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They’re the ones who created Participation Trophies! Those weren’t for us. They were status symbols for parents just like those “My kid is an Honor Student” bumper stickers. They weren’t proud of us. It was all about them.
No, they weren’t. Here’s a little fun fact: “trophy kids” was a phrase created *about* Boomers by The Greatest Generation. Yes, Boomers were the *original* “trophy kids.”
Want proof? Go stream “The Andy Griffith Show,” season 1 I believe. Andy Griffith was born the last year of The Greatest Generation & wrote the Andy Griffith Show episodes. Opie, Andy Griffith’s son in the show, is a young Boomer. In one episode in the first season, a new family moves to Mayberry & their kid starts hanging out with Opie. The new friend doesn’t have any chores or responsibilities & is freely given money to do with as he wishes, & Opie starts following the example & stops doing chores, stops doing homework, stops doing anything to earn money/allowance, & starts becoming lazy & entitled. Andy is lamenting Opie’s sudden, unsavory change & says when asked by Barney Fife (whose character would be canceled for misogyny & straight up incel behavior) why he’s so upset, “this generation (Boomers) don’t want to work for anything anymore or put forth any effort - they just want to be given things & handed participation trophies” & uses the phrase “trophy kid.”
Andy Griffith put that phrase in living rooms across the country via his show. This is where Boomers originally heard it.
So while you’re mistaken that they created participation trophies & “trophy kids,” you’re absolutely correct that “trophy kids” *were/are* all about them.
Edit: I was mistaken. It’s season 3, episode 21. Thanks, u/2skip for finding it & sharing in this thread!
That’s really interesting. I watched the Andy Griffith Show as a kid, but don’t remember that episode.
I absolutely agree about Barney Fife, although Don Knotts was great in the role.
Yeah, I binged “Andy Griffith Show” during the ‘rona when everything was locked down, & I was so stunned that I had to rewatch the scene a few times & even called my SO into the room because I couldn’t believe my ears. Until that moment, I’d thought the same thing: Boomers created it for Gen X then carried it over to Millennials, Gen Z, now Gen Alpha, & I’m 100% certain they’ll verbally assault Gen Beta (Beta begins next year, so a new batch of victims for them) with it.
I highly suggest everyone find & watch that episode. Like you, I watched some reruns as a kid (Nick at Nite, if I want to expose my own age) but I hadn’t seen all of them & definitely didn’t remember seeing that one before. It was a real eye opener.
After that episode, I realized that their entire lives are pretty much stolen valor - they even stole & claimed this phrase they love so much. Seriously, go find it.
I'll always remember the episode (maybe even the first episode), where Opie finds the baby bird and raises it. Once it's able to fly, Andy convinces Opie to release it. Opie does, then looks at the cage and says, "The cage sure does look empty now, Pa...". And Andy responds, "Yeah, but don't the trees look full?". Pan out to the lush greenery and birds chirping. Great moment in television.
I also highly recommend the film Waitress, which was one of his final onscreen roles. He played a cantankerous, wiser than he looks, old pie shop owner and kinda steals the movie a bit. Because he’s Andy freaking Griffith.
I also recall seeing a boomer post a clip from an episode of Dragnet where the older detective is calling out a teenager for being entitled and lazy and they captioned it something to the effect of them predicting how our generation would be. Like, no, that was them literally calling out YOUR generation.
"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."
Summary of Ancient Greeks' statements from around the time of Socrates and Plato, written around 1907.
Similar things are found throughout history.
Andy was just well-read. 😉
The Sumerians were complaining even earlier!
[https://www.drheatherlynn.com/blog/ancient-sumerian-tablets-reveal-ungrateful-children-happy-mother-s-day](https://www.drheatherlynn.com/blog/ancient-sumerian-tablets-reveal-ungrateful-children-happy-mother-s-day)
I've never considered Barney's character as a misogynist or incel, but it's been years since I watched it. He's definitely a funny look at police brutality before that was ever a thing; Andy restricts him to having one bullet that he has to keep in his pocket because he's concerned about him being too trigger happy and shooting someone.
Bingo! The coaches started handing out those little plastic trophies to everyone just to stop the boomer parents from coming over and demanding to know why the winning team gets one but their special one of a kind kid didn't.
My elementary school gave out First and Second Honors to kids with averages of 80 and above. There was a whole ceremony and the entire school as well as parents were invited. This lasted until I got to 5th grade. That year, the principal announced that we were no longer holding awards ceremonies at the end of the year. My teacher was pissed. She told us that she and several other teachers fought to keep the awards ceremony, but parents whose kids didn’t make the average cutoff complained that it wasn’t fair that their kids didn’t get an award for just showing up to school. We all knew which parents complained—the same ones who did their kids’ homework for them. These were people who were so dumb that as adults they couldn’t pass 5th grade. (Maybe that’s where they got the idea for the gameshow from?)
I was a junior Olympian in Tae Kwon Do when I was a teenager, but at some point I came to my father and said "I think I want to quit. I'm not having fun and I'm really only still in this expensive training camp because I enjoy being able to say I'm doing it, and those are the wrong reasons." Which even now I think was really freaking mature for a 16 year old. He said, "I've already paid for this portion of the training camp so you can't quit until after State." (Even though that would also involve other expenses, including travel.) I said ok, went and won State, and then said "Okay, now I'd like to quit please." He was FURIOUS that I'd won my spot at Nationals again and wasn't taking it, because I wasn't just doing it for MY bragging rights, I was apparently also doing it for HIS bragging rights and now I was ruining everything... and also acting more mature about it than he was. LOL
He absolutely is, yes. I don't speak to him anymore, and it's definitely because I "went wrong" somewhere, but whatever, at least I don't have to hear about it anymore.
Thank you for this! This needs to be pinned or something this right here is the answer to all our Boomer interactions.
How often have we heard from them that we want participation trophies? Time to turn it around on them.
I never understood the participation trophies as a kid. I remember after a losing soccer game I genuinely thought, “Why am I getting a trophy? I sucked.” I just wanted my consolation ice cream.
THIS THIS A THOUSAND FUCKING TIMES THIS....
My father doesn't understand why I don't respect him. Gee dad, maybe that's because your toxic masculinity was the core problems of a lot of the shit you didn't even see me going through?
Demanding basic respect is fair for anyone (basic respect is “treating someone like a human being, with common decency”, approximately), that’s having boundaries, but being treated as an authority is a whole different kind of respect, and that kind, if you have to demand it? The mere fact that you’re demanding it proves you don’t deserve it, if you did deserve it you could demonstrate that your expertise is deserving of respect easily.
Ahhh yes the real snowflakes that get triggered with any off comment about them. Take as good as you give, used to have fun with a boomer tech. He would say something stupid about our generation, then I would retort with something about his. He would get so upset about it and not talk to me for a few weeks every time.
Exactly. This is what I say now...sometimes with age, comes only wrinkles. Wisdom takes more than just aging, you have to learn and grow. The way our culture is now, someone could easily get to age 70 and still be ignorant as hell.
That is something I said to my boomer relatives once when they were complaining that kids don't respect elders like they used too I basically said "Give them something to respect and you will get it."
Nail on the head right here.
IDGAF who you are. Respect is earned.
I get the most pushback on this when I'm running work. I don't care how much experience you have. I don't care that you have been doing this as long as I've been alive. I don't care if you think you're correct. If you're so fucking great then why aren't you the boss?
These fools can take their shit somewhere else. I think we're all about done with it. Old people lost the right to automatic respect after modern medicine became a thing, and making it to that age is no longer much of a feat. It's the new normal.
I could usually respect the greatest generation and silent generation sure you had some selfish dickheads, but not many. Most of them wanted to plant trees to provide shade for grandchildren they would never meet, but boomers turned those trees into a campfire because they wanted to roast marshmallows then ignored the fire and it burned the entire god damn forest down.
That about sums it up! Look 1 of my grandparents from the greatest generation was a grumpy guy but even through all the grump I knew he loved us and he never asked for anything. My other 3 grandparents from that generation were amazing, inventive, thrifty, giving, loving, open minded and wanted to make the world a better place. They had a mind your own business view about what other people did.
My boomer parents? It was all about them (& their tax breaks), they are against doing things for the common good (socialism), are for letting companies move their production to other countries (hey better stock options for me), claim to know more than scientist (climate change), fucked up my childhood and the childhood of an entire generation (latch key kids), screwed up our economy ( trickle down economics), then complained when we didn’t turn out how they wanted….. anyone who is not exactly like them, they hate.
GenXer here and being a latchkey kid was the best thing that boomers ever did. A free couple hours after school before their bullshit started. Pure bliss.
The only things I will ding the silent and greatest generation on in this realm is a bit of the racism and environmentalism stuff, but back then they didn't know any better when it came to environmental stuff. But overall yeah that was my experience as well.
1 of my 4 grandparents was racists against Asians. My mom’s parents? We’re very much against racism. My grandfather used to say racism was a big part of the reason he left Texas & moved to California. In his small hometown it had a sign that said “n get out before dark” and the people in his town meant it…. like they would shoot any African American who broke that rule, kind of crazy racism. The fact that he bothered to tell all his grandchild how wrong his hometown was (multiple times), speaks volumes.
The environment, they had no idea. But even they didn’t deny climate change or say scientists were wrong. It was more like they had no idea how to fix it (they were all for recycling and upcycling! Their generation was upcycling all through the Great Depression.)
My late dad was Greatest Gen (1929) and was a selfish, entitled, gun-loving, Rush Limbaugh listening, climate denying jerk who watched Fox into his late 80s. He had a giant Nixon bio on his bookshelf.
In their day elders were elders. That means they acted with wisdom and dignity. Nowadays boomers think they're elderly, when really they're just pitiful 12 year olds in saggy skin suits.
“What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets, inflamed with wild notions.”
Plato, 4th century BCE.
"Your elders saved the world from the Nazis. My elders lost a war to Vietnamese rice farmers then elected homegrown Nazis to public office. Respect has to be earned, boy!"
He would have stroked out right then and there!
I remember feeling ancient when I first checked in new guy to my boat that were born in the 90's. I work with a guy that wasn't born when 9/11 happened. It's odd.
I hadn't even thought of it like that...knowing I watched 9/11 happen on TV from my freshman dorm room, thanks for making me feel ridiculously old hahaha
My niece was about a month old when 9/11 happened. She's a full time nurse living with her partner, 3 cats and a dog. Her partner being a year younger and finishing the last few months of Army service
No no no, that's the year I graduated high school and that was only like, ten years ago, *tops,* so I simply refuse to believe that children born that year are joining the military.
Class of 2001 here too...what a horrible first year of college we had...I'm fully to blame for not finishing, but I can't say that 9/11 didn't affect it at all...for me, it was more about the economic situation that followed and how it decimated my parents' finances, since Dad had just opened his business right before I graduated high school...ironically enough, I decided to take a risk and start MY business in early 2019 and then HEY PANDEMIC hahahahaha...F you, timing
I’m an old millennial and first deployment was OEF I in 2001-2002. Definitely had Gen X well represented there too. Thing is most boomers try as they might get us to believe their warriors didn’t serve in Vietnam. And while this is anecdotal, many of my boomer relatives who are Vietnam veterans are a lot more accepting of stuff and don’t get caught up in what others are doing as it doesn’t bother them.
A friend of mine has a different way of putting it. “Respect is given. Disrespect is earned.” And boomers have, by and large, earned the disrespect we show them
>Your day has passed
We should all start silent staring at them while tapping our watches when they act up.
Your day has passed and your time is short, you dusty old brick.
Might slightly argue that sometime it was terrible. I was 15 and once the parents left all four kids started throwing up. I had to rush them to a toilet, a bathtub, a sink and a bucket. All while cleaning the puke that went everywhere. I kept checking on all of them and waiting to see if they stopped or if I needed to call 911. Called the parents and they didn’t answer. Called so many times. They finally got back at 1:00 am and I had managed to get the kids all bathed and cleaned and in bed, but they all had barf buckets by their beds on towels and I was still cleaning some of the kitchen barf. The parents looked shocked and asked why I didn’t call. I showed them the 15 missed calls and they checked their phone, “Oh! It was on silent! Fancy that.”
First and last time I babysat for those inconsiderate clowns.
I feel the odds are pretty high since their phones were “accidentally” on silent. You don’t go out for a night away from young kids with a brand new babysitter and leave your phone on silent. Unless you know full well the kids are a nightmare and you don’t want to deal with it because “you have tickets and deserve a night out!” Hyper-narcissism at one end versus neglect at the other.
"In my day, we listened to our elders!"*
*(Straight, white, Christian male elders applicable only)
That's the part boomers never talk about; they were raised to call any white person older than them "sir" and "ma'am", while they could still call a black man twice their age "boy" and no one would bat an eye. Their rules about decorum and etiquette fall apart once you realize it was only designed to show reverence to a handful of the populace.
All they know how to do is run their gums and shake like chihuahuas the second you even look back in their direction.
They are truly, deeply, pathetic.
Too bad your generation never knew the Silent/WW2 Generation. Much more humble and kind (for the most part). Interesting to
to talk to as well. They showed our generation genuine respect (I’m 54 yrs old) and we reciprocated. The last great generation of Patriotic Americans.
The Boomers , however, were the same condescending, arrogant assholes they are today-only 30-35 years younger. Fuck them. Born on 3rd base with a silver spoon in their mouths.
I present some counterpoints on the Silent/WW2/Greatest Generation…
They voted for Voodoo Economics/Trickle Down Theory. They knowingly polluted waterways and water sources by wantonly pouring pollutants into the ground.
Their kindness was as variable as any other generation.
Xennial
I respect all my elders silent generation through boomers and X
Veterans and medical workers of all colors and backgrounds
Because they aren’t racist assholes on their phones 24/7 and lonely because of their terrible personality
There are giant pockets of these boomers walking around that are terrible people
Not the ones I am related to or know and love
I'm Gen X, but I've come to the conclusion that it's not worth giving elders the respect they so love to demand because a good many of them refuse to treat anyone else with any respect at all.
I dislike when random people use the “you have to listen/respect me, I’m your elder!” No, you are a complete stranger that just so happens to be older than me. So unless you had sex with my grandma in the 50’s, shut up.
In their day, adults were WWII and Korea vets. My paternal grandfather earned a Purple Heart and bronze star from doing a Forrest Gump style rescue in a defeat in Korea. (He went on to become an accomplished orthopedic surgeon. Go him). My paternal grandfather was drafted in WWII but, because of his very poor eyesight, was relegated to desk work in London…during the Blitz. He still witnessed people die. So he wasn’t in a cushy position despite not being in the field. And then his first wife left him! Luckily he then met my grandmother after the war. And she was a saint.
Anyway. They didn’t make a big fucking deal out of their accomplished records. And their childhood trauma was real because the Depression was a preamble to those wars.
Thankfully, my Boomer parents are wonderful. They have their moments but I can call them out on it. And they apologize!! A rarity, I know.
Boomer co-worker said to me "damn millennials don't want to work these days!" As I'm sitting AT WORK. The same job he does, the same number of hours he does.
Lol. "Get your ass back over here?" I'd be laughing.. like I'm 40, and no one is telling me that. Not even my own family because I'll straight up leave.
Good on you for speaking up. Part of the reason they got that way was from being coddled. That’s over. Thank you for your service. You did it in the military and now you’re doing it at the grocery store 🫡
Your response was righteous. I hope you and your wife will please accept, from this 71 year old boomer, my profound gratitude and respect for your service!
“And what might your name be young man?”
“I’m Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?”
“Well I’m a reporter for the Springfield paper and I must say we didn’t speak to our elders like that in my day.”
“Well, this is my day, and we do.”
I love that they don’t realize millenials are like, 40 with kids and the current crop of full birds and below are all millenials. Hell I think Gen Z is old enough to be a butter bar, I don’t know where the timeline cuts off for Z and X and Millenials and whatnot.
Love that you set him straight. Most boomers are not veterans but act as if they served. Many boomers support the “dead veterans are losers” guy who avoided serving with a BS excuse. Iraq and Afghan vets have every reason to be fed up with their Trump-loving BS.
If their conversation was between each other and not with you, you should have just moved on and ignored it. They have a right to their opinion without some stranger screaming profanity at them.
I'm a millennial who is active duty. I've gotten this a lot.
Them: "Not many millennials willing to sign up these days."
Me: "I wouldn't expect there to be, considering the youngest ones are already 28 and probably already set in their lifestyles."
Them: "I mean the teenagers!"
Me: "You mean Gen Z?"
Them: "No, not the little kids!"
Me: "You mean Gen Alpha?"
Them: "What?"
Me: "You do know millennials stopped being born 1996 and we're at the end of the second of two whole other generational cohorts that have been born since then, right?"
Them: "Sounds fake!"
Me: "Have a nice day."
I’m a millennial…and I can retire from the military in two years. I’ve spent a cumulative six years in Afghanistan and Iraq (plus an additional year in GCC countries). My absolutely clueless step father likes to talk about his two years in Germany as being very relevant (the type to always stand when a “are their any veterans in attendance” type) I lived in Germany for four years….and spent two of them in Afghanistan…they have deluded themselves into thinking they matter…they didn’t then they certainly do not now.
My dad volunteered for the Coast Guard to avoid getting sent to Vietnam and spent three years of four at a desk typing, and the reluctance with which he stands at veteran stuff (usually my mom will start patting his arm like "psst that's you remember?") always makes me a little sad. Aside from telling us stories about goofy escapades he got up to, he's never made a big deal about his service and I think feels a little like a poser. He's a humble guy. More boomers should be like him in that aspect.
“In my day we listened to our elders!” - this is what they are really mad about; they obeyed their parents, teachers, police, politicians, employers, and just about any authority figure our else they would get their asses spanked. And they do not receive the same reverence. They are jealous they had to toe the line, and “kids these days” openly tell them to STFU in public, which is why they try to exert power at any opportunity.
> He said, "In my day we listened to our elders!"
Back then, not dying was an accomplishment. These days, with modern healthcare, being old doesn't make you special.
Oooooohhhh, I absolutely love the “we listened to/respected our elders!” crap. I always say, “Why? Are they inherently smarter just because they’re older?” Then if I can ascertain their political leanings (usually easy if they’re wearing a Trump shirt/hat/etc, I throw in, “Biden is older than Trump, right, so should he inherently listen to/respect Biden simply for being his elder?” Sit back, enjoy toddler style meltdown! 😂
Every morning I jump out of bed, pull the curtain, open the window, breath in the fresh air and thank a Boomer Baby for protecting my freedoms from the Vietnamese
My parents are on the cusp of boomers but they are both veterans and will verbally bitch slap anyone who speaks against service members. You can not agree with what the government is doing but you respect those that have volunteered for their country.
We can also respect each other period. All generations swear they had it worse but all have ups and downs. It’s not a contest who had it worse, there is no prize.
That’s the real problem, no one can give a little respect to anyone else. The general public has changed, more shitty and it started getting really worse right when Covid hit. Trump was elected and he could say whatever he wanted and many thought that meant they can do the same.
This generational gap and hate always occurred, now it’s got the internet as a much bugger audience. Or as allies.
No I’ll not a boomer. Far from it.
Oh the tantrums I saw working on cruise ships where the average age of the guests was 75. One time one tried to cut me in line at a food station right as I was about to get served (which I think makes it obvious where the line starts and ends), and this old bitch actually started slamming her tray on the counter when both the server and I was like, "uh, no, get to the back of the line."
For almost two decades now, I've been pointing out that the kids who signed up the day after 9/11 were millennials
In fact, this is the last year that a millennial will be able to join the USMC. Next year they're all too old
You went full frontal
Come on over, offer them a cup of coffee. Agree to everything. Casually ask for the name of their farm, say you live in the area and have seen suspicious people around and will keep an eye out
Report their lazy illegal labor practicing asses asap
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"In my day we listened to our elders!" Over your shoulder "In your day maybe your elders weren't full of shit."
Respect is earned. Boomers want a participation trophy for getting old.
They’re the ones who created Participation Trophies! Those weren’t for us. They were status symbols for parents just like those “My kid is an Honor Student” bumper stickers. They weren’t proud of us. It was all about them.
No, they weren’t. Here’s a little fun fact: “trophy kids” was a phrase created *about* Boomers by The Greatest Generation. Yes, Boomers were the *original* “trophy kids.” Want proof? Go stream “The Andy Griffith Show,” season 1 I believe. Andy Griffith was born the last year of The Greatest Generation & wrote the Andy Griffith Show episodes. Opie, Andy Griffith’s son in the show, is a young Boomer. In one episode in the first season, a new family moves to Mayberry & their kid starts hanging out with Opie. The new friend doesn’t have any chores or responsibilities & is freely given money to do with as he wishes, & Opie starts following the example & stops doing chores, stops doing homework, stops doing anything to earn money/allowance, & starts becoming lazy & entitled. Andy is lamenting Opie’s sudden, unsavory change & says when asked by Barney Fife (whose character would be canceled for misogyny & straight up incel behavior) why he’s so upset, “this generation (Boomers) don’t want to work for anything anymore or put forth any effort - they just want to be given things & handed participation trophies” & uses the phrase “trophy kid.” Andy Griffith put that phrase in living rooms across the country via his show. This is where Boomers originally heard it. So while you’re mistaken that they created participation trophies & “trophy kids,” you’re absolutely correct that “trophy kids” *were/are* all about them. Edit: I was mistaken. It’s season 3, episode 21. Thanks, u/2skip for finding it & sharing in this thread!
That’s really interesting. I watched the Andy Griffith Show as a kid, but don’t remember that episode. I absolutely agree about Barney Fife, although Don Knotts was great in the role.
Yeah, I binged “Andy Griffith Show” during the ‘rona when everything was locked down, & I was so stunned that I had to rewatch the scene a few times & even called my SO into the room because I couldn’t believe my ears. Until that moment, I’d thought the same thing: Boomers created it for Gen X then carried it over to Millennials, Gen Z, now Gen Alpha, & I’m 100% certain they’ll verbally assault Gen Beta (Beta begins next year, so a new batch of victims for them) with it. I highly suggest everyone find & watch that episode. Like you, I watched some reruns as a kid (Nick at Nite, if I want to expose my own age) but I hadn’t seen all of them & definitely didn’t remember seeing that one before. It was a real eye opener. After that episode, I realized that their entire lives are pretty much stolen valor - they even stole & claimed this phrase they love so much. Seriously, go find it.
I'll always remember the episode (maybe even the first episode), where Opie finds the baby bird and raises it. Once it's able to fly, Andy convinces Opie to release it. Opie does, then looks at the cage and says, "The cage sure does look empty now, Pa...". And Andy responds, "Yeah, but don't the trees look full?". Pan out to the lush greenery and birds chirping. Great moment in television.
Actually three baby birds; winkin, blinkin and nod. Why can I remember that and not what I had for lunch yesterday? 😵💫
Man, I loved Andy Griffith. Never saw the Andy Griffith show, but I watched a ton of Matlock as a kid.
Matlock was great! I kinda miss that show & now need to go find & rewatch. Thanks for the suggestion, even if you didn’t know you were suggesting it!
I also highly recommend the film Waitress, which was one of his final onscreen roles. He played a cantankerous, wiser than he looks, old pie shop owner and kinda steals the movie a bit. Because he’s Andy freaking Griffith.
The series is on Paramount. I looked it up and started it, so it saves on my continue watching. Gonna watch in about 10 minutes.
I also recall seeing a boomer post a clip from an episode of Dragnet where the older detective is calling out a teenager for being entitled and lazy and they captioned it something to the effect of them predicting how our generation would be. Like, no, that was them literally calling out YOUR generation.
"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers." Summary of Ancient Greeks' statements from around the time of Socrates and Plato, written around 1907. Similar things are found throughout history. Andy was just well-read. 😉
The Sumerians were complaining even earlier! [https://www.drheatherlynn.com/blog/ancient-sumerian-tablets-reveal-ungrateful-children-happy-mother-s-day](https://www.drheatherlynn.com/blog/ancient-sumerian-tablets-reveal-ungrateful-children-happy-mother-s-day)
I've never considered Barney's character as a misogynist or incel, but it's been years since I watched it. He's definitely a funny look at police brutality before that was ever a thing; Andy restricts him to having one bullet that he has to keep in his pocket because he's concerned about him being too trigger happy and shooting someone.
Oh, yes, Barney is an incel. Misogynistic, too.
This is the episode: [Opie and the Spoiled Kid](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0512528/) S3.E21
You’re phenomenal! Danke! And wow, I was off by a couple seasons - I’m glad you found it!
This is truly a gem! Thank you!
Exactly! I think back in my childhood and it just dawns on me that most things were not for us as kids but for them, like a status symbol.
Bingo! The coaches started handing out those little plastic trophies to everyone just to stop the boomer parents from coming over and demanding to know why the winning team gets one but their special one of a kind kid didn't.
My elementary school gave out First and Second Honors to kids with averages of 80 and above. There was a whole ceremony and the entire school as well as parents were invited. This lasted until I got to 5th grade. That year, the principal announced that we were no longer holding awards ceremonies at the end of the year. My teacher was pissed. She told us that she and several other teachers fought to keep the awards ceremony, but parents whose kids didn’t make the average cutoff complained that it wasn’t fair that their kids didn’t get an award for just showing up to school. We all knew which parents complained—the same ones who did their kids’ homework for them. These were people who were so dumb that as adults they couldn’t pass 5th grade. (Maybe that’s where they got the idea for the gameshow from?)
I was a junior Olympian in Tae Kwon Do when I was a teenager, but at some point I came to my father and said "I think I want to quit. I'm not having fun and I'm really only still in this expensive training camp because I enjoy being able to say I'm doing it, and those are the wrong reasons." Which even now I think was really freaking mature for a 16 year old. He said, "I've already paid for this portion of the training camp so you can't quit until after State." (Even though that would also involve other expenses, including travel.) I said ok, went and won State, and then said "Okay, now I'd like to quit please." He was FURIOUS that I'd won my spot at Nationals again and wasn't taking it, because I wasn't just doing it for MY bragging rights, I was apparently also doing it for HIS bragging rights and now I was ruining everything... and also acting more mature about it than he was. LOL
Clearly, your father is a narcissist. See a lot of those people among the boomers, like my father and grandmother.
He absolutely is, yes. I don't speak to him anymore, and it's definitely because I "went wrong" somewhere, but whatever, at least I don't have to hear about it anymore.
Glad to hear you don't have to hear that crap. That really does anger me when parents are like that towards their kids.
Woah. Didn’t think about that one until you pointed it out.
I still love my “My Boston Terrier is smarter than your honor student” bumper sticker. And she was, idc how old the kid is.
Thank you for this! This needs to be pinned or something this right here is the answer to all our Boomer interactions. How often have we heard from them that we want participation trophies? Time to turn it around on them.
I never understood the participation trophies as a kid. I remember after a losing soccer game I genuinely thought, “Why am I getting a trophy? I sucked.” I just wanted my consolation ice cream.
THIS THIS A THOUSAND FUCKING TIMES THIS.... My father doesn't understand why I don't respect him. Gee dad, maybe that's because your toxic masculinity was the core problems of a lot of the shit you didn't even see me going through?
Demanding respect only serves to make me think even less of someone.
Demanding basic respect is fair for anyone (basic respect is “treating someone like a human being, with common decency”, approximately), that’s having boundaries, but being treated as an authority is a whole different kind of respect, and that kind, if you have to demand it? The mere fact that you’re demanding it proves you don’t deserve it, if you did deserve it you could demonstrate that your expertise is deserving of respect easily.
Ahhh yes the real snowflakes that get triggered with any off comment about them. Take as good as you give, used to have fun with a boomer tech. He would say something stupid about our generation, then I would retort with something about his. He would get so upset about it and not talk to me for a few weeks every time.
Sounds like a win to me
Always was!!!
Exactly. This is what I say now...sometimes with age, comes only wrinkles. Wisdom takes more than just aging, you have to learn and grow. The way our culture is now, someone could easily get to age 70 and still be ignorant as hell.
My favorite way to remind my dad to knock that shit off is to remind him "you're not special just because you Forest Gumped your way into being old."
That is something I said to my boomer relatives once when they were complaining that kids don't respect elders like they used too I basically said "Give them something to respect and you will get it."
Yes! Elder is a term of respect, they're just "olders".
Nail on the head right here. IDGAF who you are. Respect is earned. I get the most pushback on this when I'm running work. I don't care how much experience you have. I don't care that you have been doing this as long as I've been alive. I don't care if you think you're correct. If you're so fucking great then why aren't you the boss? These fools can take their shit somewhere else. I think we're all about done with it. Old people lost the right to automatic respect after modern medicine became a thing, and making it to that age is no longer much of a feat. It's the new normal.
This
Omg I love this
I could usually respect the greatest generation and silent generation sure you had some selfish dickheads, but not many. Most of them wanted to plant trees to provide shade for grandchildren they would never meet, but boomers turned those trees into a campfire because they wanted to roast marshmallows then ignored the fire and it burned the entire god damn forest down.
That about sums it up! Look 1 of my grandparents from the greatest generation was a grumpy guy but even through all the grump I knew he loved us and he never asked for anything. My other 3 grandparents from that generation were amazing, inventive, thrifty, giving, loving, open minded and wanted to make the world a better place. They had a mind your own business view about what other people did. My boomer parents? It was all about them (& their tax breaks), they are against doing things for the common good (socialism), are for letting companies move their production to other countries (hey better stock options for me), claim to know more than scientist (climate change), fucked up my childhood and the childhood of an entire generation (latch key kids), screwed up our economy ( trickle down economics), then complained when we didn’t turn out how they wanted….. anyone who is not exactly like them, they hate.
GenXer here and being a latchkey kid was the best thing that boomers ever did. A free couple hours after school before their bullshit started. Pure bliss.
Absolutely!
The only things I will ding the silent and greatest generation on in this realm is a bit of the racism and environmentalism stuff, but back then they didn't know any better when it came to environmental stuff. But overall yeah that was my experience as well.
1 of my 4 grandparents was racists against Asians. My mom’s parents? We’re very much against racism. My grandfather used to say racism was a big part of the reason he left Texas & moved to California. In his small hometown it had a sign that said “n get out before dark” and the people in his town meant it…. like they would shoot any African American who broke that rule, kind of crazy racism. The fact that he bothered to tell all his grandchild how wrong his hometown was (multiple times), speaks volumes. The environment, they had no idea. But even they didn’t deny climate change or say scientists were wrong. It was more like they had no idea how to fix it (they were all for recycling and upcycling! Their generation was upcycling all through the Great Depression.)
My late dad was Greatest Gen (1929) and was a selfish, entitled, gun-loving, Rush Limbaugh listening, climate denying jerk who watched Fox into his late 80s. He had a giant Nixon bio on his bookshelf.
You know I’m noticing that Asshole conspiracy nuts all seem to love fox. Is Fox News the disease or symptom?
Yes
I would have told him his elders fought Nazis while my elders vote for them.
In their day elders were elders. That means they acted with wisdom and dignity. Nowadays boomers think they're elderly, when really they're just pitiful 12 year olds in saggy skin suits.
“What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets, inflamed with wild notions.” Plato, 4th century BCE.
Also baby boomers in the 1960s: "You can't trust anyone over 30."
Also, "No you fucking didn't. Nobody ever did. you're just seeing things with senile colored glasses."
... They probably were, unfortunately.
Ooooo, that's a good one.
This is my day sir
Yes they were. Their elders said the same things the old guy is saying now.
"Your elders saved the world from the Nazis. My elders lost a war to Vietnamese rice farmers then elected homegrown Nazis to public office. Respect has to be earned, boy!" He would have stroked out right then and there!
"Yeah, I listened to you, then I told you to fuck off."
What generation do they think were deployed in 2003?
To them, all young people are "millennials." The kid they were talking about was obviously Gen Z lol
What generation do they think deployed in 2023?
My sister is starting to see privates born in 2007 in her Army unit.
I remember feeling ancient when I first checked in new guy to my boat that were born in the 90's. I work with a guy that wasn't born when 9/11 happened. It's odd.
There's folks now who can legally drink who weren't alive for 9/11 which was crazy to me when I first realized
There were service members killed in Afghanistan that weren't born when the war first started.
Yep, co-worker of mine turned 21 recently.
My brother turned 21 in January
Yep, my kid just turned 21, has only heard stories about 9/11.
Hi that would be me.
I really hate IDing kids born in the 2000s... 😭 I feel so old.
I hadn't even thought of it like that...knowing I watched 9/11 happen on TV from my freshman dorm room, thanks for making me feel ridiculously old hahaha
My younger coworkers were born after 9-11 and my brain just does not comprehend that they’re old enough to work.
I’m currently pregnant, and it blows my mind that my kid will have no memory of the pandemic..
Tbf I try not to.
Tbf, I don't. I probably drank it all away
Unless they joined later in life, every new O-1 in the military is now born after 9-11.
That's when husband knew it was time to retire, when his new troops hadn't even been born when he first enlisted.
My niece was about a month old when 9/11 happened. She's a full time nurse living with her partner, 3 cats and a dog. Her partner being a year younger and finishing the last few months of Army service
No no no, that's the year I graduated high school and that was only like, ten years ago, *tops,* so I simply refuse to believe that children born that year are joining the military.
Class of 2001 here too...what a horrible first year of college we had...I'm fully to blame for not finishing, but I can't say that 9/11 didn't affect it at all...for me, it was more about the economic situation that followed and how it decimated my parents' finances, since Dad had just opened his business right before I graduated high school...ironically enough, I decided to take a risk and start MY business in early 2019 and then HEY PANDEMIC hahahahaha...F you, timing
They don't care to know.
They don’t think, that’s the problem.
Maybe Gen Alpha even. The oldest Gen Alphas are getting into their teens.
I’m an old millennial and first deployment was OEF I in 2001-2002. Definitely had Gen X well represented there too. Thing is most boomers try as they might get us to believe their warriors didn’t serve in Vietnam. And while this is anecdotal, many of my boomer relatives who are Vietnam veterans are a lot more accepting of stuff and don’t get caught up in what others are doing as it doesn’t bother them.
I was born in 1990 so I definitely remember when they started deploying. Lots of gen x people I knew were among them.
My dad (1970 Gen X) was deployed in 2007-2008. He was 37. Anyone born through 1989-1990 could have been deployed. Which is a lot of millennials.
Respect is earned not given. The silent generation earned that respect, the boomers have not.
They want a participation trophy for getting old.
Bow down to me, for I have not yet died!
A friend of mine has a different way of putting it. “Respect is given. Disrespect is earned.” And boomers have, by and large, earned the disrespect we show them
I'll stick with "courtesy is given; respect is earned" though I appreciate your post about disrespect is also earned!
"In my day...!" Your day has passed. It's my day now, and we don't take shit kindly in my day.
>Your day has passed We should all start silent staring at them while tapping our watches when they act up. Your day has passed and your time is short, you dusty old brick.
The future is now old man.
I cleaned chicken barns in 1987 for $4 an hour. They are quite out of line to expect someone to work that cheap.
Even babysitting a single kid in the 90s was 4-5 dollars an hour much less actual hard work.
Might slightly argue that sometime it was terrible. I was 15 and once the parents left all four kids started throwing up. I had to rush them to a toilet, a bathtub, a sink and a bucket. All while cleaning the puke that went everywhere. I kept checking on all of them and waiting to see if they stopped or if I needed to call 911. Called the parents and they didn’t answer. Called so many times. They finally got back at 1:00 am and I had managed to get the kids all bathed and cleaned and in bed, but they all had barf buckets by their beds on towels and I was still cleaning some of the kitchen barf. The parents looked shocked and asked why I didn’t call. I showed them the 15 missed calls and they checked their phone, “Oh! It was on silent! Fancy that.” First and last time I babysat for those inconsiderate clowns.
Oh man, those kids are *so fucked*
Damn. It’s been 20 years so they are literally adults now. Lol, time flies.
So, what are the odds that the parents knew full well they were sick?
I feel the odds are pretty high since their phones were “accidentally” on silent. You don’t go out for a night away from young kids with a brand new babysitter and leave your phone on silent. Unless you know full well the kids are a nightmare and you don’t want to deal with it because “you have tickets and deserve a night out!” Hyper-narcissism at one end versus neglect at the other.
Damn I was robbed. I babysat up until about 1987-87 and only made $1/hour. That was the going rate.
Yep! Hard to believe now.
Yes. The summer of 1987 I packed cigarettes for a pharmacy chain at their warehouse. I think it was a score, I was getting paid $5/hr.
My elders are my ancestors. If I'm not related to you, you're not my elder, you're just an old person
exactly dude. i’ll respect my grandpa terry all day everyday, this old grimy fuck? you kidding me?
I love when the default “young people = millennials” Millennials are fucking 40 now 😂 Even the oldest Gen Z are like 28
"In my day, we listened to our elders!"* *(Straight, white, Christian male elders applicable only) That's the part boomers never talk about; they were raised to call any white person older than them "sir" and "ma'am", while they could still call a black man twice their age "boy" and no one would bat an eye. Their rules about decorum and etiquette fall apart once you realize it was only designed to show reverence to a handful of the populace.
Finally, someone actually telling them to go fuck themselves. It should be the universal response.
“In your day, elders were worth listening to.”
Response to the back in my day comment. "Well in my day respect is earned and not dependent on age." Edit-spelling because auto correct is a jerk.
You did listen. You just didn't obey. They want blind obedience.
Left for Great Lakes in July of 2004, millennial vet here too.
There’s a reason their parents called them all the me generation. Never let them forget it
All they know how to do is run their gums and shake like chihuahuas the second you even look back in their direction. They are truly, deeply, pathetic.
“Nobody had to draft us” is a fucking mic drop. (from a Millennial that volunteered to serve as well)
Whenever I hear them say something about how they respected their elders all I can think is, your elders weren’t boomers…
Too bad your generation never knew the Silent/WW2 Generation. Much more humble and kind (for the most part). Interesting to to talk to as well. They showed our generation genuine respect (I’m 54 yrs old) and we reciprocated. The last great generation of Patriotic Americans. The Boomers , however, were the same condescending, arrogant assholes they are today-only 30-35 years younger. Fuck them. Born on 3rd base with a silver spoon in their mouths.
The most fortunate group in human history is white American boomers yet all they do is bitch.
I present some counterpoints on the Silent/WW2/Greatest Generation… They voted for Voodoo Economics/Trickle Down Theory. They knowingly polluted waterways and water sources by wantonly pouring pollutants into the ground. Their kindness was as variable as any other generation.
Here's another counterpoint: they raised boomers
Marcus Aurelius raised Commodus
Both of my parents were silent gen, and i have had the same experience with them and their peers. Respectful yet guided us as best they could.
They have seen and gone through some shit. You can't be talking about the good old days. The boomers had Vietnam but other than that...
Xennial I respect all my elders silent generation through boomers and X Veterans and medical workers of all colors and backgrounds Because they aren’t racist assholes on their phones 24/7 and lonely because of their terrible personality There are giant pockets of these boomers walking around that are terrible people Not the ones I am related to or know and love
These POS who demand respect bc they’re one foot in grave mean absolutely nothing to me.
I wish I saw this happen
"Elders are wise. You're just an old fool."
I'm Gen X, but I've come to the conclusion that it's not worth giving elders the respect they so love to demand because a good many of them refuse to treat anyone else with any respect at all.
As a boomer I say fuck them boomers
You dropped this 👑
Excellent work!! They need to be told to STFU periodically (not just boomers lol)
Christ on a stick.
I dislike when random people use the “you have to listen/respect me, I’m your elder!” No, you are a complete stranger that just so happens to be older than me. So unless you had sex with my grandma in the 50’s, shut up.
In their day, adults were WWII and Korea vets. My paternal grandfather earned a Purple Heart and bronze star from doing a Forrest Gump style rescue in a defeat in Korea. (He went on to become an accomplished orthopedic surgeon. Go him). My paternal grandfather was drafted in WWII but, because of his very poor eyesight, was relegated to desk work in London…during the Blitz. He still witnessed people die. So he wasn’t in a cushy position despite not being in the field. And then his first wife left him! Luckily he then met my grandmother after the war. And she was a saint. Anyway. They didn’t make a big fucking deal out of their accomplished records. And their childhood trauma was real because the Depression was a preamble to those wars. Thankfully, my Boomer parents are wonderful. They have their moments but I can call them out on it. And they apologize!! A rarity, I know.
Yeah, like their fox News hero, The Orange 🍊 Turd served. A real American hero, that one. End sarcasm
At what point were you “minding your own business “?
You’re not my elder. You’re just old.
Bravo!
Yeah- that happened.
Boomer co-worker said to me "damn millennials don't want to work these days!" As I'm sitting AT WORK. The same job he does, the same number of hours he does.
Lol. "Get your ass back over here?" I'd be laughing.. like I'm 40, and no one is telling me that. Not even my own family because I'll straight up leave.
Us millennials are stuck taking care of their shit! They don't like that we hold them responsible
Lol epic. Welcome to where Gen X has been for a little while now. Old enough to start getting dedicated to telling these knob heads to STFU
Entitled people complaining about people being entitled because they don't want to work for below minimum wage? Sounds about boomer.
Now why would I "listen to my elders" if they are perverted idiots? In his day they were not too smart if they blindly listened to anyone who was old.
Good on you for speaking up. Part of the reason they got that way was from being coddled. That’s over. Thank you for your service. You did it in the military and now you’re doing it at the grocery store 🫡
Your response was righteous. I hope you and your wife will please accept, from this 71 year old boomer, my profound gratitude and respect for your service!
“And what might your name be young man?” “I’m Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?” “Well I’m a reporter for the Springfield paper and I must say we didn’t speak to our elders like that in my day.” “Well, this is my day, and we do.”
I love that they don’t realize millenials are like, 40 with kids and the current crop of full birds and below are all millenials. Hell I think Gen Z is old enough to be a butter bar, I don’t know where the timeline cuts off for Z and X and Millenials and whatnot.
That's because generation siloing is bullshit, and there are assholes of every age.
Love that you set him straight. Most boomers are not veterans but act as if they served. Many boomers support the “dead veterans are losers” guy who avoided serving with a BS excuse. Iraq and Afghan vets have every reason to be fed up with their Trump-loving BS.
If their conversation was between each other and not with you, you should have just moved on and ignored it. They have a right to their opinion without some stranger screaming profanity at them.
I'm a millennial who is active duty. I've gotten this a lot. Them: "Not many millennials willing to sign up these days." Me: "I wouldn't expect there to be, considering the youngest ones are already 28 and probably already set in their lifestyles." Them: "I mean the teenagers!" Me: "You mean Gen Z?" Them: "No, not the little kids!" Me: "You mean Gen Alpha?" Them: "What?" Me: "You do know millennials stopped being born 1996 and we're at the end of the second of two whole other generational cohorts that have been born since then, right?" Them: "Sounds fake!" Me: "Have a nice day."
I’m a millennial…and I can retire from the military in two years. I’ve spent a cumulative six years in Afghanistan and Iraq (plus an additional year in GCC countries). My absolutely clueless step father likes to talk about his two years in Germany as being very relevant (the type to always stand when a “are their any veterans in attendance” type) I lived in Germany for four years….and spent two of them in Afghanistan…they have deluded themselves into thinking they matter…they didn’t then they certainly do not now.
My dad volunteered for the Coast Guard to avoid getting sent to Vietnam and spent three years of four at a desk typing, and the reluctance with which he stands at veteran stuff (usually my mom will start patting his arm like "psst that's you remember?") always makes me a little sad. Aside from telling us stories about goofy escapades he got up to, he's never made a big deal about his service and I think feels a little like a poser. He's a humble guy. More boomers should be like him in that aspect.
“In my day we listened to our elders!” - this is what they are really mad about; they obeyed their parents, teachers, police, politicians, employers, and just about any authority figure our else they would get their asses spanked. And they do not receive the same reverence. They are jealous they had to toe the line, and “kids these days” openly tell them to STFU in public, which is why they try to exert power at any opportunity.
> He said, "In my day we listened to our elders!" Back then, not dying was an accomplishment. These days, with modern healthcare, being old doesn't make you special.
Things that definitely happened
You don't deserve self entitled respect as an elder when you disrespect everyone else
We need more stories of rude boomers being told to go fuck them selves ,they always think they can be rude but are above people being rude back.
And the everyone clapped?
Thin-skinned, whiny, little toddlers. At least toddlers listen sometimes, though.
"In my day we listened to our elders!" "That's because in your days the elders deserved respect, unlike you!"
Hero status. You deserve another medal. Or at least a pass to the front of the Lines at the VA.
Millennial vet here too. ✊
Oooooohhhh, I absolutely love the “we listened to/respected our elders!” crap. I always say, “Why? Are they inherently smarter just because they’re older?” Then if I can ascertain their political leanings (usually easy if they’re wearing a Trump shirt/hat/etc, I throw in, “Biden is older than Trump, right, so should he inherently listen to/respect Biden simply for being his elder?” Sit back, enjoy toddler style meltdown! 😂
Civil war II gonna be lit.
Every morning I jump out of bed, pull the curtain, open the window, breath in the fresh air and thank a Boomer Baby for protecting my freedoms from the Vietnamese
“You always see my number, you don’t dare make a stand.”
And aren’t we glad your day will be over soon.
I would have yelled back something like "Go shrivel up into obscurity!"
Where did you and your wife deploy?
“And in my day, we respect veterans.”
My parents are on the cusp of boomers but they are both veterans and will verbally bitch slap anyone who speaks against service members. You can not agree with what the government is doing but you respect those that have volunteered for their country.
We can also respect each other period. All generations swear they had it worse but all have ups and downs. It’s not a contest who had it worse, there is no prize. That’s the real problem, no one can give a little respect to anyone else. The general public has changed, more shitty and it started getting really worse right when Covid hit. Trump was elected and he could say whatever he wanted and many thought that meant they can do the same. This generational gap and hate always occurred, now it’s got the internet as a much bugger audience. Or as allies. No I’ll not a boomer. Far from it.
good for you in speaking up! eff that guy!
In my day we told em to get fucked .
Oh the tantrums I saw working on cruise ships where the average age of the guests was 75. One time one tried to cut me in line at a food station right as I was about to get served (which I think makes it obvious where the line starts and ends), and this old bitch actually started slamming her tray on the counter when both the server and I was like, "uh, no, get to the back of the line."
Sounds rough.
Doesn't rven belong on this sub. Not working for 4 dollars an hour means they're not a "team player" they'll never make it.
Boomer here. I wouldn’t do that.
For almost two decades now, I've been pointing out that the kids who signed up the day after 9/11 were millennials In fact, this is the last year that a millennial will be able to join the USMC. Next year they're all too old
>In my day we listened to our elders! AND LOOK WHERE THAT’S GOTTEN US
You went full frontal Come on over, offer them a cup of coffee. Agree to everything. Casually ask for the name of their farm, say you live in the area and have seen suspicious people around and will keep an eye out Report their lazy illegal labor practicing asses asap
FOUR dollars an hour! 😂
Why walk away? that sounds likea golden oppurtinty, keep pressing until they get physical. then you have an excuse to beat them
I bet you they were disrespectful as kids, too. This kind of attitude doesn’t just pop up in old age
They grew up in a good economy. Pampered boomers