The Trophy Kids Go to Work

[Leonidas]

For those of you that work in the corporate world this article will ring all too true.

http://sec.online.wsj.com/article/SB122455219391652725.html#

[SeriousStudent]

Interesting post. I was listening to Glenn Beck today, and he talked about this very subject.

It's true.

And if I have to sit through one more interview board with some 20-year-old that thinks that every word out of their piehole is pure genius...... sigh. :rolleyes:

Heaven forbid that the poor little tykes get their precious feelings hurt out in the real world, and find out that you have to work hard for a living.

They work in an air-conditioned office, with a roof over their head, and they are not sleeping in a muddy ditch. Nobody is shooting at them, and they have plenty of food.

Compare these whiny kids to the young men and women fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places, and it amazes me.

Our best are fighting for each other and their country on the other side of the world. The rest are fighting over I-Pods in mall parking lots.

Sorry, I am venting, I am reading resumes tonight, and that always depresses me. Sometimes I wish I was still the squad-leader I was decades ago, and could pimp-slap misbehaving children. ;)

[murphy j]

It's more than just the corporate world. Hell, I've even seen this type of individual in the 'Modern' Army:(.

[LOKNLOD]

That's interesting, and pretty accurate. I suppose technically I'm one of the people it's talking about (born '82, graduated '00). I'm a little more "old school" than most folks my age but I do see what they're talking about in others around me (and a little in myself in a few cases).

As long as it's approached with some moderation, a lot of the things are good. Relaxed dress codes or being able to listen to your ipod at your desk while working? Cool, as long as it's not affecting output, or distracting others. Having a little bit of flexiblity in your schedule is great too, but that seems like something earned after successful performance. Shifting your workday to make the commute easier or being able to take short lunches and cut out earlier are great if you're already exceeding expectations but until your dues are paid, shutup and keep your head down. Not automatically jumping on the excessive overtime grenade is another good one and one I probably fall under -- I work to support my family and if I don't see them it's not worth it. I'll do the long hours when it's necessary but I know too many older folks who've adapted necessary to "always" even though it's not really necessary. Nobody looks back from their deathbed and says "Damn, I wished I'd worked a few more days! I had way too much family time" Recognizing that is good...when it crosses over to laziness or an unwillingness to complete the job it becomes a problem.

I'm in engineering and I find our folks are a little more realistic about these things than other industries -- except for the ones that think that school actually taught them how to do the job and think they know it all. The article sounds like it's referencing financial and business types mostly and in my experience those kids do fit the mold more.

The article really hits the nail on the head overall though, especially about the "Everybody wins" self esteem building stuff that we're coddled with growing up. That's bad juju and we're going to see it catching up with us more and more...

Funny story that illustrates the ugly side of this perfectly: When I started my current job, there was a large orientation session for people from all sorts of groups under the parent company. Our benefits include one 8-hour day a year for volunteering. Pretty cool, and we're lucky to have that as an option. Well one new guy has the unmitigated gall to raise his hand and ask whichever bigwig was talking at that point, why just 1 day? Shouldn't it be at least 1 day a month? If they were really serious about volunteering, they'd give us more... I couldn't believe it, I wanted to stand up and tell him if he expected to be paid to volunteer he should probably go work for a nonprofit org instead of a utility company. What a moron.

[chadbag]

I had a roommate when I was renting a house in NH in 98 -- 00, before I got married. He was divorced and had 3 kids, the oldest of which was around 12 or so.

They loved sports -- especially baseball, and soccer. One of his sons was on a traveling team and they were invited to a regional meet, in NH, to which Massachusetts kids leagues were also invited to attend. Because Mass kids were there, they were not allowed to keep score. Might hurt someone's feelings. (In NH they were regularly keeping score at the youth games, so this was an exception for the Massholes)

[NickB]

Interesting article. I fit into this age group. It frustrates me that my peers are lazy and feel entitled when they shouldn't, but it also pisses me off that assumptions are made about me by my peers at other companies based on my age. A couple comments:

• I expect pay to be based on performance. Seniority only goes so far. If I out-perform someone who has been with the company for 20 years, I expect to be compensated accordingly. Yes, my generation feels more "entitled" than we should, but the same can be said for many in our parents' generation. Just because you're older doesn't necessarily mean you're more valuable.

• I am lucky enough to work in an industry that allows a flexible work schedule. This morning, I slept in until 10:00 a.m. It was great, but that was still only 7 hours of sleep, as I was up until 3:00 a.m. working on catalog design and responding to work emails. When the phone rings at 5:00 a.m. once or twice a week from the east coast, I answer. When I need to trade emails at 2:00 a.m. or 3:00 a.m. when Europe is awake, I do it. When I have to work 24-48 hours straight to meet a deadline, I put on a pot of coffee and do it. I have pulled more all-nighters working for Magpul the last couple years than I did during my entire college career. My work schedule is "flexible," but that doesn't mean I'm not working as much or more than anyone else.

• I don't expect a "promotion," but I do expect any employer to allow me to grow to my potential. That's not entitlement - that's just common sense. If I'm capable of performing at a higher pay grade, I should have it. This goes back to our parents' version of entitlement - I'm sorry I'm half your age and out-rank you at the company, but maybe you should have worked harder.

The article makes a lot of good points, but I don't see this as any different than what was probably written about the generations before the "millennials," and certainly no different than what we will be writing about our children in 20-30 years. Every generation changes the workplace in some respect, and that usually upsets the old guard. For better or worse, my generation is doing the same, and with great success, I might add.

Time to step off my soap box. It's after midnight, and I've still got a couple hours of work before hitting the sack.