About being thrown in with "snowflakes" and "Millenials"

[StewPots]

I'm just really fed up with the wording of all these articles slagging off under 35s as lazy, work shy and entitled. Not all of us are like how these articles describe!
I'm 33,I have a good standard of education, I can read and write very well, I work hard (worked 3 13 hour shifts on a busy hospital ward this week so far), I'm bringing up my two kids (15 & 3) to be thoughtful, polite, and hopefully hard working members of society, yet I'm in this stupid age bracket named "Millenial" where no one has a good word to say! Yes, I notice that some younger people can come across as lazy and perhaps entitled, but surely that happens with every generation!
I've told my DD (15) in no uncertain terms that when she starts work this summer, she will be expected to pull her weight, she will be paid peanuts, she will be at entry level and remain so for possibly years, but eventually hard work will pay off... and she is fully on board with this! Yet she too will be demonised as a "snowflake" purely on the basis of the year she was born!
Gahhhhh! Sorry just needed a rant this morning!!

[twofingerstoEverything]

Try being a 'baby boomer' if you want to see some real unpleasantness.

Seriously, Stew, it's divide and rule, isn't it?

[00100001]

Millennial is just a generic term to describe a set of people born around vague dates. It's doesn't mean anything.

[user1484226561]

I've never heard the term "millenial" used in a derogatory way, actually quite the reverse. and I've never heard the word "snowflake" used to refer to an age.

[StewPots]

Two - yes, it really is and it's sad because there's good and bad in every generation...and that will always be the case.
I was bought up to respect my elders, and my job is primarily to look after them now. I do so with empathy and respect in what is a physically and mentally demanding job.
But yet in the press, I'm just another millennial - the byword de jour for lazy, entitled, rude and unhelpful.
A lot of my friends are the same as me but also lumped into this stupid age bracket and I guess it's just frustrating when it's so far from the truth for a lot of under-35s.

[icy121]

Under 34s are "millennials" - so you're just on the cusp. To be fair your set up sounds more Generation X than millennial - job, kids, own home (vs living with parents) etc. It's a term used to group general characteristics rather than a strict classification!

Am 29 yo, left home after uni (21), worked in a professional job since, bought own flat at 23... now an accidental landlord since met and engaged to a Gen X) make a decent living and have savings and a pension plan. Have done IVF and currently pregnant after FET... all in all... Not very millennial!! Don't let it worry you!

[StewPots]

001 - it's a good word, but has been jumped on by some members of the press to describe an entire generation, usually in a derogatory fashion, which is stupid in a way because people born in 1983 (like me) were bought up in a totally differently era (politically, technology-wise etc) from those born in 1993 and again in the 00s... I don't know, I just don't like the way the word is used by the press I suppose.

[StewPots]

Icy - I just feel a bit frustrated that everyone under 35 is labelled the same way as lazy and entitled when I know there's so many who aren't.

[wigglesrock]

Surely you must see a certain degree of irony in starting a thread on a chat forum about your dislike of a word that is used to encompass people born within age range. I don't like the way the press use lots of words but I'm not sure I'd take them as a personal slight. Snowflake doesn't have an age range - I'd call my 66 year old mum one, my 45 year husband one & don't start me on my 11 year old.

[c3pu]

I'm 33, own my own home, have 2 children and a full time job.

I may (just) fit into the age bracket of Millennials, but I sure as hell don't associate myself with the rest of the demographic.

[OvariesBeforeBrovaries]

I'm somewhere between Millenials and Generation Z (depends on which definition you follow) and to be honest, Millennials/Snowflakes has come to be the new "politically correct". It's a phrase used to insult people who don't excuse or condone bigotry, prejudice and injustice... so I'd be pretty happy to be labelled as either

I have seen "Millenial" used almost as a synonym for "lazy" etc though. Everyone lumps these generations in together and they're usually not very complimentary towards other generations, in the grand scheme of things it has little bearing on who you are as a person so it's annoying but your personality goes beyond what the media thinks you are.

[StewPots]

Wiggles - yes I do, I know it sounds silly...it's just very frustrating that there's these stupid words made up and bandied around (baby boomers included) to tar whole generations with the same brush..
I'm just tired and grumpy this morning and for some reason got very annoyed by this... I need to get a grip, don't I?

[StewPots]

Ovaries - very good point, and a nice way to put it too

[StewPots]

C3- absolutely! It is frustrating sometimes!

[FV45]

Oooo, I don't know what 'generation' I fall into (born 1970).

I have never heard Millenials or snowflakes used to describe an age bracket (but maybe I am just not tuned into it).

[FV45]

"It was discovered that Millennials, or members of Generation Y, are less likely to strongly identify with the generational term when compared to Generation X or to the baby boomers, with only 40% of those born between 1981–1997 identifying as part of the Millennial Generation."

[FV45]

I'm generation X "disaffected and directionless."

[RaskolnikovsGarret]

It's just a generalisation - there will of course be many, many exceptions.

I must say, working in an office/financial environment, we find it very very hard to recruit good staff at the junior end. One of my team (aged 26) is so 'entitled', it takes my breath away. Once I had to speak to her (very nicely) about something she had done, which another manager had told me about. She became really upset - not that she had done something wrong, or was worried about losing her job - but that we had been speaking about her behind her back. If that had been me, I would have been mortified and apologetic that I had done something wrong, but she was just concerned about her hurt pride. Many more examples. It's just a different attitude, and a lot of the junior staff do the bare minimum.

Then again, I know a 22 year old at work who works incredibly hard, but has to leave at 5 to help his mum clean offices, and then goes home to his wife and baby, whilst studying for professional exams.

So it's not everyone - but at least at my work, a higher percentage of the younger workers have a poorer work ethic. Don't know why. My teen DD and her friends have an excellent work ethic - I hope they don't lose it.

[BaDumShh]

You need to stop reading the DM.

[StewPots]

Rask - yes, I've heard and seen it myself, both good and bad. It's such a shame that these few who are lazy and entitled are bringing down a whole generation.
My DD can't wait to start work, earn her own wage, be part of a team etc although I've told her that the reality can at times be exhausting, frustrating and hard (it is work after all) but to keep going and eventually all that hard work should pay off.
She wants to be a paramedic, an I've not pulled any punches with what lies ahead (qualifications, selection process, exams, very long hours, serious traumas and mentally draining circumstances) and she's still keen, so there's hope yet I guess!

[Trills]

I agree that characterising all millennials as lazy and entitled is wrong.

I disagree with your assertion that you are not one.

Descriptions for generations always span a couple of decades, so saying that you have nothing in common with someone born in 93 is irrelevant.

Someone who was born in 1961 has little in common with someone born in 1979, but they are still "Generation X".

[gleam]

FV45

Let's hear it for the disaffected and directionless! 😂

[WhereDoesThisRoadGo]

YABU because you are not a millenial. Millenials are those who were 16 or under in the year 2000, so 17-33 now. YAABU because it is just a word. I am 32, hardly able to compare myself to a 17 year old and so shrug it off.

[Freddorika]

One of the lovely things about being a baby boomer is that I have no idea what millennial or snowflake even mean

[StewPots]

Bah - my ILs read it online and started going on about it so I had a look and my blood boiled...the comments were ridiculous. Stupid fucking Daily Mail. Needs banning.

[StewPots]

FV45 -