Baby Boomer exchange with Millennial

Millennial 1st day as a customer service representative dressed in jeans with ripped out knees and holes exposing the back of the thighs(purchased this way), sporting a conservative, long sleeved collared blouse.

Baby Boomer: I appreciate your sense of style; however, I thought during your job interview we went over the bank's business professional dress code?

Millennial: Oh, yes we did.

Baby Boomer: Were there areas of the dress code that you didn't understand?

Millennial: No, I thought it sounded nice, but my mood today was business comfortable, that's why my shirt doesn't match my pants. If you want, I can go home on my lunch break and change my shirt.

Baby Boomer - just go on home and don't bother returning until the point in time you can adhere to our dress code.

Millennial: Does that mean I'm being promoted and I get a raise?

You all realize that the millenials are actually on the verge of pushing 40 now, right?

The Z's are now exiting college and entering the workforce and are a little more laid back than we are used to or comfortable with.

I wonder if there's ever been an older generation look upon the younger generation fondly. Did the greatest generation have such disdain for the baby boomers? Spoken as a millennial who is DEFINITELY pushing 40 as JJ so kindly pointed out.

I'm pretty sure it is generation X who are pushing 40. I guess there are probably some sources that say otherwise but I grew up in as generation x and I sure as HECK do not want to be considered a millennial.

The term millennial gets a bad rap. I'm considered a millennial and far from the stereotype.

Every generation has their high performers and non performers it's just that the non performers of the millennial generation have a microphone by way of social media.

What i see if i google it is:

Gen X--birth years 1965-1979

Milllennials--birth years 1981-1996

I guess you are nothing if born in 1980 - guess I need to tell one of my daughters that she is neither

Yeah, i noticed that too.

Found another one that defines Millennials as 80-94.

I'm a Gen X raising two Gen Zs. Both of my Gen Zs are hardworkers. However, I'm not too impressed with most of their classmates, who want mom/dad to buy them everything and throw a tantrum when they don't get it.

here is a list of the generations: http://socialmarketing.org/archives/generations-xy-z-and-the-others/

Unfortunately I'm a Baby Boomer, but I knew that.

I have two sons -- one GenX (1977) and one Millennial (1983) and the Gen X is always complaining about millennials, his brother and his staff. It all sounds vaguely familiar -- my baby-boomer self complaining about gen x at work.

As for the greatest generation complaining about the baby boomers, we were long haired lazy hippie stoners but we were much louder then they were. "Don't trust anyone over 30" (except today I'm 66).

I'm changing the year I was born. Since people are allowed to change gender I should at least be allowed that privilege.

Oh, you do sound like an entitled millennial.

Late birth year in the Baby Boomer category with one millennial and one I guess gen Z (1996), and I agree all generations look at the next and find issues. I was way to young to ever be a hippie but my brother was one and I remember my father having all kinds of issues with it.

There will always be the generational gap no matter what.

Just remember, these folks will be the ones taking care of you in the nursing home.

Being born in the late 70's or early 80's makes you a Xennial. Xennials grew up as (analog) Xer's but came of age as a (digital) Millennial. Ask me how I know.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xennials

The brain doesn't finish developing until the age of 25. Gen Z aren't idiots, they're kids. I would certainly have a problem with 20 year old me. That guy was an idiot.

Originally Posted by #Just Jay
Oh, you do sound like an entitled millennial.


Lol! That was the intent.

LOL

So...what happens after Gen Z?

"Generation Z , born from mid-1990 on, are next in line for a kicking. After them are Generation Alpha, the first group of millennials' children, born from about 2011 until 2025. Henry Rose Lee, the intergenerational speaker and author, describes them as “millennials on steroids”."

Oh geez...our grandchildren

The Gen Z co-workers just look at me like I'm an alien when I talk about anything that took place prior to 2000...then I realize I'm old enough to be their parent...then I go into a swearing fit...it wasn't that long ago all my co-workers were old enough to be my parent...:(

This ^^^^

Xers are into their late 40s / early 50s now.....

Shhhhhhh.

<--- this X'er is still in his early 40s, so hush.

Sorry about that JJ. Sooooo long to your retirement. Hope we save some of it for you.

Is 44 still early 40s? #just jay and I are very young...X'ers

This GenX will hit the big 5-0 next week.

Well happy early birthday, Reg Warrior. My 50th was fantastic!

Luckily no kids and an aggressive savings strategy means I have the retirement horizon of a public employee.

Thanks Skittles. Belated Happy Birthday to you.

Happy birthday!...I once saw a joke that said "children are the greatest wealth reducing substance known to man"...I'm not sure it is a joke.

As a parent, I know that the kids are greatest wealth reducing substance know to man/woman. My high school freshman would like to go on a school trip to Japan ($4000), choir tour ($1000), and a leadership conference ($1,000), not to mention all the other activities she is involved in ($$$). She will be able to do two of these items, the other she will have to wait to do until she can pay her own way!

I used to think this too, but I now realize that airplanes are the greatest wealth reducing substance.

Perhaps, but you're much less likely to wind up with a surprise airplane from having too much to drink (not accusing anyone here, just a general statement).

LOL...You can also sell an airplane and not be responsible for it...Kids are a permanent affliction (or at least financially for 18 years). :0

Trust me - it doesn't necessarily stop at 18.

Agree with Skittles. And once those kids start having kids it just starts being fun to spend money on them. That's when that airplane would come in handy if they all live a good distance away!

No truer words.

Agreed...don't millennials live in the basement until...oh wait they haven't moved out yet.

nice to know where I stand.....thanks Randy!

Speaking for all Xer's (I can do that right?), we are happy to claim you "Trying"!

One of them young'uns I hired a while bank came to me on her first day to tell me that she'll be registering for her college classes that week. She was very surprised, seriously, when I had to tell her that she couldn't take classes during her 8-5 M-F work hours. You tell them work ours are 8 - 5 M-F but who knew you had to tell them you must be present to win a paycheck.

LOL...Did she wonder why you didn't promote her and give her a raise...so she could pay for her classes?

LOL! Or if the bank paid for her classes?!

LOL, and get a bonus for completing the classes and another promotion?

Something that seems to be lost to more recent generations is the fact that the person signing the front of the paycheck makes the rules and the person signing the back of the paycheck has to follow the rules. I guess direct deposit may have blurred that line some.... or at least the analogy.

Many years ago, I had the same situation with a full time employee who seemed to think that the bank had to accommodate her college class schedule. She was a full time teller who wasn't "available" to work several days a week due to classes. That conversation was much more difficult to make her understand than it should have been.

I always find it amusing when we paint a swath of a generation as entitled or seeking unusual accommodation. They did not just wake up like this one day, they were groomed to have those expectations, from the generation or two prior who raised them.

I didn't expect or ask for a participation trophy when I played flag football... a baby boomer decided it was a good idea I got one. The same baby boomers who covered up perfectly good wood floors with laminate. So lets not make the Boomer generation the next great last generation as there is some significant questionable decision making on all y'all parts we can look at critically just as well.

Seriously, covering up perfectly good wood floors...

My son teaches high school. He has made comments about kids texting during class. He said the majority are getting texts from their parents - during school hours.

Also - have any of you noticed (or is it just me) that most of the younger generation don't say 'you're welcome'. They say 'no problem'. Of course it's not a problem!

Off my soapbox now.

They also say "verse" when what they really mean is "versus" .....and that drives me insane.

And by "they" i don't really mean any particular generation.....i hear Kirk Herbstreit say it on College Game Day and i'm pretty sure he's older than me.

This officially just a pet peeves thread now. I blame the Boomers .

Ha.....i do agree with the sentiment that questions whether there is really a generational thing going on......i find annoying, amazing, hateful, inspiring, people in every generation.

i agree with you 100%. i have found that anyone older than me is a geezer who just wants to sit around telling stories about the good old days. anyone younger than me is a ne'er do well who is impatient and wants it all without earning it. slackers, one and all.

thank heavens i'm here, personally, and solely, ensuring the sanctity and livelihood of the bank!

We are all grateful for your accumulated wisdom, Happy!

Millennial here. I do agree on most of the sentiments above, but most of all, I think there is just a refusal by both generations to work together and see the other's point of view. The old way and the new way. Kind of like being on opposite sides of politics.

For example, "Technology has made millennials lazy and anti-social". This is further from the truth from my experience. The truth is, technology has made my generation more efficient. What does that mean? More free time. What does a boomer think when they see a Millennial sitting on their phone? Lazy. Beyond that is a discussion about whether someone should be asking for more work if they are bored, chatting around the office, or taking breaks, but their work and expectations are met. Whether a millennial has the drive to go further really is up to them. I worked as an investigator for five years before I realized my successes were getting me nowhere and I jumped right to an executive officer of a community bank and doubled my pay. Yes, my generation does bring a lot of the feelings from boomers on themselves, but seem to be being unnecessarily judged for working smarter, not harder, and boomers HATE that mentality.

The term “work smarter… not harder” originated in the 1930's. Allen F. Morgenstern, an industrial engineer, the creator of the work simplification program, coined the term. The program's intent was to increase the ability of people to produce more with less effort.

This boomer grew up with this attitude along with multi-tasking and being a team player including going beyond my own job expectations.

For myself, I hate when anyone of any age is face planted in their phone in a meeting or at dinner or any time and place where personal interaction should prevail.

See, this is exactly the gripe is. Instead of saying, yea, you have a point, every effort is made to make analogies to imply millennials are being lazy. Millennials work with an efficiency by multi-tasking and being a team player to the extent it gives them free time at work. Whether you go beyond expectations is not a boomer vs millennial mentality, its individualized. But that goes back to my original point, most people will not go beyond expectations and will meet their job's basic requirements if they are consistently put down, denied promotions, denied equal pay, etc.

Just because one personally hates seeing someone's face planted in their phone, doesn't mean anyone has a right to tell another person what they should or shouldn't be doing, they are multi-tasking.

I say that all the time. I don't think that is a younger generation thing.

This is getting good!
Baby Boomer here who is the parent of a Millennial and a Gen Z. Both of my girls are in healthcare and very hard workers, but I have to admit, their phone usage at times grinds my gears. When I ask "what are you looking at?" I get very different responses, the Millennial is reading about GMO's and Monsanto. The Gen Z is all about social media. Did our parents think that us Boomers were always watching the "bo*b tube were lazy and never going to amount to anything? Probably. I think every generation thinks the one after them is going to ruin the world. Well here we sit (at least for 10 more years)

I will say...i'm all in favor of measuring people based on what they get done, not how hard it appears that they work. The bottom line of any job should be getting the thing (or multiple things...whatever the job is) done. If worker A gets the job done in 3 hours at the same quality that worker B gets it done in 6 hours, i think it's fairly clear (at least to me) that worker A is showing more value......despite the fact that worker B may be "working hard" for 6 hours.

To me, this goes without saying....but i've worked many places where inefficiency is hailed as "hard work", since the person "stays busy".

coming up through the ranks, i've always heard "you need to be doing the job you want, not the job you have. if you wait until the position is open to shoot for it, you are too late." if you feel you are not being adequately compensated and/or recognized for your work, the prudent thing is to sit down with management and have a conversation, not drop back and just do the expectations.

Me too

I agree with you regarding just anyone having a right to tell another person what they should be doing at work. That's management's job.

My original statement about phones pointed to the specific instance when parties should be communicating in person, ie: meetings, dinners, etc. Further I cannot agree with the notion that texting, watching youtube or a game or any of the other non- work related things I say people doing when they should be working is multi-tasking. If you work in a team environment then the work isn't done when just your work is done. It's done when all the work is done.

jmho and please note, I'm not generation bashing here either.

I'm going to throw my 2 cents in. I can see, and in many ways, agree with both sides of the coin here. If your face is planted in the phone in the meeting, during dinner, etc. and you're browsing Facebook or watching YouTube or reading through and replying to mountains of personal messages - your aren't multi-tasking, you're being rude. If you are answering work emails, responding to work messages, looking up information for work related information - that's when you're multi-tasking.

And for a reference point - depending on which source you read, I'm either on the extreme end of Generation X or right in the middle of the micro-generation Xennial.

1981

Now I feel old. That was the year my wife and I got married.

HAHAHA. Sorry!

I'm reminded of a story my Dad (rest in peace, Dad) told me about when he was a senior in high school. He had a woodshop class and their last semester project was to make something. Dad went all out and made his mother a cedar chest. He worked on it diligently whilst many of his fellow classmates piddled around for much of the last semester. Dad had his cedar chest done with weeks to spare. In the last few days of school, his classmates were scrambling to get their projects done. On the very last day of school, Dad was reading a comic book whilst those classmates continued to scramble to get their projects done that should have been done weeks ago. His teacher saw him reading a comic book and got on to him, telling him to put the comic book down and go help someone else with their project (none of these projects were nearly as involved or difficult as Dad's cedar chest....more like cigar boxes and the like). Dad went and helped someone for awhile....helped them finish...and then went back to the comic book. The teacher got on to him again and said he needed to help someone else. Dad then said "why do i have to help those guys? Nobody helped me finish my cedar chest." The story goes on from there, but you get the point.

This thread just put that in my mind.......

I get you....................worker A verse worker B

LOL

This right here is an example of those that do get more.

so essentially you are saying your dad was selfish...just kidding there...

shop class...me and another guy built a go cart in metal shop/welding class...pretty intricate work for a couple of sophomores in high school with no welding experience. as we were coming to the end, all kinds of people wanted to start "helping us" as they had no project for the semester and wanted to tag on ours...so that seems to be a universal theme in shop class...

"I'm reminded of a story my Dad (rest in peace, Dad) told me about when he was a senior in high school"

You were old enough to listen to stories when your Dad was a Senior in High School?


::ducks and runs::

Haha....the story was "about" when he was a senior in high school.

That does remind me of a funny story of my own....when I was a senior in high school, my basketball coach (roughly my dad's age) was trying to get a point across to me and then said....."did you ever see your Dad play ball in high school?"

LOL

About the "you're welcome" thing -- I just read an article on MSN that said a couple of years ago a popular television comedy (I can't remember which one) would use that line when someone felt that they had been slighted after doing someone a favor. They would say it very sarcastically. It became a "thing". So, in the eyes of the younger generation, it has almost become a negative thing to say instead of the polite thing to say. I had a teller who used to do that when a particular senior lender would cash a check with him. The lender was very arrogant (really-a commercial lender arrogant?) and he would just walk to the teller station and throw the check at him and then pick up the money and walk away. Every time. When he came to the window the teller would purposely say "good morning" and then when he walked away the teller would call out "you're welcome". The senior lender came to me one day and told me to remind the tellers that they are not supposed to talk to senior management (???).

we have that same policy...but in our case, not only can the lowly not talk to them, they should shield their eyes and turn their heads if one graces their presence...lol...

!

I look at the kids in school today and think of what it was like for me. Being a Gen Xer, I remember high school football coaches grabbing your facemask and swearing like a sailor to make it point. If you took a hard hit bordering on having a concussion, you kept playing. Those things just don't happen today, but show the differences in how the different generations were shaped. The coping mechanisms are different. Some for the better, some for worse. I know I have to adjust how I talk with my team knowing they are more sensitive than I am.

I am thankful that my generation didn't have camera phones when I was in college. If there's not a photo, it didn't happen.

Ahhh, the 90s....so much debauchery, so little evidence.

Yeah in some ways the 90s were a much more forgiving time (no evidence), and yet in other ways it was tougher (coaches yelling, no one cared about your "feelings", etc.)

Ya'll should have tried the 70s and 80s.

Werd!

^^^
Exactly, there wasn't a whole lot of warm and fuzzy in the 1970's, and trophies, forget it, only the very special got those.

Although, from a partying aspect it was a lot of fun, no cameras.

no kidding...had a soccer coach that, if he thought you were loafing, would run behind you kicking your butt to make you run faster...i went home and told my dad, he said "don't complain to me, run faster."

once was riding my bike and as i went around the corner a car cut the corner, i landed on their hood and busted the windshield...ended up with stitches and a pretty bad concussion...my dad was worried they would sue us for the damage to the hood and windshield...

loved growing up in the 70s...

LOLing at your dad worrying about being sued for the damage to the hood and windshield, cuz i know it's true. Yep, that's the 70s in a nutshell.

Ahhhh......those were the days! (70s & 80s)

Not to mention the music was so much better......

Little league, took a fastball to the head, went down like a sack of potatoes (helmets had not been invented), but got to go to 1st base. Dad was laughing after the game - said it was the easiest I ever made it to 1st base. Also, if you were over someone else's house, you better have manners - they could discipline you as well as your parents. Also, as a kid I was drugged - drugged to church, drugged to scout meeting, drugged to grandparents house, etc.

Junior high school - gym class - early '70's. I got knocked out by the flying elbow of someone a foot taller than me. When I came to, they sent me on to English class. Blackest eye you ever saw - swelled shut during English class. It wasn't considered bad enough to go to the nurse's office.

Valley, probably today they would med-evac you to the nearest trauma center. and suspend gym class until a full investigation was made by the school board in conjunction with your and their attorneys.

I can remember in the 2nd grade....my teacher whacked me (hard) on my knuckles with a yardstick because she thought i was cheating out of the back of my workbook. That would definitely be a lawsuit today...was just a Tuesday back then.

My 3rd grade teacher made a student push his desk right next to hers, she put a belt over his lap and told him it better not move or fall on the floor. She would also throw the chalk board eraser at him if he made a peep or moved! Believe me, he deserved everything she threw at him........ However, we all know that would never fly today. She was one of my favorite teachers and a great teacher.......I'm FB friends with her today. She would no doubt have been fired if that was today....

Another thing that was very 80s that would never, ever fly today.......my high school basketball coach used to smoke 2 cigarettes in the locker room at halftime of every game whilst ripping into us about whatever he felt like ripping into us about.

I remember the principal of my school when I was little (it was a private school that had k-12th grade) had a paddle hanging on his office wall with "Board of Education" branded on it.

My primary school principal (public school) had a paddle and used it...My middle school band teacher would throw chalk board erasers at your music stand if you screwed up...he would also make statements like "so bad it hurts" on a regular basis. Not as bad as the movie "Whiplash" but it did remind me of my band experience.

My uncle was a high school principal in the 70's in Louisville, KY. He used to tell us stories about having to use a paddle on some of the students.

I was on both the receiving end (as a kid) and the giving end (as a teacher) of the paddle. My first high school principal as a teacher wanted me to administer the paddlings, so i did.

in high school, we were given the option of 3 swats with a paddle or 3 days detention if sent to the office for just about any indiscretion...if you took the swats you got to sign the paddle. pretty sure i held the record # of signatures for more than 1 year...

When my brother was in the high school (70s), the principal was caught with the school's secretary in the woodshop classroom. Principal kept his job, secretary transferred to another school in the school district. Until the principal retired in the 90s, students nicknamed him "woodchips". Every graduation had some stunt involving this nickname as good-bye gift from the class.

.

100!!!

<<<---receiving end of many, many, MANY rounds with the Board of Education. The worst had many holes in them.

I had a teacher in the 70s that used to take her shoe off and throw it at misbehaving students. She had good aim too!

We got slapped with yardsticks and had erasers thrown at us

In the '60's mandatory retirement for teachers came along in my district. My first grade teacher was well into her 70's when she got word that our class would be her last. She would cry if we misbehaved and tell us she didn't want her last year of teaching to be memories of bad kids. Watching her cry was worse than the paddle - it was like making your grandma cry. We became a very well behaved class because we started policing our own ranks.

I had a professor in college in the 90s that could accurately hit someone in the back of a large lecture hall with those massive chalk erasers. People learned to never fall asleep in his class. It was easy to pick out who hadn't gotten that memo

I had a professor in the late 80s who would stand under the "no smoking" sticker stuck to his chalkboard.....hold a cigarette in his hand for the first 25 minutes of class.....and then light it and smoke it whilst continuing on with his lecture.

I heard recently on the radio that millennials consider it passive/aggressive to use "...." in an email or other communication. I will keep it in mind as I work hard to reign in any passive/aggressive tendencies, but can anyone explain to me why this would be passive aggressive? Just wondering.....

An ellipse made of three periods might be passive/aggressive. Four periods? That's downright aggressive. Five periods is simply rude.

I think the whole ... thing is that whatever you're leaving out is passively aggressive. ex: "Do whatever you think best...." Just think of all the things those three little dots could be standing in for! Of course, you have to have studied English to know that the fourth dot is the period of the sentence. And yes, that last sentence was just outright aggressive.

I was recently told that using the call feature on WhatsApp or after a text goes unanswered is just rude. ??? If someone doesn't respond to the written message and you really need to get an answer, why would calling be rude?

Hmmmm.... I use ..... all the time in my emails. All this time I thought fellow co-workers disliked hearing from me because I was the compliance officer. It seems now it may be because I continually use .....

Who knew.....

On the topic of the ellipses (which is 3 periods., 4 when at the end of the sentence, anything else is wrong), read "Have you Eaten Grandma" by Gyles Brandreth. It's a great book about grammar and punctuation.

I used to have a co-worker that would sign emails, Thank you... Drove me nuts. Is there a problem? Do you need something else?

This drives me nuts too!

I've just stopped emailing and talking to people

I'm not passive/aggressive but screw them

This made me laugh...... Wait, was I only supposed to use 3? Too many rules........

Thank you......

Honestly, I just died a little inside.

I've been known to go on forever with my ........................................

Yes you have.

The dots don't bother me. Use 1, use 3, use 10 - whatever floats your boat. But I had a co-worker that used commas instead of periods,,,,, it was very annoying to see them,,,,, every time he had a pause in his thoughts,,,,, was actually quite frustrating. Thanks,,,,,

I've seen people do the multiple comma thing,,,,,,,,,

Can't say i'm a fan of that.

I've never seen the comma thing,,,,,yeah, that is kinda annoying,,,,,,now is that better or worse than being passive aggressive,,,,,

Worse. Definitely worse!

,,,,....!!!!

He was the comma comma comma chameleon.

And the award goes to............,,,,,,,,,,,,^^^^^^^