Phone store employee mocks ‘boomers’ in viral TikTok

If you ever want to know what the definition of confusion is, just slap a new piece of technology into the hands of someone they’ve never interacted with before.

This is especially true for folks who grew up without being overly dependent or dependent on technology for a living, making them an easy target for ridicule from “nerds” who are more familiar with that technology.

And when it comes to poking fun at certain demographics online, there’s probably one group that’s worse off than everyone else, and that’s boomers. There are droves of people on social media apps like TikTok who are constantly shooting at boomers. And a user named Liv (@livvy.gilmore) is going viral by sharing all the boomerisms she’s encountered while working at a phone store.

She recreates the questions through a montage of snippets, in which she rattles off several questions that anyone who has ever operated a smartphone with any knowledge would likely roll their eyes or gasp in disbelief.

Liv writes in a text overlay on the video, “I’ve had real life interactions with Boomers who work in a phone store.”

Scenario 1:

“How much does it cost to put my phone on airplane mode?”

Scenario 2:

“Hi, I just bought this phone about a week ago and it’s not working. Can you tell me why?” She pretends to have spoken to an employee (her) on the phone. Live begins by re-enacting the worker’s response: “Oh no, is there a reason it’s greasy?

The Boomer replies, “Oh yeah, I dunked it in motor oil 5 times before I came here to try and get it to work. And I guess that didn’t work.”

While it’s easy to see why the above example resulted in a broken phone, the next customer’s testimony could be a real head-scratcher.

Scenario 3:

“Excuse me, why is there a little rainbow icon in the top corner of my phone. I don’t support you if you force LGBT on me, that’s ridiculous!” Are you referring to the phone’s signal bars, which show the signal strength of your device?

Or are they referring to the multi-colored indicator light found on so many Samsung phones?

Scenario 4:

She echoes another customer’s question: “Hi, I tried wireless charging my phone, now it’s broken and melted and I don’t really know why.”

“Oh wow, did you get the wireless charger from here? No, I microwaved it.” This could be a reference to the epic online prank that came with a new iOS update, in which pranksters photoshopped official-looking Apple documentation from the company, the iPhone -told users that they could use microwave to charge their phones.

Liv adds that the customer said he saw on Facebook that you could charge your iPhone by putting it in the microwave, which may indicate the “Boomer” was actually a victim of the troll job.

Scenario 5:

The TikToker rattled off another scenario: “Hi, do you sell any phones that don’t have 5G antennas?”

“Hmm a couple, is there a reason you don’t want a phone with a 5G antenna?”

The customer replies, “I don’t want Joe Biden spying on me.”

Scenario 6:

“Where’s your manager, I’d like to speak to him. They sold me a broken phone.”

“Our manager isn’t there right now, but what’s the problem, maybe I can help.”

“That phone you sold me is broken. The screen won’t even turn on.”

“Huh, let me see.” Liv then mimes with the phone’s screen, sliding her finger across the invisible screen.

“Your brightness has been turned all the way down.”

“Well, that’s ridiculous.”

Scenario 7:

“Where’s your manager? I’m furious, that new phone you just sold me is broken.”

“Oh no, what’s wrong with that.”

“It won’t even ring.”

“Huh, let me see,” then pantomimed she interacted with the phone again. “Your volume has been turned all the way down.”

“Now why would you sell a phone that can do that?”

Scenario 8:

“Is your manager there? I am angry. This phone that I just spent $8 billion on doesn’t work, it doesn’t make any noise, and don’t say it’s the volume because I’ve already checked to make sure it’s turned on right Climb.”

“Oh no, I’m sorry to hear our manager isn’t around right now, but let me see if I can fix it. Yes, it looks like your Bluetooth is connected, so it’s currently connected to your car, so all audio goes to you car. Boop, it’s off, so see, now the phone is making noise.

This answer didn’t seem to satisfy the customer: “Well, I don’t want it to do that. I want it to be connected to my car.”

“Okay, then you need to listen to the audio through the car.”

“I don’t want the sound to come out of my phone.”

“OK.”

Scenario 9:

“Hi, this new phone I just bought here doesn’t work, you guys are scamming me. I can’t even hear it when someone calls.”

“Oh no, let me check and see what’s up.” She then does pantomimes making a phone call, “Hello, hello?” Liv then puts the phone down next to her and continues to address the customer: “I can hear it well, can you show me what you’re doing.”

The customer huffs and puffs, “This is ridiculous, I’m not doing anything wrong, I know how to use a phone.” The customer then unlocks their device, flips the phone over, and then begins speaking into the receiver end. “Hello? Hello? Look, it’s not working. I can’t hear anything.”

Crowds of TikTokers jokingly asked if Liv’s clients were members of Congress, a nod to hearings that the app’s CEO was subject to the government’s due determinations that the app belonged to the Chinese Communist Party.