Your Most Disturbing Realizations

[Fading Fast]

For some people, this isn't a new trend.

I worked for a cement contractor from 1979-81 as a delivery driver, i.e. it was my job to pick up tools, supplies, and materials, and deliver them to the job sites. I once got an unexpected phone call at 2:00 a.m. from one of the job supervisors, who proceeded to give me a detailed list of what he needed me to bring to "his" job site and stopped just short of ordering me to have the items there no later than 7:00 a.m.. I was accustomed to having to meet some unusual demands while working for this company, but I was 18 or 19 years old at the time and still living with my parents, so the call interrupted their sleep as well. I did as he requested, but immediately upon returning to the office reported the incident to the owner/President of the company (the company was small and rather informal) and expressed my displeasure with as much diplomacy as I could muster. He apologized, assured me that it would not happen again, and immediately called the supervisor in question to "tear him a new one". The supervisor never apologized or explained his actions, but it didn't happen a second time so I was satisfied with that.

In a way though, your post proves that the "norm" - as supported by your boss' actions - wasn't 24/7 back then or he wouldn't have "...a new one." I, too, would occasionally get a "crisis" call from work pre-email, etc., but it was the exceptions, it was viewed as "out of the ordinary" and you weren't expected to be always available.

Now it's all flipped. My last boss told us he expected a response to any email / text on the weekend within an hour or two. Prior to leaving and working for myself, I kept my phone with me all the time. Now I will occasionally ignore it on a Sunday or after a certain hour at night, but even still, I'm pretty available as it is the norm in my business.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

At my previous job that I recently quit we had to carry a company cell phone while on the clock. We traveled into Illinois where cell phones must be hands free. If the phone rang and we didn't pick up the boss got angry. What's more they liked to text you when they know that you're driving and if you tries to call them back they wouldn't pick up. You had to respond via text.

I'm so glad that I quit

 

[Haversack]

I've noticed that some people now get rather disturbed when their cell phone can't connect. Out here in Northern California you don't have to go very far to loose reception. Heck, even here in San Francisco there are still blocks where reception is iffy because of topography. While riding the bus on some routes, you hear swearing at certain points where the bus drops below LOS to a tower.

 

[sheeplady]

As much as i love my phone, i think pre-cell phone people were a lot more respectful of others' time.

People did their best to be on time (and waited if you were late without expecting an update), stuck to plans of where to meet, and spoke to each other rather than spending time with you multitasking.

 

[GHT]

It was as low as $1.34 here a couple three weeks ago. Now it's around $1.80.

Think yourself lucky. At £1:00 per litre, we pay the US equivalent of $5:37 per US gallon. It gets worse, out of every litre that your £1:00 buys, the government takes 70pence. It gets even worse: Our fuel is taxed twice. We pay a fuel duty which is added the the price, then we pay Value Added Tax. So we are taxed on a tax. Remember that next time you fill up.

 

[GHT]

As much as i love my phone, i think pre-cell phone people were a lot more respectful of others' time.

That is true, but whenever a new, useful invention comes along, it doesn't take long to become used to it, so that you feel as though it's always been there. It might change habits and perceptions, but if it's usefulness outweighs them, then those habits, laudable though they are, get quickly forgotten.

People did their best to be on time (and waited if you were late without expecting an update), stuck to plans of where to meet, and spoke to each other rather than spending time with you multitasking.

Agreed, but I'm as guilty as the next for berating my wife for not phoning or texting to let me know that she is safe and on her way from her shopping trip. I'm the cook at home, we still sit down to regular meals together, how quaint is that? It's important to me that her meal is served hot and fresh. I don't like, nor expect others to have to eat, microwaved meals. So a brief text to say: "I'm safe, see you about seven," would be much appreciated.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Is it just me or does it seem as if people today are much sicker than in the past? Because nowadays it seems as if practically every other person you meet has some sort of significant health issue regardless of age. When I was growing up one would see the occasional person in a wheelchair but now when you go to Walmart or the mall it's a veritable wheelchair traffic jam inside. What gives?

 

[Lean'n'mean]

^^^^^
Bad diet, over eating, lack of physical activity, pollutants in the home, enviromental pollution, over medication, pharmaceutical residues in drinking water & pesticide residues in food might have a teeny weeny part to play in it. .........being continually bombarded with electro-magnetic waves may not be that beneficial either.

 

[GHT]

What gives?

Hip joints usually.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Think yourself lucky. At £1:00 per litre, we pay the US equivalent of $5:37 per US gallon. It gets worse, out of every litre that your £1:00 buys, the government takes 70pence. It gets even worse: Our fuel is taxed twice. We pay a fuel duty which is added the the price, then we pay Value Added Tax. So we are taxed on a tax. Remember that next time you fill up.

We pay fuel taxes here too, per gallon, not per dollar spent. It's not 70%, but it's not insignificant either. The federal tax is $0.184/gallon, and the state rate varies, all the way from $0.12/gallon in Alaska to over $0.50/gallon in Pennsylvania. So if gas were say $2.00/gallon in PA, $0.684 of that, or a little over 34% is taxes. But being an indirect tax it's built into the price/gallon and most people don't think about it when they pump their gas.

 

[tonyb]

... When I was growing up one would see the occasional person in a wheelchair but now when you go to Walmart or the mall it's a veritable wheelchair traffic jam inside. What gives?

Part of it might be that physically disabled people aren't hidden away at home or in institutions, as was more common not so long ago.

There are still many places wheelchair users just don't go, because of the physical barriers. But the ADA has been law for 25 years, and accessibility has improved as new structures meet the provisions of the law and older ones are retrofitted.

 

[LizzieMaine]

^^^^^
Bad diet, over eating, lack of physical activity, pollutants in the home, enviromental pollution, over medication, pharmaceutical residues in drinking water & pesticide residues in food might have a teeny weeny part to play in it. .........being continually bombarded with electro-magnetic waves may not be that beneficial either.

High-fructose corn syrup in just about everything people stick in their faces is a big part of the "bad diet" thing. Likely no concidence that the "obesity epidemic" coincides with the explosive popularity of that substance with manufacturers from the '80s forward. And you can tie the "overmedication" angle directly to the deregulation of pharmaceutical advertising in the 1980s. It's all about the profits, baby, and hang the consequences. There's always more desperate consumers where these came from.

But all that aside, at least from what I see the majority of the wheelchair-using public is over the age of 60, and it seems like there's more of them than there used to be because there are. The biggest generation of the 20th Century is experiencing all the ills that the flesh is heir to as they age, and wheelchairs and scooters are a part of that. I can sympathize, now that when I bend down to pick up something off the floor I often have to ask someone to help me up.

There's also been a cultural shift. In the Era, if someone was confined to a wheelchair they commonly stayed at home -- these were among the "shut ins" that early-morning radio announcers often acknowledged in their comments. With the development of self-powered wheelchairs and electric scooters, and ADA-compliant public buildings, there are far fewer "shut ins" than there once were.

 

[Trenchfriend]

That´s a curious thing, with the wheelchair-users, here in Germany.

Now, we have 2016 and generally, I see nearly no more wheelchair-users around. I remember, 2006 you saw definitely more of them and in 1996 there were absolutely more!

But I think, there is a simple explanation of it. In Germany, there are less kids, teenagers and young adults, year by year, so the wheelchair-users are probably getting less and less. And a part of the adults are driving by adapted cars.

 

[tonyb]

I wouldn't wish my and/or Liz's posts to leave anyone thinking that the ADA and other changes have resulted in the inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of public life.

It's better than it once was, but still far too many people with disabilities are residing in nursing homes and other institutional settings when they would much prefer living in their own homes. This is in no small part due to the nursing home industry's lobbying against the desires of the people they allegedly serve.

In most cases, it's less expensive to house PWDs in "regular" housing. But that isn't nearly so profitable.

Disability was, and still is, a source of shame for some families. Echoes of that long history of exclusion, of "hiding away," reverberate still.

 

[Trenchfriend]

How is it with people with Asperger-Syndrome in the US? Are they more living at their parents home or "assisted living"-facilities or residential care-homes?

 

[LizzieMaine]

My 22-year-old nephew has Aspergers, and he lives with his parents.

 

[Stearmen]

The modern wheelchair has changed mobility a lot! I don't remember seeing a single WWII veteran in a wheel chair back in the 60s, yet there must have been thousands confined to them. I new one with an artificial leg. Vietnam, brought us a lot more, and now, with a 90% chance of surviving, the number is quite high. This is also true for civilians, surviving once life ending accidents and old age.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

You're probably thinking that I'm rocking a tinfoil fedora for saying this but I think a lot of it may be deliberate. After all, sick people are more dependent on the government and it's much harder to fight back when you're in poor health.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

I only ever knew my paternal grandfather in a wheelchair, he only had one leg, the other had been amputated through complications with diabetes. He was one creepy guy & scared the bejeezus out of my sister & I. He had been a brutal man raising his kids but fortunately my father didn't emulate him (or any of his offspring come to that). Anyhoo, the old boy had to have the other leg off & died soon after. I think everyone was relieved we didn't have to go & visit him again. This was in the sixties, I would like to hope that diabetes is better treated nowadays.

 

[LizzieMaine]

You're probably thinking that I'm rocking a tinfoil fedora for saying this but I think a lot of it may be deliberate. After all, sick people are more dependent on the government and it's much harder to fight back when you're in poor health.

To say nothing of being dependent on a vast capitalist infrastructure composed of pharmaceutical companies, industrial food combines, the American Medical Association, the insurance industry, and the Boys.

Meanwhile, I do notice that people tend to be a lot sicker with things like colds and other respiratory ailments. I have one person on the staff at work who's always coming down with something or other and taking days off -- and I note, not coincidentally, that he's the one always slathering himself in hand sanitizers and antibacterial this and that. Meanwhile, I never use any of that stuff, and hardly ever get colds. I think the Boys have done a very nice job convincing people to go out of their way to compromise their natural immune systems with all this antibactieral stuff, so that they'll get sick more often and thus become more dependent on other products pushed by the Boys and their masters. Call it tinfoil hattery, buit I'm not the one snotting and wheezing and coughing all the time...