It’s the last tolerated prejudice. But Femail’s had enough. It’s time we called out those day-to-day moments when we’re patronised for no longer being young . . .
You’d think older people would have better manners than their more youthful counterparts, wouldn’t you? Not if you worked at the Hive Beach Cafe on the Dorset Coast, which recently rescinded a ‘silver surfer’ deal because of the abuse its young staff received from the clientele it attracted.
One female customer in her 60s started swearing when asked if she wouldn’t mind joining the queue. A 55-year-old woman made a teenage waitress cry with her rudeness. It got physical, it seems.
Christa D’Souza (pictured), admits she has to remind herself that everyday-ageism can be both positive and negative.
This made me think: do us healthy, perfectly mobile ‘silver surfers’, who want to be treated just like everyone else, actually believe, as we’ve been around longer, we deserve preferential treatment? Do we secretly imagine that most young people are lazy, entitled and don’t know how good they have it. And in our day blah blah blah…
Do I find myself becoming more crotchety as I age? If so, I need keep that in control. Because otherwise I’m just contributing to the widening of that pernicious gap. Everyday ageism — I must keep reminding myself: it goes both ways.