Elder Millennials Are Sharing The Most Baby Boomer Things They Do, And Yes, They're Very Boomerish
It happens to all of us; as we get older the more we pick up the habits of our parents.
A few months ago, Reddit user WildZero138 was curious about those boomer parent habits when they asked the Xennials subreddit: "What's the most Baby Boomer thing you do?"
The thread got tons of responses. Below are the top, best, and most-often repeated comments, including from the OP who starts off the list:
1."For me, it's using my 20% discount card every weekend to go to the local fast-food joint. I feel like such a cheap old man every time I do it, especially since the card only costs us $20 and saves us at least $5 a week."
"A close second is I wear compression socks. Due to having had deep vein thrombosis, not the typical boomer reason, but I still look like an old man in thigh-high socks, lol."
2."I’ve been known to print out an email from time to time."
"My husband prints out tickets for concerts, airplanes, etc., because he's worried about internet issues."
3."I watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy 😭."
"Sameeeee. I have a friend who calls them 'the old lady shows,' and ouch. I feel seen."
4."I still have cable."
5."Costco for a solid 80%-plus of literally everything I buy. I prebuy gift cards for myself to hopefully double up on discounts (also goes back to Costco)."
"Okay, same, but that's just a solid appreciation for quality at a good price — which xennials should also have given the economy we've lived in, lol."
6."I recently wrote out a check and mailed it in to subscribe to Better Homes and Gardens magazine. I also affixed the three 'Send me my free gifts' stickers to the envelope."
7."I drive slowly, like an 80-year-old. There are a LOT of little kids and big trucks with no brain aggressive drivers around. If I drive slowly and act like I'm lost, they get annoyed and leave."
"Me too. I get made fun of, but guess who's never had an at-fault collision? Better to arrive late in this life than early in the next...which is, of course, kind of a boomer thing to say, isn't it."
8."Still get the Sunday newspaper."
9."I'm the old man sitting on the front porch, talking to everyone passing by, except for them damn teenagers!"
"I live across the street from a school, and teenagers hang out at the playground at night during the summer. I always look at them suspiciously and then remember I used to be them, and I was just hanging out and never got up to no good."
10."I vastly prefer a printed menu to a QR code and my phone."
"Is there anyone on earth who likes a shitty QR code menu? Every time I find a place that uses them, I don’t go back. F*** that haggard shit."
11."Crank up the font size on my phone."
12."Turning off the lights after my kid turns them all on."
"I've caught myself asking who touched the thermostat. I mean, honestly, we all know if you fiddle with it constantly up and down and up again, that's going to raise the electric bill. But, then I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and ask, 'Who are you?'"
13."I talk about gas prices and the weather with my father…and I complain about how they always jack them up immediately when oil prices go up (despite it not affecting refined petroleum for months, if not longer), but when oil falls, it takes forever for them to come back down."
"I complain about traffic all the time with my dad. He's a boomer, and he gets it."
14."I use physical credit cards, and some of mine don't have the tap option, but I can't remember which, so I insert them all in the chip slot."
"I don’t use tap with my cards because it (embarrassingly) confuses me."
15."I am a 25-year member of AAA."
"I’ve had AAA for five years. I don’t understand how I did without it!"
16."I still write checks (not for everything, but I like to inconvenience and annoy my landlord and the like with this one boomer trick!)."
"I wrote a check and mailed it to my dentist last week actually! I was a bit shocked to find that we still had some 'forever' stamps, but was even more surprised that my dentist doesn't take online payments by card."
17."I am more than slightly embarrassed to admit that I called the Target customer service line literally hours ago to complain that the mini peanut butter sandwich crackers I buy have had half the amount in the packages 😂😂😂. I scored that 20% refund like a BOSSS."
"I complained to the company about my dog's treats, and they sent me two coupons in the mail!!! I was stoked."
18."I harp about today’s music being mostly crap; it was waaaaaay better back in my day."
Dave Tonge / Getty Images, L. Busacca / WireImage
19."I know how to spell complete words and still use them in sentences."
"I still double-space after a period. Oxford comma, yes. I check for actual citations at the end of any article using statistics."
20."I can handwrite things in cursive and spell (mostly) correctly."
"This. In fact, sometimes I’ll write notes for the younger co-workers using cursive for no reason other than to see if they can read my admittedly atrocious penmanship. I also have three analog wall clocks in the house."
21."I like to talk to my friends on the phone."
"That’s mine! I much prefer talking over the phone to texting my friends. I hate it."
22."I refuse to use self-checkouts."
"I also avoid self-checkouts as they get more and more confusing with time."
23.And lastly, "I have a landline that I refuse to give up."
You can read the original thread on Reddit.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
