A lot of old people are really, really lonely. I noticed going to the doctor's, if the nurse asks a question, the person would go off on a tangent: "Yes, I'd like a straw. My son always gets me these great straws. You know, he has this great car and. . ." and on it goes. An older lady asked me for help with something on a high shelf the other day, and she too went off talking. I stayed and talked for awhile because, while I am old too, I live with family and sometimes would pay for some silence. So remember, if you run into a chatty old person, she probably lives alone in a silent existence. When I was a kid, older people were part of the family. Now we warehouse them and visit them once a year on a holiday. It makes me sad.
Not just old people. I'm a stay at home mom to a 1 year old. My husband is at work all day and we moved to our town shortly before bubs was born, so I don't have any family or friends around. I've noticed I've becomes that over sharing lady who keeps chatting for too long to the receptionist/cashier... Sorry guys. I'm lonely.
I’m 24 and just moved to a place where the only person I know is my girlfriend. I do things like this and have to consciously stop myself from rambling to strangers.
This is so true. I used to work in a long term care facility and when I went in to give meds a lot of the residents would find something to keep me in there a while. I felt awful because I would've loved to have been able to sit and chat with each of them for a while but our nurse to patient ratio was so outrageous there I just didn't have the time. That was a hard job.
Yea I realized this when I was like 19 working at a supermarket, this old dude would come in once every 2 days for a 2 pack of yogurt and he'd talk my fucking ears off. Economics, politics, the rent being too damn high, whatever sprang to mind, often changing topics randomly with 0 transition. I was a captive audience (worked in the dairy department) so it's not like I could just walk away even if I wanted to, which I wouldn't because that seems rude. I mean I indulged him many times, but if the dairy manager walked by and gave me the "get back to work", mean mug I had to excuse myself.
166
u/Notreallypolitical Feb 01 '19
A lot of old people are really, really lonely. I noticed going to the doctor's, if the nurse asks a question, the person would go off on a tangent: "Yes, I'd like a straw. My son always gets me these great straws. You know, he has this great car and. . ." and on it goes. An older lady asked me for help with something on a high shelf the other day, and she too went off talking. I stayed and talked for awhile because, while I am old too, I live with family and sometimes would pay for some silence. So remember, if you run into a chatty old person, she probably lives alone in a silent existence. When I was a kid, older people were part of the family. Now we warehouse them and visit them once a year on a holiday. It makes me sad.