The Complaining Generation 1
Recently I have been asking a lot of people how they like their job and it didn’t surprise me that the vast majority said they were unsatisfied. The more I asked, poked and prodded about their career, the more positive it became. Then it dawned on me, sure there are some better careers than others, but our generation enjoys complaining. Let me explain.
If you have what most people would call a “boring” job (accounting, office job, the majority of the crown corporations) you probably have great security and make an above average wage. You complain about how board you are at work because they block you from using Facebook and Twitter but your paid four weeks of holidays and have “earned days off” so it’s worth it for now.
If you have what most people would call an “amazing” job (entrepreneur, creative director, manager at a small company) you probably have great flexibility and actually enjoy the majority of the work. You complain about how you’re underpaid and how it must be nice to collect a check every two weeks. You struggle but your passionate and an office job just isn’t your style.
So why must we always complain? Our generation is never satisfied, we want the greener grass and the internet has only made it easier to see the grass, touch it, tweet about it and then determine if we like it or not. Is their a solution? It’s an opinion so let me know if you disagree.
You need to stop comparing yourself to others. If you tell me how much money you make it’s because your job sucks and thats the only good thing about it, save it, I don’t care. Instead of comparing and complaining ever try making your job better? Possibly making work “fun” for a change? I know sounds weird doesn’t it.
Finally, I think managers in general need training on the “generation Y” employee; their expectations, their motivations and what they want out of life. Complaining gets you no where, start thinking of innovative solutions to making your job better, what have got to lose?
A little about the author of this post: An innovative thinker striving to help business one post at a time. Read more from this author
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Good posting Jeph. If you think gen Y is misunderstood, try being a Gen X. We’re caught between both generations. We are internet savvy, yet able to do things the old way. We are not happy, yet we still give things the old college try. The ‘system’ tends to be against us, yet we are resillient in nature and rise above. We are not afraid to tell people to go screw themselves.
I firmly believe that the boomers really don’t understand younger generations. For a group of people who said “I hope I die before I get old” and discussed how the previous generations just didn’t ‘get’ them, the boomers have given little effort to understand the generations younger than they. I also believe that they do not want to change, they ‘like’ stability. Our generations do not understand stabiity nor do we work well in it. We are a dynamic and require dynamic careers in order to fulfill us.