The new battle cry of the impatient young: "He/she's like.....90 years old."

I heard the above phrase yesterday from a young woman working at a corporate bookstore in the San Fernando Valley. She was using it as a part of a conversation with a male colleague.

Heaven forbid if you're a senior citizen and slow to give information to someone much younger working in a service position.

And my wife overheard someone using the exact same phrase recently.

Heartlessness is something corporate America thrives on in its search for megaprofits for just a few at the top (CEOs, large shareholders). And perhaps those citizens who think people like General Electric's Jack Welch are ubernifty--plus those who joyfully mocked John McCain (who spent the last few months self-destructing his "maverick" myth) for being "old" can take responsibility for the behavior of the young men and women who have made "he/she's like.....90 years old" a synonym for "I don't want to take any more time with you than I have to because I'm not working here forever."

Let's all prepare for the young to keep singing "We are the champions/No time for losers." And pray we have good health and enough of a nestegg to avoid going to nursing homes where impatience (sometimes physical as well as verbal) and the ever-popular rite of orderlies/nurses stealing patients' belongings are rampant realities.