Hey There Fellow Boomers!
BOTH of the following can be true:
1) We worked/work hard at our jobs back in the day.
AND
2) Young people these days have it really tough! Back when we first started our working lives, a lot of the conditions were a heck of a lot more sane & reasonable than they are now.
How many jobs were you hired for pretty much on the spot and you could just start working that day and go home with money in your pocket? Me, a lot!
Back in the day, did they check your credit rating and all kinds of aspects of your personal life? No! And come to think of it, when I look back, I’m not sure anyone ever even checked my driver’s license or cared if I lived anywhere!
Back in the day, did any employer ever ask you to write up an entire marketing plan or entire something for their company as part of the selection process? And maybe they never even got back to you after you submitted the elaborate documents? I don’t know about you, but this never happened to me back in the day.
Or, if job conditions at a certain place seemed like too much, were you ever not able to just walk down the street and immediately get a job somewhere else? I never had a problem! Back then.
Not that we haven’t struggled, and not that we haven’t been through macroeconomic slumps too. But what’s going on now is over the top. Various types of jobs that used to be relatively easy peasy slacker jobs are not anymore!
I’m a hard worker, but a lot of what I’m hearing about these days is absolutely insane and ridiculous, and I wouldn’t want to work either!!! Anytime I have a chance to support a young person in refusing disgusting and ridiculous job conditions, I totally will!
(And the screenshot below is barely the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much more, and I’m sure a lot of you older people who are still out in the job world have seen it too. I’m lucky because I’ve been self-employed for 30 years so I’ve been somewhat insulated. I have had numerous side jobs over the years, but none that I couldn’t afford to walk away from.)
Text from screenshot of Facebook post: Calling this generation lazy when we don’t want to sit through 3 interviews for one company, wages haven’t caught up with cost of living, and we are constantly trying new side hustles, is wild.
And on NextDoor yesterday, someone said that people shouldn’t have to work three jobs just to have a roof over their head. Whereupon a fellow Boomer replied that they should up their skills so as to have skills that are worth enough to not need three jobs.
I responded:
But things are a lot different now than they were when you and I were young. I can tell by your statement that you are of a “certain age group,” same as I am.
It used to be easy to afford a small room or apartment even on just one job.
Shoot, I used to be able to afford my own apartment as a college student even just working a summer job! And that summer job helped pay my tuition as well! Same with a lot of other people I knew.
And then out in the working world, it was easy to get a really nice apartment and have a car, buy groceries, have nice clothes etc. just on one job. And I even picked a really low-paying profession, editorial work!
Things are not the same today; the structure of the economy has changed over the decades, and that change has accelerated over the past few years.
Plus, working conditions have gotten a lot more harsh on people. The delivery & warehouse jobs, for example, are crazy. When I hear what people nowadays have to deal with as far as employer expectations, I find it shocking.
Now granted, trade school and community college was and is available and a wonderful option. There are trade schools that people can attend tuition-free and then have a job placement right out of school.
But my point here is that when people are struggling, we older people should see the bigger picture, and offer them encouragement rather than shaming them for things that are a phenomenon of the larger economy.
PS. I say I’m a hard worker and it’s true, but, when it comes to bulls*** requirements and inhumane conditions, I am incredibly lazy and defiant and able to find any work-around to avoid it! And I’m known for loudly encouraging others to do the same. Resist!!!