30 People Share The Most Out-Of-Touch Thing They’ve Heard From An Old Person

Results of recent studies have allowed medical experts to postulate that the cognitive stimulation of the elderly is diminishing in direct relation to social isolation .

#1

When I was 16 (1990) I was visiting my grandpa (age 93) at his seniors residence. We were chatting in the common room about politics (grandpa was Very interested in politics) and I mentioned that I was looking forward to being old enough to vote. Some miserable man (who was younger than grandpa) overheard and said that there was no point in me voting because women didn’t have the intellect to focus on politics and when I got married my husband would tell me who to vote for. Well…. Grandpa didn’t like that!! He was a very quiet man but he bristled up like an offended hedgehog and said “Voting was probably beyond the mental capacity of both your parents. Inbreeding does tend to make people a bit dim”

#2

My boomer ex father-in-law was ashamed of the fact that my son, his grandson, is epileptic. He tried to forbid me from referring to his seizures as seizures, and instead call them “episodes”, so people wouldn’t know.

Ummm, no. I’m not going to trivialize a potentially life-threatening condition so that your golf buddies don’t think less of your descendants and subsequently, your gene pool. Calling it an episode will prevent him getting the urgent the medical attention he would need in an emergency.

#3 My parents once kicked my bother out of the house for days, not allowing him back inside without a job, because they were convinced you can still walk into any business like “Hello, one job please” and get hired on the spot. Neither of them have even had an interview in 30 years.

#4

When my daughter was one month old and old man asked me her name, which I told him. He looked confused and said “but that’s a girl name?!”. I replied “Yes, she’s a girl.” He then looked even more confused and said “But he’s wearing blue.”

(For reference, she was wearing a jeans romper with a white bodysuit underneath, which was a unisex set we got before she was born since we didn’t want to know the sex beforehand)

I replied: “Yes, she’s wearing something blue but she’s a girl”

To which he, a bit angrily, replied: “But HE’s wearing BLUE!”.

#5 My dad visited me in the restaurant I was working in at the moment during peak hours and said “just tell your boss you’re taking your break now and sit with me.” Yeah, that’s not how it works…

#6 My mom asked why I can’t just give my kid some kind of herbal medication for her severe mental illness… like sorry you want to die, have you tried ginko ??

#7 My dad owned a auto repair shop and my little brother had worked for him as a mechanic for 10 years. My dad was complaining about my brother wanting to be paid 30/hr. My dad told me when he was working at the porsche dealership in the mid to late 70s he was only making $6/hr. I showed him that with inflation he was making $32/hr at 19 years old and 1 to 2 years of experience.

#8

My dad, a wealthy boomer in his 60s who’s had the same job for over 30 years: “People your age have never experienced real economic turmoil like my generation has. The market has been kind to you.”

Me, his 31 year-old daughter: “[Dad’s first name], what the f**k are you talking about. I’ve experienced 3 major recessions and I’m just in my 30s. You had to line up for gas in the 70s, while most of my friends can’t get medical care or a mortgage.”

He hung up lol

#9

My mom, who hasn’t worked outside the home in 40 years, complaining about the homeless beggar outside Walmart where there was a big banner saying they’re hiring. “Why can’t they just go in and get a job?!”

I had to explain that when I was looking for a job, I had a home, reliable transportation, good work history, good references, an education, I had clean and professional clothing, the ability to keep myself hygienic, an ID, a phone and computer I can reliably be contacted at, I come from an upper middle class family, and the ability to take care of and treat my mental health… and even WITH all that, I sometimes wouldn’t even get called in for an interview at an entry level job. Or if I was lucky enough to get an interview, I wouldn’t necessarily get a call back to even tell me I didn’t get the job.

Like I know Walmart isn’t looking for much, but the job market is still competitive. Do you really think Walmart is going to hire someone who doesn’t have basic resources available to even ensure they can show up to a job? I couldn’t believe how out of touch she was and how much she takes for granted to believe you can just stroll in anywhere and be handed a job without anything to your name.

#10 My mother believes that mental illness and ✨ThE gAyS✨ is just a made up thing that the new generation made up for attention. I’m autistic…

#11

“I survived napalm bombings during the Korean War. I can survive some stupid head cold.”

Final conversation I had with my grandfather, asking what he did to prepare for the Covid19 pandemic. He and grandma passed away because of it 6 months later.

He was anti-smoking and felt that those who passed away were those with weak lungs from years of smoking. It was their punishment for torturing nonsmokers according to him, and he didn’t need to worry because as a nonsmoker, his lungs were strong enough.

#12 Two older people have told me to forgive my ex. The ex that abducted our children who I haven’t seen for 3,5 years now.

They both told me to forgive him for my own sake. Not happening. Some things are unforgivable. Especially during an ongoing trauma. My girls are still gone.

#13 “People were kinder and less judgmental in my day, we didn’t have any of this identity politics c**p.” They literally called in the military because black kids were going to school.

#14 A woman told me “I always see you reading books. You’ll never get a man if you’re too smart. They don’t like that sort of thing.”

#15

I recently had a conversation with my dad where he said ‘I was a very active parent, I came home to you every day.’ But all he did was work. He didn’t cook, clean, help us with homework, make me feel better when sad, help me with bullies, do my hair, guide me to handle relationships or problems, or help me develop hobbies or character. He only paid bills. If he wasn’t screaming at us for not cleaning, he was not interacting with us. I truly don’t think my dad knows any of us. He still calls us by the wrong names. My stepmother and bio mother raised us. But he is convinced he was an active parent because he came home at night.

#16 Had a boomer aunt say how kids are so lucky today they don’t have to do nuclear bomb drills.

To her credit, when I said that, no, kids just have to do active shooter drills, her eyes went wide with realization that that was a more real threat than a nuke ever turned out to be.

#17 My grandpa told me if I can’t afford a house to just buy some land and build a house on it.

#18 “Minimum wage jobs are entry level, mostly for high schoolers to get a foot in the working world. If you want a better job you have to work for it.”

So I said “ok, so, if it’s for high schoolers it should run on high school time right? So, every minimum wage job should be closed from 7-3 and from 8 pm on? So, who’s making the coffee? Or fixing your hamburger for lunch?”

He had no response and quickly changed the subject.

#19 Old woman said, those tattoos are going to look “great” when you’re 75. I said, does anything look good when you’re 75? She didn’t reply. She was about 75.

#20

I’ve suffered from endometriosis since being a teenager. Every month I got such cramps that I couldn’t even stand up and sometimes so severe that I blacked out of pain. My mom never got the idea to take me to a doctor or a gynecologist. She thought I was just dramatic and wanted to get out of going to school. I suffered for a few years. I remember once my mom told me, when I have a child it will go away. That’s because it was what she was told by her doctor in the 90’s…

I went to a gynecologist and got prescribed meds that have helped me a big time and I can now function like a normal human.

#21 You’ll understand Republicans when you’re older. It’s been 15 years and they’re more absurd than ever.

#22 My mother said to me just a few days ago that a down payment for a house isn’t that hard to save up for. I told her I barely have 5 grand saved up so far, she insisted that that is more than enough. I had to stress that 20% down has been the norm in our area since the 2008 crash. She hasn’t bought property since the 90’s.

#23 My retired parents still say unless you go to college and get a bachelors degree you’ll end up “digging ditches”. I never went to college and make more than both of them did. They’ll die on that hill.

#24 In Southern California, my aunt, who heard we still rent, was like, “You don’t have to buy a new home, just get yourself a $200k starter home and fix it up.” I was like, “starter homes that need fixing up in LA are like $1.2M” starting.

#25 I’ve become the mediator between my boomer mom & millennial daughter. When my mom was complaining that my daughter never takes her advice on parenting I asked her if she took the advice her older relatives offered when she was raising me. Her answer, without any irony, was “but their advice didn’t apply because times were different by then”. You just answered your own question, Ma.

#26 Grandma told me not to continue my education as I’d be knocked up in my early 20ies anyways and married, I’d need no education as my husband would care for me. Anyway, one degree and no pregnancies later (also no relationship later), I am glad I never listened to her.

#27 My dad told me if I voted for Obama I was a traitor to my country, and he said it with literal tears and rage in his eyes. I didn’t say a word to him in response, I just shook my head sadly and left.

#28 My grandma tells me to gain weight so that my hips can better support childbirth. Like every time she sees me I hear this, including when I was fighting cervical cancer. My only purpose in her eyes is to make babies, I guess.

#29

“Young people have no pride left. Why do they think it’s okay to still live with their parents at 20?” The average age to move out of a parents home in the U.K. is 35. Because there’s a rental crisis and a housing crisis especially in non-English countries partially because the retired English keep buying second homes in wales, Scotland and N.I. Wages have barely increased but rent and mortgages have increased extreme amounts and this is because of their generation Why older people don’t understand this concept is beyond me.

#30

My grandmother is always about how I should make children, be SAHM and how my SO should support the household on his income alone.

She’s born in the 60’s, was a SAHM with 3 kids and a big nice house while my grandfather was a coal miner.

So once again she is on about me having kids soon. I explain that our apartment is too small and I haven’t been able to get full time job to put money aside (I have no interest in having kids, but she just doesn’t understand it). She told me to “just get pregnant” and it will sort itself out.

Shanilou Perera

Shanilou has always loved reading and learning about the world we live in. While she enjoys fictional books and stories just as much, since childhood she was especially fascinated by encyclopaedias and strangely enough, self-help books. As a kid, she spent most of her time consuming as much knowledge as she could get her hands on and could always be found at the library. Now, she still enjoys finding out about all the amazing things that surround us in our day-to-day lives and is blessed to be able to write about them to share with the whole world as a profession.