You Still Have Time
A podcast with the goal to motivate and encourage those who share our belief that getting older isn't a time to give up living.
You Still Have Time
Too Low, Too Loud, Too Many Steps
This is a lighthearted but genuine conversation about the everyday frustrations of aging, based on input from people over 60. We share personal stories and common complaints that reflect both physical limitations and annoyances with modern conveniences.
Key Issues Raised
- Low seating and toilets: Chairs, couches, and toilets that are too low or too soft make standing difficult, especially without armrests.
- Difficult packaging: “Child-proof” or “easy-open” packaging often requires scissors or knives, frustrating older adults who may also struggle with diminished hand strength.
- Stairs and accessibility: Stairs without railings and venues without elevators are barriers.
- Loud environments: Restaurants and music venues with blasting sound make it difficult to converse or enjoy the experience.
- Standing-only events: Concerts or clubs without seating alienate older attendees.
- Noise pollution: Complaints about loud cars, motorcycles, and booming car stereos disrupting peace at home.
- Digital frustrations:
- Online forms with scrolling birthdate selectors feel endless.
- QR code menus create inconvenience compared to simple paper menus.
- Driving challenges: Blinding bright headlights and age-related vision issues make night driving stressful.
- Late-night events: Programs starting at 10 PM are unappealing; many prefer early evening activities.
- Aging bodies: Declining strength, joint problems, dental issues, hearing loss, and difficulty opening jars make daily life harder.
Attitudinal Problems
Condescension from younger people: Older adults dislike being spoken to as if they are incompetent, especially with technology or self-checkouts.
- Mockery: Some younger people make fun of habits like using a handwritten shopping list.
- Fast or low talking: Service workers who speak too quickly or too softly create extra frustration.
National Down Syndrome Society -https://ndss.org/
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SPEAKER_01:Hello and welcome to You Still Have Time. We're your hosts. I'm Hope.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm Harold.
SPEAKER_01:And we'd like to welcome you to this episode that we're calling Too Low, Too Loud, Too Many Steps. And we could probably also add Too Small, Too Soft, and Too Complicated. We want to thank those of you who are returning listeners. And we want to welcome those of you who are new to the podcast. We hope you like what you hear and that you'll come back and join us again.
SPEAKER_00:And before we get too far into this episode, I just want to say something that we've said on the earlier podcast, but just I think it bears repeating. Our goal with this podcast is to create a community. We want you to feel like we're talking just to you, both of you, the two of you who are listening. And if you have any questions or you have any things that need to be, you think should be added to our podcast, please, please write us. We have We have an email address, youstillhavetimepodcasts at gmail.com that you can contact us. You can leave us voicemail messages at speakpipe.com. But please, be part of the community.
SPEAKER_01:And those links are wherever you find your podcasts. So wherever you're listening to this podcast, you'll see those links to both SpeakPipe and to our
SPEAKER_00:website. Right.
SPEAKER_01:So let's get started. This started because Harold and I talk about these things all the time. I complain about certain things. And after you reach a certain age, you have the right to complain about certain things. So what we did was trying to get input from others. On my Facebook page, I posted a question that said, if you're 60 plus, what bothers you now that didn't 20 years I'll go first. too soft low seating and all of that good stuff and seating without arms to push yourself up but I went to the theater and I had to go use the bathroom so I go into the bathroom now this is an old building on the Lower East Side and honest to God the toilet seat was 13 inches off the ground maybe it was it was like a kindergarteners toilet seat and I had no intention of sitting on it anyway but it was just so uncomfortable and I just can't understand that I actually thought about donating a toilet seat to the theater but in any case that's one of my biggest concerns
SPEAKER_00:you know along with the low seating I remember going to an event at a at the at the armory it was a showing and there was no seats so they were expecting people to sit on the floor really obviously they weren't targeting people of a certain age because most of us could get down to the floor to sit but getting back up would be the issue so that's one of the
SPEAKER_01:you might be able to get down there it would be a comedy show watching me sit on the floor
SPEAKER_00:so my issue is what they call Ciao Proof Packaging. I wear hearing aids, and if you know what hearing aid batteries are like, they're very small, and they come in this little package that up until very recently was very easy to get into. But because of a law, I guess maybe some child someplace on the planet Earth swallowed one of these batteries, they've made the packaging almost unopenable. Literally, you have to take a chainsaw to saw the ends of the packaging off to be able to get into it.
SPEAKER_01:He's lying. He doesn't have a chainsaw, but I have seen him almost cut his finger off with a scissor.
SPEAKER_00:Who the heck came up with this idea? I mean, and it goes beyond just these hearing aid batteries, just packaging in general. I have one of my buddies I was talking to the other day, and he said he uses a blunt knife or dull knife to open everything. And I understand because most of these things that they say are easy open are not easy open. You have to use knives and scissors. So that's one of my issues.
SPEAKER_01:And that was absolutely the first comment that we got on my Facebook question. Medicine caps and packaging, that is everybody proof. So it's not only older people who are having problems getting into this packaging. But I just wanted to go back to the low seating. This happens in hotel rooms as well. Very low toilet seats. You think I have an issue about this? It's just I shouldn't have to ask for an assistive room in a hotel because I don't need that, but a toilet seat at a normal height would be pleasurable. And when you go to a doctor's office, you know, doctors, I know that that low modern seating looks cool and all of that, but people can't get in and out of it. It's too low. It's too soft. And in many cases, you don't even have arms on the chairs or the couches to push yourself up. It's an issue.
SPEAKER_00:I can figure that out.
SPEAKER_01:I'm sorry. Certain things just get me. But there are other issues, of course. And some of the other ones that we heard about were stairs. Now, I'm a hip replacement person and I have one knee replaced. Yes, stairs, going upstairs, not as problematic for me as going downstairs. But any stairs without banisters or railings should be disallowed
SPEAKER_00:and if there's anyone listening to this podcast who's planning on any event if you're targeting our community tell us that there's no elevators because if the event is on the second floor or higher and there's no elevators tell us that because chances are we're not going
SPEAKER_01:well it depends on how much we love the people who are doing it but if we really love those people they would know not to have their event in a place that doesn't have
SPEAKER_00:assistive equipment that Have it so you can watch it virtually.
SPEAKER_01:So we're going down our top ten. I think we did the first three. Restaurants with loud music. That was a common complaint that I heard on Facebook. Yes, soft music in the background is nice, but music so loud that you can't hear each other speak is not enjoyable.
SPEAKER_00:When we walk into a restaurant if I'm having difficulty listening to the person telling me how long I have to wait chances are I'm not going to wait
SPEAKER_01:yeah so restaurant tours take heed if you like to have older people come and spend their money in your restaurant lower the volume just a tad and then the next one Harold and I both experienced this a couple of years ago we went to a club, I guess you would call
SPEAKER_00:it, a music venue
SPEAKER_01:in lower Manhattan and went to see one of our favorite artists who we had seen at the Newport Jazz Festival, a singer by the name of Jose James. And we love Jose. And we wanted, we were excited to be able to go see him in a smaller venue. And we went there and we're online. And I think, Harold, you overheard
SPEAKER_00:somebody sing something? Yeah, we're online outside because we get there early because that's what old people do. And we... And we heard someone say something about no seating. So I didn't make much note of it because who the hell is going to have a concert with no seats?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, we found out differently when we went inside. So we go inside and first of all, I don't know what it was built. I don't want to make up stories. But we got there in plenty of time and we found out that there were other people on the bill that were going to perform before Jose James came on. I don't think he came on until like Right.
SPEAKER_00:And we were there probably about 8 to 8.30 or something like that.
SPEAKER_01:And so we're in the bar area, which did have seats. And we walk into the room where the concert is going to be held, you know, just to take a look around. And there were no seats. And I'm like, this is not possible. We're going to have to stand.
SPEAKER_00:Not only do we have to stand and wait for the concert to begin, because I think there was at least one or two acts before he came on. And then we have to stand. through his concerts? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, no, no, no. So I found an office and I spoke to the lovely young woman there and explained, you know, first I asked a question to make sure that we were seeing the right thing and she explained, no, they did not have seats and so I said, you know, we're not going to be able to stay and she very kindly, they refunded our ticket price which was lovely but first of all, I don't know who came up with this idea of standing that that's really for 25 year olds and below to state it on your website or wherever you're selling your ticket so that people know in advance you don't have to go through this
SPEAKER_00:okay another one on our list along with the loud music i guess loud cars and loud car radios okay we live about i don't know at least a mile away from the high yes and there are some car radios that we can hear a mile away
SPEAKER_01:if we don't hear the words after music we feel the you
SPEAKER_00:hear the bass you hear the bass really okay and the loud cars now when I was a lot lot lot younger I too would get these cars and change the mufflers so that it made it sound like you had a real expensive car and supposedly when you have a these used to call flow-through mufflers. They enabled the car to pick up a couple of horsepower, so it made it seem like you were going a lot faster. But really, you've got a four-cylinder car that makes all this noise, and the guy goes by you, and you catch him at the next light. Really? Stop it with the noisy cars. It's not a hot rod. It's still a four-cylinder hop, you know, whatever, Hyundai.
SPEAKER_01:Do we sound like crotchety old people?
SPEAKER_00:Get off my lawn. Come on.
SPEAKER_01:I love it, though. But,
SPEAKER_00:you know, really, these are things that we
SPEAKER_01:didn't think
SPEAKER_00:about. so you you sign up for a new website or new something or other and you put it in your birth birthday let me just put in my birth date don't let me have to spin like i'm in las vegas to get to the year i was born i'm just spinning and i'm spinning and i'm like when the hell am i going to get to my birthday if
SPEAKER_01:nothing else makes you feel old that does because you keep going and going and going and like my goodness was i born in the 17th century what happens Just let me type in the numbers.
SPEAKER_00:Yes,
SPEAKER_01:please. on each side, you know, it's not so bothersome. But if you're on a two-lane road and these headlights are coming at you, they are positively, you know, I don't know, it makes you fearful of driving at night. And then, of course, there are issues that occur
SPEAKER_00:because of your age. Right. Even without the headlights, you know, I don't know if it's glaucoma. I don't know if it's exactly what some of the eye conditions that we start to experience as we get a little older. But your vision just becomes very it's very difficult to focus once the sun goes down so I understand why a lot of people of a certain age just decide you know what it's getting dark I mean you almost feel like a vampire you're afraid of vampires but it's getting dark it's time to go home
SPEAKER_01:and then you know we kind of touched on this when we talked about this standing concerts thing late starting events why do things need to 10 o'clock at night. 10 o'clock is our bedtime.
SPEAKER_00:It's true. You know, when I see something and, oh, it starts at 10, well, I'm not going. You know? Or you see a party that's supposed to be for older people. It should be at an older person's time. At an
SPEAKER_01:older person's time. It should start at like 6 and end at like 9.
SPEAKER_00:Right. So we can get home before it's dark. Because I don't have to drive in the night and I don't have to hear loud cars.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, boy. And then We heard a lot of these. We heard, we call it on the list faulty body parts, but knees, eyes, teeth.
SPEAKER_00:Ears. Ears. Right.
SPEAKER_01:Hands.
SPEAKER_00:That can't open jars anymore.
SPEAKER_01:That can't open jars anymore. All of these things that become more exaggerated. I mean, you may have had issues with some of these things when you were younger, but they become even more exaggerated as you get older. And I don't know. Just make it easier for all of us. For everybody. I think that would work for everyone. It doesn't have to be special packaging for older people. It should be universal packaging so that everyone, regardless of their age, can have an easier time of dealing with packaging or moving around or chewing food,
SPEAKER_00:whatever. And for some of you younger people who are listening to this, And laughing Your time will come
SPEAKER_01:Yes, keep living as my father
SPEAKER_00:used to say Your time will come And you'll be thinking back on what this Ah, that's what they were talking about
SPEAKER_01:Now, we had some other issues that some are ours and some that we heard from other people. Fast and low talkers. Now, we experience this a lot. Sometimes people, we go to restaurants and people are talking like this.
SPEAKER_00:Right, especially when they come over to take your orders. And usually for me, the person will go through the list and I'll just say the hope. What did they say?
SPEAKER_01:And sometimes I've heard them and sometimes we have to ask them to repeat it slow down okay slow down it saves time in the long run because then you don't have to repeat it so if you articulate and slow the pace and speak at a tone that you can hear over the loud music playing in the restaurant everything will be okay
SPEAKER_00:qr codes instead of menus okay this is something that we're starting to find a lot often i We just went out this week, and I was ordering a beer, and this was a tap house, so they had a large selection. I said, so what are some of the beers on tap? Oh, it's on the QR code. Okay, well, where's the QR code? Oh, I'll have to get it for you. Well, if you knew it was a QR code, why didn't you have it on the table already? I mean, that's a pain in the butt as it is, because I got to get my phone out, I got to find my scanner, and hopefully it works, and then I got to scan the thing, and then, come on, come on, just give me a piece of Go. Am I going? Just
SPEAKER_01:have a menu.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, just have a menu. Just have a paper menu. You could have a couple of paper menus. It's not going to be that hard. If you're young and you like to be able to use your QR code scanner, fine. But if not, just have a paper menu.
SPEAKER_01:We also heard about condescending attitudes. You know, yes, we're older and we look older. But don't assume that we're helpless. I know... Harold,
SPEAKER_00:you had this at the checkout, the self-checkout. It wasn't as if I didn't understand. It was just their machine wasn't working properly. So don't come over here like, you know, you're an old timer. Oh, yeah, I can help you. I understand what they mean by condescending attitudes because people talk down to us like, oh, can I help you? No, just make sure the machine works.
SPEAKER_01:And someone we know related an incident where he was in a supermarket with an actual list and some young people saw him in the supermarket with his And, you know, they thought he didn't notice them, but he did, and they were making fun of him for having a shopping list on a piece of paper.
SPEAKER_00:Right, right. Like, okay, so maybe he finds, I mean, we create shopping lists. Sometimes it's just easier. Sometimes
SPEAKER_01:it's on my phone, sometimes it's not.
SPEAKER_00:You find it easier to write something down on a piece of paper, you know? Yeah. I don't think it's worthy of making fun of us.
SPEAKER_01:No. So, I mean, these are some of the things that we have to deal with as older people. And then there are some things that people listed that are just things that everyone has to deal with. And someone wrote rude young people. Rude people in general. Greedy people. Stupid people. Now, stupid people should be universal.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I don't think I mean, we didn't have tolerance for stupid people when we were young.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I was afraid that maybe I was one of the stupid people when I was younger. So, you know, but hopefully you're not a stupid person older. Indecisiveness. You know, we are older. So if you can't make up your mind, okay, wait.
SPEAKER_00:Right. If you're at McDonald's and you've been there for 4,000 years, the menu hasn't changed. Well, it changes sometimes. you're going to get a burger you know you shouldn't have it take you that long and don't order stuff at McDonald's that you know they don't have like don't order Brussels sprouts and don't ask because they don't have them
SPEAKER_01:yes familiarize yourself I have a habit of if I'm going to a restaurant that I've never been to before of looking it up online and looking at their menu online so I have an idea of what I want to have because hey time is precious Time is really precious. Especially for us. Especially for us. But I don't know. These are some of the things that we heard of, and maybe you have other things that are bothersome to you as you age. Please share them with us.
SPEAKER_00:Sure. Send it to us at YouStillHaveTimePodcast at gmail.com. Follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely, because we're going to have more fun episodes like this and if you have ideas for other podcasts send them to us because we're you know this this is not easy work here we work hard to bring you these these episodes I mean we do have fun doing
SPEAKER_00:yes it may sound like we're not working hard but no we do so you you can follow us we listen you can leave us an email you still have time podcast at gmail.com you can leave us a voicemail message at speak pipe which will have links to all of these methods of contacting us in our show notes. And I think that's it. Have I left anything out?
SPEAKER_01:No, but we got really great news today. Oh, oh. Our youngest grandchild, Miss Zara Grace, is on the Times Square billboard? I guess that's a billboard. In Times Square, on the video, so if any of you are listening to this and go through Times Square it's from the National Down Syndrome Society and Zara was chosen as one of the images that they use in their promotion and we were just screaming with joy yes anyway congratulations Zara Grace I always knew you were a model
SPEAKER_00:thank you for joining us today
SPEAKER_01:yes and come back and listen to us next time We're hoping to have an interesting episode for you. And always remember,
SPEAKER_00:you still have time.
SPEAKER_01:See you soon.
SPEAKER_00:Bye-bye.
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