My wife and I are frugal thirtysomethings who can afford little but want less. You are our boomer parents, soon to be mooching off of us because you couldn’t stop yourself from buying the option-ARM McMansion and the new Acuras every two years. Stop buying us “gifts.” Every time you give us a present, all I can think is, “That’s thirty bucks we could’ve put toward your nursing home, but instead you got us this shitty chip and dip that’s going straight to Value Village.”
—Anonymous
@54, why do you assume that the people commenting here are all white?
Sorry, I didn’t mean to post what amounts to the same message twice. This is my first time posting here.
Who knows, maybe they’ll be mercifully hit by a car tomorrow, while they still have enough left to pay for their retirement. My mom handily died last month! Good thing I won’t have to have to pay for her to live with me and teach my kids to sing, someday.
Seems like the people who think this is callous have never seen (or met) Hoarders, mistake consumerism for love, and think racking up the credit card bill is as pure as America gets.
It could be worse. Much, much worse. They could be meth heads that steal your stuff and always need to be bailed out of lockup. They could have beat the hell out of you as a kid or left you in foster care. They could be always asking to borrow stuff and never returning it. They could be broke now and always asking you for loans.
Take the crappy gifts graciously, and feel lucky that you are also well off enough that you can pass those gifts on to goodwill for those less fortunate… and that you have the luxury of time to spend writing hateful letters about it all.
Maybe you could get them the gift of a visit to a financial planner to help them get ready for the future?
While i don’t think that by default you should be grateful that your parents did what all lifeforms are intended to do, i do agree with the previous poster that maybe you could do something about it. Have a conversation about what their retirement plans are. Ask how they plan to support themselves until they are 90ish. Find out if they have long term care insurance and suggest getting some if they do not. I don’t think anon is ungrateful, but should be proactive in mitigating the inevitable costs associated with aging parents.
#firstworldproblems
Ungrateful, little creep.
Sounds like a ” I’m an American look at me behind my beuatiful gated community fence. ” kinda of bitching… God bless the USA
Just because some of you never had any difficulties with your parents, you think everyone else should bow down and worship the ground their parents walk on, despite what an awful upbringing they had? That’s bullshit. This I,Anon gives us little background to work with. There could be other deeper issues at play, like neglect, abuse, religious brainwashing, etc. at play. I’d resent my parents quite a bit for that.
Plus, gift giving for the sake of gift giving is just selfish and pathetic — gifts like the chip and dip set demonstrate the giver really has no fucking idea who you are, or any interest in finding out. I think THAT is pretty shitty.
@68: EVERY I,Anon gives us little background to work with. That’s sort of what makes it so “anon.” People bitch about stupid things here, and us commentors tell them exactly how stupid they are. It’s a win/win.
Baby Boomers are miserably perverted stuck pigs.
Baby boomers are abnormal because there wasn’t enough soul or mind to go around.
When my husband was growing up, his father had a running joke. If his kids thanked him for something he’d bought them, he’d say, “Don’t thank me, it’s coming out of your inheritance.”
Well, what Dad said in irony turns out to be true. We’re looking on as they lose the family home and dig themselves into a pit of credit-card-fueled debt. Thank goodness my spouse didn’t inherit his parents’ financial sense (or lack thereof).
Make sure your parents sign over their assets to you or another child of theirs a couple years before the nursing home has to happen, because this is how nursing homes work: They just take whatever you have left, large or small. Seriously, look into it.
I’m so out of step. My parents are gone and I miss them. I love them.
Where have I gone wrong? Is it too late for me to learn how to be shallow, cold, self absorbed and, oh never mind.
I like being me, a human being.
@63. Perfect! Love Seattle, love that there are very few true rednecks, but oy, the passive aggressive dark Lutheran types… They’ll spend every Saturday as a big brother/sister to a socio-economically disadvantaged child of color because it’s the “right” thing to do, but unless it’s going to get them some pea-patch cred with their dour mid-30’s REI climbing wall friends, they’ll take a pass on the goodwill to men thingy.
what a cunt!