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.