Do you ever come across a social media post that makes you want to scream? It happens to me way too often, and occasionally I find it necessary to do some research to prove such posts wrong. Because that is a good use of my time.
This one bugged me on numerous levels. I had to write about it. I had to.
The premise is that a younger cashier could not possibly understand why a much older patron would not bring re-usable bags for her purchased items. And there are a list of things that were better in the good old days.
Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment,.
The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."
The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."
The older lady said that she was right our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on toexplain: Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day. Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.
But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then. We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.
Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days.
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.
Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.
In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.
When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power.
We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing."
We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?
Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart ass young person. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.
My first issue is that I don't see how writing fictional posts that promote different generations hating each other makes anyone's life better. "You will never understand me!!!" Shouted by a teenager. Sound familiar. But now it's our grandparents shouting. And ultimately, we all know it's not true. I do understand my teenagers. I was one. And now I'm not, so I try to guide them with my experience. It doesn't always work out, but it's not because I don't understand. And one day, we will all understand why retirees don't want anyone on their lawn. (I suspect because after years of raising a family and working, having no time to take care of a lawn, they have finally made a beautiful space surrounding their home, and they'd like it to stay that way. I get it.)
Anyway, why do we feel the need to ensure other people don't understand us? Why must we perpetuate the division between generations??? Second, how old is this fictional older lady??? Motor driven lawn mowers were sold in the 50's. Disposable diapers mass marketed in the 60's. Electric clothes dryers hit the market in the 40's. That doesn't mean everyone had them, but it was certainly not the current 20 somethings who invented them and mass produced them.
The implication is that all of these things were done differently back in the good old days because they cared for the environment, but in reality, they were the ones that replaced all of those "greener" activities with power and consumption. Electric kitchen appliances? Bigger cars? Treadmills? Giant TVs? All invented long before this 20 something fictional clerk was even born. By the fictional older lady's generation. Because they were tired of doing everything the hard way.
Then we get to the truly fictional, like just plain made up, stuff in the post. Paper bags, so environmentally friendly. Except, they replaced paper grocery bags with plastic ones because we were killing too many trees. We all still return milk containers, soda and alcohol containers to the recycling depot, plus we recycle many more items, and compost a bunch, too. Paper bags used to cover books, so they could scribble on them? Why didn't they just teach kids not to scribble on books??? I can't prove it, but I'm pretty sure that most of her life, the fictional older lady drove a car to pick up numerous plastic bags full of heavy groceries. Unless she is 110 years old. (Ironically, Her parents or grandparents likely used re-useable cloth bags for carrying home their goods.) Lots of kids still get hand me down clothes. It's not a generational thing, it's an income level thing. And am I really expected to believe that a whole generation NEVER used a cup or glass to drink water??? Why is that even in there? Razor blades, again, lots of people replace the blades. I would venture to guess, most people, actually, although I am not going to look it up. I've given this thing too much of my time and brain cells already.
It ends with a statement about how grumpy they are about getting old, and how easy it is for a "tattooed, multiple pierced smart ass" to piss them off. This made me feel very bad for the fictional clerk. If you, as an older person, are grumpy about aging, I don't blame you. I am almost 50 and I can imagine I will get grumpier and grumpier about my age as the years go on. Go ahead, be grumpy. But if you walk around with a preconceived notion that anyone who is younger than you and/or has tattoos, piercings, or whatever, is somehow lesser than you, and to be angered by, no matter their intelligence or opinions, then you are in the wrong. You are not bridging the gap, you are widening it. How does that help anyone? How does that make our lives, our world, a better place for all of us to live?
Young people, don't blame old people for the state of the world. Just move on, and make things better if you can. You'll see, it's actually pretty hard to do. Old people, leave the anger behind. Commend young people for their efforts. Help them see how things were, not from a place of anger, but from a place of understanding. You were young once. And your elders thought you were a little shit, too.
This one bugged me on numerous levels. I had to write about it. I had to.
The premise is that a younger cashier could not possibly understand why a much older patron would not bring re-usable bags for her purchased items. And there are a list of things that were better in the good old days.
Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment,.
The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."
The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."
The older lady said that she was right our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on toexplain: Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day. Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.
But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then. We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.
Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days.
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.
Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.
In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.
When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power.
We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing."
We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?
Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart ass young person. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.
My first issue is that I don't see how writing fictional posts that promote different generations hating each other makes anyone's life better. "You will never understand me!!!" Shouted by a teenager. Sound familiar. But now it's our grandparents shouting. And ultimately, we all know it's not true. I do understand my teenagers. I was one. And now I'm not, so I try to guide them with my experience. It doesn't always work out, but it's not because I don't understand. And one day, we will all understand why retirees don't want anyone on their lawn. (I suspect because after years of raising a family and working, having no time to take care of a lawn, they have finally made a beautiful space surrounding their home, and they'd like it to stay that way. I get it.)
Anyway, why do we feel the need to ensure other people don't understand us? Why must we perpetuate the division between generations??? Second, how old is this fictional older lady??? Motor driven lawn mowers were sold in the 50's. Disposable diapers mass marketed in the 60's. Electric clothes dryers hit the market in the 40's. That doesn't mean everyone had them, but it was certainly not the current 20 somethings who invented them and mass produced them.
The implication is that all of these things were done differently back in the good old days because they cared for the environment, but in reality, they were the ones that replaced all of those "greener" activities with power and consumption. Electric kitchen appliances? Bigger cars? Treadmills? Giant TVs? All invented long before this 20 something fictional clerk was even born. By the fictional older lady's generation. Because they were tired of doing everything the hard way.
Then we get to the truly fictional, like just plain made up, stuff in the post. Paper bags, so environmentally friendly. Except, they replaced paper grocery bags with plastic ones because we were killing too many trees. We all still return milk containers, soda and alcohol containers to the recycling depot, plus we recycle many more items, and compost a bunch, too. Paper bags used to cover books, so they could scribble on them? Why didn't they just teach kids not to scribble on books??? I can't prove it, but I'm pretty sure that most of her life, the fictional older lady drove a car to pick up numerous plastic bags full of heavy groceries. Unless she is 110 years old. (Ironically, Her parents or grandparents likely used re-useable cloth bags for carrying home their goods.) Lots of kids still get hand me down clothes. It's not a generational thing, it's an income level thing. And am I really expected to believe that a whole generation NEVER used a cup or glass to drink water??? Why is that even in there? Razor blades, again, lots of people replace the blades. I would venture to guess, most people, actually, although I am not going to look it up. I've given this thing too much of my time and brain cells already.
It ends with a statement about how grumpy they are about getting old, and how easy it is for a "tattooed, multiple pierced smart ass" to piss them off. This made me feel very bad for the fictional clerk. If you, as an older person, are grumpy about aging, I don't blame you. I am almost 50 and I can imagine I will get grumpier and grumpier about my age as the years go on. Go ahead, be grumpy. But if you walk around with a preconceived notion that anyone who is younger than you and/or has tattoos, piercings, or whatever, is somehow lesser than you, and to be angered by, no matter their intelligence or opinions, then you are in the wrong. You are not bridging the gap, you are widening it. How does that help anyone? How does that make our lives, our world, a better place for all of us to live?
Young people, don't blame old people for the state of the world. Just move on, and make things better if you can. You'll see, it's actually pretty hard to do. Old people, leave the anger behind. Commend young people for their efforts. Help them see how things were, not from a place of anger, but from a place of understanding. You were young once. And your elders thought you were a little shit, too.