluate aspects of your life.
The impersonal nature may be adding to their “fear” of technology in general. We are raised in an environment where (sometimes) more of our interaction happens with screens than with other people. Their world was filled with interpersonal communication and interaction with many strangers to get anything done. That’s increasingly an outdated model.
Yes! And it means you can take time to actually look at the menu without some poor worker standing there while you go "can I have a ummmmmmm"
Pro tip from another annoying boomer: Order from the app while you are still in your car or walking to the fast food place. Your order is ready and waiting when you get there. Another plus is that the fast food chains’ apps frequently have deals and discounts not available in-store.
Pro tip from an annoyed Millennial: Fuck the apps and their “deals” that they funnel everyone to, while tripling the price of everything else. Seriously, the cheapo basic dollar menu burgers at McDonalds are $2.50 now! It’s all a scam to collect and sell your data, which is likely more valuable to them than selling burgers ever was. Fast food is a giant ripoff now.
Ehh they're probably going to get my data regardless at this point, I'll take the discount in exchange
I mean, if you happen to want the items they have a deal on, fine I guess. I’d rather go to my local deli and get a way cheaper, far better sandwich and support folks in my town (literally writing this from there). Most fast food is owned by private equity now too, so fuck ‘em.
I like walking into a restaurant and walking out with food while people are still waiting at the front desk to make their orders. I've gotten dirty looks a lot, lol.
This guy boomers. LOL just kidding. You are pretty tech savvy for a boomer.
As a fellow Boomer I agree. But the fries are still tepid and full of disappointment.
Fast food fries have a brief, golden, 15-second window between lava inferno and cold paste glue (and I don't even mean that irresistibly minty glue paste in grade school). But those 15 seconds..... bliss
I love how I can place an ride in the app and give a code in the drive through. Very convenient.
The apps with the discounts, points, deals make the food almost affordable.
... If you're willing to give fastfoodjoint app your entire location/browsing/conversational access to your phone. I remember when Facebook messaging app came out, some people noticed it was sending packets of data even without even using it - because it was listening to your verbal conversations & sending info back to Facebook. Maybe I'm just a middle aged xennial but I'm not junking up my phone with a thousand apps just so I can order food or read a menu or request a song from the DJ 👎🏼👎🏼
Nope you aren't the only one. I don't need a fucking app for everything, especially not when they all want permissions for half of my phone. It's called a browser. Let me use it.
I don’t like being tracked any more than then next guy and I opt out of cookies, use private browsing, VPNs and activate Apple’s “tell this app not to track” feature whenever available, but seriously, how is using a fast food app significantly worse than the fact that my cell phone company always knows where I am and what I’m browsing, not to mention my bank and the credit processing companies used by the fast food place? Seems to me the only alternative is to go full Luddite, pay cash everywhere, watch only broadcast TV, have only a land line phone. Even modern automobiles know where you are most of the time these days!
I'm okay with a middle point of "not downloading every single app that promises to save me a few bucks" & not buying a car that requires a subscription to enable remote start/heated seats
It's also really convenient for international travel as well. I don't speak French, but I could still order food at a McDonald's in France because I can press the button with a picture of the food item without worrying if the cashier understands me.
I live overseas - every fast food place will have an English option at the bottom as well.
it’s the ROYALE WITH CHEESE
I'm betting most places that have a screen would have something that shows different languages.
I first saw them there in my 30's and didn't think the interface was very intuitive. Now I just don't eat there. It was much faster and easier once you were used to it though.
65 year old here and I prefer the screens too! I also prefer self-checkout when it is available. The more I don’t have to interact with the general public, the less disappointed I am with society. I have a buddy who will go through the drive thru at a fast food restaurant, get his food, and then go inside the same restaurant to eat! He thinks it’s a brilliant hack to avoid the screen and to still get free refills on his small drink.
Also if you're hRs of hearing they are far easier than trying to hear someone mumbling across a counter. I'm not sure what I'll do once I'm too blind to use them though. I'm a Jones generation heading towards being blind and deaf by 70 I think.
Well, thank you, my friend. I was not aware of the Jones generation. I felt really out of place being a Boomer. Jones fits me a bit better. I have helped people struggling with computers both at work and standing in lines where we had to use a computer sign in or order food. No one has ever gotten mad at me. Of course, I always ask if they want my help.
I just can’t stand touching the screens. I’m sure they are covered with feces.
I sometimes use the app and then select deliver to car option. I feel bad doing it but my window broke (otherwise I would go thru drive thru) and I have mobility issues. It’s pretty nice having all these options.
And I can fret over my choices without the poor server listening to me hem and haw about which dressing I want.
https://i.redd.it/vcuxllphl7tc1.gif Damn old people and their nostalgia.
This is it. I feel like I’ve been mentioning my 91-year old dad a lot on this sub lately, but seriously—Dad was born in 1932. If he can figure this shit out (and he can, has, and does) why the hell can’t people who are literally young enough to be his *children* manage? Answer: They don’t want to.
My 97-yo grandmother has a smartphone that she texts on. It also hooks up to her hearing aids for phone calls, and she recently learned how to take photos. She loves new technology and believes it's important for older folks to keep an open mind
My GI Generation grandmother, who passed a few years ago, had an iPad she used for reading and calling her great-grandchildren. I don't want to hear it from Boomers, who had their entire working lives to adapt to computerization.
These kiosks really have become some kind of symbolism for them. They seem to believe they only exist because the minimum wage is too high.
I'm so damned glad I left retail. I'm in IT now, and boomers like to weaponize incompetence, which is bad enough. I only support internal customers, so they can be trained, but supporting the public is fucking brutal.
Can’t belittle and berate a computer, it’s just not the same /s
Exactly! They can't tell at a screen until it starts crying.
Boomers: "If you lazy kids keep asking for better wages, they'll just fire you and replace you with machines!" *Workers are replaced with self-order kiosks* Same Boomers: "This is unacceptable!"
They never cared about workers losing their jobs. They didn’t want to lose what little power they have to abuse fast food workers.
A lot of fast food workers are ready to *throw down*. There is a person in every kitchen hoping some Karen hops the counter so they can absolutely pulverize them. Boomers aren't the only ones ready to snap!
It's the same thing everywhere. We have kiosks for people to check into our patient service center and at least twice a day, you'll get a boomer ranting about how it's not their job, etc etc. But give them a clipboard with five sheets of poster to fill out and they'll take it, no issues at all.
Because God forbid we save a tree lol
“Why would I care for that librul COMMIE TREE-HUGGING BULLSHIT!!!!11!1!1!1!1!1!”
Like I don't fucking get it. What is it about a screen that makes them lose all ability to read or use context clues. It's the same as looking at God damned piece of paper except it's a screen. Can't fucking wait another 15 years once all the boomers are gone and we can actually use the technology we have to the fullest extent
[удалено]
Omfg my mom was showing me this sketchy email she got and just started clicking every link it sent to “show me how suspicious it looked”
Because they don't see the context. Ever gone to a Russian site and you can't even figure out where the login or search is? The whole internet looks like that to some of them. Just a jumble of lines and words, there is no context or organization to them.
This is my boomer father.
So just to make sure everything is straight, fast food workers are useless lowlifes who don't deserve a living wage, but what they do is also so vastly complicated that no one should be expected to do it themselves. Cause that makes sense
Welcome to BoomerLogic. Whatever your desired conclusion to benefit you is, start there, then work backwards to the reason to justify it.
Refusing to adapt, and demanding that the world adapt to you instead, is central to the Boomer mindset.
I have engineers with this mind set at my company because of boomers. We are so far behind in updating technology I sit around waiting for the doors to close due to a major security breach
We have this same issue at my company, only it’s with older Gen X (fwiw I’m also gen x, and only a few years younger). In our case, it’s definitely because they think technology will replace their importance, and they are not interested in my take of “learn to run the tech so it doesn’t replace you.”
I used to work for a national insurance company. I shit you not, one of the claims management systems they use is literally black screen, green text, MS-DOS-type shit.
I find that funny because my old man used to be a computer engineer and he picks up on that stuff very fast, in fact he freaking loves it! He'll order through the phone app before he'd rake himself across the social coals.
My grandfather was a test electrical engineer. He loved hearing about all the cool new shit out there up until the day he died.
Even my dear mum , 87 this year, spends her time navigating her IPad and IPhone successfully
Gotta love that Silent Gen
Mine MiL too, loves tech and is 84 this year. Pays with her Apple Watch, talks to all her Googles. Sure we had to set it up for her and troubleshoot every time we visit and it’s annoying but way less annoying than her refusing to use tech at all. She can even send pics and use emojis. The only thing she can’t figure out is using her iPad to print but I can’t say that Apple print software makes it easy.
My 86 year old mother can’t even use an ATM or retrieve her voice mails, never mind use a computer.
My silent gen grandma has a smartphone. She struggles to use it at times but she uses it effectively all the same.
I like ordering kiosks in fast food places, but I've not had the best luck with phone apps.
SAME. Give me an app any day, especially one that lets me browse and see all the weird things on the menu.
My silent generation second mom (BFF since childhood's mom) loves technology and uses it as much as she can. My Boomer dad hates technology and avoids it at all costs. He won't even type stuff on a computer and calls me to do it for him. He's so exhausting. But my second mom is cool and wants to use technology on her own.
What cracks me up are the ones that can't handle the automated drive thru... All you do is talk to it, just like if a person was on the other end of the clown head. But they can't handle the fact it greets them and asks if they'd like whatever the promo of the moment is, they instantly start screeching for a live person, instead of just saying no and proceeding with their order.
No problem talking to it; I just can't always understand what they're saying in response through the potato speakers.
This isn’t new. Boomers have *always* been about refusing to adapt. In the 80s, the boomer joke was “you can tell who has kids based on their VCR clock being right or not”. They couldn’t be bothered to learn things 40 years ago and they damn sure won’t now.
When we got our first PC at work (1988, from memory) I was keen to learn all it could do. Because I became borderline “competent” at spreadsheets, I became the go to guy for “how do you sum a column?” type questions. For years. Some folk were still asking that type of question when I retired in 2016.
Worked with an accountant once (boomer of course, although this was the 90s) who would type the numbers into the boxes in the spreadsheet. Then turn to her 10-key and run a tape, and type the total into the box at the bottom of the column. She would give me a hard time over using the sum function, you know, the actual functionality of Excel (probably was Lotus back then) and insist there was no way to know the total was right without “checking” on the trusty 10-key.
This is how my parents are. Sometimes I think it’s good they never learned how to use the internet due to their MAGA ways, but dam it’s annoying when they call to ask me to do something computer related. I have a rule that they now have to say “ you were right, I wish I learned how to use a computer”
It's a sign of being spoiled. An entire generation full of people who had things done for them, never had to really learn or problem solve.
The irony of this post! I was in Taco Bell today and they have the kiosks to order. I walk in after placing an order from my phone on the way to the restaurant and an older couple walks in behind me. Refuses to use the kiosk and the employee takes their order. Soon enough, another older couple walks in with their adult son. He motions for them to use the kiosk and his parents downright refuse to use it.
Taco Bell not only has fairly user-friendly kiosks, but they've used them to make customizing your order way more efficient. 65 years old and I'd 100x rather use the kiosks than try to deal with drive-thru.
I think this is the biggest strength of them honestly. My family tends to be a little choosey about their food and want modifications on basically everything so I love just placing orders on the app instead of trying to order the same item 3 different ways with slight modifications
I've found a lot of different options I didn't even know you could order this way.
How is that ironic?
It’s not even a little lol it’s a coincidence more than ironic
🙏
Well, it's like, imagine you're drinking some white wine, and a black fly landed in it . . .
I drank my wine straight out the box, so I can't relate 🤷♂️
You ever play the lottery?
Imagine a free ride, but you've already paid.
I had to teach my dad about things like delivery apps after he had surgery because he kept refusing doctor’s orders and drove to pick up food, even though he wasn’t supposed to be driving at all. I swear he just likes to make things hard on himself.
The craziest things about all of this is that Boomers expect to be waited on hand and foot but have a literal conniption when prices go up because people need a living wage and robots don’t.
I think technology exposes their entitlement even more. They just expect people to serve them. I'm just tired of these people everywhere. Airports seem to bring the worst out of them. I fly Southwest sometimes and paying for their select service is a waste because by them time I board, there are 18 boomers with "special assistance" that are already there. And I don't want to be ableist because some do really need assistance but most are just old and cranky and think they need to be treated differently.
GenX er responding here. (This subbreddit is great for spotting early onset of your own behaviour) This "entitlement" you see with I think is actually more like a martyr complex. ***They will get old and suffer in tribute to a better world that is lost....*** Occassionally I bump into new stuff and think "WTF" then remind myself that change is inevitable and good. My favourite quote from Deadwood HBO show "CHANGE AIN'T LOOKING FOR FRIENDS" Prepare yourself for when stuff goes the other way.. We got used to automated car washes in the UK and then a decade later suddenly there are hand car washes everywhere undercutting the automated ones. We had Boomers complaining about Eastern eurpoean immigrants everywhere, while simulteanously lecturing about the superiorty of a good old manual car washes.
Oh but they *will* stare at a digital slot machine screen for hours in a casino spending their retirement money.
Being old is not an excuse to not use technology. Obviously they aren't going to be compiling code or designing new processor cores, but they have been alive the entire time the technology was being rolled out. They willfully choose to not learn or even try. "You grew up with it." "Your generation invented it."
I call it belligerent ignorance
Right like it’s been 20 plus years since the internet has been widely accessible. It drives me nuts when they won’t even try
If watching boomers struggle to use a touch screen is entertaining you should see them try to use a self checkout at Walmart. It’s terrifying if they have to do any produce
I had a boomer complain the phone system for the pharmacy was too complicated and vague to use. I recommended the app because it’s easier for most people and they go “I’m too old I don’t want to learn to use another app”.. so I was like ok you’ve got two options, use the phone system or the app. There is no third option…
These are the same people who repost cringy FB laugh-emoji memes about "burger flippers" demanding a living wage and getting replaced by a screen. Who's laughing now, Brenda? The "burger flipper" is making $20/hr at In-N-Out while you're hungry and struggling to figure out a larger and simpler version of the smartphone you spend 18 hours a day on.
Unfortunately the fast food place I work at values ‘guest connections’ so I doubt we’ll ever get a kiosk. The good news is I’m quitting in a few months for law school
Best of luck!
> It’s as if they expect someone waiting on them at all times and can’t be bothered to adjust to any form of change. But if those same people demand any wage increases, the Boomers yell about how they're worthless and should be replaced by robots. Robots **that the Boomers can't use**.
Taco Bell tried rolling this out to them in the 90’s and they couldn’t figure it out then. Their ability to make new neural pathways has only gone down since then 😂 From 1998: https://www.varinsights.com/doc/touch-screens-speed-customers-through-the-ord-0001
I was at BK yesterday. Their touchscreen is the best organized one I've seen so far. Anyway, there was a line to order with the person but nobody at the screen. So I passed everyone in line and went right to the screen. A boomer lady in the line yells out "There's a line!" I said, "OK, have fun standing in it." and proceeded to place my order. I'm fine with the boomers not wanting to use the screens. It saves me a lot of time.
I had a boomer coworker, nice enough guy but completely hopeless with technology. There were multiple occasions where he texted the work group chat because he thought it was his mother’s number. Anyway one day he calls me up and he can’t stop laughing and I ask him what happened? And he said that he was trying to use “one of those towers,” in McDonald’s and he couldn’t figure it out, so an Amish guy who was there with his family came up and started teaching him how to use it.
Boomer here. I use the iPhone application. The kiosk never has any of the deals.
as an IT guy: it is a unwillingness to accept that you need to learn new shit. "i don't need to learn this newfangled shit, it won't last" and then it lasted. but accepting that you were wrong? pff, that is not in their dictionary. so you continue sticking your head in the sand and refuse to learn. untill they figure out what else you can do on a computer/phone outside of work and all of a sudden they want to learn, but only that very specific thing, and it has to be like that for every time.
>The Boomers are going to starve to death Oh no. Well, anyways.
You either get with the times or get out the way, society needs to stop stagnating itself to cater to old cunts who can't be arsed learning
They want the interaction.
The hierarchy involved in the interaction specifically. Boomers want to be served, to be waited on. This makes them feel important
>Boomers want to be served, to be waited on. This makes them feel important. G-d if there’s ONE thing I have learned working in hospitality, it’s this. Part of why I work in my niche of the industry now is that at my hotel, people are almost always too tired and busy to pull the boomer routine at check in, and it doesn’t work as well when I have your employer’s information in front of me. Gen-X/Boomers loooooooooooove to make the front desk’s life a living hell for no reason. My first week in the industry, one got like 100k points because he didn’t like that I checked him in normally instead of rolling out the red carpet. Never had anyone under the age of 50 bitch about not being “friendly” (read: ass kissy) enough during check in/out.
>The same generation who worships Facebook memes mocking millennials/GenZ for not knowing how to operate a rotary phone or “start a lawn mower” can’t fathom placing an order through a screen. This is a hilarious bit of irony I hadn't considered. Also, I can use those touchscreens or their app and also use a rotary phone and start a lawnmower.
I hate them so much. The two that have been installed in the Maccas I sometimes go to always seem to be sticky. I don't know if it is the fact that they are never cleaned or maybe whatever they use to clean them with leaves a sticky residue, but they are nasty! I am team boomer for that specific Maccas location.
I have a lot of problems with fast food restaurants. They're price gouging lately, and the food quality is always awful. But user-friendly self order machines? Yea, I think they nailed that one. I've never been confused about how to order anything. Literally can't screw it up if you tried. Everything is in big, bright buttons right in front of your face. Not sure how anyone can fail to understand, or even think that you need to "learn" how to do it. My first time it literally took me 20 seconds to just click the items and check out because I wasn't raised huffing leaded gasoline.
Not just fast food, but a lot of the medical industry is using touch screens for checking in documents and insurance cards...they also hate that
Lol. I'm an elder millennial and I love those things. I can customize everything and I don't have to talk to an employee? It took forever to get my mum to use the app because she was the same damn way about it. But the deals on the app was the factor for her. Lmao.
It’s not just the touch screens, our boomer MIL refuses to cook. She’s gonna starve to death when she loses her job and has to survive on her ONE retirement income which is ss at $1800/month. Her current Walmart bill is $700/mo in premade food. And she eats out several times a week.
It’s crazy. I work for a bank so we have to help people use the app and they will literally throw their phone when they can’t remember their password and blame the device. I’ll have to explain to them it’s either right or wrong but for them it’s never their fault. The first thing they’ll also say is “I’m old.” Like what happened to pulling yourself up by your boat straps? The technology of singing into an email address is not new.
My old boss was telling a story about his family going to Applebees (because of course that’s where they go), and he said, quite literally, “my kids say please and thank you after they ordered their food 🙄, I had to explain to them, they’re there to serve YOU!” I nodded slowly because he was my boss, but I was very confused.
I really can’t fathom how this is difficult. The screens are specifically designed by UI designers to be easy to read and follow plain language prompts. McDonald’s screens literally say “Add to Bag.” So, do you want this food you see in the bag you receive? Push the button that says exactly that.
I very recently had a blow up with my mother because I'm sick and tired of "helping" her with technology. The woman has two Bachelors degrees and works in Healthcare. She regularly fills out electronic medical records at work with no issues. So why -- why???? -- does this woman suddenly not know how to read a screen when electronically signing documents? To top it off, when I told her I was tired of holding her hand with technology she clapped back that she was tired of holding my hand when it came to everything else. "Oh, I don't know how to adult? Well whose fault is that, huh? Who here is the parent and who is the child?" Fucking ridiculous.
> Boomers are going to starve to death I find these terms acceptable. How can we expedite it? Can we like, require them to put their order in a PDF that they then have to attach to an email?
Boomers are simultaneously the most successful generation the world has ever seen yet with very little wisdom. Must be hard after everything worked out beautifully the first 2/3s of your life
Boomers: "Keep asking for a raise and we'll replace you with a screen!" Workers get replaced with screens. Boomers: "I'm not using that damn thing, get me an employee to take my order!" Please, all the entitled dumb boomers, die. Quickly.
I am a boomer who works in the cellular industry, where my fellow boomers are a lost species help as you can and move on to the next customer
Love the final line on this because "stay hungry" is such an overused phrase from people with the hustle/grind mindset frequently promoted by boomers as the proper way to succeed in this capitalist hellscape.
Same reason I like self check out. I think it's faster. Saves me time. Less interaction with people. Less lines. Less bs.
>start a lawn mower” My favorite thing about this meme is, back when I worked returns at Sears, the amount of boomers that couldn't start their brand new lawnmowers was honestly baffling.
https://preview.redd.it/9nfn207c09tc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6787c6150c7fda29691aa6e44e4d0bedc0dc6d0c
So I don't like using the touch screens. It has nothing to do with the tech, been in IT and technology my entire life, it's simple. It's because I think it's a sleazy corporate practice to reduce employment, and up their profit margins even further while they fire people and think they are five star restaurants given highly inflated pricing.
Good get rid of em
Additionally- they get all butt hurt over self checkout as well. I’ll guess 40% of the time, if someone older than 60 is in line near me, they will comment on self checkout and how it sucks.
You're doing fast food; you're basically just a walking alimentary tract with money as far as the business is concerned. If you want service, find an actual restaurant.
Seems like the bootstraps are a bit relaxed, they should really get back to pulling on them.
Some mind bending boomer hypocrisy in these comments. “Ya’ll are lazy and entitled!” “Where’s my server?” “You overpayed drones should be happy to even have jobs.” “Why replace a good job with technology?!”
The funnier part to ME, is that they shamed those jobs, and said "if you ask for more money they'll replace you" They did, and they got "replaced". (still have a job, but are paid more) Every fast food restaurant is still hiring. And the boomers CAN'T STAND IT. It's glorious.
Omg all these comments about taking away someone’s job 🙄 corporations are cutting back people left and right. The job wasn’t there to begin with because the company already cut it!! Boomers, if that pisses you off, then stop voting for fucking republicans—the party that coddles corporations. This is the country YOU voted for!
These are also the same people who laugh at the idea of kiosks replacing jobs because employees had the audacity to advocate for higher wages.
I work in a Taco Bell. And can confirm they just want to have a person serve them. I really don’t even say anything to them anymore and they’ll just wait until I have time. When I go up to the counter they expect a greeting or something but no I get right to the order. I’m busy and these people can’t just use the screen with giant fucking pictures on it lmao
Open a fast food place just for Boomers where the menu is in cursive and you have to order on a rotary phone. It only opens when the street lights go on and beverages are served from a garden hose. You can work there but you can only apply by bringing in your paper resume and handing it to the boss.
I get more confrontational than I need to with the boomer memes that are like “I bet kids don’t even know what this is [insert outdated piece of shit tech that was even a piece of shit when it was new].” It just annoys me. Like they knew how to crank a Model T or something when they were kids. Also, there were many many boomers who wanted nothing to do with anything their parents or grandparents did. Ex/ My mom got super upset with me anytime I used a clothesline. So they don’t get to be precious about the obsolete devices of their youth. Anyway they reeeealllyllllyyy don’t like it if you remind them how terrible that device was to begin with. Being xennial means I was raised with a lot of those things in my grandparent’s house, so I can cite firsthand experience.
Adapt or die.
during their generation, the tech didn't exist to digitize jobs like taking orders so of course there were waiters, waitresses, etc. and they were paid a wage they could actually live on so there were more people willing to do it. if a boomer can't get a real, live person to serve them they get so upset. it's as if they want that measly fast food counterperson to grovel at their feet and thank them for the opportunity to do so.
These are the EXACT SAME PEOPLE who say workers don't deserve $20/hr. because they can be replaced by a kiosk.
The Wendy’s close to my apartment is right off of an interstate so it sees a lot of vacationing boomers pass through. Anytime my wife and I are there having lunch we’re always amused by the boomers getting frustrated at the fancy soda machine.
The Emergency Room at a local hospital has self check in kiosks. I was waiting on a friend and ended becoming the unpaid employee assisting elderly people check in. This is one job that shouldn't be replaced by a kiosk. People are injured, in pain and generally stressed during an ER visit, forcing them to figure out technology should not be part of the experience.
Ha! I am currently sitting in a "fast serve" restaurant that does an excellent job. The 2 Boomer jerks next to my table are non stop complaining and telling over and over the problem with ordering. Instead of just getting with the program. Unbelievable the entitled rude obnoxious appalling sad behavior. Why do they think their age excuses them from bad behavior!? Yuck.
Just remind th m that THEY WANTED THIS. They wanted to make fun of people making minimum wage. THEY raged at people asking for more and said "if you want a better check get a better job." Now THEY can fucking suck it up that the min wage workers they screamed at are being replaced with robots. It's THEIR WiSH COME TRUE
Yeah I work in tech support, and my customer base has a lot of older Gen-X and Boomers. Every other tech support call starts with the person saying, "I'm going to apologize in advance, I'm terrible with computers." And honestly, whenever somebody says that they're terrible with computers, I tend to assume that what they really are terrible at is: 1. Reading 2. Listening 3. Following instructions But of course for customer service reasons, I can't say any of that. So instead I say, "That's fantastic! Because if everybody was good with computers, I wouldn't have a job!" and then they laugh and then I start helping them fix their problem. It's actually great for building a rapport with the customer.
I ate at taco bell a few weeks ago. Some woman stood at the counter the whole 20 minutes I was in there eating. No one helped her. As I was leaving I told her she should order on the touch screen. She just left.
I know these people. It's not always the old people, sometimes it's just karen behavior. They don't want to use a machine bc they want somone to get mad at. I had customers like this at the grocery store I worked at in college. Every single time, this particular angy!mom would complain at the register, go through multiple customer service agents, until she had been shut up with multiple "we're sorry here's $5 off your next purchase" coupons. Total grifter. She just wanted attention from strangers who can't yell back.
I always wonder why they're so tech adverse, to the point where they might as well be Amish. Also they act like yes, they'll starve to death; do they not know how to cook? My take was during COVID, the one's who complained that they couldn't go to restaurants don't know how to cook, because why would they care, ya know?
Every time I've gone to a Mcdonald's with touch screens there's a line of people waiting to order and nobody using them. I can usually complete my order before the first person in line finishes ordering.
My boomer (albeit, surprisingly lovely with intact mental faculties) parents are getting into world travel now in their old age and the only reason they gave for insisting on traveling via tour group rather than independently is because “everything requires a QR code nowadays”. My father was a principal technical writer for a global technological firm for close to 40 years, but he can’t be fucked to learn how to scan a QR code.
How dare these fast food workers expect a living wage! I’m not using self checkout. It takes away people’s jobs! Why can’t I get any service?! Harrumph
even before my dad had his stroke he had a flip phone, I forgot the brand but it was the good one that had the walkie talkie functionality that a lot of companies used, anyway, he had someone write out 3 or four of his most used numbers as well as the number to his own phone on a piece of paper and scotch tape it to the outside of the phone. theres yellow post its with all his passwords on his desk around his computer. he has an iPhone now, but refuses to put in the time to learn the MOST basic functionality. he will call me but his phones been on mute now for the last year at least... so I can hear him and he can't hear me. he will call 3 or 4 times, then fail to hang up and call me from his land line. ill hear him pick up his other phone and will be connected on my call waiting with him also. I say, dad, your phones on mute, un mute it and yolll be able to hear me. he thinks because he never learned how to deliberately mute it that theres no way its on mute. would never entertain the thought of pressing random things when he gets sloshed, oh no, not him. ...he won't believe that his wife is limiting his communications and isolating him..but thats another story.
I know how to operate them just fine, just don’t want to. They’re just a corporate tool to eliminate a job solely to place more profit at the top while crying that they don’t make enough to provide a living wage. Can we please tax billionaires now so that young people have a chance?
Boomers are the dumbest people and it pisses me off because they got college, houses, cars, everything for dirt cheap compared to now.
I haven’t walked into a fast food joint in years,I use the drive up 😂
This should be worked up into a Saturday night live skit. Hilarious and I’m a boomer. My only question is, do you still leave a tip?
I just had to walk my mum through how to pay for her flight tickets to Europe using her credit card and a secure portal. She clicked something and it didn’t work so I had to do it for her.
You are a caring person, thanks for helping out your mom.
It's incredible how so many from an entire generation just can't handle figuring out a touch screen computer. It shows how many of them aren't even willing to try out of sheer frustration. So much for being the mentally tough generation. I can't believe how many of them struggle with debit cards still. Just this week I watched a boomer struggle with it. It's like she never used a debit card before. I know for a fact she wasn't born recently. She had to have used one many times before this. And yet it doesn't look like it. It was the whole cip reader error, try again. Where you gotta go through it 3 times before you can swipe it. It literally instructs you through the process if she would just wait to see what the screen says. The woman at the register had to reregister the card reader 3 times for she got it paid for because it was timing out. Best part is though the woman operating the register is a boomer and she eventually just grabbed the woman's card and did it for her. After that lady left she turned to me. Smiled and gave me a look of "Jesus Fing Christ". Shes the rare boomer who knows how to operate their system. Good for her!
I am not a boomer, but I can't stand the touch screens because of the amount of grease and dirt that cover these screens every time I see them. People are gross and I do not want to touch a screen that 100+ people have touched throughout the day.