Why We Should Be Grateful for Gen Y [barf]

http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/careerist/38889 ^ | Wednesday, July 11, 2007, 12:00AM | Penelope Trunk

[mysterio]

Companies stopped showing any loyalty to their employees around 25 years ago.

This is true.

[Sunshine Sister]

For all the platitudes, the work place never really changes. You do the job, or not. I have seen many a person both young and old get shown the door because of malfeasance of one kind or another.

[mysterio]

Well, if the Y’s keep voting for all the entitlements they seem to think they have a ‘right’ to then we will all be living through a depression.

Umm, our boomer voters and politicians have given us as much socialism and statism as any generation ever.

[Sunshine Sister]

Replace us! Hot diggity. Will you hurry up?

[AzaleaCity5691]

I’m inclined to agree with you, though, as someone who has one of those graduate degrees, I’m inclined to say that anyone who actually goes through what you have to go through to get one certainly deserves to write their ticket to a degree. Then again, I took my degree and at one point was working 70-80 hrs a week. It paid off, but if it had not been paying as well, I probably wouldn’t have done it.

This new generation, or, our kids, are the entitlement generation. They have had everything handed to them, they have had no sacrifice to bear, financially speaking, and even those who don’t come from well off families have managed to go to college because this is the first generation that has figured out how to successfully use loan programs to get what they otherwise wouldn’t.

To a degree, they have a point. If you can get a degree beyond undergraduate, you are in a special class for sure, but it doesn’t entitle you to anything. I’m not a big fan of trial lawyers, but I will say this, most of them, when they came out of law school, they got the cases no one wanted, and they often were being paid less than people who had just quit school after 4 years and became middle managers. Then again, for those who are really talented and good at what they do, they soon get the chance to rise. This is how it is supposed to be in every profession but it’s not anymore because we’ve made college into some kind of right, and in certain states, a 4 year degree is a prerequisite for even being middle class. It’s ridiculous.

[Vinny]

Well the “entitlement” frenzy took full force w/ the Boomer generation.

As the purveyors of the entitlement-mindset, simply tell Gen Y the Boomers were wrong.

[Qwinn]

“Well, if the Y’s keep voting for all the entitlements they seem to think they have a ‘right’ to...”

You’re kidding, right?

You’re going to blame Gen Y (!) for socialism in America?!

That’s some serious chutzpah. Seriously. The Boomer generation didn’t just break that door down, it built a freaking freeway. And taught their kids that’s the way it should be.

We should be grateful that the Gen X and Y generations have resisted the socialism their parents - the Boomers - indoctrinated them with as much as they have. What’s the Boomer’s excuse?

Full disclosure: I’m Gen-X.

Qwinn

[MacDorcha]

What entitlements are you talking about?

The movement for affirmative action started under the watch of the Boomers.

Just the past two weeks I’ve seen Affirmative Action rulings overturned.

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Or were you talking about the “flextime” idea? The one where people get paid for their work, not their hours? Yeah, I can see how getting paid on “results” could wind up being bad.

Fact is, such actions would be more likely to produce a drop living the “credit-card” lifestyle. Working for a boss who is always in debt it bad.

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Or is there some hidden benefit my generation is asking for that we (as a generation) don’t know about?

Please, enlighten us. Worst that will happen is I leave the thread in a hissy-fit.

[poobear]

Don’t forget your “greatest generation” is the one who started all the SS/Medicare entitlements. The Boomers who were plenty were useful to supply these entitlements to the greatest generation. Now that many are aging suddenly it is their fault the money running out.

I cry BS dude!

[art_rocks]

And how would they be different from the Greatest Generation and Boomers who don’t want Social Security or Medicare Reform even though it could bankrupt the country.

[Sunshine Sister]

That is an unfair indictment of boomers. Many people my age don’t expect to get any “entitlement” from the government because our parents sucked it dry and the spineless pinheads in Washington won’t fix it!

[MacDorcha]

“I can’t win.”

“The boss better not pick me for that assignment.”

“This thread”

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What are “Self-fullfilling prophecies?”

(Just noting the threads responses...)

[Tokra]

I think the boomers problem is that they didn’t live through a World War and the Great Depression - The real Greatest Generation did. And they overcame the Depression and won the War.

They may have won the War - but they didn't overcome the Depression. A WWII soldier who was 22 yrs old was only 7 years old when the Depression started. How does a small child "overcome" the Depression? It was THEIR parents who had to try to feed a family during the Depression.

My mother and father were always telling me how tough it was during the Depression - I constantly remind my mom that she was born 5 years AFTER the Depression started and my dad was born three years AFTER the Depression started.

It was my grandparents who had to figure out how to feed their families.

[CORedneck]

I'm going to be the @$$hole here, time to pick apart:

1. They won't do work that's meaningless. Translation -- They are lazy and spoiled. Think Paris Hilton drawing a check off your payroll every month.

Busy work is also meaningless - the kind of work that accomplishes nothing. A lot of believers of "busy work" don't believe in working smart and will do things to prevent you from working smart. This attitude is in the blood of many micro-managers. I had my share of them, they never liked me. I had one who got on my case of me going to a different floor to use a bathroom that was more quieter and you didn't have to wait for an open stall.

2. They won't play the face-time game. Translation -- They have no loyalty to anything other than themselves. No loyalty to their employer, their boss OR their coworkers.

With being in IT as a Sys Admin, loyalty is a two way street, not one way. With the H1B's and outsourcing, the executives that run the companies have no regard for the people who make the companies work. If the executive management has no regard or loyalty to us, why should we kiss up to them ?

I also have a peculiar way of doing things. I don't like meetings and most meetings are useless. One of the biggest peeves is a all-hands type of meetings especially if they are on a Friday afternoon. I know meetings are more about face time and politics. This is as useless as busy work.

I know I p1$$ed some people off by not staying around until Fri 5pm for some useless meeting. I had one manager when he wanted me in a meeting usually with him and a couple of his favored boys, he always schedule it for 3pm on a Thu afternoon and he would get livid if you suggest an alternative time such as the morning such as I prefer. Plus after a morning meeting, I can focus on the objectives throughout the day while fresh in my mind.

3. They're great team players. Translation -- they will try to get you (or anyone else) to do their work for them. Research? Forget it. They'll usually come to the boss and ask him or her to solve their problems. Otherwise they sit and complain to each other about the "lack of training".

I know part of team playing is getting along with your co-workers and including them in our endeavors. I do my own research when looking for a solution but also get with other people to arrive at the best solution. On the boss, I don't want him to solve my problem. His place is to deal with politics and to play interference so I and others can get our job done and done well. This is the opposite of a micromanaging boss.

4. They have no patience for jerks. Translation - They have no idea about how to show respect for anyone. Their "self-esteem" levels peg the ego meter.

I have no patience for @$$holes and jerks. Respect is a two way street. I will automatically respect a person unless otherwise. The otherwise is such as the other person being a jerk or an @$$hole. In my current job, one person in our group is such a jack@$$. He has been a jerk to me from the moment I met him almost two years ago. No respect whatsoever. He bitched about me taking time off behind my back such as when I took 3 weeks to New Zealand after Christmas 2006. I talked with my lead person about this and the lead person mentioned these things to me and mentioned that he disliked me very much. He doesn't know or understand why I am on his $h!t list. I also made it clear to the lead person that he better no cross my path and I won't put up with his $h!t either and the next time he says something, I will be going to management.

[MacDorcha]

So... 7 year olds didn’t work durring the Depression?

40 year olds didnt land in Normandy?

I think the “Greates Generation” mantle belongs to those who would have been at retirement age durring the Korean War. Plenty of those lived through (and worked through) the Depression.

[Vinny]

I think the point your parents are trying to tell you is that they as kids lived through something you as a kid couldn’t imagine.

And if you can’t understand that it’s a sure sign you’re a Boomer.

Your generation is so self-absorbed STILL at an older age, you can’t seem to admire any other generation but your own.

Ridiculous.

[gura]

Can someone refresh me on which age group of our all-volunteer army is bearing the brunt of the fighting and dying right now?

[Marie]

*love* your tag! Thanks for the AM giggle!

[TheKidster]

As a Gen X’er who often hires Gen Y’ers I’d have to agree, they have a sense of entitlement similar to that of the baby boomers. The difference is that the boomers think they earned it while Gen Y has been raised with it.

Both generations are lucky to have Gen X’ers in the middle who are more libertarian than the Y and boom gens. It’ll probably keep America from becoming a full fledged socialist or fascist state by about 10 years. Enjoy it while you can, and you’re welcome!