Cringe & Facepalm

My wife and I went to a minor league baseball game last night for date night. We walked into a little bar/food stand to get some refreshments before finding our seats.

Immediately upon walking in we noticed a group/semi-line of boomers backing up around the center of the bar (about 25 feet long with FIVE registers and bartenders). On either side of the middle register were very clearly printed signs stating “Do NOT line up. Just come to a register and we will help you.” The sign also reminded patrons to smile (as with most miLB parks, it was a very fun, friendly atmosphere).

So my wife and I ignore the boomer traffic jam, FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS, and make our way to the far left register and start placing our order with the (very sweet) bartender.

Immediately, a stereotypical white-goateed boomer comes up to us aggro af bitching “Uh, we were IN LINE”. My wife, who is typically extremely non-confrontational, replied “cool story bro, but you’re just supposed to walk up.”

Boomer went into a full-on rage, probably partially from being put in his place by a woman. He started to come at her verbally, but the bartender immediately shut him down and said (cheerfully), “Sir she is correct. You can just walk right up! I can help you both at the same time!”

“There are two signs saying to form a line.”

“No, sir. The signs clearly say to NOT form a line and just come right up to a free register. Again I can help you all at once. What can I get you?”

Instead of just ordering, he continues bitching about (somehow) both my wife and I AND THE FUCKING BARTENDER were wrong, blah blah blah.

Bartender proceeds to ignore him and just go ahead making our drinks, saying under her breath “y’all did perfect”.

His face had turned fire engine red at this point. I thought literal steam was going to come out of his ears when we carried our drinks out past him while he still hadn’t ordered anything because he could not stop crying about how we were somehow incorrect. My wife’s cheery “enjoy the game!” was the chef’s kiss to the entire episode.

This one is comparatively mild next to other stories on this sub. But it's so tacky and stupid and representative of how miserable boomers get when people are enjoying themselves.

We took our daughter to the city's Children's Museum. I mean it's right there in the name - it's a place for children, and as such one would expect there to be lots of children there right? We are well into summer vacation, obviously kids aren't in school right now.

The museum has a lot of interactive, hands-on exhibits (again, it's the CHILDREN'S Museum). There's also a planetarium. We line up outside, the doors open, and we make our way into the theater and there's one of those old white dudes with a crusty pony tail and ballcap parked in a seat. As families are filing in, he's shushing all the kids, telling them it's a movie theater and they need to stay quiet. He's getting odd looks but mostly being ignored. No one is being "loud" by the way, just the standard commotion of people finding seats in a theater, and because we are at the CHILDREN'S MUSEUM a lot of them are, in fact, children.

Well, everyone settles in and before the show starts, there's the standard announcement to "please keep your phones off during the show" blah blah. Nothing on the screen. Somewhere behind me I hear a kid ask his mom what the movie is, she says something about planets and space and stuff, and he excitedly starts talking about the solar system. He was mot being loud at all, the show hasn't started, and the theater lights haven't even dimmed yet. The boomer with absolutely zero discretion in his tone, goes "Hey! Shut that kid up!" There's a brief stunned silence, the kid starts to say something again and his mom quickly shushes him, and the guy does it again -- "I SAID SHUT THAT KID UP!" Silence, super awkward.

Fuck this guy. I turn around and angrily tell him to knock it off, it's just a kid, and the show hasn't even started. He huffs and says that no one should be talking in the theater.

The show starts, there's animations of supernovas and comets and all that, and the couple times the kid starts to express amazement, he's quickly shushed by his mom. So sad. 40 minutes later it's over and that asshole boomer slept through the whole thing. As we leave he's still there snoring, more like choking and hacking on his own saliva. Maybe he died there, IDGAF.

Why? He was there by himself which isn't inherently wrong, but why go to a place that obviously is going to be populated by a lot of kids and get mad about kids being there? Would he go to a football game and get pissed at people cheering at a touchdown? Is it just a sheer hatred for children?

TL;DR boomer yells at children for enjoying the children's museum.

Edit: typos

I'm a veteran. I sometimes wear an old ball cap associated with my old MOS. I happened to be wearing it this day. Specifically, it had the crossed cannons of artillery.

I was at a family gathering for my wife's side of the family. Lots of people there (friends of the family included), but I only know a few of them; we flew in from out of state to attend. Many of them are conservative, and several are wearing maga gear.

This older boomer, one of the family friends, is talking with my father-in-law, and he gestured at me, "Who is that guy?"

"That's my son-in-law," and my FIL went on to point out my kids, basically excited to brag about his grandkids.

Then the boomer interrupted to asks, "Why the fuck is he wearing that hat?"

My father-in-law just deadpaned him and said, "Because he was in the fucking army, why do you think?"

The boomer just grunted and walked away. Apparently the entire reason he started talking to my FIL was to see if I was faking it by wearing a ball cap with a symbol from the military.

Long but meaningful story.

I work at busy public library. We have a large open floor for most of our collection where people are welcome to talk. We have a quiet reading room with awesome furniture and free WiFi for anyone who wants a traditional, quiet library experience - there is no talking and no cell phone use in this area, but patrons can talk in all other areas of the building.

Boomer lady comes in with an ancient Kindle Fire and can't figure out why it won't work, it's just "so slow." I realize she has 45 programs running at once, and 253 tabs open in her browser (about 200 of them were Fox News). I show her how to close a program when she's done and how to close out tabs in her browser.

While I'm working on her device, a mom walks in with two profoundly autistic teen boys. These boys are very sweet and come to the library frequently. They both have loud verbal stims where they hoot and hum. Mom is very mindful of this gets them in and out of the library quickly, even though we have told her that we are not a silent space and the boys are welcome any time.

Now, these boys are visibly disabled. When they come in, Boomer lady begins glaring at them every time they vocalize. Seeing her getting angry at these young men for something they can't help, I hurry up and finish with her and get her ready to leave. As she stands up, she turns toward this mom and proudly (loudly) states, "I thought libraries were supposed to be quiet, those kids need to be controlled better!" And she smiles at me, thinking I will agree. I match her volume and say, "Oh, no, not at all! We are not a quiet space in any way, most libraries aren't. If you need a quiet spot, please go into the quiet reading room."

Boomer lady harumphed. My next customer in line for computer help said, "For someone who can't even close a tab on a browser, you're very judgmental." Boomer stomped off. I gave the nice person $5 in printing for free as a thank-you.

TL;DR Boomer lady gets help with something simple but makes time to Mom shame a nice lady with children who have significant disabilities. Another patron puts her in her place.

Edit: added a word.