We recently renewed our AARP membership, maybe optimistically, for another three or so years. It’s a worthwhile organization and their publications often have articles of interest to me. Recently there was an article that discussed some things that older people don’t enjoy as much as when they were young.
I thought that might be an interesting thing to blog about, but when I started to think about it, I realized that a subject like that might result in a very long blog. But nonetheless, here’s some things that annoy me now that didn’t (at least not as much) when I was much younger…..
Mail — yep, the stuff delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. When I was a kid, living in Maysville Oklahoma, everyone got their mail at the post office, and I think almost everyone in town had a “post office box” so you didn’t have to go the window and ask if you had any mail. I used to love to get the mail — I remember always stopping after school to see if there was any mail in our box. My parents would often not pick up the mail during the day, knowing that I liked getting it so much. I rarely got anything addressed to me, except when I sent in some box tops from cereal or something like that and the company would send me a very valuable gift — like a whistle or something just as valuable. I remember being excited to see what came in the mail every day. But — not so today. Nothing good ever comes in the mail. We don’t get a lot of mail, but what we do get usually falls in the category of bills, political advertisements, or requests for money from some worthwhile organization. We still get our mail in a “mailbox” but the excitement is gone.
Another thing that really bothers me a lot more than it used to is other drivers. I honestly can’t believe how stupid the average driver today is — they tailgate, drive over the yellow centerline, don’t signal if they’re going to turn, run stop signs/lights, etc. Driving has become more tiring to me, not so much because of my age, but because of the constant monitoring of all the other drivers….
Social media — all of it, although I confess I’ve never checked most of the sites. The first time I ever saw Facebook, I thought is was potentially one of the most dangerous ideas I’d ever heard of. I still believe that — now more than ever. And from what I can tell, that’s one of the “milder” social media platforms. It’s just something that I can’t find anything good about.
I’m not big on shopping — unless it’s someplace like Home Depot, I just want to get in and get out as fast as I can. And I especially hate that stores constantly rearrange their merchandise. If I’m looking for soup, I want the soup to be where it’s always been, not at the front of some isle or somewhere else. I understand the marketing strategy of moving stuff, but I still hate it.
Something that has fairly recently started to annoy me is Apps. I spend a lot of money for a phone, or a computer and it seems like every time I want to do something, I have to get an APP to do it. I think there’s pretty much an App for everything….. won’t be long before you’ll need a special app to make a phone call.
The news — I get annoyed at the news. Everything is a breaking story — usually about how many people got shot in the last 24 hours. And all the news seems biased today — whatever happened to “just the facts?” Maybe there’s just too much news “overload“ — the evening news used to be 30 minutes, or maybe a hour — now it’s 3 hours… maybe more. And of course, a lot of it is “all about the ratings.”
Waiting — for things or people. I’ve never been particularly patient in this category, but but it seems to annoy me more these days… I seem to wait for everything — car to be serviced, pay for something, wait for a meal to be served in restaurants — I even wait for my computer to do something lots of times.
I don’t like people with no manners and I don’t like the lack of compassion in the world or how my optimism that the world would get better has declined. Seems like we’re going backwards — especially the environment and the rights of just about everyone.
And I guess this list should include — people. I used to be a people person, but people ruined it….
— 30 —