Monday, October 7, 2013

Gen X versus Gen Y: The ultimate grudge match...

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I'm a member of Generation X.  I've always been rather proud of that.  We were the edgy ones, cooler and more open to change than our parents, the Baby Boomers.  We worked hard, had fun, and didn't worry about too many things ... possibly because we didn't have to live through any real hardships.  We were the cool ones!

Then the bloody Gen Y'ers arrived with their "I'll have exactly what I want and I'll have it right now, please" attitudes and their demands to be slotted right into senior positions rather than starting at the ground floor and working their way up, and spoiled it all for us.

When you see these twenty something's being put straight into senior roles in the workplace it can be a bit gauling.  We used to be seen as the go getters who were still hard working and diligent, now we were just the one's without any ambition who didn't get promoted to the role of senior executive by the age of twenty five.

That doesn't include me of course ... I never had any ambition to start with.  But it's a bit hard on my fellow Gen X'ers out there.

The one thing that makes it a little less annoying though is the fact that, while so many of them seem to end up in those positions, their tenure on average doesn't last long.  They come and go so quickly that you barely get a chance to work out if they're actually any good at their jobs or just managed to schmooze the interview panel.

A small, beligerant part of me wants to assume the latter.

Still, I suppose they have their good points (she says begrudgingly).  I've no doubt that computer and internet technology wouldn't be anywhere near as advanced as it is unless it was trying to cater to the "McDonald's Generation" who want their instant gratification entertainment, their focus on money and benefits in the workplace have benefitted us all, and I can't help thinking that it was mostly due to them that we finally moved away from the "age of the sitcom" and towards more conceptual television shows.

So, on behalf of the Gen X'ers out there, I'd like to say thank you, Gen Y'ers.  You might annoy us sometimes, and occasionally we might want to give you a shake and tell you to take a long hard look at yourselves, but you've done us a few solids.  We owe you one.

28 comments:

  1. Sooner or later the resilience of Gen Y'ers will be tested in a big way and I really wonder how they'll do. I hope they just don't snap and start killing everyone.

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    1. Hmm, I hadn't thought of that. Maybe I'll start being nicer to them ... it doesn't hurt to hedge your bets.

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  2. Every generation has their good and not-so-good points, for sure. My beef is my generation raised the X'ers and when they act entitled it looks like we spoiled them rotten. ;)

    Thanks for linking to Super Sunday Sync!

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  3. At least we baby boomers and you Gen Xers had some decent music, from the Beatles to Prince. Now they have, well I don't even know because I can't stand to listen to it.

    -Cranky Old Fogey

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    1. That's true. They'll never have anything better than 80's british rock!

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  4. I'm sure the Baby Boomers complained about lazy and self-entitled Gen X'ers were. We were the generation that grew up with colour televisions, microwaves and remote controls. We didn't even want to get up to change the TV channel anymore

    Oh well, at least we have blogs to complain now. :)

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    1. LOL! I guess the Gen Y'ers will bitch about the Millennials soon enough.

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  5. Y'know, I'm not sure what generation I belong to. Can I just claim my own generation? Maybe I will just say I'm a Millennial.

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    1. That would make you awfully young for a blogger ... or awfully old for a pickle ;P

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  6. I'm a Baby Boomer. The shadow of the Great Depression and World War II hung over our lives. We received elaborate Christmas gifts and were fed too much because our parents didn't have anything growing up.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. LOL! I guess each generation were spoiled in their time. I know we were.

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  7. I don't remember those whippersnapper Gen-Yers saying please.

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    1. Ooh, good point. They're always very polite, but rarely say please. It's more an expectation.

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  8. As a gen y I would like to think every generation has its good and bad points. A lot of companies will hire a young guy right out of school to tap the young market. After all, we are the generation that feel the need to upgrade our phone every 6 months, that market can be tapped if someone has just the right idea to make us "need" stuff. I am very susceptible to this. Hells, if it weren't for C I would have a new tablet or phone every time a new one came out:P

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    1. Don't worry, you'll get your turn to bitch and moan about the Millennials :D

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  9. Interesting post Kellie, and the Gen Y issue is a real mixed bag. Your words echoed those of my friends in the workplace. I'm early self-funded retiree so Im out of that -phew-
    It makes me chuckle every time I go to my doctor or see my bank manager - honestly they are so darn Young, or is it that the older I get the younger everyone else seems. Mmmm.
    Have a great week in the workplace! :)

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    1. I'm now at the point where some doctors are younger than me. Usually not by much, but still younger. God, it's only going to get worse, isn't it.

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  10. It's interesting to note that future generations (for the foreseeable future, won't match the earning power and lifestyle of their parents, a bitter pill for many of us to swallow.

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    1. Oh well, when the zombie apocalypse comes and we're all using water as a form of currency, I suppose it won't matter much ;P

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  11. Haha very well said-- I am technically a Gen-Yer but I feel your pain. It's true about how people in my generation land great jobs but don't stick around... There is very little emphasis on growing in one place, it's more like trying to climb a tree by swinging from branch to branch.

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    1. Gen Y'ers always seem so surprised when they hear I've worked at my current workplace for almost 19 years, and I'm only in my late thirties. I've done heaps of different jobs, but all in the same organisation. The idea of staying in the one place seems alien to them.

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  12. So the next generation will be generation Z. What comes after that? Is the next generation our last?

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    1. Umm ... I think it'll be Generation AA, like an excel spreadsheet column ;P

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  13. Like Pickleope, I never really knew which one I fit into. I feel too old to be a Gen Y'er, but I was pretty young when the term Gen X was popping up. Maybe that's why, as a hybrid, I was always a go-getter who worked his way from the bottom but often didn't last long (because the company always folded. One from bankruptcy, the other from absorption by another company. Not my fault... at least I don't think).

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  14. as a friend once said to me "Those 20-somethings get to buy the t-shirt from Wal-Mart, we saw all those bands" The bright and shinny looks good, but I've found that most of the time the dull and dirty does the work.

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  15. Also the Generation Y'ers couldn't even come up with a good name for themselves. They just took ours and changed one letter. Talk about lazy.

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  16. I just published a post about the language of Y and X and why the hell Ys can't speak properly. They give me the shits with their idiotic way of speaking and it shows nothing but immaturity and stupidity.

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