smart arse 19 yr old doing my head in at work......

[ssd]

I gave up a good job when I had the kids and gradually have moved down the ladder so far I'm somewhere under the last ring. I'm doing a menial job for minimum wage as its the only thing I can find that fits around the kids. My choice and I can't complain. But with such a step down comes various downsides, least being the huge cut in wages.The problem now is that I hace teenagers working beside me and god they are a PITA. They know everything, according to them and I just want to tell them, well one in particular to eff off. I can remember being a smart arsed 19 yr old myself and not having much inderstanding of 40 plus women like me doing jobs alongside them, so I suppose I shouldn't let them get to me. But they do!!

Any advice?

sarcasm is a good tool for smartarse dealings I find

tell him to sit on the naughty step!

when they talk, hum

A knowing smile and a constant look of smug superiority?

Ask them if they are on a gap year and saving to go to university - reminisce fondly about how much you loved doing astrophysics degree (or whatever)even though it was so much harder to get in etc. etc.

Or put your head on one side and smile in a patronising way at everything they say.

I really like southeastastra's idea of humming

actually I didn't go to uni, I spent my youth travelling and living out of a suitcase and being adventurous. the kids I work with all live at home with mummy and spent their days bumming around, but of course they don't know my past life (can hardly remember it myself)all they see is a boring housewife working for a pittance and getting on their nerves.

the joys....

Oh God I remember being 19, I worked with 2 middle aged woman who were always bloody sniggering at my ridiculous pronouncements

sounds familiar

Suppose one of the challenges of working around your children is that sooner or later you will have to work alongside younger people as co-workers or managers.

Think I would expect someone in their 40s to be able to work alongside a teen & set an example not cause problems.

What are they doing that annoys / upsets you?

I used to work in a shop, as a supervisor, and I had the 'mummy boys' on the evening shift, they used to get on my tits! They would treat me like an old fart! I was only 25 at the time!!!
Just start singing along to the lirics of the latest 'rap and grime' tune thats on the go! They'll soon leave you alone!
Although trying to act 'cool' backfired on me, when I left, one of them tried to 'get off' with me at my leaving do!

I suspect the problem is this : there is nothing you can do that will make this person realise you are a not an alien species. He is 19. You are not. And actually, yes, you might as well be on different planets.

I have really struggled with the realisation that I have people in my office with mothers younger than me now...And that they think about me what I used to think about people 20 years older when I was young. Ho hum...