'I had a young coworker not know how to write a check': 30+ Workers who realized they were "officially old" thanks to their young coworkers

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Dec 1, 2023 11:00 AM EST

Did you know that the kids these days are referring to the 90s as the "late 1900s"? If that sentence made you want to check your scalp for gray hairs, you're not alone. 

Aging happens to every living being, and there's nothing we can do about it. We're just along for the ride as trends change and lingo transforms. It's like that saying about how the past is a foreign country. We had less tech back then, and everything was different. 

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  • In school, our teachers assured us that we'd need to know how to write checks in day-to-day life, write in cursive, and that we wouldn't always have a calculator in our pocket, so we had better study up on math. In reality, paper checks are something we use maybe once every three years, or they're the thing your grandmother might give you as a birthday present. Turns out most people can't read cursive, and we all text these days… and the calculator in your pocket thing? Our teachers were so wrong about that one. 

    It's odd to me that current computers don't have the CD slots to play music or movies. In a day and age where streaming services can pull a movie off their service permanently, it's nice to own physical media and watch that DVD whenever the mood strikes. But now we have nowhere to play them---maybe DVDs are headed towards obscurity like cassette players and 8-tracks before them. 

    Check out all of these elder Redditors who shared the moments they suddenly realized, "Oh, I'm kinda old now." If you really want to feel your age, check out this person who shares, "I think A.I. just dumped me." 

  • 01
    'Lovely coworker invited me to a party at her house. That started at 9:00 pm. That's bedtime!'
    via Matheus Frade on Unsplash
  • 02
    Redditors with younger coworkers, what was your "I'm officially old" moment?
    via u/redmambo_no6
  • 03
    Industrial Pigmy In trade school, we were doing introductions, saying a little bit about ourselves. One kid says "yeah, I'm really into classic cars, I have a 1997 something or another. Me, the other couple older folks, and the instructors all made audible groans of horror.
    via u/Industrial Pigmy
  • 04
    Maritime Redditor A coworker and I were talking and they said "say less" I replied "oh... Okay." And I walked away confused. I had to google what that meant after.
    via u/Maritime Redditor
  • 05
    _sam_fox_ When they absolutely love a "new" song and then I tell them it's a re-make of a song from 25 years ago. They almost always try to tell me I'm wrong, until I pull up the evidence and then it's shocked Pikachu face lol.
    via u/_sam_fox_
  • 06
    mollusck_magic My childhood cat lived to 21.5 so teaching (freshman biology lab, so students were ~18) became very weird when I realized my cat was older than my students
    via u/mollusck_magic
  • 07
    Smart_Alex I'm a preschool teacher. It's been a TRIP to watch parents go from Soooo much older than me, to the same age as me, and now they're younger than me!?!?
    via u/Smart_Alex
  • 08
    Status-Effort-9380 Had a co-worker ask me, "Back before cell phones, did you just have to wait around at your house for a call?" Uh, yeah, pretty much.
    via u/Status-Effort-9380
  • 09
    day_of_duke When i fell down the last couple of steps on a stairway. No one pointed and laughed like I expected, instead they helped me up and asked me if I was okay. That's when I knew.
    via u/day_of_duke
  • 10
    WhoaThere87 They started calling me "mom" or "Mama bear" on the walkie- talkies. I find it kind of endearing, actually.
    via u/WhoaThere87
  • 11
    Zelcron They were complaining how hard and awkward it is to meet women on Tinder. I asked if they ever had to call a girl at home and her Dad answered the phone. They were horrified. Another time one of my guys asked what a payphone was. We worked at a phone company.
    via u/Zelcron
  • 12
    HamHockShortDock I offered some $1 DVDs to college kids and they said they had nothing to watch it on. I was like, You can watch it on your laptop. They were like...uh no, we can't. (cause they don't have disk drives anymore?!)
    via u/HamHockShortDock
  • 13
    eusapian had an intern refer to the 90s as 'the late 1900s' . its true, but it makes my teenage years sound like the oregon trail or something
    via u/eusapian
  • 14
    watabby I was talking to a coworker about movies and our favorites. I said something like "I watched that movie so much when I had it on tape in my college years" Her: Tape? Me: You know, on VCR? Her: VCR? Me: Oh well I guess those are old now. Everything is on DVD now.
    via u/watabby
  • 15
    Her: DVD? Me: I guess those are old too. I guess Blu-ray is what's on disc now. Her: Disc? Me: Nevemind She was half joking but nonetheless it made me feel old.
    via u/watabby
  • 16
    benderhiggy I told one of my coworkers that my first job was working at blockbuster video and got a long side eye before he said boy, you're a lot older than you look.
    via u/benderhiggy
  • 17
    lcolbert710 When they say "you look great for your age" like DED
    via u/lcolbert710
  • 18
    PirateKilt Years ago, before I retired, when I met a new young troop and realized I'd been in the military longer than they had been alive...
    via u/PirateKilt
  • 19
    Younger dude said his first gaming console was the PlayStation 4, first computer ran windows 8, and had no idea what we meant by dial up or rotary phones. Had to stop and reevaluate my age lol.
    via r/AskReddit
  • 20
    + [deleted] A friend and I were working at a summer camp and had to bring our Gameboys to work one day to demonstrate that yes, we had multiplayer back in the day, and yes, this was the only way to do it.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 21
    Ambitious-Eye975 Our payroll company went under (luckily not with our money), so for that month, we got real live, honest-to- goodness paper checks. Several co-workers didn't really know what they were or how they could turn them into money.
    via u/Ambitious-Eye975
  • 22
    freshpicked12 I had a young co-worker not know how to write a check. He'd never used a checkbook before.
    via u/freshpicked12
  • 23
    When I accidentally referred to it as THE Discord instead of just Discord.
    via r/AskReddit
  • 24
    INobodyisme I'm a (female) computer geek. I was running cables with this guy at work one night, and he kept trying to keep me out of the actual work part. I finally told him 'I've been doing this since before you were born!' That was about 25 years ago, and as of right now, I've been working in the computer field for 44 years.
    via u/INobodyisme
  • 25
    xthemoonx They used lingo I've never heard at the time. He says "thats fire" and I kind of mockingly repeat it but i didn't do it exactly like how he said, I was like "that ... on fire" and he laughed at me and was like "nah man its just 'fire'." Lol
    via u/xthemoonx
  • 26
    idiotsarray (coworker) hey, a few of us are going out Friday night, wanna come? (me) sure (cw) great! Meet at my place at 11. (me) wait, 11pm?...ok (to myself) that's when I was planning on going to bed
    via u/idiotsarray
  • 27
    djuggler When they said they went to high school with my daughter
    via u/djuggler
  • 28
    seyheystretch When someone tried to set me up with their mother.
    via u/seyheystretch
  • 29
    LucyVialli Got a new boss that was younger than myself.
    via u/LucyVialli
  • 30
    Spidertron2000 The new hire has been alive for as long as I've been married.
    via u/Spidertron2000
  • 31
    payattention007 "Who's Bruce Willis?"
    via u/payattention007
  • 32
    NotMyNameActually Lovely coworker invited me to a party at her house. That started at 9:00 pm. That's bedtime!
    via u/NotMyNameActually
  • 33
    Vast-Celebration-717 Left a note for a new hire to call IT to help him set up his work phone and he couldn't read cursive. Asked me what language I wrote the note in.
    via u/Vast-Celebration-717
  • 34
    Chipothy I had to explain Rick Rolling.
    via u/Chipothy
  • 35
    BudgetHair2259 Not me, but my 40 year old husband was picking up food for the office. A 18 year old co worker asked if he had Cashap. My husband was like "Say what?". He had no idea such a thing existed.
    via u/BudgetHair2259
  • 36
    Divayth--Fyr When I was talking to this new delivery driver and we realized I had delivered pizza to his mother in the hospital on the day he was born.
    via u/Divayth--Fyr
  • 37
    LEVIT JBean85 When a younger female said she was going to come by "with some incredible tea." I was profoundly confused and disappointed when she showed up to my office without a calming elixir of the gods and instead proceeded to talk about our co worker.
    via u/JBean85

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opinion ask reddit old workplace-stories jobs dvds job funny stories work coworkers askreddit Office gen x old people baby boomers workplace video games funny opinions
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