[Augustine23538]

Why are older people generally more meticulous about things? I have noticed, for instance, that they cover soft drink cans with a napkin or a plastic bag (so as not to touch the condensation) and that they iron their clothing constantly lest they be caught wearing something that’s wrinkled. Does this carry over from a time when the wife was usually at home full-time and a higher standard of housekeeping was expected?

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Name : Augustine23538, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 42, City : Columbia, State : SC, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Serene28043]

Regarding soft drink cans: Many seniors have a touch of arthritis, and the chill and wetness from the cans may cause a bit of discomfort. In addition, their hands may lose a bit of flexibility with age, and the napkin or plastic increases their ability to grip the can.

Regarding ironing (I have a couple of years on you, so does that qualify me as an older person?): I don’t like wrinkled clothing. In my opinion, it makes one look unkept and lazy, like you just don’t care about your appearance, but I believe that to be a personal decision. As for older people and ironing, most came up during a time when we didn’t have additives in our clothing (think polyester), or fabric softeners and ironing was a daily function and factor of their lives. So perhaps it’s habits. Also, are these older people retired? Perhaps they simply have more time to put into their appearance. Finally, clothes just feel better on the body when they are smooth and wrinkle-free.

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[Nathan20125]

I’m younger than you by a good bit, and I guess I may as well file for retirement. I like my clothes ironed. If they need it, I do it. I don’t always, but I just see it as an issue of needing it or not. As far as condensation on cans, I don’t want icy cold water dripping down my arm, and my hand feeling like I’m holding a soggy wet fish. I might wipe off a can, of wrap it in a napkin. Sorry for being an old fogey.

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[Eric]

The covering of the drink bottle/can used to be standard. As a small boy I recall the carhop bringing small glass (pop)bottles of Dr.Pepper on a tray with each bottle wrapped in a napkin. She hung the tray rig on the car. This was the 1950s. There was no permanent press, so women (sometimes men who had no ironing money to pay) ironed all their clothes. Some even ironed underwear and bed sheets. It was considered unladylike or ungentlemanly to be seen looking as if ‘you just got up out of bed’. Baggy clothes were not ‘cool’. Tailoring was ‘in’.

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Name : Eric, Gender : M, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Catholic, Age : 54, City : Pasadena, State : TX, Country : United States, Occupation : Male Nurse, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[christie]

Oh, you brought back memories. My mom didn’t work outside the home. She cooked at least two full meals a day and kept the house spotless. I remember her ironing my dad’s under-shorts (as he called them) and his hankies. He carried his hankies to work, waddwd up in his back pocket and used them to blow his nose on. I always wondered why she ironed them!

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[Jen R.]

I also think it had to do with what products were like when they were young. My mother would not dream of going out without her slip and is appalled that I often wear dresses without one. She can’t understand why her clohes no longer come with dress shields! (In the days before everything was machine washable, people only washed their clothes every 10 wearings, so to keep them from smelling they wore little cotton pads in their arm pits to absorb sweat. These pads were washed every day.)

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