There's a whole world outside your office

k, I changed my mind and don't feel like writing about all the things I should be getting for free right now.

It occurred to me during some recent pondering that we speak in our society about how older generations often work to try and create a better world for younger generations. Parents especially are usually viewed as working hard so that their kids can have better lives, have more than their parents had, etc. So why bitch at younger generations then for wanting more than their predecessors? Is it OK for older people to want things to be better for the young, but not OK for the young to want it for themselves? That's silly.

Apparently, generation Y is quite demanding in the workplace about being able to have flexible schedules, being able to have activities in their lives other than work, all that jazz. And I seem to hear/read a lot that this is impertinent and snotty to the older workforce. Whatev, man. I understand that there has to be limits to flexibility--rolling into work at noon every day in a business that operates on a normal 8-5 schedule really does not help the overall workplace. However, I see no reason why it's impertinent to want time to take classes, go to the gym, etc., especially if you are willing to accept the fact that you won't get overtime pay if you leave on time most days. Really, of course, it all boils down to money and money being more important than anything in the whole wide world. Which it isn't. I want my company to be productive and successful, but I can accomplish that without killing myself. And yes, maybe having reasonable work hours means you will never have the richest, most powerful corporation in the world. But honestly, I'm OK with that. I think riches and power are overrated. I'm not naive--I know money is important, and when you REALLY do not have any, it becomes pretty much the only thing that matters. I fully appreciate being able to eat and pay for heat, and yes, that takes money. But money isn't everything. It really isn't. Besides, if you can learn to utilize your people and resources in a truly efficient, well-thought-out way, you might not need people to work 80-hour weeks.

Tru' dat, DOUBLE TRUE!

Ah, yes, another article about GenY in the workplace. Lovely.

I do not like broad generalizations or "hasty generalizations" as you may call them if you took logic with me. They happen all the time, but that doesn't make them good arguments. This article is actually complimentary to GenY'ers, so I'm more addressing some of the comments left under it. (For the record, I do not know one person who would ever dream of bringing his/her mother to a job interview. (emphasis added) This doesn't mean it does not happen--but please do not make some overreaching judgment that all 20somethings are incapable of making their own decisions because some fool couldn't handle an interview without his/her mum. Puh-lease.)

Grazing the internets, these seem to be the main points regarding the perception of GenY in the workplace:
Yay!: team-oriented, champions of diversity, tech-savvy, enthusiastic, and hard-working (when they want to be), can have fun at work
Boo!: lazy, demanding, feel entitled to things they don't deserve, need their moms too much, too casual, need too much praise and encouragement, have too much fun at work (I'd bet having piercings and spiky hair rank up there, too, in many people's opinions. The shame.)

I want to address my feelings on some of those (the boo's! especially) in-depth. My own best F*$9U&ing News Team exclusive report, if you will (is that phrase copyrighted Comedy Central?). I am said best F*$9U&ing News Team.

So tomorrow, we'll examine the entitlement thing. That drives me up the wall and off a cliff. Actually, the fact that some people seem to regard it as a childish sin to want to balance work and life or to have a world outside of the workplace makes me crazier. SORRY. Yes, giving myself an ulcer working 80 hours a week to make enough money to pay for some silly, overpriced SUV I don't need makes much more sense.

Lighten up.

Re-vamp

After careful consideration and some reading (literacy (w)rocks!), I've decided to do something new. There was an MSN link the other day to some top HR jobby-type blogs. I checked one or two out, and then ended up spending most of the day perusing various blogs, mostly links from my favorite the Punk Rock HR Blog. Being an opinionated individual myself, I had many...opinions...on various items on these blogs. I also decided my age group (and younger, really...I keep forgetting that I get older every year) is underrepresented in the business blogging world. I fall into the "Millennials" generation, though personally, I think due in large part to the fact that I was raised in a home with two overly-hard working parents with a very modest income and an older brother, I really see myself as a mish-mash of the GenX/Millennial generations. I constantly read about how narcissistic, lazy and "entitlement"-y the Millennials act. Now, putting aside the fact that I don't know of a younger generation yet that was not lambasted by older peeps for being immoral, being lazy, wearing too much eyeliner or listening to that gol-darned "rock music" too loud, I get quite offended by many people's opinions of Millennials. I'm sure some of it's true. (Though who is really to blame for such things? If "kids today" are entitlement-spoiled and believe themselves special because mom and dad constantly told them they were, can you really only blame the kids? No.) However, generalizing an entire generation is always kind of a douchebag thing to do, and I won't stand for it. So. I am a college educated twentysomething, intelligent, capable, goal-oriented, etc., etc., gal whose "professional" life looks somewhat like the career embodiment of a Jackson Pollack painting. Messy, splattered, and hard to interpret. (And if you are my friends and me, something you go look at knowing beforehand you'll probably just be making fun of it the entire time. Sorry Pollack fans.) I'm joining in the chorus. This is going to be my attempt to blog about a somewhat-normal young woman's attempts a figuring out this "career" thing in the modern world, and I'm hoping in the process that I can defend my age group a bit and give people some insight into how I/we look at careers, the job-world, and other such exciting topics. No one will read this at first. But who knows...maybe I'll have my own Carrie Bradshaw worthy book-party one day.