Notes about the "Millennials"

Sound bites from this article about "millennials":
  1. Narcissistic praise hounds.
  2. Parents will phone HR departments on behalf of their kids.
  3. Blind careerism is begining to fade.
  4. Friends and family above work.
  5. There's no such thing as a dream job.
  6. Looming demographic crisis: there's a lack of people.
  7. Boss abuse works.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

When I worked for Coffee Bean I was always wondering what had happened to the work ethic of kids now-a-days. Seems like they think they are doing their employer a favor by just showing up for the job they are paid to perform. They always argue and fight and complain that the rules are stupid and don't apply to them. I had no idea how these kids kept their jobs, to be honest! Then I gave a write up to one of our little college girls. Her MOM called me to complain and tell me to take the write-up off the girl's record because it wasn't fair. I mean, she was only 2 hours late to work on an opening shift leaving me to open and run the store myself for 2 hours! I would have died if my mom had ever called an employer to tell them not to be mean to me... gave me a whole new perspective on what is wrong with kids these days. I know that humans take a long time to mature, but seriously, once you get to college, it's really time to cut the cord.

josh said...

I can't help but wonder whether that 60 minutes segment could have been run every generation back to the beginning of time...

The positive trend that I see is that, without unions, workers are getting their needs met - never mind how puerile those needs may be. There is an openness about the reality of work - that you won't be working at any one place forever, that your employer could very well fire you for any reason, etc - that's refreshing. Or to put it simply, to realize that the workplace is just another ad hoc gathering of people for a particular purpose in a world filled with such ad hoc gatherings.