Apparently retirement communities are fertile breeding grounds for mean old bullies, if this article out of Arizona is to be believed. Cliques of seniors (nothing ever changes, huh?) are mercilessly shunning and taunting old people who aren't cool.

From The Arizona Republic:

"There is a clique here that is meaner than mean," Lor said. "The first time I went to the recreation center, a man yelled at me, 'This is a private club. You aren't welcome here.' "

Social workers, recreation-center officials and others who work with the elderly say the problem Lor describes is getting more common as the retirement population increases and more people enter care homes and retirement centers.

Melanie Starns, an assistant Arizona Department of Economic Security director overseeing the Aging and Adult Services Division, said her staff often hears stories about bullying, but they do not keep statistics on them.

"It's a pretty big deal. The mean girls were there in school and as we get older, they are still around," she said.

Remember poor Paulie's Ma on The Sopranos? This is the same thing. Just terrible.

Luckily an It Gets Better campaign has begun in response to this crisis, in which ghosts of the elderly record videos for GhostTube and say that the bullying problem does indeed go away once one is safely dead.