Gruff from Grandmas and Grandpas

The last few weeks I've had some gruff from our area's senior citizens. Now I love senior citizens and have volunteered numerous times for them but these patrons are not your kindly grandmas and grandpas. They cut in line, order me around, and one yelled at me when he didn't get his way. I've given some thought to why these senior citizens are so cranky and argumentative and what I've come up with is that perhaps the library is one of the few places that they CAN be push others around and get their way. At the library we are polite and kind to everyone no matter how we are treated. In a society that calls these individuals "old fogeys" and says that anyone who forgets something has a "senior moment" these disenfranchised older members of the population probably feel powerless a lot of the time. They're often ignored by the media and even their own families. If they can berate me it might give them a sense of control and power in a society that gives them no authority. Of course it might also be because they don't feel very well and they're dealing with many aches and pains. I try to tell myself this when I get one on the phone ordering me around but I admit it's hard to keep a perspective sometimes. Maybe it won't be until I'm in their shoes that I will entirely understand.