The Wee Wee Wee Generation

Recently I sat in on a Harassment and Discrimination seminar at work, and kept hearing something that really bothered me. The person doing the training kept referring to people younger than her as the Me Me Me Generation (which I am a part of) and talking about how we are all entitled and expect shit to just work out for us without working for it. Excuse me? I keep seeing the articles online, and in Time Magazine about how we’re all a bunch of entitled assholes that just expect to walk into the working world making $100K a year and not really do anything. This really does bother me. No one person I know has ever expected that. We may all want it, but know that it’s not really feasible in our 20’s right out of school.

I graduated from college in 2006- which was right at the beginning of the Recession. I got my first job within a few weeks of graduating, and was laid off three months later. Three months! I was 22 and jobless. What the hell? I was told my entire childhood by every adult I came into contact with that if I stayed in school and made good grades that I would get into college, and get a great job. So guess what I did? Stayed in school and went to college! No one prepared me for corporate buy-outs. I didn’t blame the president, governor or mayor. I got another job. It wasn’t my dream job, but it paid a little more and provided great experience and benefits. I slowly started realizing that the ways of our parents and grandparents were over. Gone were the days of working at the same company for 30 years, and then getting a great retirement party and a watch with the company logo on it. These days it was up to ME to make shit happen.

Now I am 30 years old, and working the fourth job that I’ve had since college. I’ve never been fired, and have only been laid off once. I am making exactly what my father was making when he was 30… but that was in 1989. Do you think times have changed, and prices have gone up since 1989? Just a bit. This “Me Me Me” generation that people love to loathe is doing more with less. We are paying more in taxes, we have more debt than any other generation (because you know, we just had to go to college if we were ever going to make it in this world), and we also weathered the Great Recession- which was caused by our parent’s generation being a bunch of greedy assholes and being stupid with money. I work with a lot of people that are in their 50’s and 60’s that probably make at least twice as much as I do, but sometimes I think I work twice as hard as they do. Since I am younger, I constantly feel the need to prove myself. I volunteer for projects that no one else will and work later than most people here. The words “that isn’t my job” have never left this mouth and never will. If my boss asks me to refill his stapler, you best believe that will be the most filled up stapler he's ever had. 

The Me Me Me Generation is also putting off marriage and kids because we do want to prove ourselves to the world. We’re also smarter in realizing that kids are freaking expensive. I can’t afford one on my salary, so it makes sense to wait a few years before taking on that expense. Plus, I have a whole world to teach manners to! There’s no time for kids! We are volunteering more as well. I volunteer a lot in my city, and am part of my local Junior League. Do you know who I see working at the food banks and Habitat for Humanity projects? Twenty and thirty year olds. We are the ones rebuilding our communities. We are the ones that are so tired of seeing people we love not have the same rights as us just because of their sexual orientation, gender, race or religion. We are the ones coming up with solutions to the climate change that our parents ignored for thirty years.

So maybe we are entitled. Maybe we do think we deserve to live in a world where everyone has running water, and everyone deserves a fair chance at education and a good job. So what. If you think I’m selfish because I have a world I want to change before I get married and pop out babies, then be my guest. Like most other generalizations gone wrong in our world, it all goes back to respect and manners. Just because people are younger than me and have different dreams than I do, doesn’t make them any less of a hard-worker than me. Every generation is different, and every generation has to deal with the old folks shaking their fists in the air exclaiming, “Kids these days!” So what can you take away from this? Work hard. No matter what age you are. Play hard. Life is short. Help others. We’re all in this together, and true happiness comes from being selfless. If an older person calls you an entitled little brat, call them an old curmudgeon. Kidding! Be respectful, and mind your manners!