When my dad calls me and gets my voicemail, he always gives me the day/time of the call and who he is. “Hey Shell, it’s dad. It’s about 5:44 on Thursday…”
First of all, most of his calls could have been a text, lol. And my call history gives me that information dad!!!
Also, not sure if this is a boomer thing or just my dad, but he refers to himself as dad or grandpa when talking to us. “Don’t forget to save a hot dog for dad” “give grandpa a hug”. I started joking with him and asking if we’re siblings 🤣
Both of my parents do this. It cracks me up every time!
+ 1 my 72 yr old mom does this.
I finally talked mom into getting a credit card that has benefits (she had none on her CC FOREVER) - she texted me so excited that her next airline ticket to Hawaii would be paid for w/points (she doesn't use the internet so she had to call the company, it was a whole thing). I'm pretty sure she could have had 10 tickets if she used a higher point card and charged regular expenses to her CC (she still uses checks and a debit card for everything), but it's a start
She also doesn't understand that making extra mortgage payments doesn't make sense any more (e.g., if you've got sub 3% rates). I've tried to explain it, but I've given up (mom -"If you pay every 4 weeks, you end up making an extra payment every year and pay it faster....." - yeah mom, I get it, let me explain the current interest rate environment....").
My aunt used to send me news and magazine clippings which had things about places I talked about visiting. It was cute, but pretty sure I can find that all on the internet.
my mom does this alllll the time. Every week she brings over articles or clippings about "something relevant to my life" lol
My dad always start texts to me with "C-" and ends them with "Love, Dad."
My dad did this too, and I loved it. I could always tell he was doing talk to text because it sounded like a voicemail; "yeah, hi shauni, it's your dad. Please don't forget XYZ. Love you!" it always made me giggle. I miss those texts.
DH's boomer cousin does not how to reply to posts on Facebook. She shares the post and puts her reply there. A few weeks back, I posted something about DH and my anniversary and she shared my post and wrote "Congratulations on 15 years! We're so happy for you!"
a boomer I know took my profile picture and shared it the other day with the caption "such a lovely photo!" lol. She meant to just comment on it, haha.
My dad always said that their answering machine or voicemail could NEVER state that you were not home because burglars would hear that and come break in. So he always made it a point to say "for whatever reason, we have chosen not to come to the phone right now..."
My parents don't do social media. My mother thinks it's the devil to put your entire life story out there for the world to see.
Her boomer thing is that she watches Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy every night without fail. Even if she's not actively watching, it's on in the background. And she won't turn it off or down. Last night I was over there to pick up the kids and had a really bad headache. I asked if she could please mute the TV while the damn wheel was spinning and was met with an angry NO.
I can't think of what my dad does that's so boomer-y but he was born right before the boomer years began so technically he isn't one. Maybe that's why he's more calm and not as arrogant and annoying as my boomer mom and both IL's.
My boomer dad and his twin are big on flashlights and pockets. Small flashlights, keychain flashlights, flashlights with a hook so you can hang them on something, LED flashlights, flashlight gloves, a hat with flashlights. And gotta have a pocket on that shirt, or else where else would you put your flashlight when you’re just walking around??
Oooh, I thought of another thing my mom does! My H and I have amazon prime - she does not. So she'll text me "call me when you're free" so that she can ask me to order her something on amazon. She'll have it pulled up on her computer and read me the loooong name/description and end with "it says it's 19.99 so make sure to get that one".
Why doesn't she send me the link you ask? Even though I've shown her about 100x how to send links? Because she really and truly thinks it'll just link to "her amazon" where there is no prime account.
Why doesn't she just add it to her wishlist that I set up that shares only with me? B/c she swears her amazon screen doesn't have that option. Except it does, she just has to scroll a little on her ipad to see it.
My boomer dad and his twin are big on flashlights and pockets. Small flashlights, keychain flashlights, flashlights with a hook so you can hang them on something, LED flashlights, flashlight gloves, a hat with flashlights. And gotta have a pocket on that shirt, or else where else would you put your flashlight when you’re just walking around??
My dad has gifted me so many flashlights over the years. He gets so excited to show me how they work, too
"for whatever reason, we have chosen not to come to the phone right now..."
This is making me laugh!
He also used to always do comical ones when we were kids. It was so embarrassing when we got into middle and high school and he had the answering machine "we cannot come to the phone right now, our refrigerator is running and we have to go catch it!" or he would talk in a terrible Australian accent and say "we cannot come to the phone right now, we are out cooking shrimp on the barby!"
Oooh, I thought of another thing my mom does! My H and I have amazon prime - she does not. So she'll text me "call me when you're free" so that she can ask me to order her something on amazon. She'll have it pulled up on her computer and read me the loooong name/description and end with "it says it's 19.99 so make sure to get that one".
Why doesn't she send me the link you ask? Even though I've shown her about 100x how to send links? Because she really and truly thinks it'll just link to "her amazon" where there is no prime account.
Why doesn't she just add it to her wishlist that I set up that shares only with me? B/c she swears her amazon screen doesn't have that option. Except it does, she just has to scroll a little on her ipad to see it.
My mom does not know how to copy and paste so she will email "go to google and type in VRBO. then in VRBO enter the listing '735672753482975, Quaint House on quiet street!'"
I have a new one! I work in construction, so I have many field technicians who are boomers. I'm looking for an email that was sent to one of these boomers, so I called him, told him what email I was looking for, and asked him to forward it to me. Mind you, this man uses an app on an iPad daily in order to do his job.
Guys. This man TOOK A PICTURE OF HIS IPAD SCREEN WITH HIS PHONE AND TEXTED IT TO ME! When I told him I can't click links in a picture, he was genuinely confused why I couldn't. SO HE SENT ME A SCREENSHOT VIA TEXT AND ASKED ME IF THAT WORKED.
My dad is too old to be a Boomer, but he also does this. In a similar vein, his favorite app is Flight Tracker, and he will tell everyone around him that "the X flight was delayed today, must have been a strong headwind", that kind of thing.
My dad not only tracks flights our family is on but will track the same flight number in the week before to give us a better picture of what's likely to happen. It's actually been kind of helpful. I was delayed 3 hours last week because of some plane/crew logistics and he kept me informed better than the airline people. I fly Southwest a lot and he is always willing to check me in at the 24hr mark, even if its 5am.
He also tracks my sister when she's in an Uber. There was one night a few years ago where she was stuck on the interstate in an uber across the country and the driver would not tell her what's going on and my son and I were flying in and had some weird circling the city situation for about an hour with no clear reason. Poor guy was so stressed out thinking the worst might happen to his girls and grandson. (It was a rough night for us too)
My mom used to do singing or rhyming messages on our answering machine when I was a kid. I thought it was awesome. My high school aged sister was mortified. When I give my parents my kids sports schedules I now include the location, the address, the location, a good place to park and where to meet us. This is due to numerous failed meet ups including one this year for a basketball game where I actually dropped a pin outside the rec center and sent it to them. My mom said she pulled it up and it sent her to the wrong rec center. Of course it did mom, of course it did.
My boomer dad and his twin are big on flashlights and pockets. Small flashlights, keychain flashlights, flashlights with a hook so you can hang them on something, LED flashlights, flashlight gloves, a hat with flashlights. And gotta have a pocket on that shirt, or else where else would you put your flashlight when you’re just walking around??
My dad is like this with flashlights and multitools (leatherman/swiss army knife type pocket knife). His pants are always falling down because he's got all this weight in his pockets/belt.
All that to say, if you need a screwdriver or a scissor on short notice, he's your man!
Are all your boomer parents stressed out? They don’t have young children, don’t work, doing fine financially. So what are they stressed about?
From personal experience, the neighbors didn’t bring in the recycling bins quickly enough; a car parked on the street in front of their house even though everyone knows you’re supposed to leave that space for the people who live there; someone used improper grammar and must be corrected.
Minus the grammar correction, this is H. He gets so het up about people parking in front of our house. Maybe he's secretly 74 instead of 44!
From personal experience, the neighbors didn’t bring in the recycling bins quickly enough; a car parked on the street in front of their house even though everyone knows you’re supposed to leave that space for the people who live there; someone used improper grammar and must be corrected.
Minus the grammar correction, this is H. He gets so het up about people parking in front of our house. Maybe he's secretly 74 instead of 44!
This was my dad the entire time we grew up. To be fair, our neighbor was a huge snob with a beater car that he never parked in front of his own house or in his driveway, so that drove his anger quite a bit. Thank goodness he is in a townhouse now with assigned parking spots.
Post by starburst604 on May 5, 2023 11:10:26 GMT -5
My dad is retired plumber but very knowledgeable about every trade. When I told him we are buying a new build he had a million questions and I know he’ll be inspecting every square foot when he comes over, and he’ll know all the particulars of it. Oh that’s Hardie plank, very durable”.
When DD was born he gave me a CO2 detector to plug into her room even though they are all over the house up to code. “Because we have an older furnace” he said.
These kinds of things are his Boomer love language. Gotta make sure everyone is safe in their home.
We live in a neighborhood without streetlights, so it gets dark in the house at night. The second time my parents visited us in our house, they brought a Costco pack of nightlights for the house. They said last time they visited, it was so dark that they were afraid of falling in the hallway so they army crawled to the bathroom at night.
Please note that the hall light switch was immediately outside of the guest room.
We live in a neighborhood without streetlights, so it gets dark in the house at night. The second time my parents visited us in our house, they brought a Costco pack of nightlights for the house. They said last time they visited, it was so dark that they were afraid of falling in the hallway so they army crawled to the bathroom at night.
Please note that the hall light switch was immediately outside of the guest room.
bears I am falling over laughing at the thought of your parents army crawling to the bathroom!!
My boomer dad and his twin are big on flashlights and pockets. Small flashlights, keychain flashlights, flashlights with a hook so you can hang them on something, LED flashlights, flashlight gloves, a hat with flashlights. And gotta have a pocket on that shirt, or else where else would you put your flashlight when you’re just walking around??
This is 100% my dad. He always wears a button-down shirt with a pocket, and that pocket usually has AT LEAST a highlighter, a pen, a little pill case with advil, and maybe a penlight. We joke that he’s the one you want to be around during the Zombie apocalypse, because he always has a flashlight and advil!
ETA: he also always has chapstick and fingernail clippers.
In today's episode of "Volunteering with Boomers," from the man who brought us a photo of a print out of a QR code:
1. He just texted me because we are having an event this weekend, but when you google our (historic) organization, the first Google result is the "history" page, and not the home page. He would like for me to please make the first google result either the home page or the event page. (incidentally, I get the home page as a first result anyway, so who knows what search terms he is using)
2. The organization name is two words. Let's say it's Charity House. The website is charityhouse.org. But every time he texts me about it, he puts the space between "charity" and "house", so the phone reads it as "house.org" and automatically inserts a link to that site. Which in our case is a random how-to-get-rich-quick site. He can.not. figure out why it keeps linking. He thinks there is something wrong with his phone.
My dad is retired plumber but very knowledgeable about every trade. When I told him we are buying a new build he had a million questions and I know he’ll be inspecting every square foot when he comes over, and he’ll know all the particulars of it. Oh that’s Hardie plank, very durable”.
When DD was born he gave me a CO2 detector to plug into her room even though they are all over the house up to code. “Because we have an older furnace” he said.
These kinds of things are his Boomer love language. Gotta make sure everyone is safe in their home.
Totally! My dad is the one that came and installed baby gates for DS when he thought we were taking too long getting around to it. He also always made sure we had a fire extinguisher, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, etc. in all of our homes.
I remember when H and I were dating (in our early 20s) he was very concerned about the condition of his tires and offered to buy him new ones if he couldn't afford it.
Another one I thought of is my mom doesn't have a debit card. My dad would get paid and hand her a wad of cash every week. (He wasn't controlling or anything and gave her plenty, to be clear!) She did have a CC for emergencies or larger purchases and I remember when they first came out with being able to swipe your own card to pay for stuff, she was very stressed about it.
My dad is retired plumber but very knowledgeable about every trade. When I told him we are buying a new build he had a million questions and I know he’ll be inspecting every square foot when he comes over, and he’ll know all the particulars of it. Oh that’s Hardie plank, very durable”.
When DD was born he gave me a CO2 detector to plug into her room even though they are all over the house up to code. “Because we have an older furnace” he said.
These kinds of things are his Boomer love language. Gotta make sure everyone is safe in their home.
Totally! My dad is the one that came and installed baby gates for DS when he thought we were taking too long getting around to it. He also always made sure we had a fire extinguisher, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, etc. in all of our homes.
I remember when H and I were dating (in our early 20s) he was very concerned about the condition of his tires and offered to buy him new ones if he couldn't afford it.
Omg my dad would totally be like that about the tires! When I was dating H (and living in a 3 family my dad owned), H had an expired inspection sticker on his pickup truck and it made my dad insane. Then H finally got around to doing it and it failed so it was sporting a rejection sticker. I don’t think my dad could sleep those couple of months. 😆
Another one I thought of is my mom doesn't have a debit card. My dad would get paid and hand her a wad of cash every week. (He wasn't controlling or anything and gave her plenty, to be clear!) She did have a CC for emergencies or larger purchases and I remember when they first came out with being able to swipe your own card to pay for stuff, she was very stressed about it.
My mom refused an ATM or debit card for the longest time. She would go to the bank every Friday to withdraw the money she needed for the week. Finally the bank sent her an ATM like please stop taking up our time every Friday!
All this answering machine talk reminds me of another Mom story. I've posted this before, but it's worthy of a re-post.
A long time ago, back when answering machines would lose your outgoing message if you had a power outage, replacing it with a standard, neutral/male voice prompting you to leave a message, Mom called. Getting this man's voice (!!!), she hangs up and calls back, same result. Understand, she had my phone number programmed into the phone, so she couldn't even think she'd misdialed.
Finally, she calls the phone company because she's convinced that the "wires have gotten crossed." When I got home, I had a message from the phone company, "Please call your mother."
When I asked why she didn't just leave a message, she said, "But what if this young man's Mom was really dead?!?"
starburst604 , my dad totally gave me money for new tires once - taking care of 'the fleet' of cars was definitely his love language (also missing my dad reading all these stories...)
On the theme that Boomers like stuff.... I pretty much stopped asked FIL to borrow tools or things even though he has 3 of everything b/c inevitably the ask would be accompanied by (1) a lecture why we should have it; (2) a protracted discussion on how to use said item...even if it's just a ladder; and (3) a gift of said item at the next major holiday.
Why can't I just continue to borrow to save the expense/storage of stuff? (we also live down the street from one another)? Newp, we should have our own....if he had a darker sense of humor I'd reply "then what will we fight over when you die?"....which is silly b/c again, see above - he's got 3 of everything.
All this answering machine talk reminds me of another Mom story. I've posted this before, but it's worthy of a re-post.
A long time ago, back when answering machines would lose your outgoing message if you had a power outage, replacing it with a standard, neutral/male voice prompting you to leave a message, Mom called. Getting this man's voice (!!!), she hangs up and calls back, same result. Understand, she had my phone number programmed into the phone, so she couldn't even think she'd misdialed.
Finally, she calls the phone company because she's convinced that the "wires have gotten crossed." When I got home, I had a message from the phone company, "Please call your mother."
When I asked why she didn't just leave a message, she said, "But what if this young man's Mom was really dead?!?"
Mom logic.
I am dying at the message from the phone company. The best.
Post by Poeticxpassion on May 5, 2023 14:37:53 GMT -5
My MIL texted me a few days ago and said, “call me important!!!!”
She wanted me to enter the publisher’s clearing house sweepstakes for her. She said if they won the $15 million, she’d give me a “couple bucks” for my troubles. 🙄
Are all your boomer parents stressed out? They don’t have young children, don’t work, doing fine financially. So what are they stressed about?
Similarly, my in-laws are SO BUSY. So busy. They have no jobs, friends, or hobbies. They only leave the house for dr appts and to do grocery pick up orders. They hire out all major household tasks and harass us to do the rest. But they constantly talk about how they’re “too busy” for something. Like, how??
My dad too. He’s been retired since covid. I’m his only family in the area. He can never be ready to go somewhere before 2:00, he prefers 3 or later. What the hell is he doing all day, every day?!?