A woman says an uncomfortable interaction she had with a screaming, older cashier is an example of “Boomer panic.”
In a TikTok posted on Tuesday, a woman (@myexistentialdead) describes what she calls “Boomer panic,” or how people who are a part of the Baby Boomer generation screech and scream “anytime something is going slightly frustrating or like, south.” In 2023, Baby Boomers are between 59 and 77 years old.
She then gives an example of “Boomer panic”: When checking out at Lowe’s, the TikToker had an item that didn’t have a price tag on it. When she approached an older cashier about it, the woman started panicking and began to yell at her.
“Screechy panicking for no reason,” @myexistentialdead says in her TikTok. “I’ve only experienced this with Boomers, never anyone else.”
On Thursday, @myexistentialdread’s video had almost 820,000 views on TikTok.
@myexistentialdread Like its not that serious #boomers #karen ♬ original sound – existentialbread
This isn’t the first time that Boomers have gotten flack online for their behavior: “Ok, Boomer,” is a well-known put-down of people who are behaving in a way that could be deemed out of touch and old-fashioned. And there’s even a Facebook group called “A group where we all pretend to be Boomers” to parody the terse Facebook statuses of older adults.
The TikToker’s story and the term “Boomer panic” overwhelmingly resonated with the video’s viewers.
“Boomer panic is such a good phrase for this!” one person commented. “Minor inconvenience straight to panic.”
“The way my boomer mother stresses me out by making mundane situations completely chaotic and stressful,” another said. “My blood pressure just skyrockets.”
“I’ve noticed this with my boomer parents,” another person wrote. “They’re absolutely UNABLE to problem solve. They completely lack the skill.”
Others had theories for the Baby Boomer generation’s seemingly widespread behavior.
“They go into defense to make sure you know they’re not at fault,” a commenter suggested. “They rrreeeallly hate taking blame that much.”
“My mom does this. I think it’s because they don’t know how to handle the fact they can’t keep up,” another commenter shared. “They’re scared and it comes out as panic.”
“My best guess is it has to do with the way their parents raised them: rigidity and zero room for error or ‘not knowing the answer’ w/out punishment,” someone else wrote.
No matter the cause for “Boomer panic,” many commenters agreed with @myexistentialdread that such a reaction usually isn’t worthy of the situation that caused it.
“I wish they would just realize,” @myexistentialdread responded via a commenter, that “it’s not that big of a deal.”
The Daily Dot reached out to @myexistentialdread via TikTok comment.
