Anonymous wrote:Reading posts on here, and occasionally on Reddit, and it seems like people get anxious and offended more easily and feel justified in making others accommodate their needs in ways that my generation (X) didn’t expect.
Ex’s.
The poster with the waitress teen dd who doesn’t know what to do when boys/men ask for her number. (Not so much that op, but others who claim it’s harassment that the boss needs to fix for her)
(I see lots of this sort of sentiment on Reddit, which I assume trends younger. Everything is harassment, bullying, etc which warrants adult/supervisor intervention)
A law partner colleague who tells me he’s not allowed to mark up a young associate’s work too much, as advised by HR. He says if he marks up their drafts too much, they run to HR.
Thoughts? I want to live in a more careful and kind society, but I think that goes both ways.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I’m old enough to remember when Gen X were considered lazy slackers but now we all walked to school barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways.
lol
I think we were labeled lazy slackers because of the clothes we wore, our music, and lifestyle. Heck, we invented the coffee house lifestyle of killing time drinking coffee—day or night!
Movies like Singles and Reality Bites popularized the slacker label.
But it was an unfair label.
The reality was we were latch key keys who had to sink or swim on our own (or with friends). Overall we were frugal and savvy and more scrappy than subsequent generations because we had to be. We probably experienced more trauma because of our independence (neglect?) yet somehow persevered.
I get this makes you feel good about yourself to think you are describing all Gen X this way, but it's just a bunch of broad stereotypes. I'm gen X, wasn't a latchkey kid. I'm frugal but my sister, also Gen X, is not. I did experience neglect as a kid and I don't think it made me resilient -- I'm resilient in spite if it and would have been better off with loving, supportive parents. This may be your story, but it's not the universal story of Gen X.
And just as the stories people told about us when we were young were unfair, so to are the stories we are telling about young people today.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I’m Gen X and I thought the mantra of my people was, “Whatever.” Nothing bothers me and I let everything roll off my back and easily move on.
Having said that, I seem to be surrounded by a lot of snowflakes who skew negative, look for drama, and simply aren’t resilient. I find these people to be exhausting. Some of these people are Gen X. I guess they didn’t get the message in the 90s. The worst offenders have a bizarre arrogance fueled by an insecurity that compels them to tear others down. Again: they apparently missed the Gen X orientation.
I am also Gen X, and I wish people like you would start to understand how you are part of the problem.
Look, some people are oversensitive, and yes there is this cultural behavior now where some people are just looking for reasons to be offended. That is annoying. But what you are describing is anti-social, disrespectful behavior. "Whatever" and "get over it" is not a productive philosophy in life. It is likely to create conflict, not turn the page on it. It also entirely driven by ego. You think it's "uncool" to have feelings or care about anything, and that you are superior for just not giving a sh!t.
Have some manners. Care about how your actions impact others and make a good faith effort not to be hurtful. If someone takes offense and you really didn't mean to hurt them, just say you are sorry and you didn't realize. Saying your sorry acknowledges that their experience matters and it's not just about you and your intent. Develop communication skills that enable you to talk about feelings. You don't have to get into all this annoying therapy speak that floats around, you don't have to say crap like "hold space" or whatever. Just have some humility and acknowledge other people exist and matter.
I do get driven up the wall with "cancel culture" and this need to create a million new rules for social interaction all the time, but I find the "whatever" ethics of some gen x'ers as bad or worse. It's just rude. There is a middle ground, that's an extreme position that doesn't really help anything.
I don’t think you really understand the Whatever generation.
It’s not about being rude or arrogant. Quite the opposite.
We were the generation that embraced “Live and let live.” We embraced diversity. We were cool with the lgbt community.
We weren’t fancy or needy.
We worked hard and played hard.
We piled into tiny apartments or group houses. We didn’t expect handouts or a free ride.
When we were stressed, we partied or blasted music in our cars or spent hours talking with friends at coffee houses or bars. Nobody could afford therapy, but we really didn’t need it. We had friends. We talked. We socialized.
And we didn’t complain at work. We weren’t strivers either. We knew the deal: work hard if you want to pay the bills so you can play hard.
I find my Gen X friends and colleagues to be the most grounded people with the biggest hearts and most compassion. We didn’t have cell phones or social media…we had friends. I think we had a better grasp on group dynamics: it wasn’t about us as individuals; it was always about our group (at work, friends, etc.).
How old are you pp? Maybe you aren’t from the same Gen X as the rest of us.
Anonymous wrote:Reading posts on here, and occasionally on Reddit, and it seems like people get anxious and offended more easily and feel justified in making others accommodate their needs in ways that my generation (X) didn’t expect.
Ex’s.
The poster with the waitress teen dd who doesn’t know what to do when boys/men ask for her number. (Not so much that op, but others who claim it’s harassment that the boss needs to fix for her)
(I see lots of this sort of sentiment on Reddit, which I assume trends younger. Everything is harassment, bullying, etc which warrants adult/supervisor intervention)
A law partner colleague who tells me he’s not allowed to mark up a young associate’s work too much, as advised by HR. He says if he marks up their drafts too much, they run to HR.
Thoughts? I want to live in a more careful and kind society, but I think that goes both ways.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I’m old enough to remember when Gen X were considered lazy slackers but now we all walked to school barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways.
lol
I think we were labeled lazy slackers because of the clothes we wore, our music, and lifestyle. Heck, we invented the coffee house lifestyle of killing time drinking coffee—day or night!
Movies like Singles and Reality Bites popularized the slacker label.
But it was an unfair label.
The reality was we were latch key keys who had to sink or swim on our own (or with friends). Overall we were frugal and savvy and more scrappy than subsequent generations because we had to be. We probably experienced more trauma because of our independence (neglect?) yet somehow persevered.
I get this makes you feel good about yourself to think you are describing all Gen X this way, but it's just a bunch of broad stereotypes. I'm gen X, wasn't a latchkey kid. I'm frugal but my sister, also Gen X, is not. I did experience neglect as a kid and I don't think it made me resilient -- I'm resilient in spite if it and would have been better off with loving, supportive parents. This may be your story, but it's not the universal story of Gen X.
And just as the stories people told about us when we were young were unfair, so to are the stories we are telling about young people today.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Like always, it's personal and not generational or generalizable. I worked with a young man (maybe late 20s early 30s so a young millennial FWIW) and he was terrible at his job, defensive and then basically a crybaby about the criticism.
Meanwhile others in that same cohort are tough, hard workers and have envious maturity.
The newest / younger hires at our office are all quite emotionally fragile. They all seem to have therapists. Most are still tightly tied to mommy & daddy in unhealthy ways.
Mature is the last thing I would call them.
- and meant to add: they are constantly on their phones.