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Millennials are spending less than previous generations because they're poorer, study says


Iceheart
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Yeah, they really are gonna have a hard time. Generation X had it harder than the baby boomers, and the next generation will have it worse than millennials. There are just too many people and not enough good jobs. Part of the problem is older folks delaying retirement because they cant afford to.

 

College tuition is a bit scary, too. Its so much more expensive than it was when I went to college.

 

Another problem they have is a lack of social skills. So many of these kids were raised on Facebook/Instagram/whatever and simply dont know how to interact with people in the workplace. Ive seen so many fail miserably in this regard. They have a deer in the headlights look on their face any time someone asks them a question.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

Yeah, they really are gonna have a hard time. Generation X had it harder than the baby boomers, and the next generation will have it worse than millennials. There are just too many people and not enough good jobs. Part of the problem is older folks delaying retirement because they cant afford to.

 

College tuition is a bit scary, too. Its so much more expensive than it was when I went to college.

 

Another problem they have is a lack of social skills. So many of these kids were raised on Facebook/Instagram/whatever and simply dont know how to interact with people in the workplace. Ive seen so many fail miserably in this regard. They have a deer in the headlights look on their face any time someone asks them a question.

Or a "snotty, why are you bothering me with this mundane question" look.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

But, I like Applebees once in a while, though. There's nothing wrong with Applebees for the price.

 

I like my local craft foodie food restaurants, too.

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Another problem they have is a lack of social skills. So many of these kids were raised on Facebook/Instagram/whatever and simply dont know how to interact with people in the workplace. Ive seen so many fail miserably in this regard. They have a deer in the headlights look on their face any time someone asks them a question.

 

 

That's Gen Z. Social Media didn't happen until older millennials were just out of college, and younger millennials were just getting into high school. And it wasn't nearly as all-consuming as it is now back in the early days.

 

As a millennial who works in customer service (and is really ****ing good at it), I suspect a lot of this has to do with personality, job opportunity, and the lack of experience that comes with only being so old. I happen to be really good at crafting a public persona, small talk, having a Resting Nice Face, staying cool while being yelled at or accused of things I didn't do, knowing when to capitulate to the customer vs. knowing when to stand firm in favor of the company and how to do that diplomatically... I learned all of this on the job through trial and error. I'm sure I was also a useless blob when I was young and fresh to the workforce, too. And I've been through customer service training, it's a waste of time, every time. The stuff you really need to learn to be effective in the workplace just isn't taught. And if you're a really shy or really combative person, you'll be miserable in a front-facing position. But you take whatever job you can get when you need money, and anyone who entered the workforce after 2008 definitely needs money. Not to mention that workers have really been devalued and debased since the recession, when they became a dime a dozen in companies's eyes - the deer in the headlights helping you probably doesn't get a single break during their shift, has probably been yelled at by other customers and their manager already that day regarding something/s out of their control, and definitely are not making enough to move out of their parents's house.

 

So, when I encounter a kid in the work force who doesn't quite know how to handle a customer, I tend to go into full Auntie mode.

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Ugh I dont know how you do it. I'm pretty good at being diplomatic but if someone starts yelling the gloves are off. I wouldn't last 20 minutes in Customer service.

 

My aunt used to do customer service and was very good at it. Then she became a stay at home mom until her husband died suddenly. She said it was so hard to get into customer service again because she doesn't have a degree, even though she has experience and was even a supervisor. To me, that job is really about personality and soft skills, not classroom experience.

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Ugh I dont know how you do it. I'm pretty good at being diplomatic but if someone starts yelling the gloves are off. I wouldn't last 20 minutes in Customer service.

 

My aunt used to do customer service and was very good at it. Then she became a stay at home mom until her husband died suddenly. She said it was so hard to get into customer service again because she doesn't have a degree, even though she has experience and was even a supervisor. To me, that job is really about personality and soft skills, not classroom experience.

 

You need a REALLY good support system. My boss and I are work besties. I know that I only have to hold it together for so long until there's a lengthy sesh in his office tearing the yeller to PIECES behind their back.

 

And I agree. The company I work for will only hire college graduates, regardless of the position. Maybe 1% of the work I do has anything to do with my degree. My mom ran into similar when she re-entered the workforce, she had an associates, but that's basically worthless in today's job market where you need a bachelors just to get into any entry-level position with any kind of potential for advancement (i.e. not food or retail). It's just plain hard out there if you aren't already settled into a career.

 

 

I guess this is what happens when you have an education system so focused on results and not actually preparing kids for adult life, and when you have a workforce that favours the idea of who-you-know-not-what-you-know.

 

 

****ing PREACH.

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The Atlantic's op-ed on this report is currently #2 on the site. And contains this amazing paragraph:

 

Is it any wonder that Millennials are eager to overthrow a system that has duped them into a story of permanent progress, thrown them into debt, depressed their wages, separated them from the trappings of adulthood, and then, for good measure, blamed them for ruining canned tuna?

 

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Millennials are treated like the worlds Red headed step child. And its pretty annoying as a millennial, to be accused of traits belonging to the next generation along. I'm 35. My wife is 38. We are both millennials. Today the youngest millennials are about 24. Just thought I should clarify that.

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Yeah, there are definitely micro-generations now, and I think we can attribute them to technology advances. I'm an "old" millennial, and I graduated college in 2004, into a robust job market. People who graduated 2-3 years later were totally hosed. Job market tightened up because retirements weren't happening because of the stock market crash. My life could be very different if I was just 2 years younger.

 

I was talking to a slightly younger co-worker the other day, and he was talking about how some hierarchy system we have at work is BS, and then he said, "Sorry, I know that's a whiny millennial thing, but it really is crap." And I told him, "No, the millennial generation realize that The System is BS and its stacked against them because older generations like it that way and its wasteful. Don't apologize for that, because you're right." I see some really dumb crap at work where people have built their little empire and tear down anyone who even comes near their territory. I even see some of my friends doing it to our newest co-workers. One of my friends complained that she couldn't understand a table that a young guy built for a document, because she felt it was flipped. I thought it was incredibly nitpicky, and I told her that I understood what he was trying to convey, but that I could also understand it the way she wanted it. I told my husband about it later, he works with data and metrics, and he told me that in the last decade, there has been a shift in how data is conveyed and stored, and our newest employees have come out of college conveying info in the new method, so we're going to have to get used to it. Cracked me up because it just reinforced that my friend is way too uptight about the wrong stuff.

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The Atlantic's op-ed on this report is currently #2 on the site. And contains this amazing paragraph:

 

Is it any wonder that Millennials are eager to overthrow a system that has duped them into a story of permanent progress, thrown them into debt, depressed their wages, separated them from the trappings of adulthood, and then, for good measure, blamed them for ruining canned tuna?

 

I'm going to assume there's context to the tuna thing.

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I for one am strongly encouraging my kid to go to trade school, specilaized training, or I'll jump him i to film production work early.

 

...unless he stays on this wanting to work at JPL kick he's on, then I guess we're in for a rocket scientist in the guest house if he doesn't get the right breaks.

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