Teal

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Teal
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Teal's Modest Adventures

Life & Events > Not That I Give a Damn
 

Not That I Give a Damn

I just got a cold call from a young woman representing a health help center. If I suffer from chronic pain, they can help. Well I have the back thing for which I take an antispasmodic 3 times a day and that keeps it at bay, so I didn’t say no. I wanted to hear more. Great, said the sweet young thing. Then she asked, “Are you between the ages of 18 and 63?” No, I said and told her my age. (In case you all have forgotten it, good. I won’t remind you.) And this grandchild, every grandmother’s dream, hung up on me without another word. Suddenly, silence, the line went d-e-a-d.


Some years ago, when Ed was drinking tons of Coke, I tried to strike a deal with the Coca Cola company to sell me cases of it to be delivered directly to my house. They were lovey dovey and on their form, they asked my age, and then, suddenly, I was blocked from continuing. They think their demographic isn’t older than 50 so they don’t want to be bothered

Then, of course, there is the invisibility that comes from looking older, and this means the counter man will look past you to the younger customer because he assumes you have lost the ability to buy and pay for your sandwich


Is this a gender thing? When I was in a bereavement group after losing Jay, one of the men said people were so sweet to him and that if someone saw him crying they’d crowd around … “What’s wrong, can I help?” It wasn’t as if he was a Tom Cruise look-alike. He was one of those older guys who still wear a greasy pony tail thinking they look foxy -- remarkably unappealing. Or maybe he was lying about the whole thing. I could walk down the street sobbing (I walked for hours in those days), and no one came near me.


It is what it is. In the unforgettable words of Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman, “What, me worry?”

Just sayin’ : getting older ain’t for sissies.

Totally unrelated, whenever I write a post, none of my paragraphs make it to the page. I have to go into edit and put huge spaces between the paragraphs to be sure they're not run together.

xx, Teal

posted on Mar 16, 2019 8:43 PM ()

Comments:

Yes, it fixes itself just opening in edit and closing.
comment by traveltales on Mar 24, 2019 5:44 PM ()
There's definitely a gender thing, an age thing, and other classifications that make us more likely to be disrespected (being overweight is another). Maybe not that often, but it depends on the setting. Moments it happens, it stings and I have trouble forgetting.
comment by drmaus on Mar 17, 2019 11:21 AM ()
That's just bizarre.
comment by catdancer on Mar 17, 2019 3:16 AM ()
I wonder where 18-63 year olds not on Medicare would get the extra money to support that chronic pain business. Maybe it's some sort of illegal opioid thing, and they'd 'find' the money.

For a few years I felt invisible like that when dealing with retail sales people, and for some reason that got better, but maybe it's because I don't get out much and don't deal with many retail sales people.

I have to do the same thing with the posts - but don't have to put in lots of line breaks, I just open and close it in edit and there's my paragraphs.

comment by traveltales on Mar 16, 2019 9:09 PM ()
you mean you click on edit and save right away without working on it, and it fixes itself?
reply by tealstar on Mar 23, 2019 12:10 PM ()

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