With the end of the draft, the new Super nanny state , A cradle to the grave free ticket, they have checked out.
They have no pride, no skill, no ambition.

There are some great young kids out there. Working hard.
I see them every day.
I see quite a few lazy old ****ers. Doing nothing.
I see them every day.
:)

I'm not trying to generalize and say that all young people are lazy, and afraid of honest work. There are plenty of young people I work with that have impressed me of their abilities, and attitudes. It just seems (probably with my generation also) that young people don't have the work ethic of older workers YET ! YET means that they might end up figuring it out in a few years and get on the right tract, but here lately (much more so than 30 years ago) the parents and the government both coddle these pansies and enable them to be lazy.

I was once on the other side of this equation. Turned down a job in Chicago. They made every attempt to make me happy. First major decision I ever made based totally on gut feeling. Turned out to be the best decision I've ever made.

Sorry you have to deal with it. Part of your job, right?

LOL. Just LOL.

I was not going to mention that. ;)

I think this is accurate. Obviously there are exception, but each generation that I have observed (including my own) seems a bit more entitled and a bit more ready to blame everyone else for their own shortcomings...and a bit less willing to sacrifice/work hard. Even those born in the early part of a generation seem more so than those born later (for example, early Baby boomers as compared to later ones (born in the late 40's as opposed to late 50's/early 60's). Maybe it is just natural for each generation to expect more for less.

On the bright side, if you are an exception to those in your year group, success is not too hard to come by....because the competition really does not put in similar effort. On the negative side, you will have to help support (through social welfare) those who work less hard and make worse decisions.

Better benefits now, way better

Wow, how many times have we had this thread?

I've gotten fed-up with it to the point that I pretty much won't hire anyone under 35-ish. Legally of course I don't overtly discriminate on age, rather I set the bar for behavior, skills and prior experience in a way that millennials do not meet. I may run the only software company around that's NOT swarming with 20-somethings. Stress levels are down, profits up.

The whole entitled attitude thing is tough for me to grasp. I had my first paying job at 15 and have worked continuously since. Even in college I was working 25-35 hours/week and full-time during summer, and I couldn't wait to get out of school to go do productive work versus worthless throwaway assignments.

Didn't they say the same thing to many of you guys who were hippies, or almost hippies? Some grow up, some didn't. For every 10 young lazy worthless, tatooed, skinny jean wearing whippersnappers, there has to be 5-6 adults that are just as lazy only they have been doing for a long time so they fly under the radar and no one is keeping an eye on them. I know plenty of lazy older people. About 10 years ago, I had this guy who did all my tile setting for me. He wa always btiching how he's poor and do not have enough real work to keep his family going. He always want some kind of aid from the government but never qualified for them due to his pay. I would call and give him a 5-6k job. At times, he would blow me off and just not call back, or he claims he's just worked two weeks and like to have another two so he can enjoy himself before he start on mine. What the fook is that? Not just him, a lot of people are like that. They do enough to get by and not more a finger more.

I don't like what I see in many of these young people neither but hey, someone's gotta to train them to be respectable adults. As selfish as it is, I don't want to do it, not on my dime. I don't normally use or hire people under 30 unless someone knows them. Just watching them hold that phone drive me nuts. They can't put it down.

My experience is a lot like look 171's. There are a couple of people under me who are between 55-60 and I would love to get rid of both. They add zero value, despite one of them having more than 30 years with the company. One at least looks busy at least to the untrained observer, but he ignores doing what he's supposed to in favor of made up busy work and talking endlessly to any second level manager who wanders to close. I could easily train someone to replace either of them, and wish I was able to give someone a chance.

Yet another rant thread: WTF is wrong with 18-25 year-olds
 

I'm not excusing laziness or sloth but I think there's something to be said for someone who's figured out that there's more to life than busting one's ass to make someone else rich all the time. If someone has their priorities straight, they'll enjoy life first and foremost then care enough about their job to be satisfied professionally without killing themselves every day and throwing away time with family, for personal enrichment or enjoyment, etc.

We all have to work (at least those of us who are suckers and / or too proud to become part of the government dependent class; most of us here on this board seem to be "working suckers" like me) and while we do; we should try to do a good job, care about what we do and contribute - but to a point. There are other things in life that are (or should be) way, WAY more important and if it's a priorities-driven decision I can't really fault someone for that (there's a difference between that and someone just being lazy for the sake of being lazy). Life is short and whether one is rich or poor, smart or stupid, we all get the same 24 hours in a day. What sets us apart is how we choose to spend it, and on what.

I've never heard of anyone lamenting having spent too little time at the office on his or her death bed.

Having lived through that era, I would have to say that the number of hippies (just like the number of draft protesters) is/was greatly exaggerated. Mostly because they were odd/unusual enough to be filmed.

They were mostly in the big cities (and the same "protesters" we're bussed around the country to make it look like there were a lot of them. Few folks outside of urban areas ever did or saw either...much less turned on to LSD, joined a commune/cult, grew their hair long (longer than Beatlesque). Most just got minimum wage jobs and began to try to build a life, got drafted, or went to college (or all three). Many married a lot younger and had families to feed. There was little or no social welfare and you really could not borrow money...few could qualify for loans or credit until they were older, had more income and "built credit".

If you put on an old fatigue jacket, made a peace sign and say "peace" and "far out" a lot, you had a better chance of getting laid by the type girl who gets a tramp stamp today (but you were far from a hippie). The women who would have casual sex looked like everyone else back then, so they were hard to identify before they started advertising. Usually one needed a ring and a date to actually hit a home run.

My thought the value of hard work has slipped in general.
Im a boomer --our parents thought we were lazy and unprincipled -- very very familiar eh?

Times change -people seem to stay in their own eras or change slowly. A lot of this thread is dangerously close to sounding like the old --old things were better in the olden days kind of old folks commentary.

You know cars were faster back then sort of commentary ----- wait they weren't?

^^^^^^Well some of us are experienced , not old.
This is how I see it.
Most of us grew up on the farm. At a very young age we did our share. That was every morn B4 school and after.
OH I want money?
We sold Cheerfull card company cards in twn door to door, mowed lawns, shoveled snow off roofs.
Every sat after the barn was done we would go to twn with shovels, door to door and ask the people if the roof needed shoveled?
Do you ever see kids doing that anymore? NO. (someone would get sued)
We sold Grit News paper.
How did we get a round? Bicycle ! No Suburban with mom driving .
Yes it may be a romantic look back, but i think we had a better work ethic. I know we did.
Latter in life ( after I joined the Army ) I became self employed. I think hard work makes one ambitious , self reliant.
We have a double generation of people that have not ever got up at 4 Am to go to work, never thought of it, or military Service.
A self serving bunch.
Just my opinion.

I think the problem is this generation needs to be constantly entertained (for lack of a better word). I don't know if that makes sense but it seems to me they get bored with what they are doing and just move on. When I was in my early teens I was told by my parents if you start something you have to see it through. Today it seems if they start something and don't like it or get bored with it, they just quit.

That sounds like a management problem.

Keep your people motivated and engaged. If that means "entertained" sometimes, fine.

Best thread I have read for ages. "When I was a boy I worked three shifts down the coal mine for 10 cents an hour 8 days a week. I walked to work uphill both ways in the driving snow. Came home and dinner was a chance to suck on a wet rag and 12 of us slept to a bed. And we were the lucky ones. Young people these days don't know they are born" Geez, you lot sound like that Monty Python sketch of the Four Yorkshiremen.

Every generation moans on about "kids these days" but trust me, most will grow up to be productive members of society and keep you grumpy old men in medicare and benefits. Of course some will fall by the wayside but every generation also has those too.

Don't forget that your generation raised these kids (of course yours are awesome) so maybe you should have a think about that. Maybe you should be celebrating the fact that these young people picked up arms and volunteered (not drafted) to go and defend this country. Maybe you should celebrate the fact that these young people are filling colleges and universities to better educates themselves. Of course many are forced to do this as they cannot get the traditional jobs you old guy started out in because corporate America only wants experienced workers these days. Kinda hard to get experience when you don't have any....

Right now retirement homes all over this country are full of the Silent generation *****ing about you Boomers and what they think you have done to the country they fought to defend. Trust me, the 18-25 years olds did not make the laws and political landscape that they live in. Your generation did.

I think some of the responses of the "younger" folks speaking with such authority about things before they were born and excusing their generation's inability to get and hold a job is rather indicative of what was desribed here. I hate to break it to you, but for good jobs, employers wanted to hire experienced folks back in the dark ages too. That is why many of us worked very hard for a long time at crap jobs. To gain the necessary experience and still eat now and then.

Yes, a 25 year old has already had the opportunity to vote in two presidential elections and countless local ones. They are not blameless for the current economy. In general, they voted for the ones who promised them more of other people's money...just like a lot of other people.

A few years back, my 21 YO daughter was complaining about having no jobs available, and that no one was hiring. I remember reading in the paper and hearing it on the news, that at the time, it was the worst recession since 1983.....(Wait, that's the year I graduated from high school and was looking for a job that didn't exist.)

I don't really blame the younger crowd for thier "learned" habits. The parents who are my age are the screwups, and a 2 income household is neccesary to keep it going so they don't have time at home like my Mom did.

My kids are both excelling at school/college, and also both have jobs that demand alot of thier time. We were hard on them to do farm chores, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Yep...have less than 2 years experience? Always been hard...

Yep...'83 :eek:. The year I graduated from college with nearly straight A's in Computer Science. Beat the pavement DAILY for 6 months before landing a job doing research for IBM at RTP, NC (for 10% of what I made later in my career). A buddy from Duke (Computer Science also) couldn't find one in our field....framed houses for a while....Ah...the good ol' daze :D.

Started working when I was 12 (mowing lawns, etc)....and I know a LOT of great 20 somethings who are simply kicking butts today and have my utmost respect....yep, same as it ever was ;)

Yep flipped burgers next to an MS in Chemistry in the mid '70s for $1.60 hr (less than min wage). Worked in the fields before that. Started at .10 hr and worked up to $2.00 eventually. No lunch, no breaks except for water which they brought to you when they thought you needed some. The cushy corporate world that baby boomers were born into wasn't quite what some seem to think it was. Now, apparently, "Americans just will not do that type work".
On the other hand, there was plenty of incentive to work back then. Liking to eat now and then was one. Wanting a phone, electricity, etc were also goals for most.

Living at home with the folks was not a status symbol either.....LOL

As an aside my wife just turned 50 and is looking for a job... seriously!
Looking for an office/receptionist job (Has BS in Business)