Cringe & Facepalm

I'm a receptionist and there is a large event being held in the office today. Host guy is animated and everyone is having a great time. Next thing I know he comes running down the hall to my desk. "HEY LADY!! Can you take a picture?" I'm not one to be rude on the job so I just smiled and went in while the group was getting set up.

Right before he hands me his phone for the photo, he announces "My kids were supposed to be here today too, but they ALL have COVID. Isn't that nuts?"

Meanwhile I am standing a foot away from him and see some faces in the crowd stop smiling. My spouse works in a hospital and now I have to inform him I may have had contact today. I'm sure it'll be fine but dude was rude and inconsiderate to everyone.

I actually won an interaction against a boomer for once!

Be me, Millenial working retail, it’s 10am-ish and I’m making small talk with a customer:

Customer: I’m still tired but I shouldn’t be by now.

Me: Ah that’s okay, I’m still tired too.

Cue the Boomer loading his shopping onto the till.

Boomer: That’s the problem with the youth of today. (This mf actually said it.) Still tired at this time. I’m retired and I got up at 7.

Me: Yeah well I was up at 5.

Boomer: That’s the thing with retirement, you might like it if you have no work ethic, or you’re lazy and you just like to sit around. But I can’t stand it.

Me: Well if you miss work so much there’s nothing stopping you from applying for another job.

Boomer goes silent. (Clearly no-one he’s insulted before has ever pointed this out.)

He changes topic to dealing with his shopping.

My face after winning a Boomer encounter: 😆

This happened when my kid was 6 months old.

We were out and about one morning doing little errands in our neighbourhood. Even though the sidewalk in this area is generously-sized, I am always conscious of sharing the sidewalk especially when there is a stroller in the mix. So there we were, walking down the right side of the sidewalk when I spot a boomer lady walking towards us. She is walking smack dab in the middle and when she spots us, she loudly yells, "EXCUSE ME, COMING THROUGH. Keep your EYES OPEN, I AM WALKING."

I was truly confused by this so I turned around to see if there was someone behind me that was taking up the width of the sidewalk. There was a young couple walking a few strides behind, also on the right side, looking equally confused.

As she is passing us (with tons of space on her side!), she looks me straight in the face and says, "I am a FRAGILE OLD LADY, you people need to WATCH IT."

Normally I would simply not engage but I guess the "you people" tipped me over the edge (I am asian) so I calmly replied, "you're fine. If you can't see how much space there is left for you, perhaps you should get your eyes checked."

She started sputtering (low key, I think she was surprised that I knew English) and took a totally different angle with, "well, your baby shouldn't be in a stroller! He needs to be WALKING."

More confusion. I just said, "He's 6 months old?? He hasn't started walking yet?" To which she goes, "He's clearly not walking yet because you keep him in a STROLLER."

Boomers, man. There was literally nothing to be upset about but I still got yelled at for--checks notes--using a stroller? Still not sure what happened.

I was outside mowing this morning when a lady stopped me to ask what sort of lawnmower I was using.

I believe in being polite, so I turned off the mower and explained it was electric and battery-powered. She asked questions about how long it ran off a charge, how long it took to recharge, if it was possible to buy additional batteries, and so on. Pretty much the usual questions I've fielded from neighbors in the past.

After I got done explaining what I could (I really have no idea how long it takes to recharge the batteries since I just mow until they quit and then put them on the charger overnight to finish the rest of the yard the next day ... one of the reasons I like my electric mower: It's batteries quit before mine do), the lady nodded and announced that she needed this mower.

I smiled and explained that she was in luck, that it used to be that you had to buy the silly thing online, but that there were several hardware stores in the area now that carried electric mowers. I explained how they were a little pricey, but well worth it when she interrupted me and said, "No, I don't want to buy one. I need THIS mower!"

She closed her hand on the mower's handle and lightly pulled.

I held on and laughed, thinking she was joking around.

Then she pulled harder and said, "Let go, please."

I politely explained that (a) I was actively using the mower at the moment to mow my yard, (b) I had no idea who she was or where she lived, so I wasn't going to loan her my mower, and (c) that I was going to go back to mowing now, so have a nice day ... good luck on buying one of your own. She let go the instant I turned the mower back on, took a step back, and started saying, "Please? Pretty please?" repeatedly.

I went back to mowing while she stood on the sidewalk, watching me walk back and forth. Whenever I came within earshot, she would hit me with a couple more pleases. I stopped looking at her and shifted to my side yard. I didn't see when she left, but she wasn't there when I next looked.

So bizarre.

Edit for common questions: The lady in question looked to be somewhere in her 30's/40's (or maybe a well-preserved 50's), so I don't think she was a boomer. (Besides, I'm technically a boomer and I've never seen her at any of the meetings.)

I don't have any outside cameras but neither do any of my neighbors, it's not that kind of neighborhood in all honesty. On the other hand, I do have an impressive door and lock on my shed (and neighbors with large and excitable dogs on the other side of the fence from it) so I'm not terribly worried.

She looked, acted, and dressed completely normal for the area. Lucid, reasonable, logical, sane ... well, until the entire "I gotta have this particular mower for free" bit that is. Otherwise, she could have been from any of the local churches in the area. (Not that this is saying much, given my experiences with the local church ladies.)