How did the tail-end of Baby-Boomers produce such dysfunction?

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by tabs

Fint's story is very admirable,

Well, yes, if you believe any of it. But you have to be pretty damn gullible to believe his line of crap.

[Crowbob]

Originally Posted by fintstone

How would I have even known? It is not like we had cablevision or the internet. How would I have paid for it? Leaving a minimum wage job to move to another minimum wage job on the other side of the country was really beyond the ability of most folks.

Somehow people learned about the Alaskan pipeline being built which was designed to kill off the caribou.

[Tervuren]

When it comes to "what is this world coming to posts" - when it comes to violence, not much has changed for millennia.

When it comes to getting things done, yes, we're hitting a big problem.

More distractions, and more doo-hickeys that do jobs we used to do. We've also stepped away from academic principals, and teaching people to learn on their own and be independent.

In the 1930's, we picked up an education system that went mainstream that forced very limited vocabulary, this in turn has resulted in a system where only things written in the basic sight vocabulary are understood. I have to write in a dick & jane style to communicate with people who learned in this manner. Otherwise I get back a message "I can't read what you wrote." Vast stores of knowledge are locked away safely from the sight vocabulary reader.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Well, yes, if you believe any of it. But you have to be pretty damn gullible to believe his line of crap.

I can't help it if you are not quite bright enough to understand anything outside of your limited experience. Read a book sometime.

[Crowbob]

Also, the parents of generation snowflake are to blame. You really, really had to screw up not to prosper just one generation ago.

The landscape is totally different nowadays and the snowflakes are completely unprepared to deal with it.

I have a cousin who prides himself on his success. On the outside he is completely without empathy for the next generation. It's gonna bite him.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Somehow people learned about the Alaskan pipeline being built which was designed to kill off the caribou.

I doubt that anyone would have been able to tell you much about it where I lived....at least not when it was being built.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Also, the parents of generation snowflake are to blame. You really, really had to screw up not to prosper just one generation ago.

The landscape is totally different nowadays and the snowflakes are completely unprepared to deal with it.

I have a cousin who prides himself on his success. On the outside he is completely without empathy for the next generation. It's gonna bite him.

I think there is incredibly more opportunity. The competition is nothing but losers (many that refuse to work at all).

I have little empathy when I see the easy life that youngsters have these days. There are help wanted signs everywhere.

[Crowbob]

True enough, fint. A very well regarded restaurant closed its doors for the summer here due to lack of help. Considering the futility of earning minimum or slightly more than minimum wage for a part-time job is understandable in a sense.

The economics of what is happening present quite a dilemma. Raising restaurant worker's wages raises the cost of a meal and with the extremely competitive restaurant industry environment around here puts the proprietors in a real bind. Apparently it's just not worth it for either party.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

True enough, fint. A very well regarded restaurant closed its doors for the summer here due to lack of help. Considering the futility of earning minimum or slightly more than minimum wage for a part-time job is understandable in a sense.

The economics of what is happening present quite a dilemma. Raising restaurant worker's wages raises the cost of a meal and with the extremely competitive restaurant industry environment around here puts the proprietors in a real bind. Apparently it's just not worth it for either party.

It seems no more futile to me now than when I was working for even less than minimum wage. Of course I had to work to eat and have shelter. Snowflakes cannot grasp that simple concept. Mommy or daddy...or their Uncle Sam will always provide for their basic needs (and cell phones).

[tabs]

Originally Posted by fintstone

It seems no more futile to me now than when I was working for even less than minimum wage. Of course I had to work to eat and have shelter. Snowflakes cannot grasp that simple concept. Mommy or daddy...or their Uncle Sam will always provide for their basic needs (and cell phones).

Mummy & Daddy will get old and die and Uncle is broke. So starvation is in their future.

[fintstone]

Yes, I am afraid of that....or what others have spent a lifetime to earn will be confiscated to feed them.

[cockerpunk]

Originally Posted by fintstone

LOL. I worked full time and two part time jobs when I was getting my engineering degree...plus had a wife and kids to raise (because that was expected of adults back then).

In many places the recession of the '70s was much harsher than the current one as here were really not a lot of these social welfare programs that pay one not to work (and competition for work...so folks could eat...was fierce, even for fast food jobs). There really were no jobs available then (not just jobs that lazy, entitled folks refuse to do today).

When I was 15 and legally able to stop working the fields, sawing wood, etc. for a real job in fast food (much more money as you cannot work the fields off season, after dark, etc)...it paid $1.60 hr and you often worked a lot of hours where you were not paid (cleanup, etc). You also had today for your own uniforms and cleaning out of your check. The employer actually made you dress at work to make sure that you used their cleaning service to ensure you didn't half ass do it yourself of wear a dirty shirt. Other folks that flipped burgers with me were middle age guys with engineering degrees, MBAs, etc...who had families to feed and had become unemployed.

Yes...like some have pointed out...it is the parent's fault to some extent (but also the stupid societal "evolution" that makes each person feel entitled). My own daughter that I love dearly (youngest child) is not too terribly much older than JD or Cocker and although pretty impressive compared to many of her peers...and shows some of the same traits. Contrary to posts like some of the millennials who post here, her opportunities have been exponential to mine at the same age. She is around 30, out of med school for almost 4 years, and is a well respected family practice doctor with no debt and with little or no sacrifice has over $100K in the bank (I think I worked over 5 years before I broke $5K per year). Even so, she is just not "hungry" regarding work, she complains incessantly about her job, long hours, conditions, etc. (all seem fabulous to me). Her university education (outside her specialty) puts her far behind me (even when I graduated High School). Although a genius compared to many peers, she is weak in civics, history, the arts...even in math and science...not to mention current events. She seems lazy and spoiled compared to her parents...although we have always been more frugal and driven than most of our acquaintenances (once I graduated from high school at 17). She constantly takes expensive vacations in exotic locations (but I guess that she can afford them due to her great job) and works as few hours as possible (but many more than her peers). After working four years, she expects similar or better housing, toys, restaurants, etc. than I did after working for 30 years. She is a wonderful daughter... smart, beautiful, athletic, engaging...but, frankly...somewhat a princess. Just like Cocker, but to a lesser extent.

funny, when you ***** and moan about how tough your childhood was, and how hard you had to work, its just accepted.

when i do so, and back it up with literal mathematical facts, im "making excuses for my generation being lazy" simply put, millennials are working harder, for longer, for less pay, all while generating for there employers more wealth than at any other time in human history. these are the mathematical facts of the world we live in.

the facts speak for themselves. the boomers are simply the most selfish generation america has ever seen, and were given everything anyone could want, and the then they ruined it, and blame there kids for wanted what they had. we just want the same things you had, and you chose to destroy for future generations.

[fintstone]

Cocker
You have told us that you have an easy life with a high paying job... Multiple cars and lots of free time to play. What hardships are you talking about?

[JD159]

Originally Posted by fintstone

Cocker
You have told us that you have an easy life with a high paying job... Multiple cars and lots of free time to play. What hardships are you talking about?

Just because someone has an easy life now, doesn't mean they had an easy life in the past.

Flintstone, you have an easy life now, with cars and a home. What hardships do you speak of?

Cocker is talking about millennials in general, just like you do. You think we are all snowflakes, because you walked up hill both ways to school.

Can anybody post some facts as to income, job availability, and the relative purchasing power of minimum wage?

Also, for those who think millennials somehow have it easy, could you find some information regarding house prices and average incomes? In my area, houses have doubled, pay has not, yet people complain about a lack of home ownership.

[fintstone]

How silly...and typically millennial. Obviously one can only compare life at similar ages. Why would you expect...even as a very successful 20 to 30 year old with less than 10 years of work to have as much as someone who has worked almost 45 years and is in their peak earning years?

No, Cocker was very specifically talking about me and himself. Whatever would statistics regarding others have to do with it?

[JD159]

Originally Posted by fintstone

How silly...and typically millennial. Obviously one can only compare life at similar ages. Why would you expect...even as a very successful 20 to 30 year old with less than 10 years of work to have as much as someone who has worked almost 45 years and is in their peak earning years?

No, Cocker was very specifically talking about me and himself. Whatever would statistics regarding others have to do with it?

You claim we are not hard working. I claim that we are. You provide anecdotal support. I can provide my own that contrasts yours. Neither side is objective.

Statistics regarding others would have everything to do with it.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by JD159

You claim we are not hard working. I claim that we are. You provide anecdotal support. I can provide my own that contrasts yours. Neither side is objective.

Statistics regarding others would have everything to do with it.

LOL. You have told us that you had a very easy life in a wealthy enclave. That you don't even work while going to school. You live at home and are largely supported by parents. I really don't see how that compares to folks who worked multiple jobs while going to school, supported themselves and their family, etc..

[JD159]

Originally Posted by fintstone

LOL. You have told us that you had a very easy life in a wealthy enclave. That you don't even work while going to school. You live at home and are largely supported by parents. I really don't see how that compares to folks who worked multiple jobs while going to school, supported themselves and their family, etc..

I don't live in a wealthy enclave....

You don't know me.

But that is not what I'm asking.

Just because one millennial has it easier than another, doesn't mean all millennials have it easy.

Find he stats the say millennials as a generation have it easier.

[JD159]

Flintstone, I also never said I was going to use my personal situation as my anecdotal evidence. I know people who work a lot harder than I do. Unlike many who are ungrateful, I am thankful everyday for how fortunate I am. That my parents worked hard and covered my tuition. Not everyone has that luxury.

I'm not being rude to you. I'm just asking for some statistics to back up your claims that we are so much lazier.

[fintstone]

And I am not being rude to you...just failing to understand how you or Cocker can make the comparison you do. Unlike you, I lived during both periods and have witnessed both. Frankly, I have been amazed at just how easy it was for my kids and their friends.

It is tough to provide statistics that really illustrate the matter because the nation is very different and more homogeneous than when I grew up. Opportunities were largely geographic as noted by Tabs and information is much more available now (as is social welfare). If you lived in an industrial area, you did pretty well. Otherwise, you did not. You can very easily cite how many millennials are out of work...but everywhere I look, there is a "help wanted" sign. Folks can simply choose not to work and still live reasonably well. That was not the case when I was growing up. People in my town would have done almost anything for a minimum wage job (I worked may years before making that much)...and there wasn't a huge social welfare supplement to help pay my bills. Nor were the typical student grants/loans, etc.

I work with and mentor many millennials every day. None work very hard or long. They are the last to arrive and the first to go home. They make almost no attempt to do anything on their own and need constant direction. They require constant reassurance and mentoring...and believe that after a few months, they should be in positions and have salaries that took other generations decades to reach. They complain incessantly...despite being treated like little princes and princesses. Some are doing quite well at work and financially...because they typically only compete with each other...and the pool is quite shallow. They continually delegate work upwards as they just cannot do any task that requires spelling, math or writing skills (much less an attention span of more than 10 minutes). If they show up to work in something besides their pajamas and flip flops...it is considered a great success. The folks of my generation who were so lacking in skills/capability did not go to college...but, performed menial and service jobs. Now they go to college, get a degree is basketweaving and complain because no one will pay them very much...and they have accumulated huge debt living a lifestyle they could not afford for years in college/playtime.

There are indeed exceptions...but they are just that...exceptions.