Karen McCullough: Generation Y's Self Esteem is Higher Than Talent

Speaker Karen McCullough delivers another humorous take on the youngest generation in today's workplace.

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[Lalo3001]

I'm a Gen Xer, I'm 42 years old. I'm also the general manager of a small business and I employ some Gen Yers.

That said, Gen Yers aren't so bad. Yeah, people pick on them as being lazy, whiny, crying brats who seek instant rewards.

Now when I was their age in the early 90s, the Baby Booms said about Gen X: that we were "lazy, whiny, apathetic slackers". Sound familiar??

My take: The kids will turn out okay. Its the baby booms who fucked the world up.

[blackloverules]

I'm one of the younger Gen Xers and I;m GLAD that I'm one.

[dubified89]

I don't think people born in the first half of the 80's fit these descriptions.

[chroniclerofthe70s]

@MoonChild062884 I've met a number of hardworking Gen Yers who unfortunately get associated with the negative stereotypes attributed to Gen Y. However, the Walmart was busy and the manager reprimanded the Gen Y employee twice for talking on the cell phone. I've heard similar stories from Baby Boomer and Gen X managers who work in different professions.

[MoonChild062884]

@chroniclerofthe70s

I'm 27 and worked a Fry's Electronics which is like a "Best Buy" for a year. When I was at work their was never a free second. Always had something to do. Maybe this particular Walmart just wasn't doing the kind of business to keep the workers busy. This is the start a global depression after all.

[Chevalier372]

The only out of the ordinary contribution Gen Y has for America is passing judgment and insulting other people... and making loud animal-like sounds in public.

[jnierstheimer]

@chroniclerofthe70s Thank you for the support. I love when people that don't know my generation are so quick to judge. We are too wired over coddled, etc. I went to a college convocation at the class of 2015 and after I heard what they did. It was astounding. The class cleaned oil off of ducks, carved hiking trails went and help give vaccines to people in Ghana Africa. Just because this generation is critical of social norms does not mean they deserve to be hated. Thanks for the support again.

[alexisguide]

@Lalo3001 true

[alexisguide]

@blackloverules me too, hahaah

[chroniclerofthe70s]

@Lalo3001 I agree, I've met a few Gen Yers who do not represent the social attributes given to Gen Y. However, over the past decade most of my random encounters with Gen Yers have been similar to Karen McCollough's characterization of Gen Y. However, I think the YT vid " Gen Y Social Misfits? " is more accurate with respect to Gen Y.

[Lalo3001]

@chroniclerofthe70s Okay. But it doesn't mean that these two little girls are representative of an entire generation. It's like saying that the grunge rockers of the early 90s were representative of all Gen X.

Trust me, every generation has their good and bad. And when they're young, they tend to have just a bit more bad then good. It all evens out as they get older.

[chroniclerofthe70s]

@Lalo3001 In the last 2 months I've seen two different Gen Y female Walmart employees probably in their early 20's talking to their friends in a back room where the tools are. A relative of mind witnessed a similar incide a few days ago at another Walmart in a different town doing the same thing. When I worked at a retail store as a teenager in the mid 80s I was constantly retrieving items, marking items, setting up shelves, or sweeping and did a final sweep before closing and locking up.