People between the ages of 22 to 37, these are for you.
Speaking as one, being a millennial can be the most challenging (apparently) 15 years of your life. For whatever reason the generations that came before us seem to have intense, unresolved hate and irritation with our demographic. But why? Is it because we've figured out how to streamline previously long, ineffective work? Is it because they don't know how to handle getting older? Whatever the reason, reading through these stereotypes people have for millennials will certainly make your blood boil if you let it.
Reddit user, u/NukeEnergy, wanted to know what ticks you off the most when they asked:
Elder millennials, what stereotype aggravates you the most?
They Think We Know Us
Just to be clear - Anecdotal evidence is not evidence. Just because they once knew someone who worked with someone who's nephew is a bit lazy, all of a sudden that means all millennials are lazy? Right?
You Know What I've Done To Get Here/
I had to go on a business trip and work with an older lady who was just about ready to retire. I manage tradeshows and travel around North America to convention centers and hotels organizing events. She had an old school way of checking inventory by hand. I'm pretty good with excel and salesforce, so I had a faster way of doing it.
I got the job done like I've been doing for years and left so I could go enjoy Vancouver. We've all heard the saying "Work Smarter, not harder". She couldn't get it through her head that the work day was done for me. I found out from another colleague that she called me a lazy entitled [millennial] with no work ethic. So that's the stereotype I hate. I busted my a-- and paid my way through college. I worked long hours and kissed a-- to get to the position I'm in. I know plenty of other young professionals that have done the same. This idea from baby boomers that we're entitled or lazy gets tiresome.
Yeah, We're Here Right Alongside You, Dummy
That we don't take our jobs seriously. I had to sit my peer (55+) down and tell him that the millennials he was b-tching about were the same age as the "very qualified and mission-focused" person he's been working with for the past decade.
We're* upper management.
*me and colleague in story specifically, not a generalization on millennials, to clarify
Look At Where You Are
I'm getting really tired of hearing about us lying around expecting handouts and not working. Especially when it's a situation where the person saying it is standing in a room with a lot of millennials, all of whom have jobs, which is every single time I've heard this said in real life.
Like, who here is lying around doing nothing?
Whose your example? Oh it's your neighbour's best friend's cousins son, he doesn't have a job and lies on the couch all day. Okay.
That I don't know what hard work is.
I am 37 and have worked in construction since I was 15 and still in high school. Chances are I've worked harder than most people's whiny self absorbed "consultant" parents.
What a great generation they lived in. The world was handed to them by the greatest generation, and they f-cked it all up for us to inherit and now they get to kick back before the oceans rise from the damage they helped create and call their kids, us, lazy and entitled.
Don't forget to remind me how you were able to afford your house you bought in the 70s by "saving up and spending wisely." This of course after you guys spent the following decades shredding the housing market for the rest of us.
I'm also sick and tired of listening to old dinosaurs rant about how much better life was in their day. Yeah, the lack of civil rights and rampant sexism or homophobia was real awesome. So was being a deadbeat dad who didn't know how to express his emotions to his kids or love his wife properly. The good old days sounded great, where you also just unquestioningly obeyed your government and media sources instead of being a critical thinker. Real awesome. The way you people lived is why the world is so f-cked up still today. There was nothing great about it, so stop acting like your generation was the be-all, end-all of human society.
What We Lack And What Problems We Create
An easy way to grab readers' attention is have your headline blame things on millennials. It's not hard to see why. Older readers love to see what we're ruining now while the younger readers (us) read it to disagree with it. Obviously, we're the root cause for the complete and utter collapse of all civilization.
The World Evolves
I, for one, am tired of hearing about the things we've "killed".
Tastes change all the time, this is not new.
There's an anecdote that JFK "killed the hat industry"
Hats used to be a staple of American men's fashion. There were dedicated hat shops.
Then JFK came along with his public image of a suave man with impeccable hair. Hats vanished from the mainstream fairly quickly, and the fedora has never recovered.
Our Inability To Learn Is Our Downfall
I hate that we're constantly being accused of being culturally ignorant. Many of us, myself included to a large extent, came out of college with 6 months to find a job to immediately begin paying off a 10 year debt accumulated from going to college. Compared to our peers in Europe or elsewhere that often took a year or more off to travel before or after college - some even getting subsidy from their government in various forms to cover the cost (or lack of income). I believe strongly that this predicament and lack of ability to spend time studying, learning, and engaging with foreign cultures can be strongly linked to the xenophobic and racist mentalities that have caused so many problems in my country (USA).
I'm an optimist and believe a lot of these negative idealism stem from a lack of education and/or opportunities to see the world from various perspectives, one of the many benefits one gains from extended periods traveling as a youth.
Often the same people that voted for, or passively did nothing to prevent, the government and financial policies which created such a burdening system for those seeking education are the same people that shake their heads at the situation we're in.
Whose Fault Is This?
When we are looked down upon for needing to use YouTube, etc. for learning tasks (e.g. changing a tyre) that our parents were taught by our grandparents but the former never took the time to teach us.
My mother never taught me household skills when I was young. When I was a teenager she insisted I do chores like loading the washing machine. Then she got mad when I asked her how the machine works, because "you are a teenager you should know this".
My 5 year old knows how to load and turn on both the washing machine and the dishwasher.
Make. Up. Your. Mind.
"You must go to college and get a degree. You don't want to be flipping burgers or changing the oil in some rich guy's car."
does that, incurs a lot of debt
"These irresponsible millennials and their elitist liberal educations! If they'd been smart, they'd go to community college and transfer/go to trade school. They won't just take a job, any job to pay the bills. They could flip burgers. Why should we pay for their mistakes?"
Maybe You Don't Actually Know What We Are?
Maybe ask yourself if you can substitute the world "millennial" with "much younger person than I" and see if any of your views change.
Sometimes, People Don't Actually Know What A "Millennial" Is
We got blamed for spring break covid outbreaks. WE ARNT IN COLLEGE ANY MORE.
"Millenials" has just become a term for "young person with ideals I don't agree with."
An Unwillingness To Step Aside
as an american, its basically that we're inheriting a system that nobody trusts us to run. all the people who represent us are 2-3 times older than us, the older generations are refusing or unable to retire which is preventing us from actually entering the job market.
We currently have the most geriatric Congress in US history, the Boomers refuse to concede power and continue to be elected as they still have sheer numbers on X, Y, and Z. That however will change by 2024 with a relatively even amount and by 2028 most Boomers will be too feeble or will have passed away to be able to make it to the polls.
Seriously. You Just Hate Young People.
The use of the term "millennial" to refer to the general "young person"
As a younger millennial, I hate ppl bringing up that I eat tidepods.
Ma'am ppl my age were out of college and in the working world by the time tik tok challenges were a thing.
I'm mid 30s and have had a boomer try to use that to invalidate all of my arguments. "Yeah well at least my generation never ate soap" mine didn't either, and if some of them had, that wouldn't say anything about me.
Don't ever let anyone try to put you in a box. If someone is trying to demean you, just because you were born at a different time than they were, remind them that we're living in the most technologically advanced time in all of human history and it's definitely not because of them.
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