All Older People Do Is Sit and Watch TV
A lingering stereotype
A couple of months ago, I was right in the middle of researching an article when my internet stopped working.
Not again, I groaned.
At that very moment, I spied some burly men on my street shoveling debris from a nearby swale. What a coincidence! There was internet wiring nearby, and it just happened to go out while they were shoveling.
This was the fourth time my internet had failed in a few months. When the internet goes out, it is a major inconvenience — especially when a person works from home.
And guess what? Nobody cared but me.
A huge inconvenience
After what felt like an eternity of waiting on the phone, pressing buttons, and listening to some annoyingly catchy electronic music, I finally reached a real person.
“My internet has gone out again. Could you please send out a technician right away?”
The customer service representative put me on hold, and the same perky electronic music played again. While I waited by the phone, I sat down at the piano and taught myself the melody of the song I heard by ear. That’s how long it took.
