My husband works for a small family-owned AC service and install company. Their computers for scheduling customers have supposedly been ready to handle 2000. Some parts were sent out and other parts of the system they brought in a tech to work on. Anyway, while trying to set up appts for after the first of the year yesterday, they were quite surprised when they revisited the dates, that all customer info was totally gone from the system for anything that was booked after 2000.

Good part was that dispatcher/office manager asked what my husband thought of Y2K phenomenon and he told her. She asked what she should have and he told her. She asked for our address and he gave it to her. Glad he did, she's divorced and has a daughter to take care of and anyway what's a couple more when we could have many.

Has anyone noticed the fear in the teenagers. The adults may be blowing this off but the teeangers are fully aware of what is happening and there is true fear there.

-- claurann (claurann@aol.com), December 23, 1999

Answers

: Has anyone noticed the fear in the teenagers. The adults may be blowing this off but the teeangers are fully aware of what is happening and there is true fear there.

The reaction from my kids has been mixed. I think my 17 yr. old daughter thinks I'm going overboard, my 14 yr. old son is helping with the preps and my 11 yr. old daughter mentioned what I'm doing to a friend (!).

Anyway, the 11 yr. old said that when she talked about it (in front of her friend's mother) their family started making preps! She has since said that her friend has credited her with being the one thing that got her parents started.

-- Gary S. (garys_2k@yahoo.com), December 23, 1999.

The average teen has a lot more experience with "high-tech" stuff than their parents do, and tend to grasp the idea of computers crashing and the bad that happens as a result more readily than adults might. The teens that can think ahead and have decent logical- thinking abilities, etc. get the ideas of how bad "bad" can be even more readily.

Factor this into the average teen's other problems, having to grow up too soon, torn between being a member of the family and the burning desire to establish oneself as an individual, faced with the hassles of life as a teen... It's a wonder ANY of us escaped intact from that period of our lives. It was bad enough when I was a teen (I'm 28 now, but with more life-experiences than a lot of 40+ folks I've met) and that wasn't long ago. I would not wish a teen's existence now on anyone, Y2K notwithstanding...

O d d O n e

-- OddOne (mocklamer_1999@yahoo.com), December 23, 1999.

Son, 18, has absolutely refused to help with anything that smacks of preps for y2k. He has even shown my pantry to his friends. I think he is embarassed and thinks I am weird. I have responded by joking about myself. At least we can talk about it, then. Otherwise, it is like the elephant in the living room.

He is at a stage where he is ready to leave the nest and is excited about being independent and on his own. Outfall from Y2k would likely turn his entire world, dreams of a future, emerging self-image on its ear.

Son is a DWGI, so I let him sleep as much as possible. If my children have to awaken to drastic change on Jan. 1, I am prepared to help them cross that bridge. If not, then I have protected them from needless pain and fear of facing and living with an uncertain future. My way of loving them, I guess.

-- loving (loving@preparing.alone), December 23, 1999.