I’m Gen X and started my work life in Thatcher’s Britain. I grew up with a fear of unemployment and I was extremely grateful for every job I had even if I sometimes hated them. I was conscious that I could be fired and I tried to do my job well. This is not noteworthy, except that it’s no longer normal, at least not for the milliennials.
My department is filled with these young whippersnappers in the entry and mid-level jobs. The entry level kids arrive at 9am, eat their breakfast, check Facebook, work, and leave at 5.29pm. They take direction very literally and show no initiative. Can you do task A? Yes. Did you do task A? Well, I can’t because of Barrier B. Well, can you think of a way round Barrier B? Erm. Well, why don’t you go back and….. Oh, ok. They’re not unwilling, but many of them seem incapable of problem-solving or taking responsibility for seeing something through. God forbid that they should actually go above and beyond.
And nowadays everyone needs appreciation just for doing their job. I understand praise for exceptional achievement. And I’m more than happy to thank people for completing any task I ask them to do. But this generation needs constant feedback for simply doing a job. I guess those soccer trophies had a lasting effect.
Career expectations are interesting. A friend told me he interviewed a guy who was hoping that there were public speaking duties (in a government agency where only the Chairman is the public face) and that he was looking for a boss that would allow him to soar. At least he didn’t bring his parents along.
Admittedly there are a number of great millennials, but they get hired away by richer organizations. And there just aren’t enough of them.
So I know I sound like a ranting curmudgeon. It’s true. I resent them for being so entitled and getting paid more than I did at that age. I resent their relaxed attitude to their jobs. And I’m tired of spoonfeeding them instructions. I just want to stomp round the office saying you don’t know you’re born and other appropriate cliches.
Interesting. (Love your title!) I have been working for something like 20 years now — a little less — and have never been anyone’s supervisor or manager; so I’m pretty much a stranger to this type of complaint, at least in a work context.
Your second paragraph describes an experience I had recently at school. My students have reading assigned for homework every night. I type up the syllabus, sometimes a little too quickly. This semester, for example, I had a typo on one of the page numbers for a story I assigned. More than one student told me that he or she couldn’t do the reading because the page number was wrong on the syllabus, so he or she couldn’t find the reading.
It’s in an anthology. With an index.
Guess what the name of the course is? Critical Thinking.
What does it mean to tell someone “you don’t know you’re born”? All Google can tell me is a game show and Mark Knopfler.
#3 – it means you’re very lucky. Why it means that, I can’t tell you. Perhaps you’re so lucky you feel as protected and as comfortable as being in the womb. Hmmm. Never thought about it before.