New Year’s resolution - one per month. So far, on quota!
Generation gap? Are we getting old or what?
- Thread starter fiasconva
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New Year’s resolution - one per month. So far, on quota!
BLACKHAWKNJ
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Only time I have seen the dollar coins recently are at the ticket machines for NJ Transit trains.
Showed a 30 something teller at a bank a Bicentennial Quarter. a 60 year old might be unfamiliar with silver coins.
Mentioned to a co-worker that the disappearance of pay phones has made annoying and harassing phone calls much harder.
Showed a 30 something teller at a bank a Bicentennial Quarter. a 60 year old might be unfamiliar with silver coins.
Mentioned to a co-worker that the disappearance of pay phones has made annoying and harassing phone calls much harder.
NFrameFred
Member
For several generations up until the 1960’s, it is my opinion that the majority of people were raised in a “traditional “ family unit (depending on location and vocation, this had great bearing on the size of said family). Life changed in major ways from the civil war through the 1950’s (especially in the US). Morals and societal mores were still more homogeneous and widespread, public behavior (for better or worse) was held to a higher standard in spite of what private behaviors one might engage in. Please spare me the snide comments about “the good old days …..weren’t “. I would agree with that sentiment concerning race, equality of opportunity, advances in medicine and technology. In many, many ways the country and the world are much better for the progress made in those areas.
But I submit many (with little or no regret) are quite content to throw the baby out with the bath water in conflating personal freedom with abandonment of manners, a sense of community where the good of your neighbors should be almost an equal consideration as with you yourself, common courtesy, common decency in speech, and on and on. Our society has become more violent, vulgar, coarse, profane, irreverent and selfish and you may personally choose to excuse or overlook such but there is no doubt such portends rot in the foundation of the house.
You cannot teach someone habits, restraint, judgment and respect if you have little or no such qualities yourself; and we see the steady deterioration in the discourse and public displays of things that offend and vex the soul of someone with any sense of righteousness, decency and self respect. I further submit its like maintaining your home or car - the longer it’s neglected the worse it gets. Not trying to start an argument, but I expect the responses from the usual suspects as to “I’ll do what I want; nobody can judge me; nobody can tell me what to do”. Those are the end product of just what point I’m putting forth. The more people that foul their own nests with the tacit or complicit approval of society the more everyone suffers.
The “generation gap” as was coined in the ‘60’s was indeed a needed wake up call, as the institutional hypocrisy of denying the truth of the Constitutional mandate we were given was laid bare. But it has allowed license for all the worst of human nature to be drug into the light and celebrated and we’re now taught to believe we must accept it. Each generation that moves farther and farther away from our foundational principles and what is accepted as ‘right and wrong’ indeed widens the gap. A lot of “progress “ …. Isn’t.
But I submit many (with little or no regret) are quite content to throw the baby out with the bath water in conflating personal freedom with abandonment of manners, a sense of community where the good of your neighbors should be almost an equal consideration as with you yourself, common courtesy, common decency in speech, and on and on. Our society has become more violent, vulgar, coarse, profane, irreverent and selfish and you may personally choose to excuse or overlook such but there is no doubt such portends rot in the foundation of the house.
You cannot teach someone habits, restraint, judgment and respect if you have little or no such qualities yourself; and we see the steady deterioration in the discourse and public displays of things that offend and vex the soul of someone with any sense of righteousness, decency and self respect. I further submit its like maintaining your home or car - the longer it’s neglected the worse it gets. Not trying to start an argument, but I expect the responses from the usual suspects as to “I’ll do what I want; nobody can judge me; nobody can tell me what to do”. Those are the end product of just what point I’m putting forth. The more people that foul their own nests with the tacit or complicit approval of society the more everyone suffers.
The “generation gap” as was coined in the ‘60’s was indeed a needed wake up call, as the institutional hypocrisy of denying the truth of the Constitutional mandate we were given was laid bare. But it has allowed license for all the worst of human nature to be drug into the light and celebrated and we’re now taught to believe we must accept it. Each generation that moves farther and farther away from our foundational principles and what is accepted as ‘right and wrong’ indeed widens the gap. A lot of “progress “ …. Isn’t.
Having to work with basically all the generations, I'm no longer amazed at what the older folks know versus what the younger folks don't know or were never taught.
Used to be that almost everybody could at least do basic math in their heads. I'm not that smart, but even I can do math well enough in my head to give out correct change. I can even figure sales tax.
On the other hand, I'll never come close to using the full capability of my smart phone - but I can function, quite well, without one.
I'm not basing anybody, I'm just saying the way it is.
Used to be that almost everybody could at least do basic math in their heads. I'm not that smart, but even I can do math well enough in my head to give out correct change. I can even figure sales tax.
On the other hand, I'll never come close to using the full capability of my smart phone - but I can function, quite well, without one.
I'm not basing anybody, I'm just saying the way it is.
Abbynormal
Member
20 odd years ago, I lived near the World's Worst McDonalds (WWMcD).
The employees were either fresh off the bus from Mexico or Jr HS
dropouts.
You could never get what you ordered and they didn't understand
making change.
I finally got fed up and went to the bank and post office and got
$2 bills, Susan B. Anthony dollars and Sacajawea gold dollars.
I also found a couple of Ike dollar coins and JFK half dollar coins.
Took a buddy out to lunch one Saturday and paid for the order
with the odd money. First the clerk wouldn't take the coins
and currency and then I had him call in the manager.
The manager told him the money was good and to accept it.
He had to have another cashier help him enter the coins into
the register. Then he had to call the Manager back to ask his
where in the till was he supposed to put the coins and currency.
People behind us in line were either laughing or were pissed.
The employees were either fresh off the bus from Mexico or Jr HS
dropouts.
You could never get what you ordered and they didn't understand
making change.
I finally got fed up and went to the bank and post office and got
$2 bills, Susan B. Anthony dollars and Sacajawea gold dollars.
I also found a couple of Ike dollar coins and JFK half dollar coins.
Took a buddy out to lunch one Saturday and paid for the order
with the odd money. First the clerk wouldn't take the coins
and currency and then I had him call in the manager.
The manager told him the money was good and to accept it.
He had to have another cashier help him enter the coins into
the register. Then he had to call the Manager back to ask his
where in the till was he supposed to put the coins and currency.
People behind us in line were either laughing or were pissed.
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My father lives in the bathroom mirror. I am becoming him.
The older/younger generation chasm is nothing new. Things change with time and our perspective changes with age. Like a mouse in a snake, the view changes as we move along.
The older/younger generation chasm is nothing new. Things change with time and our perspective changes with age. Like a mouse in a snake, the view changes as we move along.
Socrates described the youth of his day as being a bunch of disrespectful louts. You can look it up.
I got a '58 wheatie in my change last week, first one in decades. Made my day. The year after dad died when I finally got around to really going through the stuff in his closet I found his old coin collection. Nothing fancy, and a lot of it is proof sets of no real value other than face. There were a few nice but not worth much finds. He has a lot of old wheat pennies including a few from the 1920's in very nice condition. About a sleeve's worth of steel pennies from wartime. Some buffalo nickles and such. My favorite coin found now gets carried with me every day as a lucky piece. It is a 1871 silver 50 centavo piece from Mexico. Worth about $20 monetarily, but priceless to me as a memento of Dad.
Don't discount the proof sets. They were premium coins right from the start.
The cook at the Eagles is always glad to see me when I buy supper with $2 bills.
Since I don't know what children are into these days, I started sending my two nephews stacks of $2 bills for presents. When my younger nephew turned 21, I sent him a birthday card with a stack of 21 $2 bills in it. The next time I saw him I told him he could now buy his first legal drink or make his first bet on a horse. He's graduating from college this year so I'm going to have to start scrounging the banks now to get enough $2 bills for his graduation present.
I can't read my own cursive, so I hardly ever use it. My cursive signature is unreadable and never the same twice. Woe be the day I'm in court and some lawyer asks me if this is my signature. "Heck if I know, I can't read it either."
OP
fiasconva
Member
Oh we kept the wheatback but my wife didn't notice that it had been in with her change. I have a little box that I keep any of the wheatbacks we find every now and then. I wasn't bashing the young lady but just musing about how times are a'changing.
I love to count back change. It really jacks with almost all young people. The old ones... like me... get a kick out of it.
I do the same thing, just for laughs. My neighbors have their grandson living with them, he is a nice little boy, around 10 or so. He asked me if he could put a lemonaid stand on my corner, I told him sure. He set up and was doing some good business, I bought a glass and asked him if he wanted a job. He got excited and asked me what the job was. I told him, see that grass growing along the curb line of my yard and the corner, I'd like that dug out, I'll give you the tools and a bucket for the weeds. I came back, gave him the stuff and told him I would be out in my shop when he was done. Thirty minutes later he comes to get me, we walk around front, beautiful job. I asked him what he thought it was worth, he looked a bit puzzled and I said "How about a couple bucks?" He said "Wow, sure." I hand him a $2 bill, he looks at it, looks at me and says "Whats this?" I said "Its as $2 bill, go show granpa he knows." Kid runs over and runs back all excited. My granddaughter got in my Model A a couple years ago and pointed to the window crank and said "Papa what is this for." I said that controls the window, she said "I pushed it and nothing happened."
I developed a decent cursive hand in school, I prefer to print or type but if pressed and given a couple of minutes to practice it all comes back. I always held my pencil odd and used to have a callous on my right hand middle finger. Having those skills was not a big advantage while I was in the Army, when they found out I could type they sent me over to Headquarters to work in S-2. I hated it so much I volunteered to go to truck driving school although later ran the parts department for an Army truck company, because I could type. It wasn't all bad, no reveille, had my own parts truck, running all over Germany with a pass signed by my CWO that gave me access to any military PDO yard, good duty.
A guy knows he has achieved Old Farthood when he gets haughty satisfaction from annoying young people.
It baffles me as to why someone would intentionally make a young person's job more difficult or complicated especially when those young people are willing to show up for work at a menial job.
I hear yuh there. When I was a very young guy, I was looking at a 1934 Chevy truck. A condescending old bastion standing nearby sneered at me saying I wouldn't be able to shift the transmission without grinding the gears (since it did not have a synchronized transmission). I thought to myself that if someone as if'ing stupid as this old fool could learn to do it, I'm sure I could too, but I was taught to respect old fools, so I didn't say anything.
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I've met plenty of ignorant people. They're not all young. Some of them are even older than I.
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