Bank Teller Says 'Boomers' Get Triggered When Asked To Show Their Identification
It may be for a surprising reason.
New Africa / Shutterstock There are plenty of differences between generations. It’s only natural, really. But boomers can't seem to help themselves when it comes to being the models for antiquated thinking.
One bank teller noted that one of the more surprising differences has to do with boomers and their IDs.
One former bank teller shared an interesting observation about the boomer generation.
A woman on TikTok whose username is @financialteller, and who describes herself as a “former banker” in her bio, said that boomers had one very interesting trait when banking.
“If you work in retail, banking, or any type of institution that requires you to verify ID, you will know what I’m talking about,” she said. “For some reason, people from this generation are so triggered and angry when you ask them to show their identification.”
This woman’s guess as to why boomers are so territorial about their ID is simple. “They have this automatic, like, sense of entitlement that we should know who they are because they’ve been banking here for 10 years, or for longer than I’ve been alive,” she said.
She asserted that boomers are seriously “concerned about, like, fraud and the protection of your account,” but are simultaneously annoyed by having to show their ID to “protect” their account themselves.
Photo: YinYang / Canva Pro
Plenty of commenters agreed with her. “I hated some aspects of being a teller. This was one of them,” one person said. “As a credit union teller, this hits me so deep in my soul,” said another person.
One person, however, was disappointed to hear that this is what people experienced. “I am a boomer and I just can’t understand why people in my age group are like this,” they said. “I make it a point to live in the present, not the past. Things change and, for some reason, boomers hate that.”
This conversation isn’t only being had on TikTok.
People also wondered about this very fact on Reddit. In a post titled, “Why are so many boomers so violently resistant to showing me their ID?” a grocery store employee lamented the fact that boomers don’t want to show their ID when purchasing alcohol.
“[I don’t care] if you have gray hair and are balding… You have to give me your ID because I have to verify your birthdate,” they said.
“It’s their age,” replied one person. “They hate showing their age.”
“Because boomers invented entitlement,” another person said, harkening back to what the former banker said.
Why are Boomers so protective of their ID?
One reason boomers may be hesitant to offer up their identification, even when asked, is a fear of fraud or identity theft.
“Only 15% of Gen Z and 20% of millennials are concerned about falling victim to stolen money or assets through deceptive tactics, according to a Bank of America Better Money Habits Survey of 1,000 respondents. By comparison, about 27% of Gen X and 27% of baby boomers feel at risk of fraud.”
Credit monitoring service Equifax backed this up. While they insisted that identity theft can affect people of any age, they did note, “Baby boomers make a prime target for cybercriminals because they often have — or are believed to have — a lifetime’s worth of savings.”
While this can’t be accurate for every boomer, it certainly must be true for some. Nasdaq reported that “more than half of U.S. wealth belongs to baby boomers.”
Since boomers tend to have more money than other, younger generations, they are more susceptible to scams attempting to steal their money, identity, or both. While some may think their behavior when asked for their ID is a result of “entitlement,” it may actually just be healthy caution that comes from knowledge of what can happen.
Instead of laughing at or being annoyed by boomers who don’t readily give up their ID, it might be good to extend some compassion, understanding that they come from a different generation with different concerns.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.