I was visiting Linda's Lou's blog (Linda Lou Live from Las Vegas) and she had a very interesting post which you should all check out. Same sort of topic I did a while back ... basically a rant about what she calls "the pussy nation" (gotta love her) ... children born after 1980, also referred to as "millennial children." You know, the ones that were pampered
every freaking day of their lives and now walk into the workplace
demanding free time, work/life balance, big bucks and the ability to
work from home in their pajamas. The problem with this is that they are
working for baby boomer bosses whose work ethic and background is radically different. I, being a baby boomer, understand this all too well. Unfortunately, my experience in the last 10 years has been a little different because I've had to work for these millennial brats who never learned any manners, courtesy, patience or respect for their elders and think only of themselves. Quite a conundrum if you're a 53 year old secretary and your boss is a 28 year old with malignant narcissism and anger management issues. These are the kids whose parents pampered, hovered, protected and always rescued them thereby producing a generation of super, coddled spawn who have never learned how to deal with the realities of life because "it's hard out there."
When I grew up my mom and dad didn't take any lip. Neither did teachers. It was a different world and those in authority demanded respect. Teachers expected you to shut up and listen or you would get humiliated in class or worse, get a swat. AND NO ONE SUED THEM. My 8th grade science teacher Mr. Shiyota (who I hated) once swatted a kid in class and I mention it only because I'd seen kids get swats in class but this swat was particularly sadistic. Granted, the kid was a little gang banging pee-wee and he should have just been sent to the principal or thrown out of class but Mr. Shiyota called him up to the front of the class and in front of everyone took a wooden paddle with holes in it and swung that mother like a baseball bat right on his behind. It made ME want to cry. He seriously could have cracked his tailbone but that's how it was back then. I do not want to minimize the seriousness of receiving a swat. It was done often enough but only if you were really, really a pain in the ass. What teachers got away with with in the 1970's is unheard of today. We baby boomers grew up in a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WORLD. There were boundaries and you knew not to cross them.
If you're wondering why we didn't tell our parents the teacher swatted us or yelled at us it is because THE TEACHER WAS GOD. AUTHORITY. YOU DID NOT QUESTION AUTHORITY. In my day you'd get in more trouble at home for getting in trouble at school. There were two things kids did not want to deal with in the 1960's-1970's ... FEAR and SHAME. Fear of getting in trouble at school and shame at embarrassing your parents. This is why teachers were able to instill corporeal punishment and this was normal back then. Parents literally gave teachers permission to discipline their kids, even physically if necessary. Then the 1980's rolled around and it all changed. Society became very child oriented which for those of us born in the "children should be seen and not heard" generation, it was a tad hard to swallow.
Also in her post, Linda referenced a book called "So The Trophy Kids Grow Up" by Ron Alsop. So I got onto Amazon and started reading an excerpt which was very enlightening. I spent the next hour
reading excerpts of other books on the same subject and inevitably another character flaw related to being a millennial child is narcissism. Just look at Facebook, nothing but titty shots and ME, ME, ME. It makes me ill. Facebook is merely paparazzi for regular people and yeah I'm on Facebook too but I don't take shots of my cleavage while I lick my girlfriend's face and make gang signs. Those born after 1980 are addicted to this shit. When I was in school the worst thing in the world you could be called was conceited. Today, it's an aspiration.
There's a thin line between self-confidence and narcissism and these little twits don't know the difference. It is mind boggling to me how self-absorbed this generation is. They're constantly texting and taking pictures of themselves. I wonder if any of these little morons have ever read a book? Just for fun, ask a 26 year old who the vice-president is ... you'll probably get a blank stare or an incredibly stupid answer like "Arnold Schwarzenegger?"
To this day I know all my multiplication tables by heart. Not a big deal I know but if you were born after 1980 those kids can't figure anything out without a calculator or Google. To us that was akin to cheating. I still know all the capitals of every state and every country. This came from rote memorization which of course we all hated, but you NEVER forget it. Ask a twenty-something kid what the capital of California is and I bet you a million bucks they don't know.
It is so sad this dumbing down of America by this coddled, spoiled generation. God only knows what will happen to these selfish little babies when their parents die. Tragic. I feel disgusted with all of it ... *sigh*.
Sadder still is the realization that I have now become the mean lady on the block *double sigh* ...
Signed,
Cranky old bitch.
