My spouse was standing at the airport car rental desk when I heard him say, “NO!!”
I knew right away what had happened. The agent had just upgraded him to a brand-new, never-driven-before 2020 SUV.
The upgrade was only provided because there were seriously, no other cars left on the lot.
I understood my spouse’s reaction immediately. The average age of our vehicles is 7 years. When you start our 10-year-old truck, it does not require a computer science degree. It has a key to turn in the ignition. The radio has a tuning button so when we travel, we can find local stations.
Now, allow me to digress here for a moment and explain to you the look on the rental agent’s face when dealing with my spouse’s reaction. You see, we are members of the Baby Boomer generation. And we have been told that when a Baby Boomer is not responding well to the wonders of the 21st century, then the younger generation says “OK, Boomer!”
It is recognition that we were born and raised in the last millennium. All I could see on that rental car agent’s face was “OK, Boomer!”
Naturally, we took the car and went out with the key fob. As we stood there looking at the 2020 vehicle, we realized there was no obvious way to open the tail gate to load our bags. So, we got in the car and I looked for the manual. No manual.
We have found this in many of these rental cars because, I guess, they are afraid the people are going to steal the manual. I got my iPad out and started to look for things, like turning on the navigational system, windshield wiper operation, defroster and, finally, how big was the gas tank.
Yes, it had one of those empty-full gauges, but we wanted to know the actual size.
In the meantime, my spouse discovered the flat instrument panel on the dashboard, but there was nothing intuitive about how to work it.
Then as we were getting settled in, my spouse said, “I do not know how to put this car in reverse.”
I thought he was kidding, but he was not. We looked at the “P” for Park and “D” for drive, but no “R.”
After a few minutes, he realized that at the top of the gear knob there was an arrow and an “R.”
The reverse worked like my old stick shift car. Press down, slide to the left, and bump forward, and you are in reverse. Eureka!
As we drove off, my husband asked, “Did you find the 8-track player yet?”
“OK, Boomer,” I replied.
Lee Scott, a writer and recent retiree, shares her everyday observations about life after career. A former commercial banker responsible for helping her clients to reach their business objectives, Scott now translates those analytical skills to her writings. She lives on St. Helena Island and enjoys boating, traveling and reading.
