Youngsters now days are very entitled

[Themagicfarawaytreeismyfav]

Is it just me or are younger people now days very entitled? I work in an industry that often attracts lots of younger people mainly early 20’s ( im in my 50’s btw). Im noticing more and more that they have lots of entitlement and some bad manners/lack of social skills as well as a terrible work ethic. For balance i have 4 dc ranging from 20-30 years old and while all 4 have excellent manners the younger had a really bad attitude towards work for a year or two but is now a very hard worker and the elder 3 always have been. Anyway back to my fellow employees. They seem to know every single one of their rights but not so much about their responsibilities, they lack social skills and manners as well. Will happily talk over people during conversations, pick and choose what work they want to do, have appalling customer service skills and will never agree that something is their fault or they have done something wrong. My work is based heavily on seniority and usually the more senior a member of staff they get first choice in certain aspects of it. However the younger staff seem to completely disregard this and often push themselves to the front for these things and show absolutely no respect to those who have worked there for years ( fwiw im also very junior). Im finding it harder and harder to tolerate and beginning to detest having to work with them, but im wondering if its actually a “ thing” that others have noticed or its me and my perimenopause? 🙄

So your 4 aren’t entitled

but all others are?

In your 50s and “very junior” so presumably these entitled youngsters are your peers rather than you being senior to them? That must be annoying

Not within the workplace, they have been raised to show respect to others. Im not saying they haven’t had their moments but im noticing its a theme with people of a certain age group where i work.

No its not annoying at all, i changed my career about 5 years ago to something completely different. Yes they are my peers, but they behave in ways which are completely alien to me. Maybe its a generational thing? It has also been noticed and commented upon by lots of people with much higher seniority than me.

How do you know they aren’t entitled in the workplace?

and often push themselves to the front for these things and show absolutely no respect to those who have worked there for years

I read this as being confident and ambitious

good for them

I manage a few people like this OP. They're hard work as opposed to hard workers! I try to reframe it as a positive though in that they absolutely don't take the kind of shit I did when I first entered the workplace.

They're much better at prioritising themselves and their own mental wellbeing than I've ever been. But sometimes they do leave me utterly stunned with the breathtaking level of their entitlement!

Well I don’t tbh but they really aren’t those type of personalities. Like i said they have had their moments but if they treat people they way they were taught to and the way i see them do all the time then they definitely won’t be acting badly in the workplace.

Unless you work with your children then you don’t know what they are like in the work place.

Mine are polite and have been raised to respect others which I hope they do show when I am not there but I can never be 100% sure.

Well it definitely doesn’t get looked on as confident and ambitious at my work… it gets looked on as rude and arrogant.

Oh i agree

and no one is pulling them up on it?

As if adults haven't been saying this since the stone age.

You are being unreasonable to judge an entire generation because of the people you work with.

My work is based heavily on seniority and usually the more senior a member of staff they get first choice in certain aspects of it.

have you not realised that this is bad practice, shitty, outdated? Most senior leaders don’t champion this kind of working practice anymore.

I do know a few young people like this however there are a couple of ladies in their 50s who are very junior who behave dreadfully. They have huge jealousy issues of the younger staff who are their peers it seems, in fact one actually shouted in the face of another 17 yo apprentice (who hadn't done anything wrong but the lady had misunderstood something) in front of whole office and patients. She also cannot take any feedback or help.

I do agree that there are a lot of young people around 25 who do feel like they are owed something and have very little work ethics. My DC are late teens and it is something we push a lot with them. Both work full time and have done since leaving school or college, both had jobs from young teens also. I would hate for them to end up entitled.

That’s actually a really positive way of looking at it, im going to definitely try and think of it more like this in the future.

This

and telling that it’s not that they are disrespectful per se, it is that they are disrespectful to “those who had worked there for years” ie the OP!

Yep.

And even so - the Op says she’s not even senior to them so the point is irrelevant anyway

Oh i agree that older staff can also behave badly but its definitely not as frequent in my workplace. I would expect this kind of behaviour to some degree from a teenager but not from workers in their early/mid 20’s.

on the flip side - I’ll happily judge older generations based on the idiots I’ve had the misfortune to come across at work. I’d choose an arrogant early 20 year old any day, over the dinosaurs who are stuck in their ways/resistant to change/causing a negative culture/not welcoming to newcomers etc. in fact, across government this sort of persona is exactly what is holding services back. the hangers on wanting the flexi time and pension with low productivity.

I’m not going to drag out the classic Plato (?) quote, but people have had this complaint about younger generations since literally forever. No doubt when you were in your 20s OP, older folk thought youngsters were lazy and entitled.

I’m in a similar position to you; in my late 40s and life circumstances have necessitated a career change that has put me alongside people in their early 20s. I’m actually finding them delightful, but we have to accept that the nature of social interaction is always evolving, and what’s considered rude or a sign of respect changes from generation to generation.

Not exactly the things you were talking about but - It's worth noting that as we age our idea of the level of respect we should get from younger peers changes. It's not them that change but our perception of the level of respect and deference we are owed.

As someone who has always looked younger, I find I sometimes have trouble with women in their 50s in the workplace because I look younger and they expect more ...reverence from me. Rather than speaking to them as the 36 year old I am.

We don't notice it but there are differences in how we speak or interact with people based on age or perceived age. Also, when we've been in establishments for a while it can influence how we expect to be treated.

Regards the other things, I can't say I find this generation lacking in worth ethic necessary but they do know their rights and that's a good thing. Work is for living. It's just a job. Do what needs done and go. Good on them.

I do find however, that they need their hands held a lot more. If there is confrontation (eg: a difficult customer) then they expect others to handle it for example. But then again, they are young.

And I would agree the customer service skills are not on par with the millennials. But probably because they were all shut in during COVID during a time they should have been out partying and improving them. Hopefully these skills will develop with time.

Ageism isn’t a good thing whether it’s directed at younger people or older people.

Try getting to know your colleagues as individuals rather than making judgements based on your prejudices about the assumed behaviours of their age cohort.

Says every generation to the generations after them.