work ethic

[pinkyphimu]

do you think there is a lack of work ethic within our younger generation? maybe i have just been out in the "real" world for too long, but i swear that neither me nor my friends ever did this when we were in high school!!!!

i am totally frustrated with this punk a-s kid that i am working with at the pool. first of all, friday, he didn't show up for his shift and i got stuck working a double. i was completely cooked!!! did i mention that i also had to rearrange plans with friends? today, i open up the pool and it was a disaster!!!!!! there was trash all over the deck (not even me being fussy, there was literally trash everywhere), no chlorine in the chlorinator, the water was about 1 inch below the skimmer (so the water hadn't been filtering) and the pump was totally in need of backwashing! the same kid who didn't show for work fri., closed the pool on sat.

[cuaphi]

It's not a generational thing it's a certain people thing.

There is a woman in my boyfriend's office in her early 40's who has been milking her appendectomy(sp?) for a couple of months now. She was working half days for at least six weeks and still refuses to go back on the on-call schedule because it interrupts her precious sleep. Meanwhile, another co-workers wife went the hospital for an emergency appendectomy and was back in school full time a week later. I'm not saying it's not a serious surgery and it that it takes a long time to recupperate. I'm just saying that her co-workers are beginning to resent her constant absence.

[lionlove]

I agree that it's a personal thing rather than a generational thing.

Sorry to hear about your bad day Where is your pool? Framingham? With all this hot weather, I wouldn't mind coming to visit

[CatStarESP4]

'My mom used to have a co-worker (in her 30s at the time) that would rather read her novels than do her duty. She was later fired after about a year. It's definitely more a personal thing than a generational thing!

[annice22]

No it's not you I have that problem where I work. I'm a student supervisor and the students that work here either come in late or make up some excuse or when they do come in for work the don't do anything they are so lazy. So I can totally understand.

[smiley21]

id have to say it is a generational thing. kids like that are everywhere. it is our society. we are apart of an 'i dont care, you do it yourself' generation. it gets worse and worse. yeah, there are plenty of kids out there that are very responsible. but media and society has us sucked in this selfish lazy state of mind. pinky, i feel your pain, i deal with the knuckleheads too.

[Optimist Prime]

I read that we were "goal oriented." My goal is to find out why.

[justamom]

OH BOY! I could write PAGES about this! I think it's generational WITH some exceptions. I don't think it starts at 25-I think you can look all the way to the current 35-40 something. I think my age group (stick me with the 50's) were the last of the MAJORITY of employees having a good work ethic.

My brother-in-law is 46 and there are so many from his HS CLASS that have never held a real job, always changing careers, STILL
going to school or looking for the big break. It just seems the percentage is increasing every year. I think our parents wanted to give us the world and save us from life's had knocks. In the end, we suffer for their kindness, because when things get boring, difficult or just plain disastrous, people know more about filing for unemployment, bankruptcy (or a lawsuit) than they know how to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. Right after college, I qualified for food stamps...I would have rather DIED than go on FOOD STAMPS! Forward to today. An old baseball coach of my son was receiving workman's compensation-never went back to work. Yet EVERY DAY he was out on the field-NO LIMITATION of movement-nothing. We do not work to have fun, we work to put food on the table! Sometimes we like what we do and that's a bonus!

Thank goodness there is still a segment of people who know what hard work means and are not too proud to start at the bottom.

[Munchkin03]

I would say it is a personal thing, which is often exacerbated by youth.

[Jadey28]

I'd say it depends on how you were raised. If your parents taught you about responsibilities and manners, then you are hard at work with everything you do. Well, maybe not everything you do, but you do know what is right and what is wrong. You know that you can't call out sick for work when the weather is nice or something like that. I am 23 years old and I work 72 hours a week. Most of my friends that graduated from college are working within their field and are busting their butts to move up the work ladder. Now I know this is a rareity (sp?), but it can't been a total generation thing. Friends of mine from high school that never made it to college work their butts off as well. Kids still in high school will always act immatture....I think it's rare to see HS kids acting adult like. It's just that age where they don't want to listen to authority figures (come on...I know we were all like that at some point during our teenage years).

[Tom Earp]

Parental Rearing has a lot to do with it!

Sounds like JWOW's kids are doing quite well!

It seems to be a fact of life: Everyone wants a job get paid good but does not want to work or bitch about the job they have.

Or these morons who come in asking if I am hiring! DAH!!

If they would get a hair cut, comb it, shave the crap off of the face, not talking trimed facial hair, and wear clothes that are clean, neat and dont hang off of the ass(!), maybe they could get a job! DAH!

[KSigkid]

I agree with Jadey - it definitely depends on how you were raised.

I see a lot of people who either don't work because they don't feel like it, come in late and take off early, don't do jack for school work, and then wonder why they find themselves fired or failing.

It's not a generation thing though - there are plenty of people in our generation who work their tails off day in and day out, who really have tremendous work ethics, and plenty of people older than us who are extremely extremely lazy.

If you're brought up a certain way, you'll end up that way.

[honeychile]

When I was Chapter Advisor, the generational thing I noticed more was the need to be rewarded for every little thing! The chapter was handing out rewards for things like doing your own dishes!

After about a month of listening to this nonsense, in an executive board meeting (they were discussing yet another reward program) I said, "Do you know what you get if you would do that at a real job? You get to come back the next day and keep your job!"

Other than the above, I agree with Jadey - it's how you were raised.

[pinkyphimu]

Originally posted by honeychile


After about a month of listening to this nonsense, in an executive board meeting (they were discussing yet another reward program) I said, "Do you know what you get if you would do that at a real job? You get to come back the next day and keep your job!"

oh my god, i love that!!!!

i do think that how you are raised plays a part in your work ethic. i came from a family that has a really strong work ethic. when i was a senior in hs, i had 2 jobs, was captain of the swim team, president of stand tall, an honor student, etc. i felt AWFUL calling out one day in a snow storm when they were toying with closing the roads!!! i understand maturity takes time, but just not showing up for work isn't cool! the other kids i work with are really sweet.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

It is not generational, but it is a question of values and upbringing. There are plenty of people in their 20's and 30's who work 60 + hours a week.

Regarding the employee at the pool, the powers that be need to clarify what is expected of him at this job. He might just not realize how important his job is. They need to also explain that if it happens again, his actions have consequences including termination.