Am I the only one creeped out by this commercial?

[SoCalDem]

You know the one..

A SEVENTY SEVEN year old woman who claims she's a WAITRESS, and without this "insert wonder drug name here", I would never be able to do it.


WTF is a 77 year old woman doing waiting tables?

Don't these commercial makers see the "oddity" in their choice of spokesperson?

Maybe 77 is the "new 67", but sheeeez.. I always feel sorry for the poor old lady and think I should send her some money so she could get off her feet and read a book or something

[greyl]

1. She could be making 200 bucks a night and loving it.

77 year old women should be able to do whatever the heck they feel like doing. :)

[Cleita]

4. Trust me, no one is doing physical labor at the age of 77 or even 67

because they love it. There are too many aches and pains to deal with, not to mention an arthritic condition that causes you to involuntarily lose your grip on what you are holding. How many hot coffees has she spilled and crockery has she broken?

[greyl]

5. Sorry, not true. It may not be common, but it sure as hell happens.

Anyway, I'm not really defending the commercial, just countering ageism. ;)

[Cleita]

9. There are a few old people who still can keep up with younger

people, but they are very few. Most of us have something going wrong with us, whether it's our bones thinning, arthritis stiffening our joints, our hearing going or our eyesight dimming. None of this makes you a good worker if you can't hear very well, see very well, could break a hip or can't grasp things because of stiff joints. Although I do some pretty physical things in my garden, like double digging and planting trees or laying hardscape, I do it at my pace. I can't stand on my feet longer than four hours without collapsing, literally and not able to get up. Please don't paint a rosy picture of every old lady being Granny D. There is only one Granny D and she's unique.

[greyl]

11. "Please don't paint a rosy picture of every old lady ..." ?

I said it may not be common, but it happens.
Please don't paint a bleak picture for every 77 year old. ;)

[MonkeyFunk]

13. You're mistaken

I've worked with women that age who work because they like it. In college, I had a boss who was well into her 70's... it was banquet work - very hard. Her husband was a retired judge. She worked because she loved it.

[DoYouEverWonder]

17. My grandmother waitressed until she was 72

and was very unhappy about being 'forced' into retirement. She loved her job and would have worked for many more years if she could have.

[hootinholler]

26. And then my uncle looked up...

and saw my great-aunt at 92 cleaning her gutters 2 stories up. She was a spry old lady, after he talked her down he told he'd have a somebody out to finish it for her.

-Hoot

[BlackVelvet04]

34. LOL....

I had a great aunt who roofed her own house when she was 70+.

When asked what she would have done had the ladder fallen while she was on the roof (she lived out in the boonies) she replied "waited until the mailmen came and yelled at him." It didn't seem to worry her thinking of spending the night on the roof.

My 84 year old aunt just closed her business that she worked 5 days a week. And she just got her degree in theology this year.

[hootinholler]

42. We still don't know how she got the ladder set.

I have trouble setting a 40' ladder by myself sometimes.

-Hoot

[mondo joe]

31. Sorry, but I'll trust my grandmother instead.

She didn't waitress but she worked well into her late 60's because she hated not working.

If her health permitted her to work into her 70's I have no doubt she would have.

Now I, on the other hand, would have liked to retire in my 30's.

[BlackVelvet04]

32. I disagree....

my 80 year old father does physical labor because he enjoys it. He no longer has a job but he loves working in the yard and I do mean working....not puttering. He leveled his whole back yard after having a new septic system put in and seeded it. He mows, gardens, paints his own house, etc. And he doesn't complain about aches and pains.

Oh, and he walks 1 1/2 miles per day minimum. If he could find a paying job he liked he would be doing it.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

48. Excuse me?

What a load of ageist bullshit.

[WinkyDink]

30. I don't think that's the subliminal message, when the overt one is about aches and pains.

[mcctatas]

2. Well since her medicaid probably doesn't cover it...

she has to wait tables to pay for the wonder drug that allows her to wait tables...see what bushco has made of us??

[eleny]

3. "I want a loan! I want a loan!"

I think it's a Capitol One commercial. Creeps me out.

Two old fart bankers are examining a tiny man who is asking them for a loan. They set him on fire because they used a magnifying glass to watch him. Then they get some lunch - a big bowl of steamed shrimp. One of the old farts takes one of the jumbo shrimp and dances it on his desk while saying in a begging, mocking tone - "I want a loan! I want a loan!"

[Berry Cool]

22. I think the point of that is to contrast the bankers to Capital One

who presumably won't treat small business like that. The bankers on the commercial laugh at the tiny man because he has a small business, and they only care about big business. So they're supposed to look cruel, heartless and mocking. Sort of a Bush-meets-Karla-Faye-Tucker thing.

[eleny]

44. Yes, I understand that

Those bankers in the ad are like a microcosm of the Republican Party and give me the creeps on that level. I should have added that to my post.
:hi:

[Marie26]

52. All the Capital One

commercials creep me out. They try to be funny, but they're really quite sadistic and cruel. An accurate reflection of the company, I guess.

[Cleita]

6. So what's the wonder drug?

Something to energize her like speed? Or pain killers derived from morphine, because that is what it would take and all that walking on tired old bones are asking for a broken hip.

I think this is a toofer. One to advertise the drug, but secondly to let the younger generation think that grandma can work until she drops dead with the right drugs. She doesn't need that SS if she can work does she?

[China_cat]

20. It's not even a drug.

It's 'osteo-biflex'. Snake oil in capsule form that has NO scientific support.

[canetoad]

7. Love to be able to see the video

What you have described sounds like Class 1 in bending public opinion. Is that the same thing as psyops?

Start promulgating a meme. This message is probably intended for folks a long way down the track. Old gals should be happy to be waiters. This is so fucking sick in too many ways to enumerate.

Why feature an old woman? Why put her in a menial job? Is the message here 'you must grind away on your feet, until you drop dead, and be grateful that someone has employed you'?

No, you could partake of -----wonder drug, and enjoy ever minute of your old age in hard labour, long after you should be able to relax and let the world take care of itself. It makes me sick, lol, and I haven't even seen the ad yet.

[Cleita]

10. That's my take on it because I know as an old woman how

hard it is on certain days, to get through the day, let alone work as a waitress in a busy restaurant. I sometimes see senior citizens working at McDonalds and other fast food places. You can see the pain on their faces sometimes and they don't last very long.

[theHandpuppet]

25. That was exactly my feeling as well, canetoad

And I've seen the ad. Get yourselves ready for a life without retirement, folks. You're already being programmed.

[Cleita]

50. It's our grandchildren that are being programmed to believe

that grandma will live a spry and robust life with the right pill until she drops dead. So get that damn SS deduction off my paycheck now! I could buy another video game with that money!

[napi21]

8. I had company here the first time I saw that ad. First thing I said was

"Why the hell is that lady still working at 77?" Everyone agreed!!!

I don't recall the name of the damn drug, and I'm sure the advertisers are just thrilled to hear THAT! Ihate the message!

[hfojvt]

12. I worked with a couple of old guys, 3 that I can remember

I think they were in their 70s. Two of them were pretty good workers, made worker of the month, the other was kinda so-so, but not the worst slacker on the shift. We worked 12 hour night shifts. The work was not really hard, but that's still alot of standing and walking for 12 hours. One guy said all he made was $1,000 a month in social security and that was not enough for him. The job only paid $7.25 an hour though, so I was making less money than him, and it was enough for me.

The other guy was a land baron of sorts, and very conservative too. He owned at least two apartment buildings, like 10-20 units. Besides working full time, he did maintenance and cutting grass on his apartments. If his story was not BS, he was too wealthy to need to work, but he drove a beat up car with an ad for his son's business on the side. Work, he said once, was great because he got 3 month's worth of rent every month as his paycheck, and all he had to give was his time. He made it sound like his time was of no value, and I thought, 'good Lord, at your age, what could be more valuable?'

I saw him once, when I was ringing bells for the Salvation Army. He just marched right past me into the Wal-mart or Target. Would not even look at me, to see that the guy at the kettle was somebody he knew. It would have just killed him to put a quarter in the kettle and give to charity.

[tuvor]

14. You don't know her. Maybe she doesn't WANT to "read a book or something".

Full disclosure: I didn't watch the ad.

But, hell, if I'm lucky enough to make it to 80 and I still want to work, don't tell me I should be off "reading a book or something".

[Bright Eyes]

15. my grandmother's 69

and thanks to the GREAT economy, she has to work as a hostess at a local restaurant just to meet the bills(and just barely that).

[Dover]

16. The commercial fine print should read:

Ex-Enron Employee: Lost her life savings and 401k in the Enron crime.
Current Employment: Waitress
And remember: tips are taxable!

Que woman: "Without drugs I'd never be able to survive this misery! I'm so grateful!"

[Hekate]

18. Every time it comes on I think "No pension, no retirement, inadequate health care, & living on tips"

I believe waitress jobs pay below minimum wage because the customers' tips allegedly make up for it.

It's no kind of job for a 77 year old woman. I'm sure there must be a few out there who like it and choose it, but to me it's the kind of job an old woman would take only because she needs the money and can't get hired for anything physically easier that pays better.

It's a crappy commercial.

Hekate

[VenusRising]

19. Won't the new minimum wage raise change that

for waitresses?

:shrug:

[Clark2008]

24. Nope.

They make about $2.06 an hour - and are exempt because of the "windfall" of tips they get. :eyes:

It may go up to a whopping $2.50 an hour or something.

[SoCalDem]

29. Yep, the "careers" that "offer" tips get away with paying less

My friend who was a hairdresser, worked with dangerous chemicals every day of her working life and was always either paid "shit-wages" or had to PAY rent on her "space" at a salon.
(the irony?.. many people thought they were being overcharged and never even tipped all that much)

She ended up with a chemical-induced form of asthma and such severe back/shoulder problems, that she had to "retire" at about 45....with no benefits or pension, of course.

(these days people are more savvy and do take better precautions, but back then they did not.)

[w8liftinglady]

21. I work with a nurse in her 70's,and an aide in her 60's

it's not love of the job,or any of that BS.People have no money saved for retirement.

[RebelOne]

23. I am 68 and still working full time.

But I have an easy job. I sit in front of a computer all day and copy edit hunting and fishing stories. I work mainly for the medical coverage. And if I retired, I would be bored. What could I do? Sit in front of the TV all day?

[TZ]

27. 62 and climbing trees...

My best friend is 62 with severe back issues (2 surgeries, one an emergency that left him temporarily paralyzed from waist down) and numerous injuries to hands legs and shoulders, as well as having bad lyme disease which flares from time to time and still does his landscaping/tree surgeon business. He doesn't climb as much as he used to but he still works extremely hard with long hours. He MIGHT be able to retire in a few years. He makes good money currently and is busy but once he stops...its going to be very difficult. Especially if our nitwit tries to fix his health care.

[Hekate]

53. My point exactly about privatizing Social Security: hard physical labor wears a body out...

There is a large stratum of people at the lower end of the wage scale whose income doesn't allow them to have meaningful IRAs -- often though not always because of working paycheck to paycheck -- and whose lifestyle involves getting their joints, lungs, and muscles pretty well beat up by the age of 60.

It's one thing to bellyache because you wore your knees out being a runner as a hobby -- it's quite another thing if your knees are killing you with pain and you have to keep bending, stooping, kneeling, climbing ladders, and whatnot just to keep the paycheck coming in.

It's these people I immediately thought of when the Republicans started blathering on about how healthy people are these days and how it is perfectly reasonable to raise the age of retirement to 67. Maybe white collar desk workers can continue to sit at their desks indefinitely -- and gods know their are a few manual laborers who stay on the job until the age of 90 or 100 -- but the very aged who can do that make the news because their extreme rarity makes them a gee-whiz human interest story, not because a lot of other people are able to emulate them.

Hekate

[Virginia Dare]

28. Just preparing the public for the inevitable...

The vast majority of the baby boomers will never be able to retire. They'll all have to go out and have second careers in the service industry. Get used to seeing very old people working in McDonalds, Wal-Mart, and the like.

[SoCalDem]

33. America, full-circle

Ambitious, eager teens burst into the job market in fast food crappola jobs....working for grandparents of their peers

Spend a lifetime in a "career position"

Get down-sized, out-sourced at 45-60

Aging, not-so-eager boomers head back to their old crappola jobs, working for grandchildren of their peers.

[Junkdrawer]

45. Bingo. n/t

[shimmergal]

35. Well, what about the one

with the old couple who are square-dancers?

Same arguments "They wouldn't be up to it at their ages" should apply there, right?

If not, why not?

I

[SoCalDem]

36. Not unless they are paid to dance

:)

[Hekate]

37. Somehow dancing for the sheer pleasure of it doesn't equate with working for food/rent

Between sets they can always rest, or even skip a dance or two without penalty. Ever try that on a job where the basic job description includes being on your feet the whole time?

I tried waitressing once when in college. It was damn hard work, and the tips were lousy because the food was cheap. I was better off sales clerking -- where I was still on my feet 100% of the time (no salt shakers there), but at least there weren't a dozen people at once calling on me.

Sometimes I see waitresses sitting at an empty booth while filling salt shakers, or while on lunch break, but other than that....

Hekate

[Sequoia]

38. Speaking of commericals. Last night before "The Daily Show"

at 8pm there was a commercial about a guy calling into 911 what sounded like he and his girlfriend were stranded in their car in snow, lost or something. The operator kept yapping while he was trying to talk and she was sounded sad about his ordeal. Then at the end a message came up that said something to effect of how drugs kill, Meth.

I was so outraged. It seemed to me the commercial implied that since they were doing drugs it got them lost so of course they had to die. In other words, if you do drugs and get lost, don't call us because we won't save you. So one might think...gee if I get lost in the snow I better not call 911 because they'll think I'm on meth and won't save me. Maybe I'm wrong here, but I thought it was a most tasteless commercial and I have to wonder if it's true. These networks can act like they are so liberal with their Daily Show and whatnot but in then end they all play the same "bow down before your president" game.

[hedgehog]

39. There's a matching commercial out there, too

The grandmother and grandaughter are racing to eat the cookies. Grandma's a waitress who must be watching the kid for two hours after school because Mom's day care arrangements fell through!

[SoCalDem]

40. Yes, I've seen that one too. I always wonder

how much grief Grandma catches when the boss finds out she's watching her grandkid while atr work :eyes:

[Hekate]

51. That kind of thing always goes over big with bosses.They just love it when your personal life...

...comes to work with you. Makes them all warm and fuzzy inside. :sarcasm:

When I was an admin asst at a university, my 7 year old son was in an after-school reading clinic on the other side of campus. Another mother picked him up after regular school and I drove her child and mine home after reading clinic after I got off work. The overlap was maybe 20 minutes twice a week. My boss had fits over the presence of quietly waiting children in my office. "This is not a creche!" he exploded one time (I guess "creche" being Euro-speak for daycare center).

Hekate

[cynatnite]

41. My uncle worked until he was 89...

his reason: He got bored sitting at home. He loved working.

It should be a choice to work...not a have to work for our elderly.

[AngryAmish]

43. I know a guy bartending at 93

If one is active one is more likely to be in good health. If you "sit down" you lose muscle and bone mass, making any illness or injury worse.

[Parche]

46. VIAGRA???

What does a 77year old woman need with Viagra???

[Misskittycat]

47. I was creeped out too when I saw it, thinking the same thing. n/t

[onenote]

49. I know a house builder who worked well into his 70s

Not easy work at all, but he kept at it, even though he had done well enough to retire. Why? One reason was that he loved the work. THe business had been started by his father and his sons were working with him now.

A lot of people are getting worked up about nothing if you ask me.

[Vinca]

54. That was my reaction, too. Of course, as the commercial continues,

she also says she works 14 hours a day and walks 3 miles. The stuff must be laced with speed. The commercial that really gets my sympathy is Sally Field's friend who has to schedule time every week to take her pill. Breaks my heart.

[SoCalDem]

55. I laughed like a LOON when I first saw that one/../

the AGONY of it all to have to TAKE TIME OUT OF MY SCHEDULE.. to take a PILL.. :rofl:

[otherlander]

56. Never seen that one.

But once I saw something on the AOL welcome screen that I found absolutely repulsive... "Retirement is for wimps." WTF? :scared:

[schmuls]

57. It does make me feel sorry for the poor old lady!! Just weird

[WI_DEM]

58. Perhaps she one of the elderly poor who can't survive on her social security

and whatever puny pension she might get?