Seniors Speeding Around on "Rascals" in Wal Mart

[retrospective66]

Man, it's getting bad out there! In ONE 1/2 hr. visit to Wal Mart, I saw a near collision among 2 seniors which broke out into a shouting match on who had "the right of way". I walked away thinking that the whole spectacle was kind of odd.

Then, no more then 10 minutes later, another elderly fellow almost ran right into me as he sped by talking on a cell phone. I didn't know those things went that fast!!! :-)

Is it just me or has anyone else witnessed this rascally behavior? :shrug:

[Shell Beau]

1. Can't say I have noticed any crazy rascal behavior, but I do

see a lot of them around. :shrug: If they help people get around... :shrug:

[retrospective66]

2. I know, I know...

Not complaining; just baffled tis all. :-)

[XNASA]

3. Lesson learned?

Stay out of Wal-Mart.

[Shell Beau]

4. Hahaha!! True!!

:)

[retrospective66]

8. I don't mind those "Rascals"

It's kind of like watching a whole different sociological group of folks once they get on those things. Interesting. :-) And I mean that respectfully.

But I HATE Wal Mart. If I could, I would shop elsewhere. In fact I do if ever have occasion to drive to the next town over (almost 40 miles away) Otherwise (and especially with the gas prices), I'm stuck w/Wal Mart since they ran everyone else out of town. :-(

[Lady Effingbroke]

5. Some of those things haul ass!

There is one gentleman who shops in the grocery store where I work and who drives a Rascal-type scooter - I bet it goes 20 mph, easy.

It has headlights, taillights/reverse lights, a backup signal ("beep, beep, beep"), and a horn!

He must have had it customized, unless you can buy "Rascals" with options like that!

[retrospective66]

10. I wonder if its a new status thing

Like what brand, year, color, ect? :shrug:

[Lady Effingbroke]

15. I don't know, but this thing he drives is closer to a 4-wheel moped

than a typical "Rascal/Hoveround" type scooter.

I can see the fancier scooters becoming status symbols as more people use them.

[China_cat]

25. Nope, that's a Legend (probably)

Got the same thing on mine but also have turn signals and emergency flashers. Top speed is about 9 mph. They just look like they go faster in stores.

[Lady Effingbroke]

31. I agree - I'm sure his scooter doesn't go 20 mph, but it is noticeably

faster than the ones the store provides for the customers! :hi:

[China_cat]

33. Store scooters are governed down to 2mph

or less.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

6. Stores are so huge anymore

that if you have any mobility problems, you have to use them. So far I have resisted. But when I DO start using them, I am going to be HELL ON WHEELS. Count on it.

T-Grannie

[retrospective66]

9. You go Girl!

:-)

[oneighty]

19. Is your walker wore out

Ms. Grannie?

In big buildings my wheel chair is my very bestest friend ever. I be dangerous with a motorized scooter. I bet!

180

[Broken_Hero]

22. Thats the truth

most of the people i see using them are usually out of one, of three groups...

1. Elderly
2. Pregnant women
3. handicapped in some way

(4 a far group, really really really obese people)...

YOu need one of those, to get around those WM stores nowadays, they are getting bigger, thats for sure...

[Arugula Latte]

30. self-delete

...

[Patiod]

26. My mom says my dad has finally given in and starting using one

They have them to borrow at Sam's Club, and rather than stay trapped at home, he and his oxygen will go with my mom shopping. A real gift to those who might otherwise be homebound.

I doubt he's a menace in the aisles, however - probably lectures those who speed!

[Blue Diadem]

7. I once saw an argument and kicking going on between a couple of

elderly women in wheel chairs at the nursing home where my Mom stayed. One had accidently bumped the other. Then as she wheeled her chair around and while she had her back to the woman she bumped..that woman lifted her foot and kicked the heck out of the back of her chair..all the while screaming and shouting at her to learn how to drive. Thank goodness their chairs weren't electric..I fear what might have happened if they had been.

Those electric ones can go up to 5mph IIRC. DH had to use one in a store after his knee surgery a few years ago and I think that's what the label on it said.

[retrospective66]

13. Gosh. Now that isn't good

You are right to fear for the safety of those women. In nursing homes it's a whole other matter. The area is smaller, people possibly on meds... I hope the nurses keep an eye on the agressor. Sad.

[meow2u3]

11. Go Granny, Go

It's the little old lady from Pasadena...go granny go granny go granny go......

etc., and so on, and so forth.............

[retrospective66]

14. LOL

Brrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmm! :-)

[mduffy31]

12. In my short time as a nurse at a nursing home

there is nothing more dangerous than an old woman on a rascal.

[retrospective66]

16. How bout a rascal on an old woman???

That could be a nail biter. ;-)

[LibertyLover]

17. Yeah, at Walt Disney World

It is absolutely amazing how people there drive their electric scooters. About 5 years ago my husband and I went down for a few days on our first "together" visit. We couldn't get over how rude people in scooters were at the parks. We joked that we wanted to come back with his 2 kids from his first marriage, rent scooters for the 4 of us and form our own scooter posse to terrorize them back.

Fast forward to a year ago. I was at EPCOT with my 2 year old. She was hot, tired and cranky and we were going back to the hotel for a nap. She decided she didn't want to be in her stroller and jumped out, landing face down on the sidewalk. To this day I can still hear the "thunk" her forehead made as it hit the pavement. She was not, thank heavens, hurt badly at all, more scared than anything, but started crying as if she were mortally wounded. Naturally this happened on the bridges between the English and French areas and we were more or less in the middle. I wasn't thinking much beyond picking my kidlet up and making sure she was ok when some old biddy in a scooter pulled right up behind my stroller, cursed at me and demanded that I move it so she could get by. I should note there was plenty of room either side to get by, but no - she wanted to go straight. My mom had always taught me to be polite to my elders, but I have to confess that I lost it. I snarled at her to go the f*ck around my stroller and that I would move it when I was certain that my daughter was not injured. A cast member who had seen my daughter fall and was making her way to me arrived and very pointedly told the biddy to please go around as they wanted to make sure my kidlet was ok. Nasty biddy cursed at us, backed up a foot or two and flew around us practically hitting the cast member and running over my feet. She was miffed and so was I.

[uppityperson]

18. Our old guinea pig used to get junk mail from "the scooter store"

called them up after she died and asked them to remove her from their mailing list since she had passed away. Then told them she was a 3 lb rodent.

[retrospective66]

20. Your Guniea Pig?

:rofl:

[uppityperson]

23. Yes, sent in some product "registration" with her name on it

It was an experiment, see how much trash mail she'd get in a yr. Ms.G. Pig got a lot of trash mail, even got some address labels which I use when writing family members. She is gone, but not forgotten. The woman at the scooter store got the giggles when I told her. I enjoyed the advertisements: limited mobility? Want to get out more? Get a scooter!

Got stuff from ASPCA also, AARP, Garden club member, TeenPeople magazine, Sierra club invitation, well decorated cage she lived in with all those stickers.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

28. Haha....I did that too with our dog.

Her name didn't even sound remotely human. I used her AKC name, so MVP's Tribal Tribute would get all sorts of random mail.

[nini]

21. You should see them on a cruise ship

where they think going the same speed as those folks walking is a crime.

I told a lady off once after getting out of her way more than once so she didn't hit me. She didn't like but I didn't care. She was a danger to those around her.

[China_cat]

24. No, but I've witnessed the other side of the coin

People who let their kids jump out in front of your scooter, adults who get pissed at you because you can't get out of their way as easily as they could get out of yours, people who tell you flat out that if you can't navigate on your own 2 feet then you shouldn't be out in public.

[NMMNG]

27. Argh!

I work nights so I see plenty of ads for those things. They are so asinine sometimes. Fortunately they've gotten away from marketing them primarily to obese people and are now marketing them mostly to older individuals, but the ads are still pretty annoying. Hoveround has the people singing "You made me love you". :banghead: Another company has a woman prattling about how she now "has so much get up and go" because of her new skooter (and it shows her blasting by her walking friends and waving at them as if to say "hurry up you slowpokes") Of course she has get up and go--all she has to do is push a lever and let the machine do the work! :eyes:

[China_cat]

29. I'm going to be as nice about this as I can

and suggest that you imagine yourself stuck in a room and that's all you ever see, not just for days on end but months. You watch the months turn into a couple years (or more) and you know there's no way that you can get out of that room and go anyplace else because you can't navigate more than a few steps and manage to breathe at the same time. Same thing, same place, same walls, day after day after day and you don't even have the excuse of being in jail to blame it on.

What it is is depressing. Thoroughly depressing. After a while you become convinced that the only way you're ever going to get out of that room is feet first in a pine box. Why should you have any energy? There's nothing to expend it on. Get up and go? Where? The bathroom again?

Then have somebody bring you a machine that makes it possible for you to even get down the driveway to get the mail again. And you can get out and 'walk' the dog, go to a mall, run to the grocery store on your own and not have to wait for somebody to go for you. Do you have any idea of the lift of spirits you can get just from something that simple? No, I guess not, or you wouldn't have typed your last sentence.

It's just SO much more than that.

[NMMNG]

35. I work with disabled people

Including some who have mobility problems. So it's not like I don't understand the issues of people who can't get around without assistance. I was merely pointing out that the advertisements are quite silly, having a person using a powered machine poking fun at her walking companions. It would be no better if her walking companions were blasting past her with her walker and saying "hurry up slowpoke".

[nini]

32. As someone who spent 11 months in a wheelchair in 1985..

You have no fucking idea what you're talking about.


Marketing to the obese: There are all kinds of mobility issues - sometimes someone with limited mobility gains weight from the inability to move. Some obese people have many other issues you may not be aware of. For those who are simply lazy - then yes they should get up off their ass and move, but reality isn't quite black and white on this issue.

Regaining one's independence after being held prisoner by either pain or simply the inability to move one's limbs is something that most folks would want to sing about. Having an issue with a hokey commercial is one thing, but you should be damned fucking happy you don't know what a relief it is to be able to get out and do things again after being stuck at home.


Being in a wheelchair for a year opened my eyes to what it must be like to be stuck like that. The difference was I knew I would eventually heal of my injuries.. not all these people can look forward to that.

You better hope you never get in a position where you depend on others or a machine to help you get from room to room or even out the door. It sucks to high heaven and if those chairs help even one person enjoy life again then good for them.

Now, if they insist in driving them aggressively, they should be beaten :sarcasm:

[NMMNG]

36. As someone who has worked with disabled people for more than 18.5 years

I do have a f*cking idea what I'm talking about.

I've seen a person capable of using a manual wheelchair and even standing for short periods of time get a power chair(by choice, not necessity), then gain several dozen pounds and lose skills to the point that getting in and out of bed was an exhausting chore. I've seen a woman choose to become an invalid, losing what skills she had, because being waited on hand and foot was more rewarding than doing things for herself.

I've also seen the flip side--people going to great lengths to gain skills and gain their independence to the fullest of their abilities. It all depends on what they are capable of and what they want.



So excuse me if I take issue with a hokey commercial, but don't accuse me of not knowing anything about disabled people.

[nini]

38. this line set the tone of my reaction:

"Fortunately they've gotten away from marketing them primarily to obese people and are now marketing them mostly to older individuals" -- I took this as being obese or being old is an excuse to use them. On its own, neither state is a reason to use one - agreed. The hokiness of the commercial was lost when it appeared that was the angle you were coming from. I see another poster took your tone the same way so I know i'm not the only one to react that way.

[xmas74]

34. I see the same commercial at night.

None of my ladies in my home have them. We're holding off as long as we can. We prefer to work w/ what range of motion one of them still has instead of throwing them into a chair.

[JVS]

37. My drunk friends often ride the rascals. It's a lot of fun

[retrospective66]

39. Oh my!

Drunk'n Rascals!!! :woohoo: Sounds as it it might be fun if I wasn't such a prude. ;-)