64-year-old baby boomer loses job after refusing to learn new software that his company gave him 3 months to learn: 'He’s telling people he’s retiring early.'

Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor

Aug 12, 2026 6:35 PM EDT

What did he think was going to happen?

We become much less adaptable as we age. We not only don't want to learn new things, but we also get worse at learning them because our brains have less elasticity. If someone has worked hard for their whole career, they might feel they don't need to learn any new skills once they're a couple of years out from retirement, because they don't think their company will fire someone about to retire. If you're a valuable member of your team who provides services that nobody else could do better, you might be right. But if you're just some bitter old boomer who doesn't do what you're supposed to do at your job, you shouldn't be surprised when your boss slips you a pink slip.

The boomer dad in this story was shocked to be fired, but he really shouldn't have been. He refused to learn the new software, despite having a coworker teaching him exactly what to do.

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*An older employee, who got fired for refusing to learn the new technology, because he thought he was irreplaceable.*
*_{Represented by a model.}*

My boomer dad was laid off for refusing to learn new technology

My boomer dad (64M) was given like 2-3 months notice that his workplace would be implementing a new software, and during those months he had a colleague training him on how to use it. My dad's

got zero patience though, when he can't figure something out he starts yelling and cursing, so I feel sorry for the worker who had to train him. I guess he just gave up on trying to learn it and thought "they can't get rid of me!"

Obviously he got laid off lol... but he's telling people he's retiring early.

Wasatcher All he had to do was play the game for one more year...

How hard is it to do your job for one more year?

zombieglide As someone with less than 1.5 years left, this is the answer.

They are so proud of being ignorant, it's unbelievable.

FingerPuzzleheaded81 This is my father in law. He's 67, has no real nest egg, has no pension, has garbage social security and is currently working 20 hours a week at a slow paced retail job. He got into it with the assistant manager the one time about not putting stuff into the system. My father in laws response was something like I'm retired. I'm not in this for the long haul. I'm not learning that system and went back to his other tasks. He's proud of this interaction and refusal to learn sobe

bravado That's pretty extreme, but the rest of us 100% have stories about people just putting in the bare minimum while bragging about retiring soon - without the self-awareness to know what they're doing to the rest of us by carrying their weight. Selfish.

porscheblack My dad is very similar. He retired and picked up part time work delivering auto parts. After being there for a few months they switched to a digital system using tablets instead of actual paper. He bitched about the change and told me how he kept going into the secretaries to print the orders out until finally they instituted a policy that they must use the tablets, so he quit. I asked him how he'd feel if he was the secretary and was now being asked to do even more work (not just p

He also refused to get a cell phone for many, many years. But he never had a problem asking to borrow anyone else's phone when he wanted to make a call. Bonus points because they receive more scam calls than anyone I know and it's 100% because my mom pretty much has to answer any call she receives, even if it's a number she doesn't know, since she never knows if it's him that's calling.

Silent Part9724 I will never understand the being compelled to answer every door knock and phone call thing. My spouse is young enough to know better and still does it - so you know their parents really do not miss a call or knock! It seems to make them feel important, somehow - which makes even less sense. Edit: to top it off, they also won't just hang up on (mostly) scam calls, they yell at them, to compound matters. All the while, bragging about how "busy" and "savvy" they are. LOL.

Do you think that a 64 year old man could get a new full-time job if he really pulled up his bootstraps and tried to get one?

NotAnlronicUsername Good. They've had it comfortable enough. Maybe he can pull himself up by his bootstraps and upskill like we had to.

He's lucky he only had to retire 1 year early. Imagine if he had gotten laid off at 55! It would've been much harder for him to retire with 9 years less savings and investments.

SAM12489 Hey, if he has any property, savings, pension, 401k or investments, he's already better off than the vast majority of people who had to learn the new fangled computer do hicky

I hate to say it, but Abby Lee Miller was right in this regard

Grey BeardEng One thing I have learned working for a large company for decades is that anyone and everyone is replaceable. You can be replaced and a month after you're gone it will be like you were never there.

I think a lot of people hold themselves back, even though they're capable of more than they think they are.

Go-Mellistic This happened to my mom. She absolutely refused to learn the new computer system and was let go in her early 60's. Refused to learn any other technology so never worked again. She lives entirely off her SS now with no savings.

Happy_Confection90 My dad's got zero patience though, when he can't figure something out he starts yelling and cursing, so I feel sorry for the worker who had to train him. I'd wonder if you were my brother, but our dad has been de d for quite a while. Has he always been like this, or is it new? I mean, do you have traumatic' hold the flashlight' memories too, or has his temper gotten a lot worse lately? My dad tantrumed over the least little frustrations even in his 30s, but someone who is shou

WizardlyCurve OP When I was a kid his reaction to everything was immediate anger, so I think he's always been this way. He actually left my mom to raise me and my siblings on her own when I was 8, I think he just gave up because he didn't want to deal with kids anymore. When I became an adult he came crawling back into our lives as a "proud dad." He brags about how accomplished his children are after having nothing to do with raising us, and now he wants grandchildren! The joke writes itself...

Early_Hawk6210 What kills me most about boomer v tech stories is that the decision not to learn and adapt was made a long time ago. Computers have been ubiquitous in homes and workplaces for 30 years. People who are near retirement age now who still can't use tech decided to stop upskilling mid-career. What did they expect would happen??

If they've been in a position of power for long enough, they've offloaded so much of their difficult work onto lower-paid employees for so long that they no longer know how to do things that challenge them and make them uncomfortable.

zakupright I believe they have the expectation that someone will always do it for them

RandomActPG Glad the employer had the guts. At some point we just decided we didn't require older employees to learn a new system/tech. Still getting rid of boomer colleagues who refuse to use email to communicate because "I just can't figure it out"

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