Why are the elderly so bitter?

[AlexRich]

17 minutes ago, Retiredandhappyhere said:

My wife in the UK left me after 37 years of marriage and I lost 50% of everything in the divorce, including my home and business.  I moved to Thailand and I am now 75 years old and have lived here for 12 years.  I have made all the usual mistakes which naive ex-pats tend to make and I have lost a lot of money as a result, although I still have enough to get by on.  I simply choose to forget the past, not dwell on my mistakes, and get on with my life and I am very happy with the lovely (mature) lady who has been living with me for the past two years.  I do not drink or smoke,  I watch a little TV (mainly news) , watch a lot of sport on the internet, keep in touch with my UK family and friends there with emails and on Skype, some of whom visit me periodically.. I eat out perhaps three times per week, go dancing about once a fortnight, drive my car,  take care of my home and garden, am keen on DIY, read books, play sudoku and do crossword puzzles, have a normal sex life, exercise at home every day and generally keep busy and have a very enjoyable life.   

 

Although I say it myself (although  my partner agrees with me), no sign of a grumpy old bas...d there!  I guess I am just lucky, as I enjoy good health.   I am always a bit surprised though at some of the extremely rude replies on here to other  members' innocent comments and enquiries.  It is almost enough to make sensitive souls like me afraid to post on this forum.   

 

Good post.

 

Note to self ... don't marry unless assets are safely hidden!

 

 

[narkeddiver]

Try adding sugar or honey to mask the bitterness

[MissAndry]

19 minutes ago, Retiredandhappyhere said:

 I eat out perhaps three times per week, go dancing about once a fortnight, drive my car,  take care of my home and garden, am keen on DIY, read books, play sudoku and do crossword puzzles, have a normal sex life, exercise at home every day and generally keep busy and have a very enjoyable life.   

 

 

Your life sounds great ..... but I would like to point out a normal sex life for a 75 year old British male would be NONE AT ALL (with another person in the room anyway).

[GarryP]

5 minutes ago, MissAndry said:

 

Your life sounds great ..... but I would like to point out a normal sex life for a 75 year old British male would be NONE AT ALL (with another person in the room anyway).

That's probably why they are so grumpy. 

[SoiBiker]

8 minutes ago, AlexRich said:

 

Good post.

 

Note to self ... don't marry unless assets are safely hidden!

 

 

It always puzzles me when guys say they lost 50% of everything in their divorce. That implies that you thought you owned 100% of everything before the divorce. That ain't how marriage works, chaps!

[GarryP]

2 minutes ago, SoiBiker said:

It always puzzles me when guys say they lost 50% of everything in their divorce. That implies that you thought you owned 100% of everything before the divorce. That ain't how marriage works, chaps!

I know nothing about this subject as my parents divorced when I was a tot. I would just like to know whether men can expect to get 50 percent of what their wives bring to the table. I assume that in most families both husband and wide work (unlike in the not to distant past).

[chiang mai]

1 hour ago, slipperylobster said:

 

oh..ok

The "superiority complex" part is what led me astray.

We (Americans) do not all have that...btw.

I think that is just a "perception"...which is much like saying all Brits from London are looking down their noses at the rest of us.

 

I do watch the BBC (if no other choices are available)...and it does seem that Brits look down their noses at Americans...as less intelligent/educated and geographically ignorant.   lol

 

If I walk into a bar and play country music, you can just see the grumpiness spread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've seen that first hand, country music just gets to people, I think Americans must be given something at birth that allows them to tolerate it and then actually get to like it, strange.

[dcnx]

I was at Rimming about 2 weeks ago and some elderly gent went ape sh#t on the clerk when she handed him a pile of paper money with coins mixed in with the receipt. It took me by surprise,  as he really went overboard,  insulting her and Thais in general, being stupid and so on. All over how she handed him his money and receipt. 

 

One can only imagine how joyful his home must be,  assuming he can keep someone around. 

[billd766]

39 minutes ago, Retiredandhappyhere said:

My wife in the UK left me after 37 years of marriage and I lost 50% of everything in the divorce, including my home and business.  I moved to Thailand and I am now 75 years old and have lived here for 12 years.  I have made all the usual mistakes which naive ex-pats tend to make and I have lost a lot of money as a result, although I still have enough to get by on.  I simply choose to forget the past, not dwell on my mistakes, and get on with my life and I am very happy with the lovely (mature) lady who has been living with me for the past two years.  I do not drink or smoke,  I watch a little TV (mainly news) , watch a lot of sport on the internet, keep in touch with my UK family and friends there with emails and on Skype, some of whom visit me periodically.. I eat out perhaps three times per week, go dancing about once a fortnight, drive my car,  take care of my home and garden, am keen on DIY, read books, play sudoku and do crossword puzzles, have a normal sex life, exercise at home every day and generally keep busy and have a very enjoyable life.   

 

Although I say it myself (although  my partner agrees with me), no sign of a grumpy old bas...d there!  I guess I am just lucky, as I enjoy good health.   I am always a bit surprised though at some of the extremely rude replies on here to other  members' innocent comments and enquiries.  It is almost enough to make sensitive souls like me afraid to post on this forum.   

 

Sadly my dancing skills are similar to that of a rhino on heat and my singing skills are commensurate with that of a buffalo with severe gastric pains.

 

I do  like my singing though few other people seem to.

[MissAndry]

15 minutes ago, dcnx said:

I was at Rimming about 2 weeks ago and some elderly gent went ape sh#t on the clerk when she handed him a pile of paper money with coins mixed in with the receipt. It took me by surprise,  as he really went overboard,  insulting her and Thais in general, being stupid and so on. All over how she handed him his money and receipt. 

 

One can only imagine how joyful his home must be,  assuming he can keep someone around. 

 

Sounds like dementia (or drug side effects) to me.

 

But, saw a 40ish Korean man have a melt down in the immigration queue at the airport in front of me a few weeks back. "Don't touch my bag" he screamed, while throwing it on the ground and jumping up and down, was with his wife and children as well, surprised they didn't shoot him. But they just let him get on with it while he exhausted himself, then passed him through when he was done. Western guys having a tantrum just can't compete with the Asian blowouts, amazing Thailand!

[pgrahmm]

7 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

 

I've seen that first hand, country music just gets to people, I think Americans must be given something at birth that allows them to tolerate it and then actually get to like it, strange.

Naah - we just listen to those songs - about the patho's of life.... 

 

We let you live them.....

[pgrahmm]

8 minutes ago, dcnx said:

I was at Rimming about 2 weeks ago and some elderly gent went ape sh#t on the clerk when she handed him a pile of paper money with coins mixed in with the receipt. It took me by surprise,  as he really went overboard,  insulting her and Thais in general, being stupid and so on. All over how she handed him his money and receipt. 

 

One can only imagine how joyful his home must be,  assuming he can keep someone around. 

I'm REALLY HOPING that was RimPING.....

Hopefully there's no one else trapped with him by his bad disposition......Some of those are easy to spot at the stores - - - followed 3 steps later by a very unhappy & terminally embarrassed lady.....While they're tromping/marching blithely ahead not realizing everyone else gets the full picture in a nanosecond.....

[Mestizo]

1 hour ago, Naam said:

they congregate daily in this forum

 

 

ESPECIALLY in the days leading up to Songkran...   

[rijb]

23 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

 

I've seen that first hand, country music just gets to people, I think Americans must be given something at birth that allows them to tolerate it and then actually get to like it, strange.

 

Speaking of a superiority complex... 

[chiang mai]

1 minute ago, rijb said:

 

Speaking of a superiority complex... 

 

And that's the other thing, Americans don't do satire and I could never understand that, they think that everything is serious unless it's qualified as a joke either before or afterwards.

[rijb]

2 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

 

And that's the other thing, Americans don't do satire and I could never understand that, they think that everything is serious unless it's qualified as a joke either before or afterwards.

 

There's good satire and there's your attempt at satire.  What's not to understand?

[chiang mai]

3 minutes ago, rijb said:

 

There's good satire and there's your attempt at satire.  What's not to understand?

 

Unnecessarily aggressive - out.

[AlexRich]

54 minutes ago, SoiBiker said:

It always puzzles me when guys say they lost 50% of everything in their divorce. That implies that you thought you owned 100% of everything before the divorce. That ain't how marriage works, chaps!

 

LOL ... I note Miss Andry liked your post ... perhaps a beneficiary of the marriage gamble?

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

5 hours ago, puukao said:

Missing the point.  Guy fighting Thai waitress 1 foot from me.  Looks like he might start throwing things.  

 

When end someone punches a rekative or friend. Next to you, should I say mind your own business?   Or try to understand?   

 

No. Sorry if most on here are afraid to do anything.   This is why terrorism works.  Do you want me to leave them alone?

 

use your head.  

Okay lets go the long way about it. First you are judging a whole group of people based on your subjective personal observations and the conclusion you have reached is that "old" foreigners in Thailand are grumpy. Now lets please get a definition of "old", for a ten year old a person of twenty years old are old, so define old. Then please tell me if these "old" foreigners that's so grumpy are tourists, new expats or long time expats or all three, because from my observations young tourists (under 50 as this is the age at which you can get a retirement visa) are the trouble makers and the guys hanging out in bars. Then give me the factual study which prove that "old" foreigners here are more grumpy than in other countries (which would include their home countries), my observation of our long term expats friends are that they are happy, they are living here because they want to, but then again I don't go to bars.  Then do a little stats for yourself, what is the chance of you seeing an old expat being grumpy compared to a young expat being grumpy. The ratio of "old" expats vs young expats are skewed towards the "old" expats, thus you will see more of them being grumpy. I would also would like to ask you if you have never been grumpy ? If you say never then I will say you are lying. Everyone are grumpy at some point in life because that's human. What you are doing is remembering the incidence of grumpy "old" foreigners and adding that up to come to your conclusion that foreign older men are grumpy, but in the process you are walking past a 1000 not grumpy "old" foreigners.

 

As to your answer to my original comment: the man angry at the waitress. did he assault her ? if not what does it have to do with you ? yes if he tried to assault her I would intervene, but from your comment it is clear that you have no idea why this guy was angry, maybe he had a good reason, maybe not, but why are you trying to be the captain of the world ?

 

As for your second one about someone punching a friend, that is not someone being grumpy that is the actions of a thug and doesn't relate to your post of grumpy "old" men.

 

As for your blah blah blah about the terrorists is nothing but a cheap shot of trying to breed sympathy for your post. I have fought a terrorist war, I have stood up against terrorist and faced death - HAVE YOU ? 

[MissAndry]

Just now, SOUTHERNSTAR said:

As to your answer to my original comment: the man angry at the waitress. did he assault her ? if not what does it have to do with you ? yes if he tried to assault her I would intervene, but from your comment it is clear that you have no idea why this guy was angry, maybe he had a good reason, maybe not, but why are you trying to be the captain of the world ?

 

 

Probably the "I gave you 1,000bht, no sir it was a 500bht' note scam.

[bazza40]

1 hour ago, SoiBiker said:

It always puzzles me when guys say they lost 50% of everything in their divorce. That implies that you thought you owned 100% of everything before the divorce. That ain't how marriage works, chaps!

Mule fritters. I did own 100% of everything before each long term relationship. You have the same one-size-fits-all mentality as Family Court magistrates.

I am waiting for the eventual separation of a couple where the wife is earning $300,000 pa. and the husband earns $35,000 pa. When the court splits the assets 50:50, I think I'll hear her screams all the way from New Zealand.

You're only puzzled because you haven't gone through the legal system yourself. It would change your point of view very rapidly.Like some of your posts on other topics, you put forward opinions bereft of experience.

[NancyL]

9 minutes ago, bazza40 said:

Mule fritters. I did own 100% of everything before each long term relationship. You have the same one-size-fits-all mentality as Family Court magistrates.

I am waiting for the eventual separation of a couple where the wife is earning $300,000 pa. and the husband earns $35,000 pa. When the court splits the assets 50:50, I think I'll hear her screams all the way from New Zealand.

You're only puzzled because you haven't gone through the legal system yourself. It would change your point of view very rapidly.Like some of your posts on other topics, you put forward opinions bereft of experience.

There's a rule with U.S. Social Security retirement pension that a divorced spouse can receive a monthly pension worth 50% of the value of the ex-spouse's pension if the marriage lasted for at least 10 years.  Receiving the "divorced spouse pension" doesn't affect the amount of the ex-spouses pension.  All that a divorced spouse needs to have to apply is details of their divorce decree and the ex-spouses full name and Social Security number.

 

It's not uncommon for divorced women to apply for this pension, but many men don't think to do so.  After some pushing and prodding, I encouraged two men who had worked their lives in jobs where they didn't pay into Social Security, but their wives did to apply for the divorced-spouse pension.  It's amazing how prideful these guys were about not wanting to apply, even though their ex- didn't even have to know they were receiving the pension.  It's just "found money" and an example of one situation where divorced men are treated the same as divorced women.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

39 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

 

And that's the other thing, Americans don't do satire and I could never understand that, they think that everything is serious unless it's qualified as a joke either before or afterwards.

I know it's only Monday; but that is the most ignorant statement I've read all week.  You ever hear of Orwell, Bradbury, Huxley, Twain, or Vonnegut?  Or maybe you have owned a television and watched South Park, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, or even Green Acres?  You may be eating shepherd's pie, but you're talking pure cow pie. 

[Sandy Freckle]

Ive honestly never seen old people in meltdown mode in Thailand....., yet. I have however witnessed many younger people(milenials, hipsters, gen Y'ers etc) spitting the dummy quite often...., I'm guessing to some extent it can depend on what areas of any given location you'll choose to frequent...., fortunately I've now stopped going to those over-touristed seaside areas.

[JSixpack]

1 hour ago, chiang mai said:

 

I've seen that first hand, country music just gets to people, I think Americans must be given something at birth that allows them to tolerate it and then actually get to like it, strange.

 

In that case we just gotta play a tune by some 'Mercun country music elders, one that has strong implications for this topic.

 

 

[chiang mai]

13 minutes ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

I know it's only Monday; but that is the most ignorant statement I've read all week.  You ever hear of Orwell, Bradbury, Huxley, Twain, or Vonnegut?  Or maybe you have owned a television and watched South Park, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, or even Green Acres?  You may be eating shepherd's pie, but you're talking pure cow pie. 

 

You see you guys now have just gone way over the top on all of this. What started as a casual and innocent observation of British and American behaviour was read incompletely by JSP as being an attack on all Americans (which it wasn't), followed through by RIJB in ignorance of what was written and turned semi serious, and now pushed so far out of context by you as to be a totally different discussion. I conclude you three must all be the subject of the OP and that now the OP is entirely correct.

[The manic]

Most of the ones I see are not grumpy but gleeful and having a great time. The main cause of irritation is the garbage music in Gogo bars!.

[SoiBiker]

33 minutes ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

I know it's only Monday; but that is the most ignorant statement I've read all week.  You ever hear of Orwell, Bradbury, Huxley, Twain, or Vonnegut?  Or maybe you have owned a television and watched South Park, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, or even Green Acres?  You may be eating shepherd's pie, but you're talking pure cow pie. 

You know Orwell and Huxley weren't American, right?

[MissAndry]

55 minutes ago, bazza40 said:

I am waiting for the eventual separation of a couple where the wife is earning $300,000 pa. and the husband earns $35,000 pa. When the court splits the assets 50:50, I think I'll hear her screams all the way from New Zealand.

 

 

I have a divorced English male friend who was a house husband while his wife worked for a TV Company. In the divorce he got custody of the children, the entire house, half her company pension and half her redundancy pay out.

It's rare but it happens. If she's working and he's not, there is no way out for the court.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

Ok, substitute Arthur Miller, Norman Lear, or just pick up a copy of MAD magazine or the NY Post.