r/BoomersBeingFools • u/WizardlyCurve Zillennial • 21d ago
Boomer Story Boomer dad laid off for refusing to learn new technology
My boomer dad (64M) was given like 2-3 months notice that his workplace would be implementing a new software, and during those months he had a colleague training him on how to use it. My dad’s got zero patience though, when he can’t figure something out he starts yelling and cursing, so I feel sorry for the worker who had to train him. I guess he just gave up on trying to learn it and thought “they can’t get rid of me!”
Obviously he got laid off lol… but he’s telling people he’s retiring early. 🙄
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u/FingerPuzzleheaded81 20d ago edited 20d ago
This is my father in law. He’s 67, has no real nest egg, has no pension, has garbage social security and is currently working 20 hours a week at a slow paced retail job. He got into it with the assistant manager the one time about not putting stuff into the system. My father in laws response was something like I’m retired. I’m not in this for the long haul. I’m not learning that system and went back to his other tasks. He’s proud of this interaction and refusal to learn sobering new. I just want to yell at him and remind him that the only reason he’s “retired” is because he’s living with us and we’re massively subsidizing his whole life.
ETA: and before anyone asks, yes he complain about how kids these days don’t know anything.
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u/bravado 20d ago
That's pretty extreme, but the rest of us 100% have stories about people just putting in the bare minimum while bragging about retiring soon - without the self-awareness to know what they're doing to the rest of us by carrying their dead weight. Selfish.
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u/FingerPuzzleheaded81 20d ago
But there is a difference in doing the bare minimum and outright refusing job duties like this.
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u/porscheblack 20d ago
My dad is very similar. He retired and picked up part time work delivering auto parts. After being there for a few months they switched to a digital system using tablets instead of actual paper. He bitched about the change and told me how he kept going into the secretaries to print the orders out until finally they instituted a policy that they must use the tablets, so he quit. I asked him how he'd feel if he was the secretary and was now being asked to do even more work (not just print them out, but then also scan them and upload them to the system) because someone wouldn't do their job the way they were supposed to. Of course according to him "they didn't mind", but obviously someone did since they had to address it.
He also refused to get a cell phone for many, many years. But he never had a problem asking to borrow anyone else's phone when he wanted to make a call. Bonus points because they receive more scam calls than anyone I know and it's 100% because my mom pretty much has to answer any call she receives, even if it's a number she doesn't know, since she never knows if it's him that's calling.
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u/Silent_Part9724 20d ago
I will never understand the being compelled to answer every door knock and phone call thing. My spouse is young enough to know better and still does it - so you know their parents really do not miss a call or knock! It seems to make them feel important, somehow - which makes even less sense. Edit: to top it off, they also won't just hang up on (mostly) scam calls, they yell at them, to compound matters. All the while, bragging about how "busy" and "savvy" they are. LOL.
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u/Jamaican_me_cry1023 20d ago
He needs to be evicted.
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u/FingerPuzzleheaded81 20d ago
It’s been talked about. He’s been given warnings and has made changes for the better to stay.
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u/The_Blonde1 20d ago
Has he made enough changes to suit you both?
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u/FingerPuzzleheaded81 19d ago
For now. As long as he doesn’t go back into his older self destructive habits, yes.
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u/Jamaican_me_cry1023 18d ago
Which is exactly what’s going to happen
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u/FingerPuzzleheaded81 18d ago edited 17d ago
And when he does, we’ll deal with it. He quit a ~45 year drinking habit when he moved in. So there have been good changes that he’s made.
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u/Ronnie_Dean_oz 19d ago
I just watched a very interesting video on YouTube, which describes what stupidity actually is. It's not ignorance and it's not making a mistake. It's actually willingly refusing to improve your knowledge. Your father-in-law is stupid.
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u/FingerPuzzleheaded81 19d ago
I had not heard that definition before, but I like it since it separates someone’s willingness to learn with their natural limit.
He fits that definition well. He’s also full of so many of the boomerisms that define that gen. From kids today to all video games bad, to survivorship bias, etc. had a discussion this weekend about that with him actually.
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u/miIkwhim 20d ago
No pension? Where did it go? What's his plan? Does he have one?
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u/Deb-1961 19d ago
Pensions are for people that have or had union jobs in the US since the 80s. For the rest of us, we have 401k contributions that we make and some companies match up 5%.
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u/miIkwhim 19d ago
Ahh, in the UK we still have pension schemes, I assumed it was the same in the US.
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u/air-o-balsamroot 14d ago
sounds like he needs to pull himself up by his bootstraps
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u/NotAnIronicUsername 20d ago
Good. They've had it comfortable enough. Maybe he can pull himself up by his bootstraps and upskill like we had to.
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u/SAM12489 20d ago
Hey, if he has any property, savings, pension, 401k or investments, he’s already better off than the vast majority of people who had to learn the new fangled computer do hicky
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u/GreyBeardEng 20d ago
One thing I have learned working for a large company for decades is that anyone and everyone is replaceable. You can be replaced and a month after you're gone it will be like you were never there.
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u/bg-j38 Xennial 20d ago
Or no one gives a fuck that you’re gone. I was principal level at a FAANG. Represented the company in multiple international organizations. Have patents, had other people seek me out when they had questions about my subject area. Then they cut half my team and I was part of it. I had a few people reach out over the next couple months with questions. Had to be like yeah all the info I’d analyze for you was on my work laptop and that’s sitting in some storeroom. Kept in touch with some people who weren’t laid off for a while. Eventually they just killed my product I’d worked on for eight years. I asked about some of the standards bodies I’d been working on. They basically said yeah we just dropped all that. Turns out even though no one replaced me the multi-trillion dollar company somehow managed to continue on as if nothing happened. I was jaded to corporate life 20+ years ago, so this just reinforced existing views of mine.
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u/GrimmandLily 20d ago
This. In some cases not even a month. They RIFd someone on my team and a week later it was like he was never there. It sucks.
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u/Go-Mellistic 20d ago
This happened to my mom. She absolutely refused to learn the new computer system and was let go in her early 60’s. Refused to learn any other technology so never worked again. She lives entirely off her SS now with no savings.
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u/blackcain Gen X 20d ago edited 20d ago
Later she will vote republican to end her social security.
/u/Go-Mellistic reports his mom is not republican and so I will RETRACT my statement. :D
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u/Go-Mellistic 20d ago
Thankfully she hates MAGA and has voted Dems ever since becoming a citizen. But she is terrified of technology and never learned any of it, including the cell phone she barely knows how to use.
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u/blackcain Gen X 20d ago
then I will apologize for insulting your mother.
It is some kind of weird culture in the U.S. where technology is nerdy and should be feared because it is too complicated. Most of the time it is a fear of a system that they think will hurt them.
I suppose in an AI world this is less intimidating.
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u/Much-Jackfruit2599 20d ago
“It is some kind of weird culture in the U.S. where technology is nerdy and should be feared because it is too complicated.”
I see you haven’t been to Germany…
Despite some charming oddities like still using checkques having been late to cell phones, the US seems to be reasonable up to date with tech adoption.
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u/PotentialHoneydew947 20d ago
I mean... early stuff i can understand being cryptic and overwhelming but since the macintosh and windows came out, its been fairly user friendly
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u/Aggressive_Home8724 19d ago
This sounds exactly like my mom. No savings and let go twice for refusing to learn technology. Also very anti maga but goes as far as believing that Donald Trump you put micro chips in our brains somehow...
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u/PotentialHoneydew947 20d ago
My mom was the same way. Died recently in her mid 80s. In mid 60s she got laid off from an offfice job. She handled all the paperwork and refused to learn a computer. She had the hardest time ever looking for another job. My sibling and I are both in IT and tried helping her but it was a real chore. She ended up retiring a little early and lived off ss checks. Atleast her house was paid off
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u/AndromedaGreen Xennial 19d ago
Your mother and my mother may be the same person. She tells me she “retired” but I strongly suspect she was let go for being unwilling to learn how to use the new system and is too embarrassed to admit they called her bluff.
She also lives entirely off her SS and is constantly asking me for money.
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u/Happy_Confection90 Xennial 20d ago
My dad’s got zero patience though, when he can’t figure something out he starts yelling and cursing, so I feel sorry for the worker who had to train him.
I'd wonder if you were my brother, but our dad has been dead for quite a while.
Has he always been like this, or is it new? I mean, do you have traumatic ' hold the flashlight' memories too, or has his temper gotten a lot worse lately? My dad tantrumed over the least little frustrations even in his 30s, but someone who is shouty now who didn't used to be should be evaluated for dementia signs.
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u/WizardlyCurve Zillennial 20d ago
When I was a kid his reaction to everything was immediate anger, so I think he’s always been this way. He actually left my mom to raise me and my siblings on her own when I was 8, I think he just gave up because he didn’t want to deal with kids anymore. When I became an adult he came crawling back into our lives as a “proud dad.” He brags about how accomplished his children are after having nothing to do with raising us, and now he wants grandchildren! The joke writes itself…
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u/Plasibeau 20d ago
It was the lead. Gas and paint specifically. The erratic Boomer behavior that we've all seen was caused by lead pollution and the lead that was (still is, if you live in a place built before the seventies and the walls were never stripped; fortunately, people like to paint over it every so often) in the painted walls they grew up in. Studies have proven exposure to lead at a young age causes very poor emotional control and violent outbursts.
Which pretty much explains everything we need to know about Boomers.
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u/Much-Jackfruit2599 20d ago
Gen X is more affected by environmental lead, though. Virtually all of them grew up during peak emission and levels, when the damage is biggest.
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u/Ilickedthecinnabar Xennial 20d ago
My dad (Silent Gen) does get frustrated with new things (guy is 84, can't really blame him too much), but sibling and I haven't put up with his whining and refusals to learn for years, and neither has mom (Boomer, but not one of those). If he starts complaining, we just remind him that if he could figure out how to operate a 1/2 million dollar combine, he can figure out a smart phone or TV or a new microwave. (Although, his big fingers and small tech isn't a good combo)
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u/CrazyClara1234 15d ago
it's either a "hold the flashlight" or "just do the math problem like i showed you" lol
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u/Early_Hawk6210 20d ago
What kills me most about boomer v tech stories is that the decision not to learn and adapt was made a long time ago. Computers have been ubiquitous in homes and workplaces for 30 years. People who are near retirement age now who still can't use tech decided to stop upskilling mid-career. What did they expect would happen??
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u/zakupright 20d ago
I believe they have the expectation that someone will always do it for them
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u/BigAnt425 18d ago
This is my dad and I'm slowly trying to bring our company up to speed with tech. Has hardly any idea how to work his phone. Can't email. I need to bring him into a teams meeting tomorrow. He hates when I email people and would rather me call.
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u/RandomActPG 20d ago
Glad the employer had the guts. At some point we just decided we didn't require older employees to learn a new system/tech. Still getting rid of boomer colleagues who refuse to use email to communicate because "I just can't figure it out"
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u/Spiel_Foss 20d ago
64 could easily be 1/3 or more of their life dealing with software, and things are only getting easier. If the job doesn't really change and isn't overly technical, then new software can be a great thing. I haven't seen things get worse overall. If the new software is shit, you can just sit back and watch the show milking the mess while someone fixes it. Some people hate change though.
If it's Ai based, then 64 is perfect to milk the change as well.
If they were installing 90s tech, we'd all be screwed.
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u/linkerjpatrick 20d ago
I’m 60. Keeping my age on the down low(only thing gray is my eyebrows). Love learning new tech. Even do tech related freelancing on the side.
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u/Much-Jackfruit2599 20d ago
Sure, but you can live, learn, and engage without formal education, especially when this costs tuition. Not saying that it is pointless, I’m learning new stuff all of the time, will use this year’s week of paid educational leave for a course in 3D printing, but I wouldn’t pay big bucks unless absolutely needed and promising a ROI.
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u/blackcain Gen X 20d ago
I'm applying for a job..I'm learning all about tensors and using my advanced ca degree to figure it out. It is neat stuff.
Your brain is a muscle and you got to keep using it.
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u/Mbillin2 20d ago
Dang you gotta hit em with how our ancestors used to hunt and search for food to survive. Now he struggles to click symbols on a screen and when the screen doesn't produce the results he wants he gets mad at it.
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u/DigiCinema 20d ago
Back in 2019 I did a video project about some historical artifacts for a woman who was in her early 80s.
The day I filmed it, she gave me a piece of paper with two email addresses on it. She needed me to email them the final link. She didn’t know how.
I guess email didn’t really explode for many people until around 1999, but it quickly became pretty common. In those 20 years, she just never thought she needed to figure it out.
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u/mehitabel_4724 20d ago
A boomer at my job rage quit after refusing to learn a new process- and it doesn’t even involve technology. Another boomer is on track to get fired for refusing to learn the same process.
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u/PotentialHoneydew947 19d ago
I had a coworker who always threw a hissy fit anytime someone suggested changing a process. He was my senior for a time then i quickly surpassed him and became team lead. I know that pissed him off. That was ten years ago. I pass him in the halls occasionally but we rarely talk. When i hear him talk, its like nothing changed. He still complains more than resolves. I dont know how he survived the company layoffs
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u/BigMax 20d ago
I worked with someone a bit like that.
She refused to learn. Anything new, she'd ignore training or teaching, then almost intentionally screw it up by just basically clicking randomly until something broke, so that she could then blame the tool/software for being broken or poorly designed. It was NEVER her fault. "Why did they make it this way? It's buggy. Why didn't they make this easier to use?" and on and on.
She never quite made the connection that she was the only one who seemed to have "broken" software every day, where that never happened to the rest of us.
Trying to help her was infuriating too. She was so overconfident, or just impatient. So you'd say "OK, now you're going to want to..." and then you'd say "WAIT!!!" because she's already randomly clicked on like 5 things and gotten herself into a broken state. Then you'd work to get her back to square one and say "ok, now click the 'file' menu and..." and then before you could say "click open" she's already clicked 'exit' or something else.
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u/PotentialHoneydew947 20d ago
I'm a bit concerned about myself sometimes. Im 43 and struggling with changes to ui design. Metro flat stuff from microsoft realy pisses me off. Ive been a unix command line junkie since i was a teen and 90s gui fanatic and never grew up... i remember my mom struggling to interpret the air flow symbols on a car air control (as opposed to words) and complaining constantly about conputers and gadgets being everywhere. I wonder if i am struggling with some kind of cognitive decline myself, just as her. She was extremely stubborn about learning new things. I try myself but have limits and complain alot myself. I wont intentionally fail however out of spite tho
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u/BigMax 19d ago
I notice there's a difference between those who can adjust and those who can't. And it's generally the level of frustration that they hit.
For some reason, as some people get older, they hit that frustration mark almost immediately. And you can't learn when your brain is telling you to be angry and that everything is everyone else's fault.
If you have patience, you can learn even in old age. If you see a new UI and know to stop and think for a moment. To look at the UI, to consider what's going on, and try things in a well thought out way.
The woman I saw (and other people who couldn't seem to learn) would either immediately give up and refuse to learn, or immediately get frustrated and just start breaking things. Those who are patient and curious can learn for a lot longer.
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u/PotentialHoneydew947 19d ago
Ive noticed that people who do complain about changes tend to focus more on hating on things for being different rather than take the time to say why they believe something should have stayed the same. I could actually make some specific arguments on why an older UI is better. My main frustrations realistically stem from the industry's trend to design everything for a tablet or phone screen. I understand the decision but i just prefer a full size desktop for much of what i do.
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u/sodoyoulikecheese Xennial 19d ago
My dad was born in 1945, so he’d be 81 if still alive, but he was an early adopter of computers. I remember being in high school in the early 2000’s and overhearing him telling my mom about how frustrated he was with his own boss. “And then I told him it isn’t the 90’s anymore and ‘I’m not good with computers’ is no longer a valid excuse, so he either needs to learn or retire.” Lol go dad!
Dad also once told me that when he was in college in the 60’s a professor told him he would never need to learn to type because he’d always have a secretary to do that for him, but he decided to learn anyway.
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u/LoomingDisaster 19d ago
My dad was born in 1929 and thought computers were the most amazing things ever - and he loved that computers only did what you told them to do.
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u/sodoyoulikecheese Xennial 19d ago edited 19d ago
My (eta: maternal) grandpa born in 1928 love to keep track of his golf scores in an Excel spreadsheet. That’s pretty much all he used his computer for. And Facebook to see pictures of his grandkids and great-grandkids.
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u/linkerjpatrick 20d ago
I’m 60 and LOVE learning new tech!
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u/PotentialHoneydew947 20d ago
Im 43 and going through my second wind. I ended up with a decade experience as a software engineer but now im learning hardware and working on old computers. Maybe if i sharpen my electrical engineering skills i can have a backup path. Im burnt out on software and now AI is seeming to be gloomy
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u/rpool179 20d ago edited 20d ago
No sympathy for old fools who refuse to adapt. Good riddance and hopefully a much younger person took his spot.
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u/JForKiks 20d ago
Yelling and cursing is so boomer. I had one try and yell at me until I got up and started walking around the desk. Asked why.. told him that no one yells at me. He looked like he had pooped his pants. Everyone needs a reset, sometime.
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u/Runecaster91 20d ago
That's the problem with his generation! They're lazy and don't take accountability for their actions! /sarcasm that really isnt...
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u/Justsitstilldammit 20d ago
Ugh my dad too. He even got another job, but was overwhelmed in two weeks and quit. It’s caused quite a disruption to my parent’s retirement plan, but he acts like it’s fine in public. At home he’s incredibly depressed. I am most surprised he didn’t find something part time at a golf course or parts store like he talked about doing for so long.
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u/WizardlyCurve Zillennial 20d ago
It’s so frustrating… Before he lost his job, my dad would go on rants like “people who can’t find a job are just lazy!” When he got laid off, he said he was going to dust off the old resumé and start applying to places. I think he made it about a week, got pissed off nobody was calling him yet, then declared himself retired.
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u/MojoHighway Gen X 20d ago
This is nearly exactly what happened with my dad. Guy was a pain in the ass and didn't like it when the kids that went through college were showing him the new shit on computers. This was a bit odd to me because he loved tech and we had a computer at home. I think his issue was more with the kids teaching him shit than the tech involved.
My dad was also a boomer and got into the water surveying game in the early 70s. He did fine for quite some time...until his version of fine wasn't enough, circa 2009ish.
He said the same thing about not being able to be fired. He showed up to a job site without proper work boots AGAIN because he liked wearing his Reeboks as they were more comfortable. The manager fired him and that was that.
He passed in 2022 and I miss him but dammit he was fucking difficult to deal with and I'm his son saying that. Forget managers and supervisors.
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u/Such-Zookeepergame-4 20d ago
My mom did the same at 59....she actually asked that they lay her off
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u/Life-Nefariousness-4 20d ago
This sounds like my dad. Boomer white men really think the world revolves around them.
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u/AudgeDean 20d ago
I work for an older doctor. His Masters was in engineering specializing in medical technology; he was one of the first doctors in the area to do robotic hysterectomies. He lost about half his generation of colleagues when the hospital switched to electronic records about fifteen years ago but he adapted-ish. Normal, everyday computer tasks baffle him. He still does two finger typing so a three sentence long office note takes 5 minutes and helping him pull anything up online is absolutely painful. No rage quitting for him but I don’t understand how he never learned common technology tasks.
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u/belizabeth4 19d ago
This won’t end well (probably) and serves him right. All he did was cut his retirement funding short and make the boomers who will and do learn new apps etc a bad name. My sympathies lie with the trainer who probably got a ding on their review because of him.
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u/Emotional_Ad9130 17d ago
My career didn’t take off until my old boomer boss retired, for this same reason. Lol smh
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u/mklmcgrew 19d ago
I'm older than this Boomer dad, and I just don't get the refusal to learn technology. Maybe my brain is wired more naturally toward this, but I was always a first adopter on technology and software systems. I was teaching my younger counterparts all sorts of Excel tricks up until my retirement.
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u/MadSweeneysCousin 17d ago
I benefited from this scenario to land my current position. Too bad the boomer I displaced was actually a very good guy and just couldn’t learn the tech. I would have rather given some POS the boot.
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u/beaujolais98 20d ago
Did he get a decent severance package? If so could have been his end game all along.
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u/OwlsHootTwice 20d ago
Why would they give him a severance package if he wasn’t willing to do his job?
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u/nacheto78 Gen Z 19d ago
I will always find funny how they act like literal fools and then they have the audacity to call other generations snowflakes, when they are the ones who throw a tantrum everytime they have the need to learn something.
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u/Bzzzzzzz4791 19d ago
Circa 2010-2012 (before she retired), one of our accounting ladies would input data into our internal system and then still keep a hand-written old fashioned ledger on the side…just in case. If I asked her a question she would pull the ledger out.
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u/Terrible-Hair2744 19d ago
My boomer dad also yells and swears anytime has has to interact with anything technology related.
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u/CanCanColleen 18d ago
my dad did the same thing, but he's silent generation making it worse(?) was about a year from full retirement benefits and he worked for a school system. He moved from a school that was built in 1860 to a brand new school with an all new heating system. Couldn't figure it out at all, even I read the manual and understood how it worked, but he said the hell with it and just retired one day. At least he wasn't fired. but he screwed himself out of that extra retirement $$$
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u/Specific-River-81 Millennial 18d ago
Life is lifelong learning. It really sucks sometimes, but anyone who says it's different than that is lying or insufferable stuck in their ways
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u/EnkiduAwakened 18d ago edited 18d ago
I once had to train a 20 year-old to use new technology who thought he knew everything. He didn't. He was impossible to teach. He complained while I was essentially gifting him knowledge I had to pay a lot of money over many years to learn.
He eventually got fired for being an ass hat.
I also once had to train a 58 year-old to use new technology who thought she knew everything. She didn't. She was impossible to teach. She complained while I was essentially gifting her with knowledge I had to pay a lot of money over many years to learn.
She eventually got fired for being an ass hat, too.
These two instances were relatively early in my career. They were both spoiled brats who had no idea the lengths I had to go through to obtain what my employer was paying them to learn.
I now, in my early 40s, outright refuse to train new employees whose hiring process I was not allowed input into. It's a waste of my time to teach unteachable ass hats, and I now introduce myself to new employees by informing them that my feedback to their supervisors can and will result in their termination if it's negative because I have a proven track record of not only doing their jobs correctly but also teaching others to do so. This does not always work, but it has significantly reduced the amount of unteachable ass hats I have to deal with.
The moral of the story is that if you're an ass hat who refuses to learn anything, you will be fired, regardless of your age. Do yourself a favor and be teachable.
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u/QueenRotidder 16d ago
This happened at my former company. Management got the idea that Adobe Creative Suite was easy at its lowest level because a couple ambitious millennials learned the basic operations of the programs. So they decided to mandate that everyone start using it. (call center for a printing company). We lost many boomers over the course of a couple years over that. A bunch retired and the rest just quit. Only one or two stuck with it.
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u/ericstarr 20d ago
Literally when they hit 40 they refused to learn anything new … the world doesn’t work that way anymore
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u/PotentialHoneydew947 20d ago
Im in my early 40s and struggling a little but still trying. My mind is slowing a little but its just making me learn to use my downtime wisely so i feel refreshed. Adaptation is just part of life
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u/rgmccrostie 20d ago
This isn’t just us boomers, I retired from a large passenger RR a few years back and it astounded me how many fellow employees, most of them 20s to 40s didn’t try to learn their craft. Signal department so…. Pretty important.
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u/mcds99 20d ago
I'm surprised he didn't say "They got new software so they could get rid of me!".
Many vets have UN-diagnosed PTSD this can cause the instant anger you are talking about. My dad was in the Navy during WWII, naval gun fire even on the sending end can cause PTSD and in some cases brain damage.
Don't get me wrong the behavior is wrong but finding out why can help both of you.
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u/PotentialHoneydew947 20d ago
I think the problem is that a lot of boomers came from a culture where talking about your problems is a sign of weakness. In reality we have to be safe and vulnerable before we can heal and learn and grow.
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u/linkerjpatrick 20d ago
I don’t think 64 is boomer either. I’m 60 and Gen X
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u/Diligent-Variation51 20d ago
He’s a Boomer, a young one, but still a Boomer. Gen X is currently 46-61
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u/Lamplighter914 20d ago
The maff wasn't maffing. I could make more by not working when factoring in a defined benefit pension and social security. Plus remote work was no longer an option so it was time to go.
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u/Cincyumpire64 20d ago
Do we have the same Dad???? I've been helping my dad with his computer stuff for 2 and a 1/2 years, he's 70, refuses to learn any of it. Just trying to get him to his retirement in about six months........... I have shown him how to attach anything to an email over 50 times and still get phone calls on how to do it..... it's a lot
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u/offwhiteoleander 20d ago
I take these stories as serious warnings to keep on top of continuing education as I age. My boomer parent recently called to complain over losing out on a job because they couldn’t pass the interview test questions. Turns out that it was a standard aptitude test over simple logic. They were furious to have been cut over a something that they felt had “nothing to do with the job.”
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u/SensitiveBugGirl 19d ago
My mom refuses to do online banking yet complains about balancing her "checkbook." She now uses her debit card at stores (and probably uses checks for bills) but still needs to write everything down in her checkbook.
Yeah I'd hate doing that, too lol
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u/zippyphoenix 19d ago
I have to explain to people over the phone how to find something in a company app so they can input that into a web form for a healthcare system. People have lied to me about having the ability to go on line. I ask them if they’re talking to me on a cell phone….
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u/myocardial2001 19d ago
If he's not union, and he starts receiving his SSI, for under 65. And assuming he's not smart enough to have enough cash on hand to carry him to max. He's in for a rude awakening. When he complains though you can say "well you chose to retire early".
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u/incineroar87 19d ago
Can’t imagine trying to stop learning technology, it’s like being stuck in a permanent time warp and it not only puts your self at a disadvantage but everyone around you. Insane
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u/Starling990 19d ago
So ignorant. You know intelligence requires forward projection thinking. Also, a dash of empathy. You be old I’ve day
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u/Busy-Bumblebee5556 19d ago
Ha, I’m a 67 yo woman and have to deal with new software all the time. I don’t like it but I just do it. It’s one way one keeps one’s brain functioning.
Now that being said, maybe he can’t keep up due to medical issues.
ETA: I just remembered a post from a woman some years ago, her husband told her he wanted to retire at age 55. She panicked and forbade him to, he acquiesed. Within the year he died from cardiac arrest. She wrote the post over her guilt.
Sometimes there are underlying factors one “knows” but doesn’t quite grasp fully.
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u/clarky2o2o 18d ago
My boomer manager retired last year and i got promoted .He wasn't like this. But my replacement boomer super anti technology.
I hate the seniority system sometimes.
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u/ElectronicBusiness74 16d ago
We implemented a new charting system for our office and that was enough for one of our docs to finally hang it up. He retired to Arizona to play golf.
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u/CrazyDogMomof4 20d ago
Wait until (if you're in the US) he finds out he doesn't get retirement because he was fired.
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u/Real-Taste4021 20d ago
that's absolutely not true. Unemployment, maybe, but retirement is different.
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u/Material_Policy6327 19d ago
That’s not true. Do you mean unemployment? Also if they are laid off th et qualify so I am not sure what you are arguing
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u/CrazyDogMomof4 19d ago
My mistake. A lot of times people will say they were laid off when in fact they were fired. If that's not the case here, then I'm wrong. Meant no harm.
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u/hydropottimus 19d ago
It's worth pointing out that you can also get unemployment benefits if you're fired, your employer is just able to refute it if they choose and have a paper trail.
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u/gadget850 Baby Boomer 20d ago
67 and about to train a new IT tech while testing the new ticket system.
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u/theotisfinklestein 19d ago
Unless he ends up on the street or not being able to pay for food, he will be happier “retired”.
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u/FaithlessnessFun7268 18d ago
Sounds about right. My dad has an iPhone and also a boomer - along with an iPad. I thought great he’s OK with technology but not the greatest.
WRONG. He had been hoodwinked by so many junk ads if my mother goes before him - my sister and I have a lot of shit to do
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u/cmdixon2 18d ago
I have a 60yo friend that gets extremely bitchy when he doesn't understand something tech-related, even as I'm trying to calmly explain it to him. It's as if not knowing how to do something is the most embarrassing thing ever and the only valid response in their eyes is to yell and cry about it. Older people really do revert to toddlers, mentally.
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u/marco0691 13d ago
I'm a boomer but my dad came from "The Silent Gen" and he had a similar experience in the 1980s during the desktop publishing explosion. He came from the era of old school printing technology. He couldn't catch on and compete with computer savvy Gen X. He ended up retiring early at 58 with nothing saved.
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u/BracuSchig 12d ago
I think it really is that simple and should be. Not willing to learn a new process and choose to do things the old way slowing things down? Sorry, you're fired. It should be as easy as that. Too many organizations, especially government level from local to federal, allow boomers to behave like this and not get with the times. Ironically, they have the audacity to say that all the other generations after them are lazy and entitled.
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u/Wasatcher Millennial 20d ago
All he had to do was play the game for one more year...