Witmer Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 If you can't make change' date=' don't work the register. If I need something from a retail store, I don't really give a damn whether the cashier had a good day yesterday or can't count or got his butt chewed out on the way to work. That's not my problem or my business. I'm always friendly and courteous and expect the same in return. I generally get it, too. With respect: Perhaps you were in the wrong line of work? I find it difficult to believe a retail clerk today is less capable than a 14 year old was in 1964.[/quote'] Well, I'm trying to say that if doing math in your head is the sole criteria for what you consider "capable", then you're not being fair to people like me. Of course, I do realize that coming from someone like me, that probably sounds a lot like whining, so... administer salt to taste. Offering friendly and courteous service was never a problem. Doing good math quickly? Usually a problem. Boy would I have liked to have had the choice not to work the register... And damn straight I was in the wrong line of work! Except that I wasn't about to give up on supporting my wife and it took me too long to find a job I could work well. I tend to think that sometimes you have to respect a guy for working his darndest to do something he's not naturally good at, even if the result isn't what someone else could achieve. I was just saying everyone has a story... and it's not always the obvious one.... Sorry for the soap-box job. EDIT: Well, I guess I started out to say that it's not necessarily education and technology these days... it could equally be the abilities of the human being on the other side of the counter. Guess I got too personal... Again, sorry for soap-boxing. Will delete upon request... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Nah, yer cool by me. Different kind of retail too. What I did was just get 'em out the door - drunk or whatever. This was in Tulsa, Oklahoma so there were more than enough ****** rednecks. I didn't do returns or "customer service" like you guys but I was ALWAYS alone behind the counter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 You'd have trouble getting up out of your arm chair by the fire to even take a swing with a guitar! And my day-nurse would have to wake me up, first, to boot!............... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fast fret Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 And my day-nurse would have to wake me up' date=' first, to boot!...............[/quote']I'd strike at night, as you're asleep in you chair with some antiques show still on the TV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 I'd strike at night' date=' as you're asleep in you chair with some antiques show still on the TV[/quote'] Asleep??? With an Antiques Show on the T.V.!!!!!! Are you crazy???????? That's what keeps us alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thin_Lizzy Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 All through my teens and twenties I played guitar like an old fart, with no effects, just a basic guitar straight into the amp and have never been bothered with the latest sounds. Now I'm 37, with a Wife and 3 kids and I still happy being an old fart (not that I have much choice in the matter). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevef Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Asleep??? With an Antiques Show on the T.V.!!!!!! Are you crazy???????? That's what keeps us alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pippy my Grandpop used to poke us with a walking stick when things got of hand... Maybe if you got one of these it'd slow fast fret down..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Thought guns were a No - No here.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowdown Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Everyday above ground's a bonus. Now it's time to put some music on,have a laugh with the missus & kids then crack a beer. Cheers big ears...life's gooooood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmurray Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 .. and there's the thing' date=' fast fret. Whilst you were busy "running rings round us on the guitar"..... .....we would be playing music . I'd trade a thousand technical notes for one single note from the heart. Why is solid technique so undesirable to you guys? You do know it's possible to play from the heart with a high level of technique? Guitarists are a funny bunch. I've never heard a classical pianist criticized for playing too fast. Sometimes it's exactly what the music calls for. Not to mention the fact that being able to play fast makes you an exceptional slow tempo player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shnate McDuanus Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Man...I want to be an old guy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruznolfart Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 All through my teens and twenties I played guitar like an old fart' date=' with no effects, just a basic guitar straight into the amp and have never been bothered with the latest sounds. Now I'm 37, with a Wife and 3 kids and I still happy being an old fart (not that I have much choice in the matter).[/quote'] With the utmost respect, dear lad, you are younger than my youngest child and NONE of them are old farts. At best a man of your tender years might be an OF wannabe or OF in training. But you've a ways to go before you can claim the actual title "old fart". :- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketman Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Highwaynine, I can understand your point. Being able to count in your head is not the sole criterion for a "capable" person. But when it happens literally 9 out of 10 times then there is something seriously wrong. Also, I don't see the same passion in terms of work ethic these days. Now of course this all be a case of "the older I get the better I used to be" but I've been a professor for 13 years now and I've seen a steady decline in work ethic. I've been giving easier exams yet more kids are failing. More and more of them aren't showing up to class. Cheating has gotten WAY out of hand, mostly because of the resources on the internet. This is also a reflection of how some of them work too. I took pride in my minimum wage job while I was going to school. But for many of them that pride isn't there. Sometimes I even say "you know you could at least pretend to smile while you're working." I know I'm talking in general terms here. There are some very good ones out there for sure. But the overall trend is not in the right direction... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Neo... Re: firearms... Not verboten, only treated as... --------------------------------------- I looked and beheld with my own eyes the sibyl of Cumae hanging in a jar... --------------------------------------- Ever read Virgil's description of her, and why she was in such condition? Condemned to aging eternally and writing what she knew of the centuries and of the gods, what she saw and foresaw, onto dry leaves that then fell to the floor of her cave only to be tossed by the winds into nothingness. <grin> --------------------------------------- The children used to ask her, "Sibyl, What do you want?" <slow, drawn out chuckle> m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstMeasure Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 With the utmost respect' date=' dear lad, you are younger than my youngest child and NONE of [i']them[/i] are old farts. At best a man of your tender years might be an OF wannabe or OF in training. But you've a ways to go before you can claim the actual title "old fart". :) I'm 37, too, and used to have "Crazy Old Man In Training" as my signature, but no one really caught the "In training" part. Most Folks thought I was a Crazy Old Man already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowdown Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 I'm 37' date=' too, and used to have "Crazy Old Man In Training" as my signature, but no one really caught the "In training" part. Most Folks thought I was a Crazy Old Man already.[/quote'] As Noddy Holder sang(you are old enough to remember him right)..."Mama,weer all crazee now"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thin_Lizzy Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 With the utmost respect' date=' dear lad, you are younger than my youngest child and NONE of [i']them[/i] are old farts. At best a man of your tender years might be an OF wannabe or OF in training. But you've a ways to go before you can claim the actual title "old fart". Wow, you must be a really old fart then! OK . . . I'm an OF wannabe, I admit it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duende Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Guitarists are a funny bunch. I've never heard a classical pianist criticized for playing too fast. Sometimes it's exactly what the music calls for. Not to mention the fact that being able to play fast makes you an exceptional slow tempo player. +1 :- In that sense I find many electric guitarists quite inhibited creatively too. Fast' date=' slow, major, minor, model, tonal, atonal etc etc the differences are what makes music such a free and creative activity[cool'] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Re the original thread; Personally I find it disconcerting when people point out their age and others' ages regularly. Here is why... Firstly; musically it doesn't sit well with me, because I have played along side a huge cross section of good musicians aged from six years of age, to men/women in their late seventies and there isn't time, nor is it conducive to the music to start drawing conclusions about their musicianship based on something as insignificant as age! I have had stereotypes smashed to smithereens so many times that I have come to feel like this. From a personal perspective; I am thirty four; while my mum is seventy seven and brother is fifty five, my niece who I play guitar with, (she is a flautist) is ten years old; while my other sisters three children are Eighteen (x2) and twenty four. So quite a cross section... I wouldn't dream of pontificating to my niece for example, implying my advanced years make me superior etc to her etc. Of course being older makes it possible to help people, when you recognise something that can save them time and pain on. But it is wise remembering there are things that can be taught back too. My mum and dad have been good role models in being lively minded older folks. My dad loves technology and has an ipod, i phone and loves 'geeking' as he calls it (lol) on the computer. They have a big lcd screen tv and despite their advanced years travel regularly around the States and Spain, their two favourite places. They also surprise us occassionally with announcements that they have booked a trip to China and India. I hope I am as game as them when I am in my late seventies! Lastly socially, ie in British pub culture[biggrin] drinking groups too have an range of ages that is vast. The guys me and my wife spend Friday nights with, age's range from early twenties to late sixties. We just drink beer and have a laugh about the week and life in general. The only time age is mentioned is to take the piss and have a bit of fun. Sometimes we even talk about the laughs and ridiculousness of the goings on, online. Thank God! any Gibson forums members are never a topic of conversation:-" Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowdown Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 One day Matt,ya never know...we could just meet up for a brew or 3. Would be honoured mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 A while back my father was celebrating his 80th birthday. I was born when he was 40. I said to him; "When I was 5 years-old you were nine times my age; when I was 10, you were five times my age; when I was 20 you were three times my age; now I'm 40 you are twice my age. Sometime soon we'll be as old as each other!" I asked him how old he felt and, after considering the matter in all seriousness, he answered "Twenty-eight." Listen to the lyrics of "Young at Heart" (preferrably as sung by Frank Sinatra). That was the blueprint for my parents' lives. Live long and Prosper, Folks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hector Arcadius Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 A while back my father was celebrating his 80th birthday. I was born when he was 40. I said to him; "When I was 5 years-old you were nine times my age; when I was 10' date=' you were five times my age; when I was 20 you were three times my age; now I'm 40 you are twice my age. Sometime soon we'll be as old as each other!" I asked him how old he felt and, after considering the matter in all seriousness, he answered "Twenty-eight." Listen to the lyrics of "Young at Heart" (preferrably as sung by Frank Sinatra). That was the blueprint for my parents' lives. Live long and Prosper, Folks![/quote'] That was smart, elegant & beautiful enough, to deserve closing the thread! And it has a solid point: that although people actualy hate admitting so, the true nature of aging, the part that matters at least, is in our minds, not our bodies. We all have our stereotypes, and as was so cleverly observed by another crew member, they are initially used by our brains in order to access information in a faster and more efficient manner. However, since we tend to over-use them, they tend in turn to limit our vision. We do judge books from their covers and people from their age. As far as that discussion on the cultural / educational level of the young folks nowadays is concerned, all I can add is the note that both of them were determined and carried-out by people certainly not in their age. I mean their parents and governors. BTW, people who supposedly belonged to a really ''rebellious'', optimistic, ''ready to change the world'' generation when they were younger... The present young generation, are simply what we come to get from the seeds that were already placed on the ground. As Dave Mustaine so elloquently sang: '' Youth-anasia''! What worries me the most however, is not that young people are seen as over-rebellious and ready to fight every aspect of authority. It is exactly the opposite that scares me. The whole world seems to be turning in more conservative ideas. We need the young. Young and healty in their minds. We need fresh ideas, we need more questions and alternative approaches. We need to change. And the above come from a guy that keeps complaining about the state the young are at the moment. Their lack of essential knowledge of the world, their tendency to make everything easier and faster, their unwillingness to work hard but rather to come to some fast-money, their lack of respect towards... pretty much everything. Perhaps because my expectations are so much higher. As Nikos Kazantzakis put it: ''To be young is to have to have the courage to wish to change the world, and the audacity to think you can replace it with a better one''. P.S.: Ancient Greek philosphers were mentioned 2-3 times in this thread. Makes me smile...:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruznolfart Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I'm 37' date=' too, and used to have "Crazy Old Man In Training" as my signature, but no one really caught the "In training" part. Most Folks thought I was a Crazy Old Man already.[/quote'] LOL! I suppose COM, like old fart, could be a state of mind rather than merely age-related. After all...to a teen you ARE old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruznolfart Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Wow' date=' you must be a really old fart then! OK . . . I'm an OF wannabe, I admit it![/quote'] I prefer to think of myself as a "real old fart" rather than a really old...anything. LOL! And I assure you, with your head start, you'll be an excellent old fart when you're really old. Or real old, whichever comes first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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