Why Gen Y Yuppies are unhappy

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I think its a natural progression of things. Depression babies, war babies, worked hard to have the American dream. Why did they work hard? To give their chidren a better life. They have succeeded. The entitledment phrase is born. So now that unemployment has soared, the finances of both individuals and the country almost callapsed , parents have to pass on to their children a new reality.
It takes some conciousness raising at the parental level to gain a more realistic vision.

If our young people are coming out of an education with so much debt, they better lower their expectations. Who can start life with that? Parents have to send their kids to the city and state institutions, kids have to work their way thru college again, and the institutions themselves have get leaner to reduce costs. I think one could say back to basics.

Just the law of unintended consequences presenting itself. Our special snowflakes will have a serious meltdown when reality hits.


Annette

 

[Maria D]

A poster (from despair.com) that's quite appropriate to this conversation!

 

[anne_h]

LOL (poster)! I want to be a special snowflake!!

 

[iLander]

What's worse is when some of the Gen Y DO get the job of their dreams, they are a nightmare.

They make mistakes and lie and blame others. And I have one client that hired a bunch of them, and they treat the vendors like crap. Vendors drive 3 hours to make a meeting the Gen Y's don't even show up for. They bad mouth others, since their little college friend really "deserves" the project instead. They screw up the company, making bad decisions that cost millions, then leave before the big boss catches on. Of course big boss (just like Daddy) thinks they're just adorable and won't believe a single bad word about them. It's really quite amazing. A whole generation of people with no integrity, looking out only for themselves, and leaving co-workers and companies flattened in their wake. I've seen it firsthand, and it's remarkably bad.

 

[cygnet]

A whole generation of people with no integrity, looking out only for themselves, and leaving co-workers and companies flattened in their wake. I've seen it firsthand, and it's remarkably bad.

Um, ouch? I think there are jerks in every generation. But come on. No integrity? Maybe that's true for some of us, but that's certainly not applicable to all Gen Y-ers, even all of those who get their dream jobs! I'm not there yet, but my partner is, and he got the job of his dreams by working his butt off for it and going to work and continuing to be a responsible, hardworking, ethical individual.

 

[iLander]

A whole generation of people with no integrity, looking out only for themselves, and leaving co-workers and companies flattened in their wake. I've seen it firsthand, and it's remarkably bad.

Um, ouch? I think there are jerks in every generation. But come on. No integrity? Maybe that's true for some of us, but that's certainly not applicable to all Gen Y-ers, even all of those who get their dream jobs! I'm not there yet, but my partner is, and he got the job of his dreams by working his butt off for it and going to work and continuing to be a responsible, hardworking, ethical individual.

Yeah, you're right. There are probably plenty of the Gen Y's who are ethical and responsible. I'm sure you and your hubby are those people.

But in my own personal travels, I have met a pretty sorry group of individuals.

ETA: but this is a thread full of generalities, including a link to whole article of generalities. Why take one post personally, and none of the rest?

 

[Circe]

It might potentially be because yours was the first post to cross from observational to pejorative. I don't identify as a millennial, and I definitely don't fit any of the stereotypes, but my eyebrows still shot into my hairline because if anybody were saying those things about any other group - on the basis of race, gender, weight, class, ethnicity, or age in the other direction - it'd be a pretty clear case of prejudice outweighing analysis. Don't see why the "easy target" aspect of this group should change that ....

 

[chatbandit]

I think the comments raise some good points. I think the post is ... well.

If the Boomers mock Gen Y, and Gen Y mocks the Millenials for more or less the same reasons (see also, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz0o9clVQu8), who will the Millenials mock?

It's a cycle. The established generation apparently always resents the entitlement and know-it-all-ness of the younger generation. The younger generation apparently always holds the established generation in contempt for failing to solve all the problems of society and also, stealing all the oxygen.

I do think that what the Boomers called "keeping up with the Joneses" and what we call "Facebook" can exacerbate the cycle, but, c'mon. A lot of the Gen Y/Millenial plaints aren't actually that outrageous, are they - affordable education and jobs with a living wage?

you nailed it, Circe! the article conceals it's negativity (and lack of actual insight) with what's effectively a straw man. I'm very much a millennial and probably a total GYPSY or Gen Y Yuppy. What's so wrong with a generation believing we can do what we set our minds to -- sure the world is hard but there's so much loaded 'welcome to the world, kid' grandpa grumbling here presupposing disappointment is a takedown not a stumble and get back up and go. rather than assuming young people are taken aback by 'hard work being hard' why not just step aside for the next generations to reinvent things and innovate.

 

[ksinger]

I think the comments raise some good points. I think the post is ... well.

If the Boomers mock Gen Y, and Gen Y mocks the Millenials for more or less the same reasons (see also, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz0o9clVQu8), who will the Millenials mock?

It's a cycle. The established generation apparently always resents the entitlement and know-it-all-ness of the younger generation. The younger generation apparently always holds the established generation in contempt for failing to solve all the problems of society and also, stealing all the oxygen.

I do think that what the Boomers called "keeping up with the Joneses" and what we call "Facebook" can exacerbate the cycle, but, c'mon. A lot of the Gen Y/Millenial plaints aren't actually that outrageous, are they - affordable education and jobs with a living wage?

you nailed it, Circe! the article conceals it's negativity (and lack of actual insight) with what's effectively a straw man. I'm very much a millennial and probably a total GYPSY or Gen Y Yuppy. What's so wrong with a generation believing we can do what we set our minds to -- sure the world is hard but there's so much loaded 'welcome to the world, kid' grandpa grumbling here presupposing disappointment is a takedown not a stumble and get back up and go. rather than assuming young people are taken aback by 'hard work being hard' why not just step aside for the next generations to reinvent things and innovate.

Then I suggest they start working hard at the political process. Being above it all will not work, no matter how innovative they try to be outside of it. The policies they and some of their parents are looking back on nostalgically now, were part of the Great Society, which has been and is being systematically dismantled, from offshoring of high-paying jobs to pension raiding to losing reproductive rights. Either the gen Y's and the millenials get fighting mad and enter the political process in droves, or their complaints will be just that, complaints.