Post #3204166

2026-04-14 12:52 UTC

These days, if you try to call a reference desk at a library... you still can. I don't know what the point of that anecdote was. My understanding is that this is the expected behavior of someone my age and I'm trying to blend in. "Back in my day" stories for old people are like stripes on zebras. Confuses predators. They can't pick us out of a crowd.

Replies (3)

@EmilyGB2023@chaosfem.tw 2026-04-14 14:09

@signalstation@raggedfeathers.com Happy pre-birthday. Welcome to the club. We have cookies. And the "back in my day" stories are fun because with the right audience -- you get the joy of watching them swallow an absolutely ludicrous lie while rejecting an honest truth. It's the same reason school teachers deliberately screw up current slang (or pop culture references or memes), just to watch the confusion and cringing responses from students. Students who aren't aware that their teachers are laughing their asses off in the break room, and might actually have a prize for whomever gets the best response.

Open ##3204167
@nickwedig@dice.camp 2026-04-14 15:34

@signalstation@raggedfeathers.com As a librarian, I still get a couple of those kinds of calls every day. Things I can find online in 30 seconds, which makes me wonder why someone took the effort to call rather than just search on their own web browser of choice.

Open ##3204168
@Ultramundane@sfba.social 2026-04-14 17:33

@signalstation@raggedfeathers.com I'll raise a toast of GenX hose water with you, and we can continue to scare/confound the Millennials and Gen Zers. (Also we're pretty sure we've got lead poisoning and microplastics in our blood from the hose water, so that might be prudent of them.)

Open ##3204172