Dad Teaching Mom to Text

My parents are intelligent, educated people who cannot for the life of them figure out anything in the technology department created after the year 2000.

Dad and I were in Walmart one afternoon and he wanted to go through the self check out aisle but he didn't want me to help him – he's smart and should be able to work this machine with no problem.

So I watched while he swiped and swiped, occasionally hitting the bar code but most of the time not. I eventually stepped up and pointed out the bar code and he managed to move along.

But then he moved a bag or something and the woman's voice coming from the machine started telling him something about the bagging area.

He was already frustrated so that made him mad and he yelled at her (the voice in the machine) She repeated what she'd said before and that really pissed him off so he started pushing buttons and yelling back at her like you wouldn't believe.

The whole debacle was hysterical and the fact that people were staring at him just made everything even funnier.

And then it was time to pay.

Good grief, you'd think the world had ended when he pushed the wrong button and then the machine froze.

The rest is just a blur of him yelling and a cashier rushing over to escort him to the 'difficult folks' register and handled the rest of his transaction.

Three items and thirty minutes later we were on our way.

Later on I told my Mom about it and she said “Oh honey, never let him go through that aisle – he just can't do it and everybody in the store will think you're with an idiot.”

He is determined to keep up with technology but bless his heart, his smart phone is smarter than he is.

We have Iphones but he is against the “I Movement” so he's got a Motorola. Very cool phone with lots of features but I barely know how to use my own phone so telling him how to use his is impossible.

I got this text the other day.




I didn't hear from either one of them again so I assume the lesson went south pretty quick.

He has learned to talk to his phone to check the weather so he knows there is someone in there 😉

My Mom doesn't really care now that she's learned how to use Ebay, Amazon and Paypal. She has a landline in her home and a new cell phone that she turns off and can never find.

If she does find it all she can do is make and answer calls. I've talked to her about texting before and when her eyes glazed over I knew texting wasn't in her future.


I think Dad knows that now too. 

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