After reading Jessica’s post, I watched an awful 60 Minutes piece on Millenials (what they’re calling people our age these days). Apparently, we’re spoiled “narcissistic praise hounds” because we don’t subscribe to the exact same ideals our parents did when it comes to work and lifestyle.
The part that made me laugh the most was Morley Safer’s face when he questioned the audacity of our generation to put our own well being above that of the company we work for.
Mr. Safer, if I may, sir? Fuck your corporate jobs. I don’t give a fuck about them and they certainly don’t give a fuck about me. We’ve watched companies lay off hardworking people who for 30 years repeatedly sacrificed for their company, only to be laid off right before they’re eligible for a pension.
I’ll be avoiding that fate, thank you very much.
The huge gap in the reasoning of this segment is that if this concept of a workplace was a faulty one, then the businesses that ‘have fun’ (Google, Facebook, College Humor, Zappos, etc) would be failing.
Fact of the matter is, those people are working much harder and their passion for what they do shines through much more than a 9-5 in some heartless cold corporate hell-pit. Sure there are moments of inane goofiness, but there’s also a balance with when they’re actually doing work. Hell, you wouldn’t want to get fired for slacking off and doing nothing if there was free food and parades everyday!
It really all boils down to old people being jealous that they didn’t have the guts to do what they really wanted to do when they were young, or the self-respect to turn down demeaning themselves for be-suit’ed overlords.
Those who finally make it to the top get the chance to realize it’s all meaningless crap and they’ve forgotten those friends and family in order to chop and bludgeon their way to the top of the ladder.
6 months ago