I am not going to criticize my kids’ generation—we have f’ed up this country so much. I cherish any optimism they have left, I hope for a brighter future for them and love that they get therapy, they speak up, they care.

Anonymous wrote:^I genuinely think this generation has fewer friends. I have no proof of it but I get that sense just seeing how they interact in the work place. I assume covid had something to do with this though if you're working now, you were like a high school senior when covid hit. Surely you knew how to make friends/had some friends from ages 5 thru 17.

They are the first generation entirely addicted to smart phones and social media.

Anonymous wrote:I love Gen Z openness about their struggles...many of them openly share their layoffs, disappointments etc with the world. Their feelings are not new. I am 47 and they are saying things I wish I could say loudly when I was laid off in my 20s but couldn't because we viewed corporations as these biiiiiig super important entities that we needed to bow too.

We criticize them a lot but honestly they are not gay off base. We just took crap and keep taking crap. I think I am Gen X right, yeah we are very good at keeping our mouth shut....

I think that we just whined less...

I must be a quintessential Gen X, because I wish they would STFU. I never want to hear about my coworkers' "struggles" while we're at work. Ever.

^I genuinely think this generation has fewer friends. I have no proof of it but I get that sense just seeing how they interact in the work place. I assume covid had something to do with this though if you're working now, you were like a high school senior when covid hit. Surely you knew how to make friends/had some friends from ages 5 thru 17.

Anonymous wrote:I love Gen Z openness about their struggles...many of them openly share their layoffs, disappointments etc with the world. Their feelings are not new. I am 47 and they are saying things I wish I could say loudly when I was laid off in my 20s but couldn't because we viewed corporations as these biiiiiig super important entities that we needed to bow too.

We criticize them a lot but honestly they are not gay off base. We just took crap and keep taking crap. I think I am Gen X right, yeah we are very good at keeping our mouth shut....

IDK I guess the openness is interesting but I also think they just don't realize they're going through . . . life. Plenty of people graduated in the 2000-01 dot com bust or 2008 and couldn't find jobs or got laid off immediately. As for Gen X taking stuff - I'm a millennial but closer to Gen X age - we took stuff bc we wanted to make $$$. I think we realized you go into every work place complaining about every damn thing you didn't like, you were never going to get ahead which unless you came from money you needed to do to be able to buy a house, pay for a wedding, pay off student loans, save for kids' college etc. It's not that we didn't feel slighted the way Gen Z feels slighted but we knew openly complaining wouldn't help and could affirmatively hurt - so we complained privately to friends, spouses etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gen Z has a lot to learn about TMI. The number of cover letters and responses to questions I sorted through for one set of interns revealing inappropriate information in a job application about medical issues and trauma was astonishing.

In person as well. When I said "good morning," neither I nor the 5 young men and women within earshot needed or wanted to hear that you weren't feeling great because you just had your new IUD inserted and were feeling crampy.

UH come again!?

Anonymous wrote:Yes. I somehow know that one of my 23 year old subordinates got married because her husband did not want to lose his virginity until marriage, and that she personally was not a virgin at her wedding.

lol. I can relate, my coworkers are similar.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too Much Information

TVMBYAITMA is …
Thanks very much but you are inventing too many acronyms

"TMI !" has been used since the 90s, genx here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too Much Information

TVMBYAITMA is …
Thanks very much but you are inventing too many acronyms

TMI is not a new acronym

Anonymous wrote:Gen Z has a lot to learn about TMI. The number of cover letters and responses to questions I sorted through for one set of interns revealing inappropriate information in a job application about medical issues and trauma was astonishing.

In person as well. When I said "good morning," neither I nor the 5 young men and women within earshot needed or wanted to hear that you weren't feeling great because you just had your new IUD inserted and were feeling crampy.

Trauma dumping is inappropriate in the workplace. Find a therapist and not a colleague to dump your trauma on.

Anonymous wrote:To be fair, they had to deal with Covid as high school and college kids and now Trumpism and the failing economy. They have a right to complain.

As opposed to people who had to deal with Covid, Trump and a failing economy as adults supporting a family and raising kids?

[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see this at my office and it's tiring at times. I feel like I'm parenting. And then wonder, maybe I'm not moving with the times and too uptight.

I wonder this too but then I get complaints from others in that generation about their peers being inappropriate, sharing too much, etc. I really feel like work places function best when people don’t share absolutely everything but have a nice friendly relationship. I think some members of the young generation are having trouble finding that balance. Being enmeshed in your coworkers personal lives is actually kind of exhausting and I think a lot of them are learning that.

That’s a different issue that over sharing on tik tok, but I guess related. I also see a lot of people sharing their “hot takes” on SM and then their coworkers complaining that it is offensive.

Agree that workplaces function best when there is professional courtesy and people don’t share everything. If you must share or vent don’t do it with coworkers or at work or on social media. Do it with friends and family who have nothing to do with work.

To be fair, they had to deal with Covid as high school and college kids and now Trumpism and the failing economy. They have a right to complain.