Recently I was in a busy doctor’s office waiting room filled with mostly seniors. It was quiet until I heard a loud, angry voice, “I’m a senior citizen. You people can’t do that to me. I drove all the way in from Peoria!”. The young girl behind the counter, to whom she was complaining, tried to explain what needed to be done by the patient, but it didn’t satisfy the woman. She continued to demand, plead, and assert that she was a senior citizen and carried on like a wild woman. After all, the woman did drive “all the way” from Peoria. She was embarrassing herself and making the atmosphere unpleasant.
Memo to “I deserve” seniors: Your seniorhood does not make you a victim. The world is not out to “get you,” so quietly behave yourself when things do not go your way.
The senior citizen was probably of sound mind when she got what she wanted or thought she deserved. Many seniors believe their seniorhood confers unique benefits because they have lived so long. As a result, they can be as nasty and demanding as they choose to be when they scream, “I’m a senior citizen.”
I had a personal experience with this “I’m a senior citizen” demand. While working, I recall a time when a government-sponsored and promoted flu scare, much like the COVID thing, was making people crazy, wanting access to the “flu capsules” in short supply. Seniors, in particular, were convinced they would die unless they took the pills. A senior woman called the pharmacy about the availability of the flu pills and was unhappy when told they were out of stock. She screamed at me, “I’m a senior citizen! We are supposed to come first! You better hurry up and get them, or people will die.” Government propaganda, as now with the COVID hoax, had done a great job of scaring older people, in particular, to death.
There is a lesson in this for those on the brink of retirement. Yes, you are sick and tired of working at a job you don’t like. Or, maybe you like your job, but the lure of not having to work for the rest of your life is overwhelming. Travel! Golf! Parties, Sleeping late! Ease over effort wins every time. But, unfortunately, you don’t realize that transitioning from the work world to the ease-oriented retirement world is the door to decline.
Is retirement the door to decline? You have to be kidding. No, I’m not kidding. When an individual affirms a mental decision to retire, the body starts to shut down processes needed in the work world but not required in retirement. A lot of personality is lost in the shutdown process. Retirees may revert to being demanding group-oriented teenagers who believe, “I come first” or “I’m entitled.”.
We get the genuine respect of others when we earn it, not when we demand it, regardless of how old we are. We don’t have to return to our teen years and behave like spoiled brats to get what we want. Accept that, like everyone else, we can’t always get what we think we are entitled to. Be a role model. Let us carry ourselves with intelligence and dignity regardless of where we are in life.
Barbara, there is no one more qualified to call out our segment of the population for acting entitled, undignified, and disrespectful! Thank you, for once again, standing firmly in your wisdom and convictions. I hope our cohorts will take your words to heart and stop embarrassing themselves, and those of us by association, who accept our responsibility as elders to be examples for the younger generation. Nothing is more off-putting than whining, demanding seniors!
So well written! Thank You Barbara!
When I turned 13, I thought it necessary to inform everyone of my new status. I do not know why, but I believe that in this country, we l;ace so much emphasis on age (even from the beginning of life) that we feel that announcing one’s age, should warn or prepare anyone in observance, of the “Way” we should be t treated or viewed, based on the length of our existence. When our toddlers act up, we look smugly around us and say, “You know, Terrible Two’s” and when we are on the cusp of the teen years, someone labels us as “tweens” or at least the used to, then when we became teens, someone would proclaim, “Uh Oh” you know how these teenagers are” so it is no wonder that when we reach our senior years, we feel, based on what we have seen and heard until now, that we are to perform “some kind of way”
Besides the arrival of the first AARP magazine and the usual signs of “growing older”, if we are not careful, we begin assembling a container of leaflets upon which are written, “I am a SENIOR..so GIMMEE” and though we have earned some perks, we are not entitled to things brought to us by being grumpy and demanding. We have seen this modeled in many scenarios both in person and in various scenarios. Instead of remaining calm or learning to be rightfully indignant about certain things, we develop and nurture a “get off my lawn” attitude, confiscating mental footballs, memories of our own youth and the joy of life in that box, so as to justify this nasty behavior. At any age, we must remember that kindness and courtesy is the way to go, even when demands get results, one has to keep practicing it in order to keep up the façade. People then single us out as “that mean old woman” rather than “she is always so patient, etc.” We miss out on the kind of treatment we get by being easier to get along with than the other way around. It is not being a doormat, but also not using our “seniority” to get our way!
Well done, Barbara!
Whatever our age, we are to behave in a civilized manner, which is why civilization is crumbling.
Well done.
Well written……I agree.
FYI: The 2nd edition of my ralaymsin book will be available end of May with a LOT of new information.
Ross