Lately I’ve been watching re-runs of the Mary Tyler Moore show. I loved that show. It was the story of Mary Richards, the
30-something single woman who had a life despite being single. She was a career woman. She had friends. She had dates. She had a great wardrobe. She was who I wanted to be.
My roommate and I would make sure we were home every
Thursday night to watch Mary and her friends.
We ate dinner in the living room and watched a new show and a re-run and
then, after the show wound up, re-runs.
I don’t think we missed a Thursday night while the show was on.
From my early-20-something point of view, Mary worked with
old people. Lou Grant had to have been in
his mid-to-late 50s, Murray Slaughter in his late 40s and Ted Baxter in his
late 50s or early 60s. It made sense –
they were experienced, long-time employees of WJM-TV, while Mary was the
relative new kid on the block.
Except they weren’t.
Old, that is. Ed Asner was only
41 when he started with the show in 1970; Gavin McLeod was 39 and Ted Knight
47. Wow.
They seemed so much older.
Fast forward to 2014.
I was grocery shopping the other day. As soon as I drove into the parking lot, I
noticed it was senior’s day and the parking lot was packed. Why did they all have to leave their grocery
shopping til 5 o’clock when working people were trying to pick up a few things
for dinner?
I found my few things and went to the checkout. I glanced at the screen on the register and
noted a subtotal of $34 and then a red, bracketed number - $3.40, or the 10%
discount that seniors receive. I was shocked.
The young woman at the checkout thought I was a senior. Me. I’m
only in my late 50’s (I’ve had to move that number up from the mid-50’s after
my last birthday) and don’t qualify for the discount. Yet, she looked at me – probably older than
her parents (maybe the same age as her grandmother?), a little wrinkled around the
eyes, silver white hair - and automatically
assumed that I was one more old lady shopping on senior’s day, at a time when
working people should be shopping for their dinner.
Knowing how I judged ages when I was younger, I can see how
that young woman came to the conclusion she did. That doesn't make it feel any better, though.
