zlacker

>>taraka+(OP)
Years back we rented a flat in a building that housed a lot of retired people. A regulation we weren't aware of was that you weren't allowed to hang anything on the railings of your balcony. On a day off we were cleaning and left a mat we'd washed to dry, hanging over the railing. It wasn't there an hour before we had a delegation at our door of angry elderly residents. They weren't one bit nice about it even after we immediately apologised, took down the offending item and explained that we were unaware of the regulation. Later we got an apologetic call from our landlord who said he was ringing because he'd received a complaint about us.

>>stormd+us
I'm always curious what is it about old people that make some behave in this way? Is it the way people used to be raised, cognitive decline, or simple nothing better to do? I also notice it in the comment's section where older people tend to be far less forgiving of discretions than younger people.

>>potbel+IQ
My attempt:

Old people are frail. The world appears frail to them. And as you age, the flaws of the world become more apparent, and the world appears even more like it is hanging on an edge.

Of course most people also have rosy glasses about their good old days, where people followed the law and things just worked.

So old people think adhering to rules and avoiding chaos is what kept everything from falling apart.

Also, as you get older, your routine becomes everything, as your neuroplasticity decreases and ability to deal with change. Rules keep things the same.

EDIT:

Also, one of my favorite explanations of popular vs nerd people in high school: popular kids spend all their free time being popular. Nerds work on school and other things.

In that vein, old people don't really have anything to do other than be nosy. They sleep less, are retired, and living off social security means "hanging around where you're at and not doing much".

They are perversely like teenagers.

>>AtlasB+841
Also the first ten times you ask someone to stop doing something, you may be polite.

It's harder the fifty-five thousandth time, and that seeps into everything you do.

Also the old people who give absolutely zero shits; those you don't hear from.