WTF is all this worshipping at the altar of the Millennials?
Posted by CrabCake
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WTF is all this worshipping at the altar of the Millennials? January 27, 2009 |
I'm so sick of hearing that term, "Millennials." Anyway, I was reading an industry rag at work yesterday. There was an article about how to attract and retain Millennials. I can't find it online, but essentially it had all the bullshit about how they need to be challenged and paid well and, most revolting, "respected." All this right out of the chute and being new on the job. Even worse, the article was written by an older person, not a spoiled brat.
I'm 48. When I first started working way back in the Dark Ages, like most of us here I would guess, I took many a CRAP job with SHITTY hours and pay because the mantra back then was that you had to pay your dues to EARN such things as promotions, better shifts and perks, etc. etc. It is absolutely sickening how all of that has gone out the window in favor of molly-coddling the Entitlement Generation.
Online, I found this letter in response to that article, which of course was exactly what I was thinking as I read the original article.
Millenials Need to Put in Their Time
To the Editor:
I guess in my career I made a big mistake: I worked my way up, paid my dues, worked the off shifts, the overtime hours, on-call hours and performed all the grunt work we old timers were foolish enough to put up with.
As a millennial, I could have skipped all that. I would then be able to tell the boss no thanks on that overtime, thanks anyhow on that 11-7 shift, count me out on that call schedule, and still be expecting a promotion within my first year.
I guess that's how it goes when a generation grows up having everything handed to them. As their parents, we handed them the latest and greatest toys, video games and cell phones. Now, as their supervisors, we are doing it again. Are we so afraid they will leave we are willing to give them everything to get them to stay? Realistically, how often can millennials expect to hop jobs and still have some place to go? Until someone somewhere says enough already, all us old timers are going to be left covering the off shifts, putting in the overtime and taking all the call.
I feel the technologists in my generation worked hard to get where we are today. Yet sometimes, it feels like all the perks are coming to the newer employees without consideration for the needs of your older tried and true employees. Some of us have been with the same institution for a good portion, if not all, of our careers. I guess I'd just like some one to show some respect for that.
Now, this is not to say that there aren't slackers in every generation. There are plenty of "older" workers who are lazy and feel entitled simply because they have been on the job for a billions years. I work with some like that. But it's the unfounded "respect" we are expected to shower on these infants that really, really chaps my ass.
I'm 48. When I first started working way back in the Dark Ages, like most of us here I would guess, I took many a CRAP job with SHITTY hours and pay because the mantra back then was that you had to pay your dues to EARN such things as promotions, better shifts and perks, etc. etc. It is absolutely sickening how all of that has gone out the window in favor of molly-coddling the Entitlement Generation.
Online, I found this letter in response to that article, which of course was exactly what I was thinking as I read the original article.
Millenials Need to Put in Their Time
To the Editor:
I guess in my career I made a big mistake: I worked my way up, paid my dues, worked the off shifts, the overtime hours, on-call hours and performed all the grunt work we old timers were foolish enough to put up with.
As a millennial, I could have skipped all that. I would then be able to tell the boss no thanks on that overtime, thanks anyhow on that 11-7 shift, count me out on that call schedule, and still be expecting a promotion within my first year.
I guess that's how it goes when a generation grows up having everything handed to them. As their parents, we handed them the latest and greatest toys, video games and cell phones. Now, as their supervisors, we are doing it again. Are we so afraid they will leave we are willing to give them everything to get them to stay? Realistically, how often can millennials expect to hop jobs and still have some place to go? Until someone somewhere says enough already, all us old timers are going to be left covering the off shifts, putting in the overtime and taking all the call.
I feel the technologists in my generation worked hard to get where we are today. Yet sometimes, it feels like all the perks are coming to the newer employees without consideration for the needs of your older tried and true employees. Some of us have been with the same institution for a good portion, if not all, of our careers. I guess I'd just like some one to show some respect for that.
Now, this is not to say that there aren't slackers in every generation. There are plenty of "older" workers who are lazy and feel entitled simply because they have been on the job for a billions years. I work with some like that. But it's the unfounded "respect" we are expected to shower on these infants that really, really chaps my ass.
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Re: WTF is all this worshipping at the altar of the Millennials? January 27, 2009 |
Quote
Alchemy
Millenials are people born between 1979 and 1994. They can also be known as Generation Y.
Where in the world do they get that people between the ages of 15-30 and who were not born in the new millennium are called Millennials? That doesn't even make sense. 15 y/o's are'nt even in the work place yet and most 30 y/o's are from the old school of working their way up the ladder. It doesn't make any sort of philosophical sense, isn't logical or even chronologically correct, and part of the "group" so called, hasn't even entered the workforce yet. Did they just grab a name and age group out of a hat?
I have never heard of generation "Y" either. What is that supposed to mean and is it synonymous with "Millennials"?
If there is a "generation Y" group, then what does that make the rest of us?|
Re: WTF is all this worshipping at the altar of the Millennials? January 27, 2009 |
Even the word, "generation" makes me think of 10 little bears rolling over in bed.
And the aged gets pushed out of the bed, of course.
And the aged gets pushed out of the bed, of course.
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