There was one unbelievable call that had the undeniable ring of truth to it. A man called in and said he was a supermarket manager. He said he had to force his cashiers and baggers to place their phones in lockers at work, because they were constantly texting and talking on the phone. He said:
"Many of you just won't believe this, but I had more than one young employee who complained that they wouldn't know what time it was if they didn't have their phone. When I pointed at the clock on the machine for punching in and out, the kids had stared blankly back at me and said they didn't know how to tell time from a clock with hands. When I told them I wanted them back at the register at 'half-past six', they had no clue as to what that meant."
Just unbelievable. This isn't to say there aren't bright kids out there, because there are, but...just...wow.
This is painful for me. I didn't learn how to tell time until the fourth grade. At the fourth grade I got someone one to teach me.
Now they have digital.
A couple of months ago in a store, a teenager saw that I was wearing a watch so she asked me for the time. The lights were bright and the glare made it hard for me to read the face (I need my reading glasses for that watch, oops), so I turned my wrist toward her so she could read it herself. No use! She turned to her mother who was about ten feet away, lamenting that she couldn't read it because it wasn't a digital watch.
I'd never seen that before, yikes. I gave the watch another look and managed to read it despite the glare.
“she characterized our grandparents as “The Greatest Generation” and this generation as “The Dumbest Generation”.”
Understand how much of our current dilemna can be laid at the feet of the self-anointed “Greatest Generation”; what do we have today that has not been handed down by them?
I had an employee who I had to speak to concerning excessive time spent on the phone. A few days later they came into my office and assured me that the matter had been addressed; they’d obtained a cell phone...(they couldn’t understand why I wasn’t praising their innovation).
Some people are really %#&@ing stupid.
Sorry mr. magager, but you were snookered. Had you told them their checks would be ready at half past six, all would have been there.
I find this article quite encouraging; my intelligent, witty, self-reliant children are going to rule the world. :)