The Costco has a vespa or some such scooter on a pedestal at the entrance to the store.

It has two 8 inch diameter stop signs on it that read "Do Not ! sit on this scooter!

I grab my cart and dig for my membership card and there sitting on the scooter is a 70 y.o. white haired old man, sitting on the scooter , twisting the throttle and ducking behind the wind screen.

His white haired ,little old lady wife was standing there watching him act like an idiot.

I whipped out my camera phone and told my friend "watch this".

She said what are you doing? I said I am going to put this on the inner net, with the caption "Why we can't have nice things"

Before I could snap the pic the L.o.l. stepped in front of the camera.

so I moved , so she moved in front again , so I just walked in the store.

five minutes later she approached me and said , that I was out of place and I shouldn't have said anything .

I told her that I respected her opinion, but I was taken a back by her husbands juvenile behavior and lack of restraint.

she then told me that I should not have said That ! either

I told her to have a nice day .

but what I wanted to say was "Sometimes the attention that you so desperately seek , is NOT the attention that you receive "

You are dancing on sore toes with that old 70 yo talk, sonny!

quote:

when is it ok to show just a little bit less than respect for the elderly?

when you are older than them.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
You are dancing on sore toes with that old 70 yo talk, sonny!

( I am 61 now so I will be there soon enough)

Off the top of my head:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XcKBmdfpWs

Stupid is stupid, and deserves zero respect.

Sounds like they were self-absorbed jerks. And I would bet they were self-absorved jerks before they reached 70. Probably Democrats.

71 today is like 51 of just a few years ago. They weren't that old.

You should have told them the pic was necessary for an study you were doing on how impulse control, common sense and judgement declines with advancing years. You could point on that this behavior is common in the local nursing homes as well.

No one deserves respect for the things they have no control over: hair, eye, skin color; sex; place of birth; age; IQ; etc. Deference and compassion, yes, sometimes, but not respect. Respect is earned—or forfeited—by what we do.

bendable, you know damn good and well that as soon as he leaves the store, he will drive, at a MINIMUM of 5 mph UNDER the posted speed limit while traveling in the left lane on the highway. If he has Handicap license plates, he automatically is exempted from such trivial things like: turn signals, making right hand turns from the left lane, turning headlights on at night, etc.

Cut him some slack

I don't mean to be a jerk but I will say...
stop trying to be the policing agent.....
Kinda like the gentleman that scratches up cars parked in the handicap spot when he deems they don't deserve to.
It ain't your business .....

I chuckle and love to see older couples having a pleasant time. I'm near there....there's a little boy in all men.
Laugh, love, live .....

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
No one deserves respect for the things they have no control over: hair, eye, skin color; sex; place of birth; age; IQ; etc. Deference and compassion, yes, sometimes, but not respect. Respect is earned—or forfeited—by what we do.

Exactly. I would just add that usually they are given the benefit of the doubt (associating age with experiences and wisdom). But once they remove that doubt, so to the respect.

quote:

Originally posted by Haveme1or2:
I don't mean to be a jerk but I will say...
stop trying to be the policing agent.....
Kinda like the gentleman that scratches up cars parked in the handicap spot when he deems they don't deserve to.
It ain't your business .....

I chuckle and love to see older couples having a pleasant time. I'm near there....there's a little boy in all men.
Laugh, love, live .....

Yeah, I must admit my first thought was “That is silly.,” immediately followed by “It isn’t any of my business and has absolutely no impact on me, so there is clearly no reason for me to waste even a second on it.”

People are going to be people. If they aren’t hurting anyone or impacting me or mine, no reason to get involved...

Still being agile & somewhat nuts @ 72, I would have broke into my John Kay "Born to be Wild", air guitar & make believe stand up mic., all the while gyrating in front of said little old lady.

quote:

Originally posted by Scoutmaster:
Sounds like they were self-absorbed jerks. And I would bet they were self-absorved jerks before they reached 70. Probably Democrats.

Calling them out was fine by me, bendable, although it may have been the only time in their lives that it was done. I'm in their age-range, too, by the way.

I was getting my Alfa Romeo serviced at the dealership back in the early 1980's, and the dealership had an older sportscar on display, with a red velvet rope around it and "Do Not Touch" signs on stands. It was in the middle stages of restoration.

A woman was accusing the dealership of destroying her bright yellow dress with a black substance, which turned out to be the black shoe polish used to temporarily make the leather seats in the car look good for the display. The only way she could get it on her dress was to ignore the signs, remove the red velvet rope, and sit in the car. She was stupid enough to think that we couldn't figure out what she had done, and got even angrier when another customer told her we knew.

She may have been related to bendable's couple.

Perhaps it is best to remember that as we age we become more like children. The everyday things that we take for granted they tend to see with more enjoyment. Let them stop and smell the roses. It doesn't hurt anyone.

quote:

Originally posted by AZSigs:
Let them stop and smell the roses. It doesn't hurt anyone.

He wasn't sniffing, he was sitting.

I don't think taking his picture ignoring the store policy would have been a sign of disrespect, unless he has some mental defect.



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quote:

Originally posted by recoatlift:
Still being agile & somewhat nuts @ 72, I would have broke into my John Kay "Born to be Wild", air guitar & make believe stand up mic., all the while gyrating in front of said little old lady.

Hey, if you've still got it, flaunt it.



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