LOFT LIFE: Soon every day will be a Monday

Once upon a time, I did consulting for a workers’ compensation (no it’s not workman’s anymore) insurance company on Wall Street. I was marketing safety services to the utility industry, who were the clients of this insurance company.

I learned that in terms of safety, Mondays were the days when most accidents happened, and during a crisis, where there was high alert, few accidents happened.

Of course, my plan of action was to make the workers aware that Mondays WERE the crisis days to be aware of.

Recently, one of my print ad sales people sent me an email, which I misread, so my reply was not making sense. He resent the email in large, bold, RED letters. This was on a Monday. That time I got it. More recently, I sent a question, which he thought should have had an attachment, but didn’t. His humor to ask for the attachment was: “Aren’t Mondays wonderful!” There really wasn’t supposed to be an attachment, so it was Monday for him too.

That reminded me of a trip to Panera Bread where they employ a lot of seniors. Now, I like seniors--usually. After all, I ARE one.

But, this was beyond funny: The older female was literally steering the patron to more healthful choices with, “You want the turkey with....” just like your mom would. An older gentleman cashier was taking an order for something another patron wanted “on the side,” which he heard as a “side” salad. When the patron received the wrong order, the order taker cheerfully corrected it. But I had to chuckle that this was all about hearing impairment, and I was imagining the collection of order humor we are about to experience as seniors multiply and hearing diminishes.

So, just think. With the economy tanking, and retirement savings interest and dividends dwindling, these Baby Boomers who already resist aging and the term senior, are all going to be staying in the work force for another 30 years or so.

Imagine those customer service phone calls you now make being answered by older, wiser folks, if not the off-shore folks; your sandwiches being prepared by good old Mom--now good old Grandma too; and your goods and services being made and provided by this older generation. 

Add to that most commercials for almost everything are being written and produced by 20-somethings who do not really speak the same language as the Boomers, and you can expect to experience a sense of the surreal when you try to match up the ads to the in-store, online or on-the-phone experience you have.

Humorous as this sounds, I predict we will all be having a lot of Mondays.