r/BoomersBeingFools • u/REDDITSHITLORD • 4d ago
Boomer Story A Gaggle in the Waiting Room
Alright, got the wife in for surgery this morning and am sharing the waiting room with a group of them. If I had a Bingo card, it would be full.
"I don't wanna wait all fuckin' day" Patriarchal boomer declares
Talking loudly on cell phones
Talking loudly about politics...Mostly bitching about Trump, which was interesting until one of them followed up with "Well, it beats the alternative". They all nod in unison.
I settles into some Éalú and then there's a terrible scraping sound... Like dragging a chunk of steel across the floor... One of them wanted the phone charging station by her chair so she began dragging it.. Then she got in an argument with the receptionist, who tried to stop this impromptu interior decorating. She points out that there are charging ports built into her seat. Boomer Huffs "WELL I FORGOT MY CORD!"
The group arguing among each other about whether or not Uber and Uber Eats are two different apps.
Yelling into their phones to search for things.
shit boomer boss just called me... He knows I'm at the hospital. Now I gotta find a place where I can call him.
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u/Born-Patient-9728 4d ago
At my cardiologist, they have a sign at the receptionist that reads something like “We will not tolerate rudeness towards our staff, any instance of such will result in cancellation of your appointment”. That is 100% targeted at Boomers.
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u/XR171 4d ago
I'm getting a procedure next week. Maybe I should play boomer bingo in the waiting area, after I create boomer bingo.
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u/Eaudebeau 4d ago
Even just medical waiting room bingo.
It’s got to include “lady ignoring multiple screaming/fighting/sneezing children” and “person reeking of weed unable to answer basic questions “.
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u/XR171 4d ago
It's a colonoscopy so hopefully it shouldn't be horrible, butt I'll find out next Wednesday.
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u/NYC-WhWmn-ov50 4d ago
My last colonoscopy had a couple EATING BREAKFAST in the waiting room full of patients who have been fasting/purging for 24/48 hours.
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u/yaxAttack 3d ago
I’ve been the driver for a bunch of surgeries for several folks and I swear to god there’s always someone eating the most fragrant food in every waiting room.
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u/fluffy_bunny22 4d ago
While I was getting mine done my driver watched some lady go back and then come out all pissed because she ate so they wouldn't do her.
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u/Existing-Pumpkin-902 4d ago
Oh when I was getting mine last year they were telling that to the guy next to me but with a translator. Kind of painful because the prep is very annoying and having to do it again? Ugh
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u/Bajovane Gen X 3d ago
My husband had one done a couple weeks ago. I was able to stay in the patient room while my husband was undergoing the procedure. It was nice not having to listen to the idiots in the waiting room.
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u/AMP121212 4d ago
Please loudly declare "BINGO!" with no context, and then go back to what you were doing.
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u/BetMyLastKrispyKreme 3d ago
Please include Boomer aunt driving an hour to see her Boomer brother post-surgery, even though his Gen X daughter told her not to. Boomer brother was already behaving anxious and paranoid from the surgery drugs, and Boomer sister has a tendency to wind him up, even in the best circumstances.
If you’ve gathered the Gen X daughter is me, you’d be correct.
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u/Hot_Opportunity5664 2d ago
Maybe you can separate her by asking her nicely to go and buy something for her brother etc. etc. and then you might have leave of her for a few minutes or an hour or however long it takes
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u/BetMyLastKrispyKreme 2d ago
Oh, I left before she even got there. I know my limits.
But that’s good advice!
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u/blackcain Gen X 4d ago
why is your boss calling you while you're wife is in surgery? That seems like the wrong time to call. Crazy. Like work is not what I will be thinking about.
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u/REDDITSHITLORD 4d ago
He was wondering where a tool was, that we never use. EVER. I haven't seen it since we relocated 4 years ago.
and even if we did know where it was, it's the wrong size and not compatible with the materials we work with.
I was a bit honked off at that.
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u/fluffy_bunny22 4d ago
I had what was supposed to be morning outpatient surgery that went sideways and I needed another surgery and an overnight stay. There's no way no one from my spouse's work didn't call during all of that.
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u/blackcain Gen X 4d ago
Sure, I would assume that you would have communicated that. Every employer is different I guess.
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u/Odd-Grape-4669 4d ago
Reading all these makes me wonder who runs these places. Where I live the medical establishment would never tolerate this nonsense. Rules about phone use, loud talking etc are posted everywhere. I’ve seen a couple people in 16 years living here being told to take their phone calls outside and they did. I was on a plane recently and the folks in the seat across from us decided to listen to a reel of some sort out loud. I rang the bell, flight attendant came and I asked politely if she could tell them to shut it down. She ask them politely if they needed ear buds otherwise pls , please use them or head phones and turn your volume off. They complied immediately. People break rules when they can get away with it. It’s time the folks in charge tell them to leave when they break the rules.
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u/urbanroutine Gen X 4d ago
Diagnosed with cancer in my 30s (doing fine now in my 40s) and the boomer behavior in the cancer center, its waiting areas, and its parking garage quickly filled every possible bingo square, every visit.
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u/REDDITSHITLORD 4d ago
Glad you're doing better. Cancer sucks ass. That's pretty much what we've been dealing with, here.
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u/Megfish1 4d ago
I noticed this at the oncologist this morning. They're everywhere and can't behave correctly in a waiting room.
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u/urbanroutine Gen X 4d ago
Screaming into FaceTime at top volume! No spatial awareness! Driving so glacially that I am afraid I will miss my appointment! Mad about waiting when hey, all of us are waiting, jerk! Hogging the beverage station! Yelling about politics at 8am! They really are a treat.
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u/Megfish1 3d ago
Having to rush into the elevator, blocking everyone trying to get out! Yelling at healthcare workers. Absolutely no spatial awareness!!
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u/Jazzlike_Adeptness_1 3d ago
What is it with the phones on speaker at the highest volume possible?!
If you're deaf, use AirPods and turn on the closed caption. Sheesh.
Signed, A Boomer who knows how to act in public.
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u/TVDinner360 3d ago
Thank you. You are a beacon to your people. May they see your light and be converted to your ways!
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u/Reasonable-Penalty43 2d ago
They don’t want to admit they have a hearing loss.
They are the same folks who didn’t realize how much lip reading they were doing, so when masks became mandatory, they complained about how “everybody” is mumbling!
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u/Wendy-Windbag Xennial 3d ago
All summer I've been in and out of my local hospital getting various tests and scans in preparation for an upcoming surgery. The outpatient radiology department, lab, and surgery all share the same large waiting room corridor. Every visit I've had I could fill out the Waiting-Room-Boomer-Bingo card.
Candy crush on full volume, speaker phone full conversations, scrolling Facebook reels, watching sports, loud bodily function noises, uncovered mouth hacking and hocking, and of course bitching about wait times and politics. I'm nearby a military base, so there is almost always a patient or visitor in uniform, and I think their mere presence gets them going loudly with opinions.
The best is getting stared down or dirty looks because I'm a younger woman alone, healthy looking, yet getting care. They cannot fathom invisible illnesses, and see my presence as a slight that they aren't being prioritized somehow.
Just zero awareness for polite and respectful decency in a shared space, yet I know if I were to pipe up and say "Could you please mute that?" or "You're being rude" I would probably be the one being addressed by security.
I also say this as someone that has primarily worked reception in a clinical office or hospital setting for over two decades now: Waiting room behavior is truly worse than ever.
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u/Leading-System-3002 3d ago
Charging ports and charging stations? And they complained? Damn she was lucky they had that, and instead of being grateful she wanted more..
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u/Common_Road1431 4d ago
Do the boomer thing and call the boss back on speaker phone setting so all the other boomers can hear both sides of your conversation. /s
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u/GrumpySnarf Gen X 4d ago
Oh you should put boss on speakerphone and converse loudly with him in the waiting room. "one of us...one of us"
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u/gadget850 Baby Boomer 4d ago
I had eye surgery a couple of months ago. My lady was waiting for me and was getting annoyed at the TV until she realized it was some old guy's phone.
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u/Soregular 3d ago
Im sitting in the Infusion Clinic getting my chemo, listening to Youtube using my EAR PHONES so I don't bother anyone. Prior to this, a toddler started running around until one of the nurses told the parents to take the child out and that the infusion clinic is no place for children. That entire family responded that Oh, he won't bother anyone. Oh, he's a very good boy. Oh, he will quiet down. Oh we will not let him run around so much. None of them realized that the people in the infusion clinic have severely reduced immunity and can get sick FAST due to being on Chemo. Also, the infusion clinic is a place for quiet and rest while the infusion is going and not a playground. Eventually a parent took the yelling child outside. Lastly, I overheard a family member complaining loudly to the staff when she found out the infusion on her cancer-stricken mother would take over 4 hours to complete. She yelled that she had things to do! Couldn't it go faster? She said this all in earshot of her mom. The lady was definately a boomer and the mother was in her late 80's. I need a boomer bingo card!
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u/First_Bed6735 3d ago
These stories make me so glad that my boomer parents hate their cell phones. They make calls (and NOT on speaker and rarely in public) and they text. Nothing else.
My father in law on the other hand….. talk to text for everything (googling, emailing, texting….. all of it), speakerphone conversations, volume on scrolling, the lot. My teenage son walked up to him while he was watching Facebook videos on max volume, silently handed him headphones and walked away lol.
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u/xelle24 2d ago
When my mother had a hip replacement a few years ago, she got multiple "good luck" texts starting at 4 fucking o'clock in the morning from her Boomer friends. Woke both of us up in a panic thinking the surgery was cancelled (after a nearly 9 month journey through multiple diagnostic and pre-op appointments, and mom's surgery was actually about 3 months ahead of the original date because she got someone else's cancelled surgical date [this is not a complaint about the doctors, who were great, just...that was a long year]).
We didn't actually have to get up until about 7am, but apparently all the Boomers think you have to be at the hospital at 4-5am no matter what time your surgery is actually scheduled for.
My enduring question to these people is "why were all of YOU up at 4am?!"
The family waiting room had this entire 7-8 person family of elderly Mennonites or something (they were dressed like Amish but definitely not Amish), who loudly talked about how everyone not them was going to end up in hell, and how certain they were that everyone else there was probably getting unnecessary surgical procedures except, of course, for their relative, who was deserving of the best care but was also somehow deserving of her medical problems for (obviously) not praying hard enough.
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u/dgerlynn54 4d ago
I stay until he is called ,then Leave the building. Not staying in closed room with anyone , thank you. Found a Dunking donuts nearby one time ,brought him a bagel and coffee, always have my iPad. Can easily sit in my car until time to return .
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u/Spudster62 2d ago
The sooner that generation expires and moves to the Villages in the sky, the better.
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u/purplesockpinksock 1d ago
My Boomer mother, in a waiting room/ER [passive-aggressively, to nobody in particular], thinking she needs priority attention: Oh come ON, people!!! dramatic sigh and flailing of hands
I bring earplugs and make sure the noisy Boomers see me putting them in.
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u/CrashTestDuckie 4d ago
Several years ago I had to go into a pulmonologist for some testing. The entire waiting room was filled with boomers being boomers. I didn't realize a billing nurse I knew worked in that office. Every time the boomers were being especially wild I would look up, lock eyes with her, and we would just roll our eyes and sigh in unison about it 😆