I adore my boomer parents. They’re generous, grounded, loyal, and full of stories that make my life richer. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from spending time with them in public — restaurants, supermarkets, airports, cafés, anywhere really — it’s that I need a deep breath and a strong sense of humour.
Because as much as I love them, boomers have certain public behaviours that leave millennials like me dying inside.
Not in an angry way. Not in a “they’re terrible people” way. More in a “please stop saying that while the waiter is still standing here, I beg you” way.
And whenever I talk to people my age, we all agree — our parents do the same things. It’s almost universal.
Here are the 6 boomer habits that make me cringe every single time, even though I say it with love.
1. They talk loudly… without realising they’re talking loudly
There’s something about boomers and volume control. I don’t know if it’s generational, subtle hearing loss, or the fact that they grew up in a world with no noise-cancelling anything — but they speak like they’re trying to project across a football field.
We’ll be sitting in a café and my mum will casually say something like:
“OH THAT LOOKS NICE, BUT IT’S NOT WORTH TWENTY DOLLARS.”
And she’s not wrong — but the entire café now knows her opinion.
Or my dad will describe a family member’s personal problem at full theatre volume while the exact number of centimetres between tables is approximately… three.
Boomers don’t whisper.
They broadcast.
And the best part? When you gently ask them to lower their voice, they reply—also loudly:
“I’M NOT BEING LOUD.”
To them, they’re speaking normally. To everyone else, they’re providing free public entertainment.
2. They overshare with total strangers
Boomers have no social hesitation when it comes to sharing details that millennials would take to the grave.
I’ve seen boomers tell:
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checkout staff their entire medical history
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taxi drivers about their neighbour’s divorce
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waiters about their recent bowel issues
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hairdressers about long-lost relatives who reappeared after 40 years
My dad once told a complete stranger at the airport everything about my childhood speech impediment — unprompted. The man asked him how long the flight was. He responded with a psychological profile of my childhood development.
It’s not malicious — boomers just grew up in a world where conversations were open, unfiltered, and personal. And they genuinely think strangers enjoy hearing about their swollen knee or who they think should’ve won the 1989 State of Origin.
Do millennials overshare online? Absolutely.
Do boomers overshare in person? Even more absolutely.
3. They treat waitstaff like old-school service employees
Boomers are polite — no doubt about that. But their style of interacting with waitstaff comes from a completely different era.
They’ll say things like:
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“Young man, when you have a minute…”
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“Miss, can you ask the chef if they can change this?”
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“Do you have something that isn’t spicy? I don’t want spicy.”
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“Is this the only size you have?”
And their tone isn’t rude — that’s the hilarious part. They’re actually being friendly. They simply come from a generation where being direct was the norm and customer service was more formal.
But if you’re a millennial, you spend the whole time trying to silently telepathically apologise to the waiter.
Boomers are confident, clear, and unembarrassed about asking for what they want.
Meanwhile millennials are whispering “sorry” every time someone refills their water.
4. They comment on prices… loudly and repeatedly
Boomers LOVE pointing out how expensive everything is. It’s their Olympics.
Restaurant menu?
“Thirty dollars… for pasta?”
Supermarket fruit section?
“Twelve dollars a kilo? Daylight robbery.”
Café?
“Six dollars for a latte? Outrageous.”
And yes — they are correct. Absolutely correct. But millennials tend to quietly swallow the pain. Boomers? They announce it like public service updates.
My mum once said in a crowded restaurant:
“You’d think for that price, they’d at least throw in bread. Bread is cheap!”
Everyone heard. Everyone looked. I died for 0.5 seconds.
If millennials internalise shock, boomers externalise it. Loudly. Always loudly.
5. They treat public spaces like personal living rooms
This one is both adorable and mortifying.
Boomers act as if every public space is their home. They’ll:
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rearrange café chairs without hesitation
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bring their own tissues, snacks, reading glasses (and lose them constantly)
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set up their phone at full brightness and volume
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unpack an entire shopping bag to show you something
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talk across tables as if they own the place
I once watched my dad reorganise an entire seating arrangement in a waiting room because he “couldn’t see the screen properly.” And everyone let him. Why? Because boomers have that bold, unquestioned confidence that millennials simply do not possess.
They’re not rude — they’re simply unbothered by social rules that younger generations silently panic about.
6. They give running commentary on everything they see
Millennials have internal monologues.
Boomers have external ones.
A boomer in public will narrate absolutely everything:
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“That dog is cute.”
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“He shouldn’t be wearing shorts in weather like this.”
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“This music is too loud.”
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“That woman looks tired.”
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“These lights are too bright.”
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“Why would they put the cups next to the cereal? Makes no sense.”
They will describe, assess, critique, and observe like they’re recording an audio guide to their surroundings.
And the commentary is never private. They say all of this out loud because they genuinely think they’re just “making conversation.”
Meanwhile the millennial standing beside them is trying to dissolve into air.
But here’s the truth: these habits are also what make boomers endearing
As much as these things make me cringe, the older I get, the more I see the charm behind them.
Boomers aren’t trying to be annoying. They simply grew up in a different social world:
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one with fewer social anxieties
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one where people talked openly
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one where politeness meant directness
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one where privacy wasn’t a constant concern
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one where being loud wasn’t shameful
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one where everyone wasn’t afraid of being judged
My boomer parents have a kind of unfiltered authenticity that millennials rarely allow themselves to show.
And, honestly?
There’s a freedom in that.
Boomers have something millennials secretly crave
We pretend their habits embarrass us — and yes, they do — but boomers carry qualities we’ve lost in the age of social hyper-awareness:
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They don’t care if strangers judge them.
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They speak their minds without rehearsing it.
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They find strangers interesting instead of dangerous.
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They believe people are approachable.
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They act without worrying about being cringe.
Millennials, myself included, often live inside a constant social performance — quietly curating what we say, how we sound, how we appear, what people might think.
Boomers? They’re just living.
And maybe that’s why we cringe — not because their behaviour is wrong, but because it highlights how restrained we’ve become.
The older I get, the more I appreciate them
Yes, I still wince when my mum shouts “THIS COFFEE IS TOO HOT!” across a café.
Yes, I still apologise to waitstaff telepathically when my dad asks seven questions about the menu.
Yes, I still pretend I don’t know them when my mum tells a stranger at the supermarket about her bunion surgery.
But deep down, I’m grateful:
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for their bluntness
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for their boldness
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for their warmth with strangers
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for their humour
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for their lack of shame
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for their authenticity
The world feels colder and quieter without boomer energy in public spaces.
And if I’m honest with myself?
There’s a part of me that hopes I’ll be just as unfiltered, unapologetically loud, and joyfully embarrassing when I’m their age too.
Because maybe the real cringe isn’t what boomers do.
Maybe the real cringe is how much we hold back.
