Recently, Reddit user u/therapistscouch asked the people of r/AskReddit, "What is the most out-of-touch thing an older person has told you?" Of course, these comments don't reflect all older people — but some of them are genuinely wild. Here are some of the most-upvoted replies:
1. "My dad visited me in the restaurant I was working in at the moment during peak hours and said 'just tell your boss you're taking your break now and sit with me.'"
"Yeah, that's not how it works..."
"Same with my mom. She'll text me and then send '???' over and over.
I'm at work. Labouring. We really aren’t just on our phones all day."
2. "My dad told me at Christmas, 'If I need to, I can sell my pain meds on the black market and make a fortune.' I asked, 'Where is this black market?' and he said 'eBay.' F*cks sake."
3. "'Kids aren’t expensive at all!' HAHAHHAA okay grandpa!"
4. "I recently had a conversation with my dad where he said 'I was a very active parent, I came home to you every day.'"
"But all he did was work. He didn't cook, clean, help us with homework, make me feel better when sad, help me with bullies, do my hair, guide me to handle relationships or problems, or help me develop hobbies or character. He only paid bills. If he wasn't screaming at us for not cleaning, he was not interacting with us. I truly don't think my dad knows any of us. He still calls us by the wrong names. My stepmother and bio mother raised us. But he is convinced he was an active parent because he came home at night."
5. "Anything my dad says about money. His mom was a widow and remarried an eventually wealthy man, who helped my dad bankroll his own business, which my dad turned into a considerable net worth. He thinks everyone has access to startup capital because it happened to him. He thinks everyone should be at his level financially."
"He thinks everyone pays cash for everything. He is so out of touch with reality because it stopped affecting him for so long and he just doesn't understand why everyone doesn't do what he did."
6. "A woman told me 'I always see you reading books. You'll never get a man if you're too smart. They don't like that sort of thing.'"
7. "My mother said to me just a few days ago that a down payment for a house isn't that hard to save up for. I told her I barely have $5,000 saved up so far, she insisted that that is more than enough."
"I had to stress that 20% down has been the norm in our area since the 2008 crash. She hasn't bought property since the '90s."
8. "I was 19, still living with my parents, and talking about my boyfriend. My older coworker asked if we were going to get married. I told her 'I don’t think either of us are really financially secure enough or old enough to take that step yet,' and she patted my arm and said 'you’re 19, you’re an adult now. The money will come. Do it now before you regret it.' I was just baffled. The money will come?! From where?!?"
9. "Just walk in and hand them a resume, they will hire you on the spot!"
10. "My grandpa spent a good 15 minutes on Christmas Day having a rant about female commentators in sport. He ranted about how 'they just don’t shut up,' as though it’s not literally their job to talk about football."
11. "My grandpa told me if I cant afford a house to just buy some land and build a house on it."
12. "They say 'don’t believe everything you see on the internet,' but they believe everything they read on Facebook."
13. "'Young people have no pride left. Why do they think it’s okay to still live with their parents at 20?' Because there’s a rental crisis and a housing crisis, partially because retired people keep buying second homes."
"Wages have barely increased but rent and mortgages have increased extreme amounts and this is because of their generation. Why older people don’t understand this concept is beyond me."
14. "In Southern California, my aunt, who heard we still rent, was like, 'You don't have to buy a new home, just get yourself a $200k starter home and fix it up.' I was like, 'starter homes that need fixing up in LA are like $1.2M starting.'
15. “'Minimum wage jobs are entry-level, mostly for high schoolers to get a foot in the working world. If you want a better job you have to work for it.' So I said 'Okay, so, if it’s for high schoolers it should run on high school time right? So, every minimum wage job should be closed from 7-3 and from 8PM onwards? So, who’s making the coffee? Or fixing your hamburger for lunch?' He had no response and quickly changed the subject."
