Creepy Old People
Christopher Lucas 
I live in an apartment building and there is a population of strange angry old people who seem to be constantly roaming the halls and loitering in the lobby. I leave at 7 for work and I can see them roaming about with scowls on their faces. I don’t understand why they’re up so early in such a foul mood they can just go back to bed it’s not like they work. Sometimes when I take my trash down to the dumpster they’re hanging out down there sorting through the recycling. They’re like ghouls and I don’t understand why they can’t get a hobby or something. Do you have weird old people like this living in your building or neighborhood?
| by Anonymous | reply 54 | September 13, 2020 2:23 AM |
No, OP. I come to DL for my fill of creepy old people.
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | August 25, 2020 5:08 AM |
I own my own house, so I supply the creepy old person quota.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | August 25, 2020 5:12 AM |
Where are you located in this strange, alternative trash universe Op?
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | August 25, 2020 5:15 AM |
You should move to Golden Pond.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | August 25, 2020 5:17 AM |
Did the CNA forget your sleep meds, dear?
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | August 25, 2020 5:17 AM |
There is an older man in my building who is always shuffling around aimlessly and poking through the trash. He doesn't seem angry though...just a bit forlorn. Maybe your neighbors just want to be left alone. Nobody likes a busybody.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | August 25, 2020 5:31 AM |
[quote]I leave at 7 for work and I can see them roaming about with scowls on their faces.
What the hell are you doing that's making all these old people scowl at you?
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | August 25, 2020 5:39 AM |
There's an old lady with a yappy little dog down the hall. Before Covid she would stand in the hall and force conversation with anyone who passed bye. I've been warned she's a shit-stirrer who likes to inform on her neighbors to management. I started taking the stairs. But since Covid I haven't seen her once.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | August 25, 2020 5:41 AM |
Not quite the same thing, but - I somehow attract the weirdo old person at apartments I live in. At my last place, this old guy with a clunker car, who usually wore the same clothes - was the building busybody - he would be sitting out on the steps every time I got home or left, and would try to engage me or make a comment. “Where are you going so fast?” “Hey, smile!” “Where do you work again?” - god I hated him.
I’m in a different place now and somehow another one has found me. He’s been living here for over 20 years (basic brick building studio and one bedrooms) - he smokes on the back or front steps and must be a drunk. Every time I see him he asks if I watch hockey or how the local sports team is doing. Or some other repetitive small talk. The conversation is always hard to end. I cringe when I have to walk by.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | August 25, 2020 5:53 AM |
R9 Yes, I've had the same experiences. One place I lived in, the woman across the hall knew exactly when I got home from work and would be waiting in the hallway to chat. She would ask about my day, talk about the weather, etc. When I first moved there, I foolishly invited her into my apartment while I tried to unwind from my day. After a few weeks, I had my keys at the ready and reduced our conversation to a few words. I knew she was lonely but I simply couldn't deal with it. Maybe I reminded her of one of her kids or a loved one.
Two other similar situations and with each one I tried to be a more patient but eventually gave up and shut them out. Now in my older years I am so very conscious of not being nosy or annoying to my neighbors. I hope they don't think I'm a recluse; I simply want to respect their space. I still feel bad about my giving up on those old timers but I refuse to become one of them.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | August 25, 2020 6:36 AM |
You sound like an insufferable cunt R9. Why don't you take a minute to be kind to your elderly neighbors, who probably have no one to talk to, instead of rushing off in a huff to get your next dose of narcissistic supply?
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | August 25, 2020 6:39 AM |
“BTW, I’m required to tell you I’m a known homosexual who has loud sex with furries.”
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | August 25, 2020 6:45 AM |
R8: Check on your elderly neighbor and her little dog. Knock on her door and tell her you're concerned; if there's no response ask the building staff if they know her whereabouts.
What the fuck is wrong with some of you people?!
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | August 25, 2020 6:48 AM |
OP is a cunt. Why do you care about elderly people in your building enough to write a nasty post about them on datalounge? Best hope you die young. Being old is hard. Maybe leave them alone or say hi and smile? Maybe they are scowling because you’re a nasty piece of work.
OR MAYBE THEY ARE GHOSTS OP. Do you see dead people????
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | August 25, 2020 6:53 AM |
It takes some awareness to know what to do. I was the caregiver for my parents, and I knew how much they needed my company. After they died, I tried to be sure to extend myself to the other older people I'd encounter, but I also recognize that I'm getting old, too. And, not to be unsympathetic, on rare occasions, you may run into a virtual vampire. I was in a rehab facility earlier this year, and there was an older woman who I decided was a (virtual) vampire. She had a family who provided her lots of attention, but she was a bottomless pit. She finally went too far when I caught her drinking my Sprite (despite COVID-19 restrictions) when I had gotten up to get my RX for the evening. Even my BF doesn't drink out of my cup. Ewww!
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | August 25, 2020 6:56 AM |
Next time, douse them with gasoline and light a match.
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | August 25, 2020 6:58 AM |
Kolchak, I told you to get out of there!
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | August 25, 2020 7:23 AM |
I never judge old people, you never know what you're going to be like when you're old.
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | August 25, 2020 8:08 AM |
Hello in there, hello.....
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | August 25, 2020 8:09 AM |
Ageism is not cute, OP. I think it's creepy to be so shallow and lacking in human decency.
| by Anonymous | reply 22 | August 25, 2020 8:14 AM |
I’m interested in their attraction to trash, what’s that about? I mean wouldn’t they rather hang at the mailboxes or laundry room and not a place which is dirty and smelly?
| by Anonymous | reply 24 | August 25, 2020 8:46 AM |
This is what happens when losers move out of mommy's basement.
They don’t know how to interact with human beings.
Of course, there’s also the assumption that everyone is healthy just like them. Everyone is not lonely, just like them. Everyone has the same life experiences as them. Yet, none of the people described and complained about are anywhere near as pathetic as an OP.
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | August 25, 2020 9:29 AM |
You just know OP is going to be the biggest whinger and trouble maker when she is elderly
| by Anonymous | reply 26 | August 25, 2020 9:40 AM |
Consider that they may be looking for deposit bottles in the recycling because they need to eat. With rents so high in many cities, people who have retired and are living on fixed incomes get more and more strapped as the rents go up. Fifty dollars more a month isn't much to working people, but it means a helluva lot to someone counting on it for food money.
This appears to be a nasty little divisive thread wanting to paint older people as creepy or disgusting in habits. Coupled with GOP efforts to eliminate that 'socialism' of support that we PAID FOR and you have a right proper shitstorm directed at people who do not deserve it. I can't go anywhere now as it is because of Covid, so fuck you, young asshole OP. Fuck you right up your nasty little ass. I hope by the time you age into the despicable portrait you paint that they're using you for dog food after legislating your expiration date at 50.
| by Anonymous | reply 27 | August 25, 2020 9:41 AM |
One thing that might make old people seem creepy is their wrinkles and now-natural scowl. I often thought people were frowning until I realized it was just their time-worn expression.
Of course, lots of old people are lonely and need some human interaction in their day. I'm a loner and don't have it in me to invite the elderly woman from downstairs into my home, but whenever she buttonholes me in front of the building or on the stairs, I take the time for chit chat.
| by Anonymous | reply 28 | August 25, 2020 10:47 AM |
Old people sleep less and less and they become grumpy all the time. Feed them chlorpheniramine and they will doze off and shut up.
| by Anonymous | reply 29 | August 25, 2020 10:57 AM |
Where I live there are no old people a)wed. Just 20 maybe 30 yr old nuevo-yuppies, hipsters (though they're fading) trust fund babies, who don't care a bit about recycling. No character, humor or anything else that would describe them as anything but than blank-brained pods. Try that for a week. (yeah I live in NY.)
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | August 25, 2020 11:28 AM |
The old people are mean. They complain about people feeding the birds or using their keys wrong to open the door. Plus they walk around giving people dirty looks.
| by Anonymous | reply 31 | August 25, 2020 4:04 PM |
I realise that with just a simple abbreviation, the title of this thread becomes...
Creepy OP.
There, fixded it for you.
| by Anonymous | reply 32 | August 25, 2020 4:16 PM |
Someday that will be you, through the eyes of youth, OP, if you're lucky.
Have some compassion and empathy, son.
| by Anonymous | reply 33 | August 25, 2020 4:21 PM |
We’re coming to get you, OP.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 34 | August 25, 2020 5:12 PM |
R15, no need to worry about her. She's thick as thieves with the woman across the hall and her packages and notices never sit outside her door for long.
| by Anonymous | reply 35 | August 26, 2020 6:38 AM |
R11 I should point out these aren't "sweet elderly people" - these are creepy, annoying weirdos who are older, hanging around bothering me.
I dont feel like engaging in conversation EVERY time I leave to get in my car or get home. I prefer to keep to myself, thank you. "Hi" is good enough for me.
| by Anonymous | reply 36 | September 12, 2020 5:21 PM |
I dont like the old people who power walk in the mornings. They are always getting in my way when im going to work and i dont like seeing other humans until i get to the office. Like you have all day to exercise. I dont like dogs walkers either because i dont like dogs. I now im a miserable bitch, and one day ill probably be an old powerwalker with a dog!
| by Anonymous | reply 37 | September 12, 2020 5:45 PM |
Yes, OP, not in my building but in the building my parents moved into. Lots of elderly tenants, and some of them loitered in the lobby or just outside the front door, looking filthily at people. Very uncomfortable feeling. One was so nasty that the mgmt evicted him.
| by Anonymous | reply 38 | September 12, 2020 6:01 PM |
We're just waiting for the Rona to help "clear some room" and free up their rent-stabilized apartments in our neighborhood, OP.
| by Anonymous | reply 39 | September 12, 2020 6:25 PM |
It sucks that seniors aren’t taken proper care of. They need cheap housing where they can be around other seniors and have a community. Not some shitty slum of a seniors home.
| by Anonymous | reply 40 | September 12, 2020 6:48 PM |
From the AARP Newsletter:
"There's a creepy Datalounger in our building. He' monitors our sleep patterns and seems to have a better idea of when we 'should' sleep. I can't go into the garbage room without him commenting about the recycling. Like he knows better. Plus, he wears caftans when he patrols the hallways and has the Golden Girls just BLARING from his sad little apartment every evening. What can we do about him?"
| by Anonymous | reply 41 | September 12, 2020 6:48 PM |
R9 my narcissistic grandmother is always on my case with that “smile!” bullshit. She also tells me, multiple times every time I see her, that I “look tired”, “need a shrink”, and “should get out of the house more”. No shit, Grammy, I have walking depression and have for years. She knows what the condition is, but somehow can’t wrap her senescent head around the fact that it is neither considerate nor constructive to catcall unwell people about getting happy, and not being so inconveniently sad by conventional standards.
Then she has the balls to turn around and call overworked underpaid service workers or busy neighbours working three jobs “rude” and “trashy” when they don’t take account of her own black-cloud days. You’d have thought 85 years on the planet would have learned her some compassion.
| by Anonymous | reply 42 | September 12, 2020 7:26 PM |
I live in Florida aka Creepy Old People Are Us.
| by Anonymous | reply 43 | September 12, 2020 7:32 PM |
I prefer living with a mixed crowd. One Christmas, the resident manager of my building organized a party in the common area. I met the lady (elderly) who lived directly below me. IMO, people with the same or similar floorplans are curious as to what their neighbors have done to the space.
Anyway, the elderly lady had been in the building a lot longer than I had, so she allowed me to see her apartment. It was an Edwardian building and she explained some of the odd things about the building (like how the trash can area used to be accessible from the hall and someone would open the door and grab the trash for residents).
I also found out she was very hard of hearing. At the time, I was working nights, arriving home at 2:00 AM or so. I asked her if she heard me coming home, playing music, etc. She said no. That was great to know I didn't have to worry!
| by Anonymous | reply 44 | September 12, 2020 8:17 PM |
I ww'd many posts on here on both sides. I live among seniors and, yep, a clear majority are hard to be around--grumpy, invasive, eager to tell others how to do everything. On the other hand, I'm 67, not ready for the dustbin yet but with older spouse. I try to be nice to those older (some in nineties) because it is HARD being old. When I was 28 my 82 yr. old neighbor stalked me like you describe, even demanding I do a lot of intimate tasks for her (cut her toenails) because she had no one else.
There's only one cure for old age, and it is inevitable. In the meantime, try a half and half approach--run away about half the time and engage the other. Thanks for talking to us--we know we're not as sexy as we once were.
| by Anonymous | reply 45 | September 12, 2020 9:09 PM |
I used to work in a retro style diner and the most consistently awful customers were older white guys from 55-75 . They all seemed to dress identically, with tacky polo shirts and baseball caps. It was like they were trying to relive their youth and would have full on raging meltdowns over anything they felt was remiss. The worst was when some guy had a screaming freakout at our co manager over something involving onion rings. Contrary to the Karen stereotype the older women weren't quite as bad, just kinda grumpy and obssessed with coupons.
| by Anonymous | reply 46 | September 12, 2020 9:33 PM |
R45, I think it depends on the old person. I'll just compare my grandma and grandpa, for example. Same age. My grandpa was kind of an asshole.
What I noticed about each is the following:
Grandma: Talks about herself only.
Grandpa: Like I said, kind of an asshole. However, when you talked with him, he knew the status of each grandchild (where they were now living, etc.). Point is: he actually fucking listened, unlike my grandma. You could actually converse with my grandpa. Yes, he did have a lot of old stories, but, IMO, his old stories were interesting.
| by Anonymous | reply 47 | September 12, 2020 9:38 PM |
R46 word. As irritating and needy and self-centred as elderly women can be, heterosexual white men (say 55-60+) are the WORST. It’s like all their inner entitlement can no longer be held back by ingrained societal filters, and it all just gushes out in a shitwave over poor unsuspecting collateral bystanders.
My father has just entered this age-bracket, and he seems to have jumped a few points further up the NPD asshole scale. I though he was topping out before, but he sure has proved me wrong.
| by Anonymous | reply 48 | September 12, 2020 9:42 PM |
Sounds mean, R49, but some old people are lonely for a reason. You get what you give. At my old government job, the boss position was a politically-appointed position. I was there for about ten years and saw bosses come and go -- all of them assholes to some degree. When the boss was "the boss," employees kowtowed and kissed ass. As soon as there was a change in regime, there was no leftover affection for the old bosses.
| by Anonymous | reply 51 | September 12, 2020 11:35 PM |
r30, how are they allowed to not rent to old people?
| by Anonymous | reply 52 | September 12, 2020 11:43 PM |
I call old age "puberty with nothing to hope for." Your body goes fucking to seed, a new pain every day, no matter how hard you try to be healthy. And people treat you like an eyesore and a waste of space. So those might contribute to the crabby.
| by Anonymous | reply 53 | September 13, 2020 12:57 AM |
My grandma is really great to be around and talk to. She has no illusions about life but still can accept things for what they are and has a positive attitude. My grandpa on my dads side is a miserable asshole. He’s toxic to be around and has nearly alienated all of his family. He has no financial burdens but is just miserable and criticized everyone. Nobody makes enough money, people who acknowledge racism are whiney and he very obviously plays favourites with his kids based on who makes the most money which is just vicious. He’s an asshole and I hope somebody shoots me if I ever become like that.
| by Anonymous | reply 54 | September 13, 2020 2:23 AM |
