OK, class, before you can graduate, each of you, one at a time, will walk into a closed room with a couple of old farts who have onions on their belts.
I want to talk smack at them until someone cries.

Lesson one: Boomers either type emails in ALL CAPS, with no punctuation at all, or with extraneous and nonsensical punctuation?????? You must be adept at interpreting these emails or you will get yelled at.

Lesson two: Remember you are NOT a team player. Your boomer manager spent many years clawing his way up to middle management and will interpret your efforts as a threat to his position rather than just a good idea that will benefit everyone.

Is it full of grammatical and spelling errors? Friends may not care, but to Boomer colleagues, it looks sloppy. Think about whether you should be sending an e-mail at all. Would a face-to-face conversation be better, even if it's more time-consuming?

The whole "entire age demographics of people all act the same" meme is horseshiat and consumed by scoundrels and waterheads, but this particularly shiny shiat-diamond stands out.

I can't tell you how many times I've received a barely literate e-mail from someone over the age of fifty with homophone issues, misspellings and egregious abuse of apostrophes. Usually they're sent by people who feel that they should be retired, but can't afford to and have thus checked out while still occupying their positions.

There are worthless workers of all generations. The only rules applicable here are "learn what you're doing before you run your mouth" and "quit thinking young people today are somehow different than young people yesterday."

They are also creative, productive, efficient and tech-savvy. They not only think outside the box, they don't even know there is a box.

Bwhahahahahahahaahh! Keep saying, maybe, just maybe your precious little snowflake amount to something other then a basement dwelling freak. My impression of these little bastards is they like to think they are creative, but throw something new at them, something that requires them to think and they deal with it.

Also if you ever want to see one go a little nuts put them in a position where their is no group, they can't talk to anyone, and they never get praised for their work.

DarnoKonrad: Lesson one: Boomers either type emails in ALL CAPS, with no punctuation at all, or with extraneous and nonsensical punctuation?????? You must be adept at interpreting these emails or you will get yelled at.

Lesson two: Remember you are NOT a team player. Your boomer manager spent many years clawing his way up to middle management and will interpret your efforts as a threat to his position rather than just a good idea that will benefit everyone.

Lesson One: Most of what you learned in college is bullshiat.

Lesson Two: You may have to put in more than 6 months before you get a promotion and a raise

MugzyBrown: Most of what you learned in college is bullshiat.


We're making intergenerational stereotypes, not furthering right wing anti-intellectualism. Stay on topic.

Boomers referring to any other generation as snowflakes is rich.

"No one talks about the Generation Gap anymore. Kids like being with their Millennial parents. But the two generations don't always fare so well in the workplace.
Millennials think people entering the workplace today have grandiose expectations and a level of confidence that is bizarre, given their lack of maturity and experience," writes Jim Finkelstein, author of Fuse, Making Sense of the New Co-generational Workplace.
Millennials think their Boomer colleagues are self-centered and high-maintenance.
"They are loud, pierced, entitled, and unapologetic," Finkelstein writes.
They are also creative, productive, efficient and tech-savvy. They not only think outside the box, they don't even know there is a box.
Finkelstein calls them the Boomer - the iGeneration, Generation Y, the Gamers, the Digital Natives - the wired generation born between 1980 and 1995.
"Each generation is different from the ones before it, because environment shapes individual and group behaviour," writes Finkelstein, CEO of the advisory firm FutureSense Inc.
The defining environmental factor for the Boomer is of course, technology.
"Technology is a universal language to them, part Esperanto, part mathematics, and part sign language. Boomer are adept at all things technological. They have learned how to think like designers and programmers by being constant users," says Finkelstein.
Millennials need to gently disabuse Boomer of the notion that they are the centre of the universe - but carefully. Boomer aren't used to criticism and take it badly.
Boomer also need to learn that the workplace is not a democracy. Instruction offered by the boss in casual conversation is not optional, or even open to discussion.
"Listening to what senior coworkers say is crucial. Make it clear to your Millennial workers that they need to pay attention, as even casual conversation contains feedback, cues and clues to workplace success," Finkelstein writes.
On the other hand, Boomer are productivity machines. "They will figure out how to get as much done in six to seven hours as the average Millennial does in eight to ten."
When it comes to communicating in the workplace Finkelstein advises Boomer to slow down, show respect for the opinions of others, and review that e-mail before sending it.
Is it full of grammatical and spelling errors? Friends may not care, but to Millennial colleagues, it looks sloppy. Think about whether you should be sending an e-mail at all. Would a face-to-face conversation be better, even if it's more time-consuming?
Finkelstein also recommends reverse-mentorships, with Boomer mentoring Millennials about technology.
And Boomer, he says, need to fight the urge to keep it casual. What worked in college - 'I always work best under pressure" - as deadlines loomed is not what employers want to see. "


Funny how most of the article still works when you swap around Millennial and Boomer.

demonwolf04: "No one talks about the Generation Gap anymore. Kids like being with their Millennial parents. But the two generations don't always fare so well in the workplace.
Millennials think people entering the workplace today have grandiose expectations and a level of confidence that is bizarre, given their lack of maturity and experience," writes Jim Finkelstein, author of Fuse, Making Sense of the New Co-generational Workplace.
Millennials think their Boomer colleagues are self-centered and high-maintenance.
"They are loud, pierced, entitled, and unapologetic," Finkelstein writes.
They are also creative, productive, efficient and tech-savvy. They not only think outside the box, they don't even know there is a box.
Finkelstein calls them the Boomer - the iGeneration, Generation Y, the Gamers, the Digital Natives - the wired generation born between 1980 and 1995.
"Each generation is different from the ones before it, because environment shapes individual and group behaviour," writes Finkelstein, CEO of the advisory firm FutureSense Inc.
The defining environmental factor for the Boomer is of course, technology.
"Technology is a universal language to them, part Esperanto, part mathematics, and part sign language. Boomer are adept at all things technological. They have learned how to think like designers and programmers by being constant users," says Finkelstein.
Millennials need to gently disabuse Boomer of the notion that they are the centre of the universe - but carefully. Boomer aren't used to criticism and take it badly.
Boomer also need to learn that the workplace is not a democracy. Instruction offered by the boss in casual conversation is not optional, or even open to discussion.
"Listening to what senior coworkers say is crucial. Make it clear to your Millennial workers that they need to pay attention, as even casual conversation contains feedback, cues and clues to workplace success," Finkelstein writes.
On the other hand, Boomer are productivity machines. "They will ...

Except that it doesn't work because none of the things are true anymore...

cettin: Except that it doesn't work because none of the things are true anymore...

It's true in the minds of right-wing morons who see a 5 to 1 applicants to jobs ratio and continued outsourcing and think "If those damn kids would just stop acting so entitled and actually look for a job, they could work anywhere they wanted."

unyon: To be honest, the kids my eldest daughter's age (18-19) are far more polite, thoughtful, hardworking, and responsible than anybody I knew when I was that age. It's surprising expected, considering boomers are a generation of entitled brats.

Fixed that for you.

Captain Oates: Boomers referring to any other generation as snowflakes is rich.

The Boomers are getting older now and can't handle it. They've been 'the youth' for damn near 50 years now and now that they're about to retire and can't, they're finding more reasons to bash down the actual young so they can keep their 'youth' intact. Not to mention their legacy seems to be nothing more than selfishness. Would we be in this problem if the Boomers didn't put Reagan into the White House?

Sergeant Grumbles: cettin: Except that it doesn't work because none of the things are true anymore...

It's true in the minds of right-wing morons who see a 5 to 1 applicants to jobs ratio and continued outsourcing and think "If those damn kids would just stop acting so entitled and actually look for a job, they could work anywhere they wanted."

They're doing this because they know it's not true. When faced with a situation that has been created by them, the way for this sort of person to get around it is to parrot the same talking points. Because it can't be THEIR fault, can it? It has to be something else. Surely America the Great can't fall like this, right?

And here we are: economy in tatters, the next generations looking at lowered expectations and mounting debt, combined with less homeownership and a decrease in the quality of anything you buy because corporations owned by the wealthy have shipped all the jobs overseas to lower prices so anybody at a McJob can own them. This is the legacy of the Boomers: fark you, got mine, and then parrot something until your loved ones toss your cardboard coffin into a shallow hole and spit.

Part of the difference in worth ethics has to do with the difference in work environment today versus 40 years ago.

Four decades ago, chances were still very good that once you hired into your career, you had a job for life. Your company would grow and change, albeit slowly. You'd have the same CEO for decades, with good chances that it would be handed off to a protégé. Your productivity and loyalty would be rewarded with seniority or even promotion into management. At the end, you'd retire with a pension and other benefits.

Today, you're lucky to work for a company for more than four years. You are a disposable cog into a company run by sociopaths-of-the-week hired off the street who seek maximum short-term profits to elevate their stock before they bail for another company (along with their huge severance benefits). If the company's mismanagement doesn't drive you to quit, you will eventually be forced out because the company can hire 2 kids off the street for half the cost who can supposedly do 75% of the work you can. Your boss is most likely some suckup yes-man who doesn't know his job from his arse, who sabotages your job at every turn. When you do manage to do something great despite your boss, he then takes the credit for himself.

Older employees demand respect from their younger coworkers simply because they've been taught that one should respect your elders. Young employees believe that respect is earned, not automatically given. They believe that people who automatically demand respect are arrogant. So you end up with animosity between the generations, which just results in a downward spiral. The supervisor should be stepping in to contain this, but he's too busy jerking off to Internet porn in his office to care.

"They will figure out how to get as much done in six to seven hours as the average Boomer does in eight to ten."

This was always a problem of that my bosses had. What they thought would take me two days took me two hours. I used to sit on the computer teaching myself about Six Sigma and Kan-Ban and all that because I was bored.

DarnoKonrad: Lesson two: Remember you are NOT a team player. Your boomer manager spent many years clawing his way up to middle management and will interpret your efforts as a threat to his position rather than just a good idea that will benefit everyone.

Yeah, holy crap I hate this one. Put your damn ego away, no one cares.

I would like to add:
Lesson 3: Boomers believe in computer-generated fantasies. If it says there are 100 in stock, they believe absolutely that there are 100 in stock, even as they stand in front of a shelf that has none. (I don't have any advice on how to solve this one: an old boss ended up flying down to Mexico in an attempt to prove me wrong. I was right that there weren't any on the shelf, but somehow still wrong since I got my butt chewed. *shrug*)

"Boomers think people entering the workplace today have grandiose expectations and a level of confidence that is bizarre, given their lack of maturity and experience,"


Come on. It takes a few years of watching dreams die to become hopeless, jaded, alcoholic, and despairing.

The sole comment to that article just sort of killed the entire premise of that article.

FTA: Boomers think their young colleagues are self-centered and high-maintenance.

...

Dinjiin: Part of the difference in worth ethics has to do with the difference in work environment today versus 40 years ago.

Four decades ago, chances were still very good that once you hired into your career, you had a job for life. Your company would grow and change, albeit slowly. You'd have the same CEO for decades, with good chances that it would be handed off to a protégé. Your productivity and loyalty would be rewarded with seniority or even promotion into management. At the end, you'd retire with a pension and other benefits.

Today, you're lucky to work for a company for more than four years. You are a disposable cog into a company run by sociopaths-of-the-week hired off the street who seek maximum short-term profits to elevate their stock before they bail for another company (along with their huge severance benefits). If the company's mismanagement doesn't drive you to quit, you will eventually be forced out because the company can hire 2 kids off the street for half the cost who can supposedly do 75% of the work you can. Your boss is most likely some suckup yes-man who doesn't know his job from his arse, who sabotages your job at every turn. When you do manage to do something great despite your boss, he then takes the credit for himself.

Older employees demand respect from their younger coworkers simply because they've been taught that one should respect your elders. Young employees believe that respect is earned, not automatically given. They believe that people who automatically demand respect are arrogant. So you end up with animosity between the generations, which just results in a downward spiral. The supervisor should be stepping in to contain this, but he's too busy jerking off to Internet porn in his office to care.

Very close to the truth.

What the article also fails to mention, and that you allude to is this: The current generation entering the workforce for the first time is observant. More so that they're given credit for. They grew up watching their parents get right-sized, downsized, etc. That pretty much destroyed their loyalty to any one company, because in their minds it's misplaced. They often come into a job with a perception of entitlement, but in reality they simply want whatever they can get because they fully expect that as soon as things look bad, that they'll be out of a job (and the smart ones want to be prepared to weather it better than their parents did).

I'm not in agreement with the point of view, but there have been several studies on the difference in perception between the generations in the workforce. This is one of the most common findings from every study I've ever read.

FWIW: most management studies on "Gen Y" and "Millenial" workers have shown that they don't need the constant praise. They just want their work to matter, and to work in a place where they can respect their superiors, and eventually earn the respect for their own accomplishments. It's quite an interesting interpretation when you think about it.

Guntram Shatterhand: This is the legacy of the Boomers: fark you, got mine, and then parrot something until your loved ones toss your cardboard coffin into a shallow hole and spit.

Stop me if you've heard this one:
Father-in-law. Got a job as an architect straight out of college (tuition paid by his parents) in 1976. Bought a house for 40K and paid it off within two years.
Doesn't understand why it took me two years to find a good job after college, nor why I had to move three times to do it, nor why I had to take out 40K in loans to attend college, nor why I can't afford a house, nor why he doesn't have grandchildren. Actually got the "If you'd just get off your ass and look, you'd have a job." as well as "You're too comfortable working in fast food. Stop being lazy." while I was driving 16 hour round trips and even an airplane ride just for an interview.
Still sees me as worthless because I have student loan debt, can't afford a 200K house, and had to move away to find work.

Always a market for sex slaves

Dinjiin: Part of the difference in worth ethics has to do with the difference in work environment today versus 40 years ago.

Four decades ago, chances were still very good that once you hired into your career, you had a job for life. Your company would grow and change, albeit slowly. You'd have the same CEO for decades, with good chances that it would be handed off to a protégé. Your productivity and loyalty would be rewarded with seniority or even promotion into management. At the end, you'd retire with a pension and other benefits.

Today, you're lucky to work for a company for more than four years. You are a disposable cog into a company run by sociopaths-of-the-week hired off the street who seek maximum short-term profits to elevate their stock before they bail for another company (along with their huge severance benefits). If the company's mismanagement doesn't drive you to quit, you will eventually be forced out because the company can hire 2 kids off the street for half the cost who can supposedly do 75% of the work you can. Your boss is most likely some suckup yes-man who doesn't know his job from his arse, who sabotages your job at every turn. When you do manage to do something great despite your boss, he then takes the credit for himself.

Older employees demand respect from their younger coworkers simply because they've been taught that one should respect your elders. Young employees believe that respect is earned, not automatically given. They believe that people who automatically demand respect are arrogant. So you end up with animosity between the generations, which just results in a downward spiral. The supervisor should be stepping in to contain this, but he's too busy jerking off to Internet porn in his office to care.

Sounds like wherever you work is a horrible place.

"Today's" job world has been here for over a decade. Any senior employee, someone who has been around for more than 10 years, has managed to survive this difficult workplace environment we live in. Perhaps they do merit some respect and might even have something to teach a new employee about how to keep their job and work in the system.

Or that new employee can be a pessimist, assume everyone with a higher position than them is inferior (suck ups and internet masturbators), never learn anything, and be the first out the door when layoffs hit.

meathome: They grew up watching their parents get right-sized, downsized, etc. That pretty much destroyed their loyalty to any one company, because in their minds it's misplaced.

A lot of younger people are more cynical, and I believe that the example you gave is just one reason behind it. As a consequence, they see concepts such as "loyalty" and "patriotism" as empty words. Be a loyal worker, but never mind when we slash jobs while taking massive bonuses. Be a patriotic consumer of domestic goods, but never mind that some foreign manufacturers build a better product for less while treating their workers better. No wonder why they just roll their eyes when leaders use those words.


meathome: in reality they simply want whatever they can get because they fully expect that as soon as things look bad

They've conditioned themselves for a feast or famine working environment. If they're lucky, the company will axe the senior folks because they make too much. But once they're gone, newbies are the only ones to axe. And some places won't even hire people on anymore because it is cheaper from a benefits standpoint to just have a revolving crew of temps and contractors. So you've got 18 months to save as much as you can, hoping you have another job ready when you're let go.

Integrating precious snowflakes into the real world

Republican parents "heartbroken" after realizing they have destroyed their children's future

/Fixed that headline for ya
//quotes because Republicans don't have hearts

I don't get some of these sentiments...

Thinking back to my 'crew' of friends from my HS days.

One is an engineer.
One is a computer programmer
One is a sherrif's deputy
One took over the day to day ops of his dad's business.

None of them have been unemployed for any notable period of time.

Maybe I'm too close to the early end of the Millenial generation (30, graduated HS in 2000)

I took the military route. Pay isn't great (only ~$70K/year when all is said and done), but I love the career, and have had some pretty cool experiences. Plus unlike some of the jobs my friends have wound up in, I actually have decent healthcare and vacation time that isn't insultingly meager.

Millennials are productivity machines. "They will figure out how to get as much done in six to seven hours as the average Boomer does in eight to ten."

Bullcarp. That is the difference between being 25 years old and single, and being 50 years old and married with three kids.

As a member of Generation X, I'd like to tell both the Boomers and the Millennials to go to Hell.

Captain Oates: Boomers referring to any other generation as snowflakes is rich.

I work with boomers and some of these youngsters, I'm right in the middle Gen Xer.

Fark them both, the boomers are way more entitled than the kids are, the kids are impatient. Both whine and think they are special.

Mikey1969: "They are loud, pierced, entitled, and unapologetic," Finkelstein writes.

WTF does "pierced" have to do with anything? What a douche. Sounds like all my bosses from my 20's who couldn't handle a dude with a pierced ear, what is it about a piece of metal that makes people quake in fear?

So if a piercing is THAT deadly, why don't we save money on weapons and ammo, pierce all of our military personnel and just have them chase the bad guys around until said bad guys either give up or die from sheer exhaustion?

PS: When I was 8 or so, and entering the workplace, guess what? I was loud... I bet my parents were, too.

I'll give him "entitled', but I think he's talking out of his azz on these other points.

If you are pierced and tattooed it shows you have a low intellect and didn't think about how it might affect your future employment. It's kind of a circular thing.
I thought everyone knew that.


// If given a choice between two people , one of whom is stupid enough to have visible piercings or tattoos, I will hire the non-pierced/non tatted

Izunbacol: I don't get some of these sentiments...

Thinking back to my 'crew' of friends from my HS days.

One is an engineer.
One is a computer programmer
One is a sherrif's deputy
One took over the day to day ops of his dad's business.

None of them have been unemployed for any notable period of time.

Maybe I'm too close to the early end of the Millenial generation (30, graduated HS in 2000)

I took the military route. Pay isn't great (only ~$70K/year when all is said and done), but I love the career, and have had some pretty cool experiences. Plus unlike some of the jobs my friends have wound up in, I actually have decent healthcare and vacation time that isn't insultingly meager.

No Snark, but why isn't 70k great? Is it a combo of family + location + misc.? I am 32 and make 39K and think it's fine, and still have about 1500 bucks a month after bills too.

I guess wealth is relative.

Brainwash: Republican parents "heartbroken" after realizing they have destroyed their children's future

/Fixed that headline for ya
//quotes because Republicans don't have hearts

Congratulations on being a complete farking moron

Sergeant Grumbles: Stop me if you've heard this one:
Father-in-law.


Yep. No one is good enough for his little princess. It's a really common story.

gadian:
"Wait, weren't you the ones giving us the participation trophies?"

No, that was the Gen-Xers. Boomers were the ones on the sidelines yelling "run faster, dammit!"

"Would that be because you told us that if we work hard we can achieve everything?"

Yes, the Boomers said that. Then the generation in between said "don't listen to those old guys - just be nice and repeat back all of the stuff I say, and everything will work out for you."

CujoQuarrel:
If you are pierced and tattooed it shows you have a low intellect and didn't think about how it might affect your future employment. It's kind of a circular thing.
I thought everyone knew that.

// If given a choice between two people , one of whom is stupid enough to have visible piercings or tattoos, I will hire the non-pierced/non tatted

I don't know if "stupid" is the word I'd use, but I tend to agree with your general premise.

If someone gets visible tattoos or piercings (other than a couple of earlobe piercings for a woman), they have to know that if they apply for a job in certain professions (mostly those professions requiring a great deal of trust, or a high level of education), they will probably be judged to be unprofessional by many prospective employers. If they don't realize this, they are incredibly naive, which is a really bad quality to have in any profession. If they do realize this, they shouldn't biatch and moan when the prospective employer decides to hire someone else.

If I were hiring someone to be a barista, tree trimmer, heavy equipment operator or mechanic, piercings and tattoos wouldn't sway my decision either way. If I were looking to hire a financial consultant, engineer, physician or teacher, I'd much rather hire someone without tattoos and piercings over someone with them.

Some people are conscientious and dedicated enough to their anticipated profession that they realize that poking holes in their head and getting ink decorations on their skin might somehow have a negative impact, so they refrain from doing it. Those who say, "You shouldn't judge me because of the way I look!" really don't get it, and I assume they never will.

DarnoKonrad: Lesson one: Boomers either type emails in ALL CAPS, with no punctuation at all, or with extraneous and nonsensical punctuation?????? You must be adept at interpreting these emails or you will get yelled at.

Lesson two: Remember you are NOT a team player. Your boomer manager spent many years clawing his way up to middle management and will interpret your efforts as a threat to his position rather than just a good idea that will benefit everyone.

RUMCYMHMD

Tats or piercings means you are fit only for the most menial positions.

Sergeant Grumbles: Stop me if you've heard this one:
Father-in-law. Got a job as an architect straight out of college (tuition paid by his parents) in 1976. Bought a house for 40K and paid it off within two years.
Doesn't understand why it took me two years to find a good job after college, nor why I had to move three times to do it, nor why I had to take out 40K in loans to attend college, nor why I can't afford a house, nor why he doesn't have grandchildren. Actually got the "If you'd just get off your ass and look, you'd have a job." as well as "You're too comfortable working in fast food. Stop being lazy." while I was driving 16 hour round trips and even an airplane ride just for an interview.
Still sees me as worthless because I have student loan debt, can't afford a 200K house, and had to move away to find work.

Sounds like he watches a lot of Fox News

clovis69: Captain Oates: Boomers referring to any other generation as snowflakes is rich.

I work with boomers and some of these youngsters, I'm right in the middle Gen Xer.

Fark them both, the boomers are way more entitled than the kids are, the kids are impatient. Both whine and think they are special.

I'm sure this is the case for all generations but I find the age ranges too wide. I was born in '86 so by definition certainly a millennial but I don't believe I exhibit or hold many of the traits associated with 'my' generation. It seems to me Gen Y and Millennials should inherently be separated as Y: remembers a time before the household computer as a kid VS Mil.: does not remember a time before household access to the internet.