Wheel in the sky keeps on turning

[sptmet]

I wonder, now, if the whole idea of generational values is a valid one. In some senses, there are distinct traits for some generations. The major events of the past did shape the people who lived through them

Comments

[confusiontempst]

I have one exam left before I finish my undergraduate education.
I'm kind of scared of my future. I don't want a McJob.

[sptmet]

Well... to me the work world is simple.

Money, fun, skills. Pick how you want to mix them. It's not quite the iron triangle (fast, cheap, quick, pick any 2) but it's close. If you've got skills other people don't have, you can have a lot of fun at work, or make a lot of money. If you don't want a lot of money, you can get a job that's not a lot of fun or doesn't require a lot of skills (or both, to be honest).

The biggest shift for me, going into the work world, is that you are no longer competing with the people in the next few grades over. You compete with everyone. That scared me. Still does.

[confusiontempst]

I don't compete with people for grades. I compete with myself to learn.
At least, thats what I do at present.

My step-father was trying to convince me that whats best for me would be to learn XBase, the bastard child of DBase, and take over my dads company.

But I don't want to. I think I want a government job, or something comparable.

[sptmet]

Why a government job and what's comparable?

[resolute]

One of the many joys of listening to Cole Porter or older musicals is that of recognizing that people are pretty much always the same, with the same concerns and joys. My generation did not invent sex, drugs, or rock'n'roll. And, in fact, neither did the boomers, though they often seem to think so.

[sptmet]

We just invented good rock'n'roll, like Flock of Seagulls *runs off laughing*

[radagast97]

Odd, and a little disconcerting. When I think of my generation - boomers, I don't think of the positives. Usually only the intolerance, the conformity, the myopia. It did make me smile, we may not have invented sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but at least give us the one positive of having done them well. :)

At least for a while.

Most of the things I've seen boomers complain about in GenX and GenY are the things I've felt most encouraged about in the younger generations. But being a bi-poly-buddhist, I'm not exactly one really fitting into the boomer generation anymore.

[confusiontempst]

What's this about my generation?
Also, I want to identify as a child of the internet, but I don't want to identify as part of the iGeneration. This distresses me, since I get lumped in with 12 year olds and the people around me, selfish, out for themselves, as opposed to the kind of counter cultural backlash that I'd like to be associated with.

[radagast97]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I'd like a little sticker I wear on my chest that says - "I've voluntarily withdrawn from my generation of birth".

[sptmet]

Backlash against what?

Reading WarrenE makes me wonder what exactly popular culture is anyway.

[panzerkunst]

Desire for work/life balance. Wanting to have a meaningful job, one where you could see contributions. A lack of respect for the command and control leadership style, preferring a more collaborative style.

This is exactly what I want. And it eludes me.

I have a lack of respect for authority in general, hence why I really dislike my new overmanaging manager. She's on vacation this week, bliss.

[sptmet]

The hardest thing about managing is trusting people to do their jobs, especially when they mess up.

Although an a priori lack of respect for authority is a good way to insure being over managed.

[panzerkunst]

Well, that's the thing - I don't need to be constantly told what to do, I can figure it out pretty much on my own what needs to be done (retail ain't brain surgery), and don't need to be taught how to do things over and over.

And the entire store is being over-managed by this new person, so thankfully (?) it's not just me. She's already driven one co-worker out.

[sptmet]

I'm always hesitant to comment on things like you said because I don't have enough of the picture to say smart things.

Too bad the situation is like that. I hope I never have to go back to retail, for that and many more reasons.

[sptmet]

GenX has the copyright on Slackers, just like the boomers are hippies. I'm not sure what your generation's less diligent people are or will be called...