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Carrion Luggage
Carrion Luggage
 
Native to the Americas, the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) travels widely in search of sustenance. While usually foraging alone, it relies on other individuals of its species for companionship and mutual protection. Sometimes misunderstood, sometimes feared, sometimes shunned, it nevertheless performs an important role in the ecosystem.
This scavenger bird is a marvel of efficiency. Rather than expend energy flapping its wings, it instead locates uplifting columns of air, and spirals within them in order to glide to greater heights. This behavior has been mistaken for opportunism, interpreted as if it is circling doomed terrestrial animals destined to be its next meal. In truth, the vulture takes advantage of these thermals to gain the altitude needed glide longer distances, flying not out of necessity, but for the joy of it.
It also avoids the exertion necessary to capture live prey, preferring instead to feast upon that which is already dead. In this behavior, it resembles many humans.
It is not what most of us would consider to be a pretty bird. While its habits are often off-putting, or even disgusting, to members of more fastidious species, the turkey vulture helps to keep the environment from being clogged with detritus. Hence its Latin binomial, which translates to English as "golden purifier."
I rarely know where the winds will take me next, or what I might find there. The journey is the destination.
November 5, 2025 at 7:48am November 5, 2025 at 7:48am
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Kids these days. No respect. And what is this source? VegOut? Get the hell out of here with that hippie crap.
Generation wars exist to take our attention away from the true villains. But okay, this one time, I'll bite. (Note: I am not, by any definition, a Boomer. But, you know. Meh. Whatever.)
My dad can rebuild a carburetor blindfolded.
They still make carburetors? I'm surprised this brat even knows what one is.
But ask him to scan a QR code at a restaurant and he looks like I've handed him a Rubik's cube.
Oh, I'm perfectly capable of scanning a QR code at a restaurant. I just hate it. I put up with it some during the pandemic, but now? Now, it's just an excuse for restaurants to introduce dynamic pricing, and while I may not be a Boomer, I get tired of squinting at the damn phone.
Physical menus let you see everything at once, flip back and forth, point to items. He's not being difficult; he's mourning an interface that made sense.
Solution: don't go to restaurants that still do this bullshit.
2. Self-checkout machines that assume you're a thief
Self-checkout machines operate on suspicion, requiring constant validation. For a generation that values trust and efficiency, this feels insulting.
I don't care about that shit. What I care about are a) loss of jobs; b) if I gotta do your job, where's my employee discount and c) I have to call an attendant over anyway to check my ID for the beer, so it's easier to just go through a staffed line.
3. Apps for things that used to take one phone call
He needed to schedule a doctor's appointment. The receptionist told him to download their app. Twenty minutes later, he'd created three accounts, forgotten two passwords, and was ready to throw his phone.
That's bad app design, not old age.
4. Subscription services for things you should own
This goes deeper than technology frustration. Boomers grew up in an economy where you bought things and they were yours. Subscription-everything feels like paying forever for something you should possess.
This, now. This, I'm 100% on board with. Companies love that shit because of revenue streams and shareholder value and whatnot. I hate it. I hate it with a passion only exceeded by my hatred for commercials. I can see subscribing to streaming services, but I'm absolutely not okay with having to rent everything.
5. Contactless payment when cash works fine
He stands at checkout holding exact change while the cashier points to a card reader. "Just tap it." He doesn't want to tap it.
On the other extreme, I embraced card payments long ago. And while I do wish they'd make it more standardized where to tap (it's not always where the little tappy logo is situated), I'm perfectly okay with it. Carrying money would mean I have to lie to beggars when they ask me for spare change, and I don't like lying to people. Well, most of the time.
Maybe he's onto something. Maybe we've gotten so fluent in these systems that we've stopped asking whether they're actually better or just newer.
I'll give the author points for seeming to understand what's behind the generational difference, rather than just the old "okay, Boomer" bullshit. A little more of that understanding might ease these made-up generational battles, so They'll have to come up with something new to distract us. |
© Copyright 2025 Robert Waltz (UN: cathartes02 at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
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None of the listed irritants have caused any problems for me. They're just a pain in the ass. QR codes in resteraunts are the worst! Yeah, I can magnify the screen to read it but I hate reading a sentence word by word. 
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