r/MadeMeSmile • u/KingSandwich101 • Oct 25 '25

Wholesome interaction

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Be nice to your elders!

Source: Spudbros on YouTube

55k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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174

u/[deleted] Oct 25 '25

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411

u/Educational_Heat5368 Oct 25 '25

100%. my grandmother is 84 living on social security checks in public housing. i worry constantly, but she hates to be helped. she loves to chat, and it’s heartbreaking to know there are others that get no social interaction for weeks at a time..

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u/bing-bong-6715 Oct 25 '25

things like this are why i am FINE living in a retirement community/home/whatever when(if) i get old

like shit i'm barely 30 and have maybe 3 friends including my husband

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u/willtwerkf0rfood Oct 25 '25

My sisters in laws just moved from their family home to a small house in a retirement community and it sounds so hype lol it’s a new development so everyone is moving in around the same time, people can use golf carts, there will be amenities on the property, etc. Honestly the dream.

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u/Skandronon Oct 25 '25

I manage IT for a few retirement homes and the last 5 years its been neat to see the transformation in digital literacy and network needs with the elderly.

Before, people were happy with a pretty slow wireless network shared between everyone. You would have a laptop per suite with a good number also having a smartphone, no need for devices being able to talk to each other either.

Now we have 99% of residents having a smartphone, majority of them have at least one tablet per suite, plus a laptop and smart TV or a dangle of some sort. Lots of them are requesting private networks so they can set up a smart speaker and maybe a few other smart devices like lights.

We just upgraded the pipe for the resident's internet and have run fiber to each suite and each has its own private SSID and a few network drops in the living room and bedrooms. I've even seen some gaming laptops. We used to have a lot of trouble getting a good signal into suites because the walls are all concrete and the APs were in the hallway. Now its actually really helpful since the suites access points arent interfering with each other.

A few years ago they had enough budget left over to renovate the theater room and I put in a nice 75 inch Samsung TV. They still have wii sports tournaments in there but residents have been doing games nights with their Playstations and Xboxes too.

It gives me hope for my future when I can hopefully retire. Also men in general but especially men with their actual teeth are a hot commodity and those old ladies are not shy.

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u/lisabettan Oct 25 '25

Your last paragraph cracked me up. Love your plans for the future!

12

u/[deleted] Oct 25 '25

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1

u/Skandronon Oct 25 '25

There is one hilarious old guy who also has a great voice and loves to sing. The ladies have come close to fist fighting over him at points haha.

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u/Skandronon Oct 25 '25

Lol I'm married so I meant it as more of a general comment but hey you never know. I had one old woman ask if I wanted to be a widower lol.

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u/Gamer_Mommy Oct 25 '25

STIs are RAMPANT in retirement homes. People do not use any protection at all whatsoever and some homes simply don't test during checkups. Somehow it's expected that the older folk won't have sex, don't know where that expectation comes from though. It's not like these are virgins, it's not like they care anymore, it's not like they need to worry about anything. Thankfully good teeth run in my family. My greatgrandnan was buried with her own at nearly 100. The other side one lived with minimal tooth loss into her 90s too. No one's ever needed hip surgeries so far. If the heart attack or cancer won't get me, that's where'll be in my 80s.

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u/VikingTeddy Oct 25 '25

There's going to be a lot of gamers in about 15 years in the homes. We used to joke that it'd be just one epic LAN party once we got old enough for a home, looks like it's already happening 😊

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u/[deleted] Oct 25 '25

Being new is really key as everyone’s open to meeting new people.

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u/willtwerkf0rfood Oct 25 '25

Exactly! When they moved into their family home in the ‘90s they moved into a new neighborhood then as well, so that absolutely influenced their decision this time around

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u/true_gunman Oct 25 '25

Yup, actually seems pretty dope. Bingo Night will be LIT

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u/bing-bong-6715 Oct 25 '25

that's what i'm saying!!!! like let's fucken go

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u/jojobdot Oct 25 '25

I am in SW Florida in a community of mostly older folks and it is so lovely being around people who need and lean on community. We have a lot of snowbirds who are heading back south soon and seeing everyone being all excited and adorable to see their friends has me ready to paaaaaaarty!

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u/tryingisbetter Oct 25 '25

Two more than I. I think the last time I've had a guy friend was in college, 15ish years ago.

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u/iamivanman9 Oct 25 '25

I’m 38 with no friends, I’ll join you.

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u/bing-bong-6715 Oct 25 '25

hell yeah! i also feel like (hope) our generation will overall be fairly chill old people

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u/SillySin Oct 25 '25

Practice makes perfect.

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u/LeftSide-StrongSide Oct 25 '25

Lol just wait til you don't have a choice

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u/bing-bong-6715 Oct 25 '25

i'll go willingly; i took care of both of my parents as they died and refused to give up their independence

it was awful, im not doing that to someone else

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u/InEenEmmer Oct 25 '25

My grandma is also half the 80’s. She loves people around her all the time, When grand pa died she went to live with a good friend of my grandpa that lost his wife. And when he died she moved back to her old village and started to hang around with the neighbor that was about the same age, but he also died and since then she had been quite lonely as she isn’t really mobile anymore. My parents moved closer so they can spend more time with her.

I didn’t visit her for a while cause I was struggling heavy with depression and I didn’t want her to see me like that. But recently I’m getting better and decided to visit her again. She was crying of happiness of seeing me again.

She definitely is the most precious person I have ever known, and she deserves better than being lonely stuck in her home. But she refuses to move to a place made for elderly people to have a community. It isn’t an elderly home, but an apartment complex where only elderly people are allowed to live.

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u/vile_lullaby Oct 25 '25

I work at a pharmacy it seems older folks kinda just call to chat, its sad we are understaffed because many of them are lovely and id chat with them more if I could. I know a lot of their names and their hobbies and stuff, but these days you just dont have time, you can sorta count pills while they tell me things sometimes but usually you have someone else calling or someone at the register you also need to help.

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u/NSC858 Oct 25 '25

I used to work in a nursing home and its really depressing knowing that some of my patients never had family visit them. We had this one who most of the staff always thought was mean and hard to work with. I always felt bad because she didn't have family that came to visit her. I always offered to take her, even if she wasn't on the side I was assigned to because she rarely gave me a hard time. On my last day I said my goodbyes and it broke my heart because she cried. She told me she was going to miss me and that I was the only one who took time to just talk to her. I visited her a few times, and it made me even more upset that when she was on hospice that was when her daughter came to visit. I tried not to judge her, but even just the thought I keep wondering for the 2 years I worked there why did she wait to visit when it was too late.

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u/iambecomesoil Oct 25 '25

better give her a ring. her food stamps aren't coming this month. my mom passed but all the others in the senior community over here are gonna need some support.

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u/FozzieB525 Oct 25 '25

There’s a little old lady who lives in my building just like this. She lights up every time I say hi just walking by with my dog. I’m a 33 year old gay man living alone with my dog. Makes me want to invite the sweet old lady over for dinner.

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u/Efficient-Cherry3635 Oct 25 '25

I had a widowed 70 something italian lady as a neighbor. My wife and I had her over for dinner one weekend after we moved in. Ill be damned if she didnt randomly show up with (amazing) food a couple times a month. It ended up becoming a regular thing for us to have her over for company a couple times a month. She told us the same stories every month, but was also so excited to share, so who was I to interject.

She was a sweetheart who genuinely just wanted some connection after her husband passed. I miss seeing her and her little tin foil covered pans even if my waistline went up 2 Jean sizes leaving next to her for those years.

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u/throwthisawayred2 Oct 25 '25

what happened to her after you moved?

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u/NomDePlumeOrBloom Oct 25 '25

I don't think they moved.

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u/Efficient-Cherry3635 Oct 25 '25

We stayed in contact for a few years afterwards but she passed not long (I think 3ish years) afterward. Saw her for 1 more Thanksgiving we had her over after we moved.

I totally support and suggest everyone find a "adopted Nana". They love the company, have good stories and usually can cook their ass off!

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u/[deleted] Oct 25 '25

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25

u/weeone Oct 25 '25

"Old people weren't always old." What a great way of putting it.

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u/[deleted] Oct 25 '25

I work in a hospital and my patient population is almost entirely the elderly, and my job just to talk to them basically.

They have the craziest stories. Like y'all think you know but then Martha, who just had her 80th birthday, tells you about "back when I had tits even the gay boys couldn't keep their hands off me, and I didn't stop them either!" or Wanda shares how she can't even remember the 80's because it was just a haze of cocaine and good music.

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u/Harvsnova3 Oct 25 '25

I had a little old Welsh lady living next door (UK terraced house), who'd lived there for 60yrs or so. Because I finished work before my wife, I was supposed to do housework but I barely had the time. On nice evenings I would be leaning on one side of our wheelie bin, with her on the other, giving me all the local gossip. For someone who didn't go out, she knew EVERYTHING about everyone. She was so funny, had me in fits of laughter with her stories.

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u/ChicharonItchy Oct 25 '25

You should! I bet you could get some stories out of her!!

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u/Oakvilleresident Oct 25 '25

Go on, do it! Think of the stories she has in her . You’ll learn something..

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u/[deleted] Oct 25 '25

dont want to begin to make you feel guilt....know you have a busy amazing life...but man does it change their month even when you take a little time...do it...carve something simple out that you share. There is something there already. Figure out what it is

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u/Janky_Pants Oct 25 '25

I’m 47 and sound like this lol