Contrary to the premise of several recent viral clips — the man screaming at a AAA employee after his 26-year-membership was canceled and the angry golfer asking if his fellow players want to “test God” over an out-of-bounds ball — boomers don’t just merely howl at strangers and service workers for s—ts and giggles, according to a new viral theory.
The theory of “boomer rage,” one questioning why Baby Boomers are like that, first entered the zeitgeist late last month after TikTok creator @myexistentialdread recounted a strange experience she had with an older Lowe’s employee who allegedly flipped out on her after she accidentally grabbed a dowel without a price tag.
“I had multiple dowels and that was the one that didn’t have the price tag on it,” she remembered “And she looks at me and she goes, ‘Oh, no, I don’t know which one it is’ and she starts like panicking and I’m like, It’s okay.”
Even though she reassured the irate cashier that she was not upset, she continued to lose it like it was 1962, an extreme reaction that left @myexistentialdread with a bigger question.
“Can someone please explain to me this phenomenon that I’m gonna call ‘Boomer panic,’ which is when you are in an interaction with anyone who’s a Boomer and they immediately, anytime something is going slightly frustrating, they immediately have to like, scream, preach and like panic?” she asked.
While several speculated that older adults’ penchant for blowing a gasket stems from none other than lead poisoning, others decided to offer the Karens and Richards of our time a bit more empathy, analyzing the context of their mid-century upbringings.
“From conversations with my mother, they weren't allowed to make mistakes and were harshly punished if they did,” speculated one user, while another dubbed it a “trauma response.”
“They go straight into fight or flight mode,” they continued.
Moral of the story? No matter how much your boomer dad says he doesn't need therapy, he most definitely does — for the sake of the service workers in his wake
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