[Retrofitted]

You can't fire me; I quit. You hired me to work 9 hours a day and I work 12- to 15-hours a day doing your damned job without extra pay or compensation of any kind. When I complained to you about it, you wrote me up for insubordination and threatened me with termination that would "probably prevent me from working in this industry again." I've taken it as long as I can and I'm out of here.

Yep. That happens. And that's what the younger generation are railing about and performing their own "go slows" and "work to rule". I work with a lot of Ys and Zs and they bust it when they're working. But they see employment as a contract with a solid quid-pro-quo; older people sometimes get caught up in the whole "do it for the company (that will someday can you anyway because corp loyalty is a myth nowadays)" that they don't understand that.

[dfwgator]

[ClearCase_guy]

Yup.

Life has never had any guarantees, but at one time, if you worked really hard, you could likely climb that corporate ladder. The company could spot a winner, and they’d help you climb if you had the right stuff. The perks, the pension, the corner office, the big paycheck — it was all there if you made the sacrifices and showed that you were deserving.

Young people today understand that almost no one is going to get any of those prizes. No perks. No pension. No corner office. Big wages aren’t there. The corporation may demand that you work super hard. But the corporation has no intention of giving anything in return.

The kids are on to the game.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

My job does not need to be my life when I’m getting paid a Medicare wage.

If you can not figure out why this "writer" would be fired you need to be retrofitted with glasses.

You hired me to work 9 hours a day and I work 12- to 15-hours a day doing your damned job

No, you work about thirty minutes a day, spending the rest of the time staring at your nitwit phone watching other people whining.

Bye.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

I always worked hard and did extra, not from loyalty to the company (and I sure didn’t expect loyalty from the company!), but as a matter of self-respect.

[flamberge]

I work with a lot of Y's and Z's and they bust it when they're working.

This has been my experience as well.

[Allegra]

I work with a lot of Ys and Zs and they bust it when they're working.

I do too - I have some bright, hardworking Ys and a couple of Z’s on my team.

They care and they get it done. I don’t expect them to put in 60-70 hour weeks - or even 50. I don’t blame them for being resentful of any employer that does that, unless they signed on for and are getting paid for that.

But dang, for the most part, they sure are a humorless generation.