Pissing off a baby boomer at Home Depot

[RobinFinderson]

I've never seen this at a Home Depot. In fact the only place I've seen this is Costco.

Oh, and if you hate baby boomers now, just wait until they are all retired.

And yes, I am steeling myself up to endure the increased annoyingness of retired boomers. Social Security doesn't HAVE to fail, but it probably will under the weight of the Boomers, who will be glad to drink up SS dry while never doing anything serious to ensure SS will exist for future generations. Boomers are really the "sacrifice" generation -- they were the beneficiaries of the Greatest Generation's sacrifices, and they have accumulated massive amounts of wealth and power by leveraging and sacrificing their children and grandchildren's future.

[wuapinmon]

Robin's working on the next issue.

[Katy Lied]

I would also add that the epic generational battle, of which this confrontation was a minor skirmish, is most definitely an extension of my own disappointment in my parents, and exists primarily in my head.

So you took your own baggage, and unloaded it on a stranger.

[CardiacCoug]

I think it's a little strange for the guy to assume you were stealing -- people bring their own hardware to compare to what they are buying all the time.

I would bet the guy was some type of security guard rather than a real cop. Most of the cops I know wouldn't have let something like that go -- they would have pulled out their badge or called one of their on-duty buddies.

[RobinFinderson]

So you took your own baggage, and unloaded it on a stranger.

Yes, there are things in my life that make me less patient and polite at times than I might be at other times. Understanding that I am not alone in this boat, I don't take it personally when strangers are short with me.

[RobinFinderson]

At Costco it's a little different, since it's in your membership contract to submit to those kinds of searches. At Home Depot, Best Buy, et al., however, one is under no obligation to submit. However, they are also under no obligation to let you continue shopping at their stores. I share much of your righteous indignation, but ultimately it's probably a losing battle.

This is an interesting point, because Costco does indeed 'require' that you show them your receipt as you leave the door. Of course they do not have the legal right to detain you, or look through your bags if you are unwilling to allow them to do so. In that case all they can do is rescind your membership and refuse service in the future. Whether or not it makes any sense for them to check their surveillance tapes to see what cash register you paid at, and cross reference the time to your membership ID is an entirely different matter. Personally, I will continue to test Costco on this point, because I don't value their service enough to care whether or not they rescind my membership.

[BlueHair]

You should have grabbed a utility knife and cut out his tongue. That would teach him!

[Moliere]

And yes, I am steeling myself up to endure the increased annoyingness of retired boomers. Social Security doesn't HAVE to fail, but it probably will under the weight of the Boomers, who will be glad to drink up SS dry while never doing anything serious to ensure SS will exist for future generations. Boomers are really the "sacrifice" generation -- they were the beneficiaries of the Greatest Generation's sacrifices, and they have accumulated massive amounts of wealth and power by leveraging and sacrificing their children and grandchildren's future.

If most of the studies on this subject are accurate, most of these baby boomers will run out of money pretty quickly after retirement. The recent dip in the stock market didn't help many of them (but seriously who has most of their money in the stock market when they are 5 years away from retirement? but that is another thread in an of itself). Then they will all have to take jobs as Costco or Walmart or Home Depot checking receipts as you walk out the door. Then you can kill two birds with one stone as you flip off the person as you walk past them out the door.

[Moliere]

This is an interesting point, because Costco does indeed 'require' that you show them your receipt as you leave the door. Of course they do not have the legal right to detain you, or look through your bags if you are unwilling to allow them to do so. In that case all they can do is rescind your membership and refuse service in the future. Whether or not it makes any sense for them to check their surveillance tapes to see what cash register you paid at, and cross reference the time to your membership ID is an entirely different matter. Personally, I will continue to test Costco on this point, because I don't value their service enough to care whether or not they rescind my membership.

Another interesting fact (based on a CFE article I read many years back and can't find) is that companies lose a lot more merchandise through employee theft then they do through customer theft. Maybe that is why businesses are now happy to supple self-checkout machines.

[TripletDaddy]

This is uncompelling fiction. You failed to develop any nexus between the fictional antagonist's actions and his generational status.

Also, technically speaking, the antagonist in this story did not begin his dialogue with an accusation...he began with a statement of irrefutable fact. Your protagonist indeed seems to have placed 4 items into his backpack without paying for them. The antagonist made no mention of ownership, only of action.

I would revise this current draft and focus on character development. Also, rethink the title.

It takes guts to post early drafts of creative writing samples, so I say kudos to you for bouncing your ideas off the board collective!

[Jeff Lebowski]

This is uncompelling fiction. You failed to develop any nexus between the fictional antagonist's actions and his generational status.

Also, technically speaking, the antagonist in this story did not begin his dialogue with an accusation...he began with a statement of irrefutable fact. Your protagonist indeed seems to have placed 4 items into his backpack without paying for them. The antagonist made no mention of ownership, only of action.

I would revise this current draft and focus on character development. Also, rethink the title.

It takes guts to post early drafts of creative writing samples, so I say kudos to you for bouncing your ideas off the board collective!

I didn't read that other thread in detail so I am a little unsure what to do here. Do you prefer "LOL" or the clapping hands?

[RobinFinderson]

This is uncompelling fiction. You failed to develop any nexus between the fictional antagonist's actions and his generational status.

Also, technically speaking, the antagonist in this story did not begin his dialogue with an accusation...he began with a statement of irrefutable fact. Your protagonist indeed seems to have placed 4 items into his backpack without paying for them. The antagonist made no mention of ownership, only of action.

I would revise this current draft and focus on character development. Also, rethink the title.

It takes guts to post early drafts of creative writing samples, so I say kudos to you for bouncing your ideas off the board collective!

Technically speaking, the protagonist never described the statement as an accusation, though it obviously was. He only countered that whether or not he put anything at all into his backpack, it was none of the antagonist's business. By claiming to be an interested party, on account of being an officer of the law, the antagonist makes the accusation explicit.

I didn't read that other thread in detail so I am a little unsure what to do here. Do you prefer "LOL" or the clapping hands?

Phew! It is good to hear that DDD was riffing on something funny he said in some other thread (one that I never read) because on the face of it, it just looked like he was suggesting that my experience was fictional.

[John McClain]

I don't have a lot of patience with baby boomers. They tend to piss me off, being part of what I consider to be the lamest, most pathetic, greediest, most selfish, judgmental, and lazy generation this country has ever produced.

Wait until your generation gets its turn you judgmental young punk:rockon2:

[RobinFinderson]

Wait until your generation gets its turn you judgmental young punk:rockon2:

Baby boomers invented hippies, switched to cocaine and disco, pioneered the Savings and Loan crisis, doubled down on real estate to create the current situation, borrowed heavily from China to ensure that Social Security wouldn't collapse before they were able to milk it to death, and will shed this mortal coil with the same grace they demonstrated in the 60's, the 70's, the 80's, and the 90's, which is to say their death will be expensive, drawn out, and will probably involve many night of them laying passed out in their own vomit. This is the generation that has made every decade since their youth about THEM. They are the most narcissistic generation ever.

If most of the studies on this subject are accurate, most of these baby boomers will run out of money pretty quickly after retirement. The recent dip in the stock market didn't help many of them (but seriously who has most of their money in the stock market when they are 5 years away from retirement? but that is another thread in an of itself). Then they will all have to take jobs as Costco or Walmart or Home Depot checking receipts as you walk out the door. Then you can kill two birds with one stone as you flip off the person as you walk past them out the door.

These thoughts have crossed my mind before. I don't wish REAL suffering on anyone (being poor and old isn't so bad... at least I am personally banking on that), but the fact that the current economic downturn has hit boomers harder than anyone seems to be a little bit of poetic justice. Or maybe it is more a form of cannibalism... having inherited the benefits of the previous generation, and having leveraged the future as much as feasibly possible, it got to the point where it was only fellow boomers they could rip off en masse.

[Jeff Lebowski]

They are the most narcissistic generation ever.

Such irony.