All Older People Do Is Sit and Watch TV

A lingering stereotype

L.A. Strucke
Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age

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Photo by sq lim on Unsplash

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.

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