Gen Z really are the hardest to work with—even managers of their own generation say they’re difficult.

Congratulations, OP. You've won the weekly DL Get Off My Lawn Prize

- Worldwide housing shortages, unaffordable apartments, virtually no inventory left

- A climate crisis of which the effects are becoming more threatening and immediate with each passing year

- Skyrocketing costs of living vs wages that remained relatively stagnant

- AI that is about to take over 30% if not more of the office jobs

God, why don’t they want to give it their all?! Those lazy, entitled Gen-Z slackers!

They truly are terrible at the moment. But they're also at an age where you shouldn't be expecting great, tremendous things from them.

Every generation is called lazy and entitled when they enter the workforce. Maybe it has less to do with generation and more to do with being in your 20s.

R4 and its always the previous generation who just got hazed who are the nastiest to the newcomers

Boomers are all over 60 now so why would anyone employ them?

What a horrible judgment on Gen Z when even Gen X is preferable

Zoomers really take the cake. They’re conformists and are cutting off their body parts. No other generation did this. No other generation was demanding safe spaces and finger snapping instead of clapping because it was triggering. Thank god Millennials are the biggest generation. We’re going to be relying on them in the future. Zoomers are going to need constant care. No wonder why they’re so pro-communism. Something for nothing and group think because it’s easier to just be told what to do.

I'm just loving how difficult Gen Z is being!

It's like they've taken all the worst traits of millennials and multiplied them to the 10th power!

Funny how cohorts who were pronatalists in their youth turn into misanthropes in their old age. Birthing generations of people just to hate and deprive them of things is monumentally sad work. One saving grace is the lowering birth rate, so that we can prevent suffering into the future.

Gen Z finally figured it out

No company or job-management is gong to give a shit about you - they'll lay you off in a second to appease shareholders or some algorithm. They'll add to your work load and expect 24/7 email and text availability without offering any more money or even your approval.

Gen Z watched previous generations get screwed over by the corporate america they toiled for -- so they're not gonna be slaves-to-the-grind like we all were. GOOD FOR THEM

R11 Oh please. The Occupy Wall Street millennials figured all that out before them. And look at them now?

I wonder if it's because there's so many choices for them. Employees in the past needed that job and were fearful of being fired. That's a Big incentive to tow the line. ALSO, Gen Z tend not to have anyone to support, whereas Baby Boomers had young families. And, families were bigger, with more kids, and getting out of the house at 18, meant your own space...nowadays it means a huge drop in living quarters. So, living at home is a big safety net if ur fired or want to walk away from a job to get another or take time out. Maybe it's these factors that are just making them care less about losing a job. Fear kept previous generations in line.

The older Millennials worked harder than the younger ones. There is some overlap between late millennials and Gen Z.

[quote]Every generation is called lazy and entitled when they enter the workforce. Maybe it has less to do with generation and more to do with being in your 20s.

Uh, why didn't someone tell me that when I 1) went into the Army at 18, and 2) went to work at 22 at a meat-packing plant cutting meat with a band saw, a very dangerous job I had for two years?

I can't imagine saying a job looks like too much work.

[quote]God, why don’t they want to give it their all?! Those lazy, entitled Gen-Z slackers!

Dutchie / R2, 99% of the time I agree with you but it is the very essence of entitlement, masquerading as resentment or defeatism. Yes, the economy and the guarantees are in a state of flux and it sucks, but, welcome to life, which not infrequently delivers demands and requirements and challenges and failed expectations because not infrequently life sucks. You either get in there and do your best or sit on the side not giving it your all. Every child may deserve a prize but not every child is gonna get one and it's been that was since God was boy.

R2 I'm sorry, but are Zoomers the only ones having to deal with those issues?

Millennials graduated college right at the start of one of the hardest hitting American recessions and housing crises and had to find jobs where there were none. We didn't have the privilege of deciding we were too good for whatever was available. We were the ones who created all the social media platforms that they lay around crying to all day to. And we didn't endlessly bitch and moan about older generations like they did. We actually tried to learn from them and respected the contributions they made politically and culturally. Yes, we protested the war and we protested Wall Street like young people should. But then we got out shit together and became contributing members of society. The oldest zoomers are in their late 20's, and I'm not seeing ANY sign that they're planning to leave the nest.

^*crying all day to

Gen Zers think that they control the hiring process., then complain that there are no jobs for them.

R17 R18 I understand your points of view, but: Whatever past generations had to deal with, and how they did or didn't deal with it, is simply not relevant to the next generation.

Your sacrifices, your putting up with shit, and your rites of passage do not form an emotional blueprint for those who come after you.

Right, Dutchie, but the basic rules of building your life don't change. So they're going to be whining on the side lines to little effect.

I am not so sure whether their protestations will yield little effect, R22. We'll know in about five years, I think, when the oldest Gen-Z's are in their early 30s.

Now that I've looked at the article at R20, I completely agree.

I do believe that a lot of sham job postings ask for inordinately difficult/ridiculous things from a candidate because they have something that needs done and they don't want to pay someone to do it. No one will get hired for those positions anyway.

OTOH, when I've seen ads like that, I simply didn't apply for the position. If that's what they expect you to do for [italic]free[/italic], imagine how hard they'll work you when they're paying you!

Read job advertisements very carefully.

They’re radioactive

R22 Basic rules of building your life?

Oh please.

as a millenial supremacist i couldn't agree more

R26, yeah. Work, save, set goals, you know... .some framework for self-respect and accomplishment.

Actually, you may not know.

The problem with that concept is: These days, you can save all you want and still not be able to afford an apartment, let alone a house — if there's anything available in the first place.

That is simply not true. Housing sells all the time.

R30 yeah to investment firms who pay over list price and CASH.

I'm early Gen X but I support the Zoomers. I had a high-skilled white collar job for decades and watched the most talented, hardest working people get fucked over again and again while talentless phonies and ass-lickers rose to the top and HR cunts became drunk with power. I scrimped and saved to retire early, and now all that money is dissolving by the day with inflation. I don't know whether it'll last me ten years, let alone for the rest of my life.

Maybe the Zoomers have realized it's a shell game. Your employer doesn't give two shits about anything except money and will fuck you over as soon as look at you. So why not return the favor?

My Gen Z intern shows up to work before I do, and stays later than I do. He’s always looking for more to do.

Granted, he’s Asian…

[quote]These days, you can save all you want and still not be able to afford an apartment, let alone a house — if there's anything available in the first place.

There are affordable homes ALL over America, just not where there are hot craft cocktail bars and lots of Door Dash options, give me a fucking break, Dutchie!

Gen Zers are so demoralized about the planet while living at home for free all those years playing video games? Oh, the ennui!

Funny, that being involved and voting in every election would be the biggest single easy action Gen Z could take to help address every one of these issues, yet is the one thing Gen Zers REFUSE TO DO! VOTE!

R34 where housing is (very) affordable, good jobs tend to be hard to find.

[quote] You either get in there and do your best or sit on the side not giving it your all.

And when the layoffs start, both are treated the same. Notice how you always get these stories about how awful Gen Z are to work with (almost always written based on what managers say) and yet you rarely see stories about Gen Z being fired at higher rates?

r34 "Just live where no-one wants to live, where they are no jobs, and vote for people who don't represent the ideas you want". Oh, and if voting changes things, are you just admitting that your generation and all preceding generations just voted for the wrong guys? But if Gen Z doesn't fix all the mistakes you made, somehow they're the failures?

[quote] I can't imagine saying a job looks like too much work.

Naw, I can relate to that. I’m Gen X and I remember working retail as a 20 something. I was expected to sell 100$ worth of clothing an hour (the equivalent of by the end of my shift) for 7.35 an hour. No commission. I thought what bullshit that was. Not to mention the clothing was cheap crappy shit. Then at the end of the shift you’re supposed to clean the toilets and bullshit line that. I resented it and didn’t make it to 6 months. But that was every retail job.

Why would anyone even ask the question about hiring a Baby Boomer? We're too goddamn old, dammit! (And no, I don't agree that Boomers stretch to 1964, FGS. If you didn't know JFK OR the Beatles....!).

Maybe the Zeds (Ya like that? I just coined it.) have all read "Bartleby the Scrivener."

[Quote] Perhaps surpringly, baby boomers—who have been caught in their fair share of criticism too for not being in touch with today’s workers after buying McMansions in the suburbs on one wage and then refusing to retire—were voted as the easiest to manage.

How out of touch of them! Not quitting so a total stranger can take their job? How horribly selfish!

Waaaah!

I have never held a job, but I deserve to be a homeowner in a swanky hot area with high-paying jobs and hot nightlife! Waaaaah!

Yeah, tell us all about it....

[Quote] God, why don’t they want to give it their all?! Those lazy, entitled Gen-Z slackers!

Give us a break. Are you seriously suggesting that’s why they have no work ethic?

I joined the job market in the 80s, when the threat of nuclear annihilation was never higher. We didn’t use that as a catch-all for doing nothing and expecting to get paid for it.

The actual reason is, the digital age has made everything so easy, entertaining and available, they don’t know how to apply themselves to difficult tasks and can’t tear themselves away from their phones.

That is a good point r41. Their brains are wired differently.

r40 No-one is actually saying that though.

What is it with people who are just totally unwilling to look objectively at the data and admit younger people are fucked in comparison to the chances older people had? What, you always have to be the victim or something?

r41 No, it's because they know the system is very clearly rigged against them

Nobody is entitled the labor (or even the attention) of another person. Kudos to people who are standing up and making important decisions in this disgusting world of diminishing returns.

What did they think was going to happen to the children of the Helicopter Parent generation?

Yeah, r43, it's all rigged!

Where have I heard that?

[Quote] [R41] No, it's because they know the system is very clearly rigged against them

That’s nonsense. As I just said, we could easily have said “old people are going to annihilate our future” in the 80s as well.

And “the system” certainly isn’t “rigged” against Gen z in the workplace. They are a very small generation — Gen X did not have a lot of kids. So they’re greatly sought after, despite being lazy and essentially useless as workers.

The article is paywalled, so I didn't read it.

Gen Z refuses to be exploited by corporations. They don't take abuse; they'll quit and find another job. They'll stay 8 hours a day, and no more. Their job ends for the day. They won't work off the clock; they won't give their labor to employers who won't pay them properly. They believe in a life/work balance. Their jobs aren't their lives. They work to live, but not live to work. Employers expect loyalty, but refuse to give it in return. They won't be slaves.

By the way, I'm 61. I've seen so much employer abuse over the many years. Earlier generations (Boomers, Gen X) have been continually exploited.

r47 and r48 studiously ignore every scrap of data related to housing costs, wage growth (or lack thereof), cost of living, etc

r50, your experience isn't mine. Why are you so knowing of other eras you didn't live through?

When I started out all young students and workers were always broke, had low-paying entry jobs, shared apartments, cooked at home, and most had NO health insurance. There were EXACTLY ZERO apartments and homes in the newspaper listings I could afford. NONE. This has always been the case with entry level young people. How can I get it through your skull that somehow it was not all easy, with plentiful jobs, apartments and options! It was always VERY CHALLENGING because pay was also much LOWER! My first two years in NYC I didn't have a tv, or my own phone. I shared my first apartment with three other people.

People today start out with cushier, higher standards of comfort, and many have never struggled for anything. Your issue clearly is that anything resembling a meritocracy is repellant to you, because education, hard work, and any level of sacrifice is abhorrent to you, because it disallows your excuses and your SPECIALNESS.

Not everything is easy starting out, and yes, the current environment (with low interest rates and under 4% unemployment) has its challenges, but millions of ordinary people find a path to improve their lives, mainly through education and hard work. Most do not pander in the "poor me-isms" you are investing so heavily in.

The kids that were born after the late 60s were basically treated like precious flowers. Don’t ever correct them, don’t disapprove, don’t deny them anything. It’s gotten worse as the decades have passed, not better.

The result has been very bad for the workforce. Younger Gen Xs and millennials and Gen Xs basically feel entitled to salaries and promotions just because they exist, because that’s how they were treated as kids.

^^^ and Gen Zs

Gen X. Hard work was a given. Nobody handed you much. If you wanted something, you had to earn the dough to get it. EVERYBODY was working hard so you didn't question the situation. I was delivering newspapers, cutting grass, pumping gas, hustling flea markets by the time I was 13 and have never stopped.

Working my balls off, that it.

R54 That sounds boring.

Also, it was pretty standard to expect to be pushed out the door when you were 18 or so, or you'd better be contributing money to the household if you were going to be hanging out before entering the military or college, or getting married and starting your own household.

We were happier and better adjusted, R56, and that's the truth.

R58 No you weren’t. Gen X was fucked up. Abusive parents, alcoholism, drugs. The 80s and 90s were pits of crime and drugs.

You’re only speaking for yourself as a bubbled individual.

This is one more reason I'm so happy I've been retired since 2007. I was out of the game before the generation useless layabouts came into the workforce.

You just reminded me, R51, of my first apartment. It was in the basement of a larger apartment building. It had industrial carpeting, and a drain in the middle of the living room. It was literally beside a river that flooded every 4-5 years, and it was dark and damp. I paid $235/month + utilities of my $9000/year salary (yes, for a FT desk job). And I walked a mile and a half to work in the morning no matter the weather, because I couldn't afford to park near my office.

I was 28, and had just gotten out of a nasty 5 year relationship with the woman whose higher salary enabled me to leave home in the first place; that's why this was my first on-my-own apartment.

I spent two years living there. I coughed a lot and it cost a mint to heat the place in the winter.

Then I moved in with my-ex-the-cop when I was 30. Two years later, my old apartment got flooded (again). I'm so glad I wasn't living there then.

Yeah, we "late Boomers" had it soooo easy!

Wrong again, R59. Even kids from the most fucked up family's had a network of friends. People actually hung out and supported each other, regardless. We had coping skills. We were all in it together -- like the kids in the earlier generations who weren't sheltered in an actual bubble.

Population wasn't even 4B at the start of Vietnam; now it's more than twice that. There are tons of new middle class people in previously developing countries. It's not really sustainable with Western-style brutal capitalism which requires continually low cost labor and continual growth at any cost. There's no space for everybody to win in this hypercapitalist world unfortunately. Lots of people need to lose for the winners of R51's perfect meritocracy to get their 'just' rewards. It's going to be messy. Capitalists/natalists/optimists always say stuff like life is worth living just for the "gift" of life and everybody should at least try, because they're speaking from survivorship bias. Lol good luck with that BS.

families*

Just as an FYI to those who weren't there but nonetheless think it was all gravy, Vietnam notwithstanding.

This was the cover of TIME in May of 1971, the year I graduated from college:

[quote]your experience isn't mine

Thank you for proving my point, r51, in that you prefer to rely on personal stories instead of data. And then, of course, you back it up with strawman bullshit that young people are demanding jobs that pay a fortune and mansions they can rent for a pittance. And then topped off with the cherry of 'companies reward hard workers'. Ha.

And if it was so expensive to live in New York back then, why didn't you take the advice you dished out in r34 and move to where the housing was cheaper?

Here's a little test for you. Whatever job you were doing back then (if it still exists), look up how much it pays now (also, look up the job requirements and see if young you would still have been able to get that job). Then look up how much it would cost to rent a room in the same location in NYC where you lived back then. Then look up the cost of the various bills.

And again in the mid-eighties, R65, if you were from any of a number of "rust-belt" cities. Except for a scare in 2008, things have been relatively great for many years in the US, economically. A lot of people don't understand what real crisis looks like, let alone a crisis that drags on for years.

The devil is in the details, R66. The same computers we keep pressed to our chests and stare into endlessly are the same thousand-tentacled beasts reaching into our wallets. In a word, algorithms. They are the new slavemasters. Technology has made it possible to threaten your ability to make a decent living. Put the blame where it belongs. On the one hand we have You Tube and TikTok, on the other, parasitic software and a ubiquity of little monsters eating us alive.

[Quote] [R47] and [R48] studiously ignore every scrap of data related to housing costs, wage growth (or lack thereof), cost of living, etc

R50 studiously ignores that all of those factors apply to everyone, not just Gen z, and also ignore that that doesn’t explain why Gen z workers are unwilling to apply themselves and are only willing to work on things that take little effort.

R61 You do know that your one single personal experience can't be extrapolated to speak for a generation who grew up in unprecedented prosperity and stability. For a senior lesbian you sure seem to lack wisdom and empathy.

r69 Yes, everyone's struggling, I never said they weren't. But this thread is about Gen Z, who have especially been fucked over and the data shows that. And they're the ones freshly starting out in the workplace, so have not been able to establish a foothold, unlike other generations. Christ, we're in an age where managers are putting "staff needed" signs in windows, but not actually hiring new staff just so they can make the existing staff work harder.

They're also the first - though they shouldn't have been - to see just how the entire system is utterly unfair and against them, and apparently the first to have some self-worth and refuse to be exploited. And seemingly the first to realise that you can work hard and give corporations free labour, or work to rule, and it won't make a difference when the CEO decides he wants a share price bump and institutes layoffs.

But keep coming up with excuses to avoid looking at the data, the evidence and the facts.

[quote] Gen Z refuses to be exploited by corporations. They don't take abuse; they'll quit and find another job. They'll stay 8 hours a day, and no more. Their job ends for the day. They won't work off the clock; they won't give their labor to employers who won't pay them properly. They believe in a life/work balance. Their jobs aren't their lives. They work to live, but not live to work. Employers expect loyalty, but refuse to give it in return. They won't be slaves.

They also don't pay their own bills because their Gen X mommies and daddies do. They are college-educated adults who live at home and refuse to work. The parents subsidize their lazy lives and probably sweat about their rapidly dwindling retirement accounts. Oh well.

r72 Such heavy reliance on strawmen makes you look like an idiot.

For those who (viciously) try to argue that “everyone has to work to get what they want” — your sentiment may be valid, but conditions have changed beyond the point of a fair comparison.

This graph illustrates the UK situation, but you can find similar ones for the US, Netherlands, France, Germany, Canada, etc.

Gen Z employees have caused me fewer problems than passive-aggressive, sneaky Boomers (and some Gen X).

[quote]I joined the job market in the 80s, when the threat of nuclear annihilation was never higher. We didn’t use that as a catch-all for doing nothing and expecting to get paid for it.

So did I, but I could afford my crappy apartment then while working just 1 job. My employer eventually fired half the workforce and replaced them with people making 4$ less per hour, and without the benefits that were a given for most full-timers then. Employers now want their slave labor to do the jobs of 2 or 3 people for the salary of one, or offer part-time positions for 39 hours so employees don't qualify for full-time perks and benefits, then wonder why Gen Z doesn't bother jumping through their hoops.

Viciously?

Mary!

They’re just so god damned lazy. Even when you cater to them as much as possible it’s never enough. They are always fucking up. They oversleep routinely, half ass everything and seem to have not even the most basic memory. There are exceptions but not many.

If a generation is willing blithely to quit a job and acquire another one for "work-life balance," then ipso facto jobs must not be difficult for said generation to find.

[quote] Millennials graduated college right at the start of one of the hardest hitting American recessions and housing crises and had to find jobs where there were none.

They have our sympathy

I don't understand why they're constantly having mental health crises. We've never seen a group of people this mentally fragile in the workplace before.

Yeah we have a group of them at my work who are always going on leave for mental health issues. And they are not people with a lot of pressure in their lives. They barely do anything when they’re feeling well.

[quote] However, being easy to work with isn’t making the oldest generation of workers any more hirable: In fact, baby boomers are the last people employers expect to hire right now.

This, right here, why every single person in corporate America is completely full of shit. This is why I NEVER believe the slightest thing any PR person or any HR person or any corporate spokeswhore says about this or any other issue. When it comes right down to it, nobody gives a flying fuck about anything other than: hire the cheapest person, and that very much includes the one who will have the cheapest medical expenses and won't fuck with your insurance rates.

Everything else is just fuckery and nonsense. And at least half of work isn't really work, it's just dicking around and pretending and being in some sense under control. Of course they can tolerate a lot of stupid nonsense from Gen Z because most of "work" in the corporate sector is just bullshit to begin with.

Unlike previous generations, the Zoomers completely lack coping skills. Some (most?) will never figure it out and will be mooching off of their parents to some degree for the rest of their lives. That's what it is -- a generation of lazy yet entitled moochers.

[Quote] But keep coming up with excuses to avoid looking at the data, the evidence and the facts.

Oh am I the one doing that? Fascinating projection on your part. What you said was such soft and unproven comments as “they’re just starting out in the workforce” (no kidding, but proving … what?), and they’re especially fucked over (MARY!).

Meanwhile, what did the article in OP say, for fucks sake? Big companies and recruiting agencies have plans to hire more Zs than any other generation. HOLD ME DAVID THEYRE SO VERY FUCKED!!

There’s also the simple fact that they’re the smallest generation in decades, so they’ll have many more jobs available per person.

But yes, I’M the one “making excuses.”

[Quote] the Zoomers completely lack coping skills.

A simple product of the fact that they haven’t had to cope.

I am a millenial (33 years old) - my workplace is now hiring lots more Zoomers.

One thing I would give them credit for is that most are eager to try new things. They do not want to do the same thing all day, every day. By contrast getting a Boomer to do something new at work or outside of the typical routine is to put them on a warpath with you.

However, many do have a kind of deer in the headlights demeanor. They need constant supervision and seem to lack common sense on basic things. Sometimes I wonder if they started the place on fire if they would even notice or react.

I work in a blue collar (non-service related field) so my impressions are different from those who work in cubicles and offices.

r85 Getting a job hardly matters if it doesn't pay enough to cover rent, bills and costs. Which you'd know if you bothered to look at the data. But apparently you consider that some kind of bizarre alien task. Which says it all, really. As does your ridiculously hysterical reaction.

r87 "New employees require supervision". Shocking.

[quote]Getting a job hardly matters if it doesn't pay enough to cover rent, bills and costs.

Yes, we know, R88 -- that's why a lot of us oldsters, starting out, had roommates and/or partners with which to share expenses, and lived in somewhat less than ideal quarters.

Suck it up, buttercup.

that's also why I tried my hardest to impress so I could eventually quit the terrible job I had and get a better one

Don't be so vicious.

r89 is once again relying on the idiotic strawman that Gen Z are demanding to live alone, blah blah. The fact you resort to such ridiculous comments just shows you have nothing serious or worthwhile to say.

The cost of living is ridiculous, rents are sky high, forget about buying a house. Wages haven't kept up. Student loans are thousands and thousands of dollars. I can't blame Gen Zers for still living with their parents, many would like to have a place of their own but it's simply unaffordable.

[quote]the idiotic strawman that Gen Z are demanding to live alone

Obviously not, because many are living with their parents.

If you're going to W&W your own posts, at least wait a while. Doing so within 30 seconds of posting is an instant giveaway.

Didn't Biden just wipe out student loan obligations for these whiners?! -- they who will now NEVER meet an obligation or responsibility for the rest of their moocher lives.

Student loan forgiveness didn't get passed. And it was only a limited amount of forgiveness on the table, not anywhere near the total cost.

r96 is a perfect example how a low/no information poster. Most of the student debt relief programs exclude Gen Z because of time requirements. But instead of taking just a moment to do a tiny bit of research, this idiot decides to just pretend it's only Gen Z benefiting.

I stand corrected!

Hmmm. Not yet for Zoomers?

[quote] baby boomers—who have been caught in their fair share of criticism too for not being in touch with today’s workers after buying McMansions in the suburbs on one wage and then refusing to retire

Hi, Boris.

Boris, you forgot to bitch about HOAs in the suburbs full of one-salary McMansions.

Fuck off r101. Look under your bed, maybe Boris is hiding there.

Vhat is “McMansion”?

Like Kremlin, comrade, but better neighbors.

More Gen Z bashing from the eldergays

Look at some Exit Polls for Prop 8 and other anti-gay ballot initiative and see who voted for that shit and who voted against it. It's old farts pushing anti-LGBT shit and propping up the GOP

r106 It's like when they bitch about Millennials and participation trophies - yeah, who were the ones handing those out? Boomers are bitching about the world they created, the world they continue to control and trying to blame twenty year olds for all of it.

Who do they think RAISED these Millennials and turned them into such troubled young adults? It's not our fault our parents read too many fucking new-age parenting books, made play-dates, and enrolled us in glass-blowing classes before Kindergarten.

We survived those asshole parents, then graduated into the Great Recession, then had to take on mountains of debt just to get weak-sauce bachelors degrees, then watched our system be utterly rat-fucked by Amazon, Walmart, and Donald Cocksucking Trump. We know we'll never own a home, or have a pension, or collect Social Security, or afford to have one parent stay home with kids.

The Boomers, even the poor ones, inherited EVERYTHING. No generation before or since had it as easy as they did. And look at the wasteland they've left for the rest of us. But somehow WE are what's wrong with America? We just fucking got here, and you people already wrecked it.

Well, their parents came home from World War II

and had a lot of sex and had a lot of kids

and kids grew up in a prosperous time

where America was the only Super Power left.

Then they played all the music and did all the drugs

and had all the sex and they all went to college

and got all the jobs and made all the money

and bought all the houses and they won’t ever DIE.

They’re the BOOMERS!

Remember that Boomers are also the parents of many Gen Xers too.

no, not many, most of us have silent generation parents. my mom was the same age as biden. my father was the same age as GHW Bush

I was born in '76 and nearly everybody I went to school with had Boomer parents. The younger Xers (Born early 70s - late 70s) are the "forgotten" Xers 😂

Has there ever been a new Gen that the previous one thought was better than they are?

Boomers in particular come in many flavors and it's telling that the usual definition actually refers to the small set of upper middle class Boomers.

Broadly, you had one group that served in Vietnam, got married while still in their early 20s, were never hippies, settled down in blue collar jobs and are now the grandparents of adults.

You had another, smaller group, albeit the one that everyone focuses on, that were hippies and went to college in the 60s, were young singles in the 70s, yuppies in the 80s, helicopter parents in the 90s and in 2021 are the grandparents of toddlers.

Why the fuck did they choose a photo in which the supervisor looks like a Gen X.

Gen Xers seem way more muted about the hothouse flower young adult antics of Gen Z than the Boomers were about Millennials.

I think it’s primarily because Gen Xers worry that their now adult children will sort of be drowned out by the much larger generational cohort that precedes them (like their own experience with the Boomers) and also because Gen Xers are still really hung up on being “cool” and acknowledging the fact that they over-parented their kids even more than the Boomers did is a bitter pill for them to swallow.

The REASON I'm so LAZY at work is because the MEDIAN price of a house is too high!

r117 misses the point entirely, no doubt deliberately. There's a difference between being lazy and working to rule. If it were just laziness, you'd see stories about so many Gen Zers being fired. There is no virtue in giving a corporation free labour.

Isn't the youngest generation in the workforce always the one that's least mature and hardest to work with?

Boomers done all the bad things. Boomers got GI bill after WW2 - where they dropped the atom bomb - and built suburbia. They bought McMansions on one wage (though they say “one salary” in the US) and raised 2.5 children. They had TWO cars - a new one for dad and a slightly station wagon for mom. They worked in factories and dad bought a new car every 3 years. They went on vacations to Disneyland and the Grand Canyon. They played ball in the backyard with their sons while their daughters played with hula hoops. They went to church and prayed on VE Day. They used cash for everything and saved green stamps. They invented cancer. They poisoned us all with lead. The6 wrote Jim Crow laws and redlined housing developments. They got us into Vietnam and assassinated JFK.

I’ll never forgive them.

They called their daughter “Princess” and “Kitten.”

[quote] The6 wrote Jim Crow laws and redlined housing developments.

They got rid of Jim Crow laws and ended redlining housing developments.

R117 tries to be obtuse, but she actually hits the nail on the head: If there's no reward in sight, why bother?

R120, I think you may be expanding the Boomer generation and blaming them for more then they deserve. Boomers are generally those born between 1948 and 1964. They did not fight in WWI, drop the Atom Bomb or come back from the War to the GI Bill. That was the Boomer's parents. Most have not had one salary living. They didn't get us into Vietnam or write Jim Crow laws. Lee Harvey Oswald was born in 1939. You don't know what Boomers are or when things happened? Total fail.

[quote]The Boomers, even the poor ones, inherited EVERYTHING.

R108? Both my parents are quite [bold]alive[/bold], thank you very much.

My father, 89, lives in a tiny and decrepit trailer in a 55+ park with his partner. They are so deeply in debt they have nothing to leave to anyone, although they do have a stack of credit cards two inches deep. They love it there and will end up going out in boxes.

My mother is in assisted living, quickly working her way, at the tune of $4000/month, through the 200K she got when she sold her house; my sister and I are hoping she'll be able to die there before the money runs out. In case you can't do the math, that will be in about four years, providing they don't raise the rates again. She's 84, and it looks like she'll outlive her money.

Now, tell me again about all the money I'm going to inherit.

[quote] [R120], I think you may be expanding the Boomer generation and blaming them for more then they deserve

Ya think?,

[quote] My mother is in assisted living, quickly working her way, at the tune of $4000/month, through the 200K she got when she sold her house;

We put my MIL’s house in a trust a few years back. She lives in her house with 24 hour nurses aides paid for by the very small amount of money she had in the bank - $30,000 - while my husband made out the forms for Medicaid once her money was all used up. So we used up all her money paying nurses aides to live with her 24/7 and when it ran out we got her on Medicaid. So she lives in her house with home health aides. She’s almost 100 years old. She just keeps going.

[quote]Boomers done all the bad things. Boomers got GI bill after WW2 - where they dropped the atom bomb - and built suburbia.

Nope. The Boomers’ parents did all of that.

R12& That poster is an idiot. Even the oldest Boomers would have been small children when that bomb was dropped.

R128

The sarcasm isn’t landing - pointing out that bad things people accuse boomers of (racism, suburban sprawl) and the good things people claim boomers had (home and two cars on one salary, mom at home all day) were actually things that boomers’ parents did/had.

If they’re not useful as labor, they should be slopped as cattle and butchered for food. 🍱

I got the joke, R131. Well done.

[quote]Even the oldest Boomers would have been small children when that bomb was dropped.

The entire Baby Boom generation was born AFTER THE WAR. The oldest ones were born in 1946.

Boomers and Zoomers in a workplace together. The mind reels. Bengay and Juicy Fruit mingling in the same air.

I think like all things Gen Z have their pros and cons. I will say this amongst my staff Gen Z is more courteous and open minded even the two little Trumpsters on my team. They respect people’s pronouns without cynicism and will go out of their way not to appear racist. Again even the Trumpsters. I think that is a good thing. Some of it could be that they are new to the work force but they are less backstabbing than my generation. I’m in a supervisory position so I know what’s going on. They don’t throw people under the bus as much and I remember being worst amongst my peers when I wa an my 20s and some of my fellow millenials and Gen Z are still doing it. For all that’s said about the Konya culture of liberalism and it seems to have had a positive affect on this newest generation of working age. I actually feel like older millenials are more sociopathic than Gen Z AND Gen X. Maybe all the coke floating around in the 80s fucked up peoples DNA in the wombs or something 😆.

We have to remember we live in an age of click bait media. It all fits into “zoomers are crybabies narrative” You know what was much more common among Gen X in the 70s, 80s, much more of a daily occurrence than touchy Gen Zser being touchy—sexual harassment and assualt in the workplace.

Should read koombaya* culture. Dam autotype.

I'm a boomer, and I'm not doing 90 minutes of free work as a "test" of my abilities as a candidate. Fuck free work for a job that may or may not exist.

I'm sorry, but these arguments of Gen Z "sticking it to the man", "refusing to play the corporate cog", "making a statement about capitalist futility" are a whooole lotta bullshit. Zoomers are SLAVES to corporate consumerism. They read Chat GPT composed speeches about demands for divestment from Israeli corporations off of their iPhones. Their greatest aspiration is to be a social media influencer where they prostitute themselves shilling crap that people don't need and can't afford and even commodify their own lives.

They're not out fighting for stronger unions or protesting for higher minimum wages, better working conditions, or paid maternity leave. They're not fighting for ANYTHING that will materially improve the lives of workers. They don't have a problem being corporate cogs or even have a problem with the concept of it—they just don't want to have to work to profit from corporate greed and corruption.

R139 I think you just introduced an important dichotomy into the discussion. And that is the distinction between pro capitalism and pro entrepreneur, and they obviously overlap. In many ways today, especially in America, pro corporatism has become pro dysfunctional capitalism. And I’m very much guilty, playing the corporate game myself. The influencer thing is in many way a subversive fuck you to the traditional standards of corporate America. Hollywood is literally losing clout to charismatic nobodies online. These “nobodies” are becoming more influential young that Hollywood stars with backing of millions $$$and huge advertising campaigns. It is true that Gen Z are big consumers of technological investments and products. But again how can you function in today’s world without being so.

Haha R139 took Z to school.

Sheet, In my generation we only work to case the joint to better pillage it later. We know the Capitalist won Monopoly so we’re trying a different game.

R139 I just want to comment agajn about what you wrote because to me you are really out of touch. Where are they suppose to read about the plight of Israel from—library books? Smartphones are the defacto medium nowadays. I point this out to state Zoomers are no more consumerist than previous generations. And they actually consume LESS than millenials and Gen Jones. The social media influencers are offering invaluable solutions to more practical stuff than say a corporate shill in marketing at Coca Cola or selling mustangs at Ford. It’s almost like non sexual trade is coming back. Makeup contouring, complex IT stuff, auto mechanic fixes, things regular people can easily watch and then resolve their problems which they previously had to pay for. They may be paying a subscription but a whole lot less. I guess I’m thinking of not only ratchet social influencers but these YouTube personalities that actually offer a service.

And good luck being Gen X-,58 y.o trying to get past the Gen Z recruiter when you're trying to land a new job! Ageism at its finest

indeed. you're over forty and the younger folks think you have a plague

R143 Apple purchased several Israeli companies whose technologies are integrated into iPhones. In fact, Apple has a had a significant presence in Israel since the mid-80's, with a large R&D center. Much of the essential technology of iPhones wouldn't be possible without Israel. That's the irony of these protesters being attached to their iPhones like their own mother's teats while screeching into the wind their divestment demands for everyone else but them.

They appear to lack the ability to do simple and fundamental things. Like showing up on time. Treating the workplace like a workplace. Giving advanced warning if they plan to take a day off.

These aren't difficult things. Every teenager who has ever held a part-time job learns this when they're around 16. I think the problem is that for many of them, they're already well into their early 20s and are only just now holding their first jobs.

R136 Oh God you're so tedious, Mr. Gen X version of Mr. Bojangles!

Isn't there a minstrel show you can put on for us?

r139 with yet another strawman. No-one in this thread argued they were opposing capitalism. And no-one in this thread said any of the things you placed in quotation marks.

What was actually said is that Gen Z see through the 'work hard and you'll be rewarded' bullshit and so only do what's actually required of them. Nothing greater, it's not a big stand for unions or anything. It's simply based on recognising your own value and not allowing it to be exploited.

It's incredibly telling that the posters whining about Gen Z are completely unable to do so without making shit up, or relying on some other ridiculous logical fallacy.

R2 they still have to work even if all those things are terrible.

[quote]It's simply based on recognising your own value

What value? Please elaborate.

Know your own value.

r151 Infinitely more than yours

R153? Is this the kind of wit DL is now known for?

How low the gays have fallen...

R129: " Even the oldest Boomers would have been small children when that bomb was dropped." Still wrong. Even the oldest Boomers were not yet born!

Boomers started in 1946

[quote] They're not fighting for ANYTHING that will materially improve the lives of workers.

They’re content to whine online that boomers had everything and are leaving them nothing.

Pulling up the ladder! I’ve got mine, screw you! The week after boomers got a job they bought a house! They are lead poisoned!

Then they go back to their video games and superheroes.

Boomers being lead poisoned is a favorite trope which definitely reeks of Russian propaganda. Most Gen Z don’t even know what lead is or that it was added to gasoline.

Congress is the body of goons that gave the internet free rein to do whatever it wants. You can’t sue the internet. No rules, except against child porn. As if child porn is the only problem one can encounter on the internet. There are a million online scams, taking money from elderly, sexually blackmailing people. What does congress do? Nothing.

But when you say, “You should write to your congress rep,” everyone laughs. “That won’t do anything!”

It will if 1,000 people write letters - in handwriting or typed and sign with an actual human signature. Online petitions do nothing. You sign a petition send it to a congressman or woman and it gets deleted without being opened.

You send 1,000 letters to a congressional office and they know more than one person is noticing an issue and watching the way you vote when in session. That’s 1,000 votes you’re ignoring if you don’t open those letters and see what they’re about.

Rightwing loons got Roe v Wade fucking overturned because they wrote letters. Vast majority of republicans as well as democrats were in favor of abortion in 1973. Pat Nixon was in favor of abortion.

Be like Miracle in 34th street and flood their offices with snail mail. They have to open the letters because they don’t know what your letter is about until they open and read it. Make them work.

Watch Frontline’s show on Love Canal. Those people got results. It took years…as it always does…but they got results.

r154 It wasn't an attempt at wit, it was factual. You have been promoting the idea of people providing free labour under the guise of "working hard". Therefore anyone who refuses to do so has more value than you, because they're not willing to give their time and effort away for free.

Plus, on a societal level, the destruction caused by people like you who prefer to trust their feelings and opinions over fact means you're not just worthless but actually in huge debt.

Exactly, r138. He wouldn't even tell her if she was still in the running for the position. I've done two of those projects (as presentations), and both times the interview team didn't bother to tell me they weren't going to show up.

[quote] Most Gen Z don’t even know what lead is or that it was added to gasoline.

The litany of items unknown to Gen Zs is far too extensive to usefully serve as any sort of litmus test

r162 Because when you were 20 you knew everything, right?

Maybe Congress is really GenZ as they seem to do the minimum level required.

[quote]They respect people’s pronouns without cynicism and will go out of their way not to appear racist. Again even the Trumpsters

That makes no sense. Trumpeters HATE, HATE, HATE pronouns. They are either not Trumpeters at all or they have no clue what MAGA and Trumpeters are about other than a Tik Tok clip or two.

Are you really complaining that people aren't right wing enough?

What is this, DataLounge?

R165 I am telling you what it is. These are college educated kids. 85% of them are die hard liberals but the two who like Trump over Biden are respectful and all about civil rights.

It's more than two but you haven't figured it out yet

R159, The Internet isn't a local American disaster that can be cleaned up by Americans.

It remains the freest speech extant. Like it or not.

And nobody is "in favor of abortion." You mean those who are "in favor of choice" in the matter.

Finally, not everything ends well. Mortality sees to that.

So many Zoomers don't want kids or a career. They work in low level temporary jobs, stay at home with their parents, stay in playing video games or reading fan fic because it's free, then after they've saved up a few thousand they head off travelling. Live in cheap accommodation near the beach in Thailand or Mexico or Bali, then back home once the cash runs out.

Sort of like the hippies of the Boomer gen R171.

Who needs to save money to buy a car when you can hitchhike everywhere you go.

[QUOTE] Sort of like the hippies of the Boomer gen [R171].

Yes, but the Boomers grew out of it and went back to a conventional life aged around 30. The Zoomers and young millennials see it as a lifestyle not a phase. Their Gen X parents know they'll never move out.

Many elder boomers are simply jealous of young gays. Plain and simple. After going through the AIDS crisis and 60 years of homophobia they are down right spiteful.

R174 Today's gays have visibility in the media, open lovers in high school, parents who love them, and corporations that pander to them.

Eldergays had NONE of that, and they're pissed.

There is no closet anymore, which seems to greatly upset the generations that so defined themselves by coming out of one.

Only in your cunty minds -- eldergays had community and when they gathered, had fun and laughed as you can only dream you might but never, ever will.

[QUOTE] There is no closet anymore,

So you're out to everyone you work with, are you? Thought not.

Wokeness and the trans have ruined gay communities. Everyone is so scared of saying the wrong thing.

Why are people so down on boomers.

I think it’s been great, born in 1960, the 70’s and 80’s were a blast. Yes of course Aids was horrific, but if you were safe there was tons of sex everywhere. Leaving home at 17 to move to an exciting city, albeit in a grotty room. Travelling was great and most places were not overrun with tourists as they are today. Loads of options of places to stay, not just big corporate faceless hotels. Retired early whilst still having loads of energy, living in three different countries. It’s been a blast.

I’m with Whoopi on this one, they are lazy bastards.

R178 How are young people to blame for the fact that we cannot live in that magical world anymore? How is this our fault?

We’d LOVE to live in cheap apartments, see the world, and build careers. But we can’t. Those options have been closed off for us due to no fault of our own. Our elders broke the world before we were born into it.

R179 - there's plenty of cheap places to stay but you do need to leave the US to find them.

My niece is 23 and has been travelling for the last six months in South East Asia. Bali, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia. She's now heading to Greece and Turkey. All the accommodation has been cheap and cheerful.

R179 yep that’s right, everything is everybody else’s fault.

Travel is cheaper than it’s ever been due to budget airlines, Airbnb and the internet give you access to a whole range of accommodations.

R181 It sure as fuck ain't our fault. We weren't old enough to vote or invest money for most of this country's history. We just got here, economically and biologically speaking. It's absolutely the fault of our elders that the country is so thoroughly shit-housed today.

Travel may be cheaper than in years past, but we still can't afford it if we're buried in student loan debt and paying 60% of our income to share a basement with five other college graduates.

But by all means, unload another anecdote about how when you were 19, you could fund a year's tuition by mowing lawns on Saturdays. That always makes us feel SO much better.

I'm fucking tired of hearing about your student loan debt. You go to the most expensive school that will take you, while away your hours at frat parties and the "lazy river," and still can barely spell your own name (run a spellcheck on the posts on DL if you don't believe me). If you want an education with low student debt, spend two years at a community college (and work p/t), transfer to the best state college in your state (which is much harder to get into than the expensive college you chose), OR the closest state college to your parents' house (and live at home) and graduate from there. Voila! <10K of student loan debt. Easily paid off in 10 years.

It's not rocket science, children.

But you don't want to do that. And, you want (at 22) what it took your parents (and grandparents) a lifetime to earn.

But I don't know why I bother. Nobody can tell you kids anything.

Yeah, We boomers didn't go to elite colleges, we went to junior and state colleges and tuition was cheap. The WW2 generation had the best work/life balance. Our fathers came home for dinner at 5 or 6 every night. They got 2-week vacations every year and plenty of sick days. Our mothers didn't have to work. Everything changed with the oil crisis in the 70s.

Gen X here. I had student loan debt for 19 years. I worked two jobs. My parents started charging me rent when I turned 18 so I moved out and into a room that I rented from a crazy lady who rented to students. I went to Junior Colleges for 5 years, then transferred to a University where I graduated after 2 years.

It still took me a long time to pay back those loans which were about $25,000. My pay was about $11 an hour and my payments were $400 per month at 9% interest. I commuted 60 miles every day to school because I couldn't afford to live near my school. I also had credit card debt because I was using cards to supplement my income.

Somehow, I managed to survive on my own and lived in tiny studio apartments for many years. I worked two jobs throughout my 30's and 40's, working full time during the day then nights and weekends. I FINALLY got everything paid off and just 3 years ago at the age of 52 moved into my first 1 bedroom apartment. I have no bills other than utilities and rent. Rent keeps rising and so I will likely have to go back to working extra on the weekends or nights. I don't want to, but I also know how to survive and never asked my parents for help, nor was it offered.

I agree that times are tough now because my entire fucking life has been a struggle financially and emotionally. I doubt I'll be able to retire. But I keep pushing forward because there isn't much else to do and I can't simply give up. I'd like to though.

It’s disingenuous to say that Boomers also struggled with college costs and loans. I went to an elite private college in 1974, and it cost $5000 annually for everything. That same school is more than $60K now, double what inflation would account for. It really is a lot tougher now.

Everything is hard for everyone -- throughout human history. Grow the fuck up.

You’re going to hear about student loan debt for the next few decades, especially as it increasingly drags down economic growth for the entire country. You’ll give a shit about it when this mountain of non-dischargeable debt prevents people from buying the house you want to sell, or investing in the market, or having children that might grow up to be the ass-wipers at your nursing home. Your generation’s ME FIRST tax cuts and spending cuts drove up the cost of college tuition, and your outsourcing of blue-collar work took away the non-college path we used to have. These days, you can’t even manage a Wendy’s without college coursework.

And your nonsense about “just go to a state school” is tone deaf and galling. Most of us ARE going to state schools. You think we’re all out here going to Stanford and RISD and Princeton?

In-state tuition at a state school is FARRRR from “$10k for four years,” you dick. The University of Colorado charges about $19k per year for in-state tuition and fees. If you’re a Floridian, UF charges about $22k per year. And if you’re a Minnesotan, UM charges a whopping $33k per year to educate and house one of its in-state undergrads.

This shit is Really. Fucking. Expensive. Until you elders get it through your thick-shit skulls that this is an actual problem with actual costs, you’ll never be of any help to anyone. And you should in the meantime sit down and shut up. You’ve done enough damage that we have to clean up.

^ Universities need to take responsibility for their spiraling operating budgets. Once they happens, I’m ready for a plan on student debt.

R189 A lot of that bloat comes from lawyers to protect against constant lawsuits, grant specialists to chase down donor dollars to replace tax dollars you voters cut, and pricey labs and research institutes designed to attract alumni donations and the sort of high-profile faculty that bring in enrollments and even more grants. They build lazy rivers and luxe dorms to attract rich out-of-state students who pay triple tuition. They have to spend money to make money. They also have to pay for more cops (because of shootings) and medical staff (because of drugs and drunken rapes).

Back when all they did was teach, it was cheaper and the state footed the bill. But now the state says “Go make your own money,” and this is what they do. When the voters slashed university budgets, their prized little girl had to grow up and become a painted-up streetwalker. What did you think was going to happen?

[quote]Our fathers came home for dinner at 5 or 6 every night. They got 2-week vacations every year and plenty of sick days. Our mothers didn't have to work.

Only if you were middle class.

Precious few boomers will admit that they had it easy compared to today’s young people. Strange enough, my 92-year old grandmother sympathises with those under 50, she understands and acknowledges that things truly were infinitely cheaper and easier in her day.

In the 1050s, rent and utilities amounted to about 5 to 8% of your income. Unimaginable these days.

R182 well turning yourself into an angry miserable person isn’t going to help you is it. Maybe put all of that energy into looking for a second job, it’s what I did right up until my 40’s to be able to afford to pay my mortgage.

This is pretty accurate. Boomer manager expectations vs Gen Z attitude.

As a Gen-X, we would think what is being said but could not vocalize it without being fired. I am glad Gen Z is growing some balls. Boomers hate that.

Gen Alpha is the only other generation I can stand right now. I want a divorce from all of the rest of them.

The oldest Gen Alpha is barely in their teenage years, R195 - the youngest were born this morning!

The gaggle weighs in.

This is the same person arguing with themselves.

Most white people were considered middle class. The middle class in those days meant you had a house with the GI Bill and a couple of cars. Unions were big in the 50s so working-class people also got benefits. My parents would've been considered lower middle class but most people had that. As long as you were white of course. Black people didn't have it so good.

R197 I feel like these bullshit headlines are generated JUST to give those old clams something to shout about in between detergent commercials.

Why don't they do like they're telling young people to do, and get a real job?

R200. No. This is how we all get along now. Everybody fractured down into deeply-divided generations.

[quote]In the 1050s, rent and utilities amounted to about 5 to 8% of your income. Unimaginable these days.

DataLounge skews older, but most of us aren't that ancient!

Well, DL talks like they are that ancient! Housing was still cheap into the 60's. Wasn't until the 70's that things started heating up. Really the first time people in general started thinking about selling a house for profit and not a life long place to live.

This article is utter bullshit.

Has Fortune Magazine ever been considered a legitimate magazine? No it was a tabloid disguised as one. Fuck off.

haha bless you R202, if only DL had an edit button