Time is something you can never get back, but companies think you owe them 40-60 hours a week to never see your loved ones and to still not be able to afford a house to live in.
Yes this is exactly it, the payoff to working now is so low. I live in Sydney Australia a place that looks beautiful but is structurally broken. Recently the data showed you need an income of 293,000 per year to be able to afford the average dwelling. Like, bruh, nothing about that makes me want to sell my soul to work if it will still take me 40+ years to own a home
@@ShaytownDown - for many you just need a degree. I have one in criminal justice, but came with a decade of using it. That came with some useful skills. If you have a degree, start applying to starting positions for places like Icon LLC, IQVIA, PPD, Parexel. Those are all large contract research organizations that pharma's outsource a lot of work to. Many will take people with a non-scientific degree and train them. There are also clinical research programs at community colleges around the country. You could take a year long course to learn CTA work, which is a starting position and then start working once you were done (but this step may not be necessary). Once you're in that starting position, you will learn so much about the industry and people will help you learn. But its a vast, complicated field, so there are many niches in it. If you find your niche and do well in it, you can make very good money. If anyone has any type of nursing degree, they're almost certain to get hired. My manager has a pharmacist degree, but just didn't like the work. Starting positions are positions like CTA (clinical trial associate), SSA (study start up associate), SMA (study management associate), project management associate. Basically, the associate positions are the starting points and there will likely be more of those advertised on the website than any other position. Make sure your linkedin is up to date, add some goals and make sure you say you'd like to move into clinical research. Recruiters are on that site looking heavily for people in this field. And switch on "looking for a job" and make sure you chose clinical research as a field you're looking at or just as a job title. Our job titles can get more complex and no 2 companies use the same names! So, just put clinical research as the job you want. If you don't have a degree because you're still in college or thinking, go into life sciences. Biology or Chemistry would do well.
As a gen z, I don't WANT to work. I WILL work. I'll come in on time, I'll do my tasks, I'll be friendly to annoying customers and coworkers, I might even go above and beyond sometimes. I'm just tired of pretending I like it. I don't need to be passionate about my job and the company to do a good job. I can just do the work.
Obviously not everyone is gonna have a job field they love, some people don’t like any sort of modern jobs. But most people will happily do the work and be good at their job if they’re paid enough to live a comfortable life. I don’t expect a McMansion, but at least a small 2 bed 1.5 bath that doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg just for the down payment
Work is unfulfilling in many cases. You go in, do something in a nebulous void, and then leave. If you work as a farmer, youbsee your crops grow. If you work in manufacturing, you'll see the things you make being used. But a lot of jobs feel like all you do is write something on a board just to erase it. Cyclical with no meaning to it. The only fruit of your labor is your pay but that's often not enough to get you excited to continue doing seemingly meaningless tasks all day every day
Being told unironically that desiring the lifestyle my parents had when *they were raising baby me* is an unrealistic expectation by that same generation is absolutely wild to me.
Older generations talk as though Gen Zers are rejecting a perfectly good system that serves their interests. In truth, they're seeing a system designed such that work makes you broke instead of giving you a better life and seeing there's nothing to be gained from participating in it and making the first steps to answering "If not that, then what?"
That's because the system DID serve the interests of those older generations, at least to a much larger extent than it did the current generation. The policy changes that made everything so unlivable only happened AFTER those older generations already made their stake.They can't seem to fathom that things have gotten so bad that you can't just work your way to the top anymore because they grew up in a system where they could and did. I saw it described pretty well in another video's comment section, so I'll paraphrase it here: it's like if your grandfather bought a brand new truck when he was 16, then later passed it down to his 16-year-old son who didn't maintain it properly and left it in a barn to rot. Then, when it was time for you to learn to drive, your dad and grandfather dug up the old truck. Your grandfather remembers it being the best vehicle he ever had, your dad remembers it being reliable but outdated, but as it stands, it's now a rusted old piece of junk that can barely get you from point A to point B without threatening to fall apart. Without making either of them work on or drive the truck themselves, how do you convince them that the truck you've been given isn't the same truck it was back when they learned to drive it?
@@limetime9045 Guess why baby boomers in early adulthood had it pretty well-off economically. That's right, the dominance of Keynesian economic policy. Since Reagan, our fiscal policy has been neoliberal and more focused toward corporations.
There was a point in life i used to bust my ass, doing double my work quotas. Know what i got on all my reviews? “Meets expectations” It really fucks with your ability to keep giving a shit.
Millennial here and it was such a slap in the face when this happened to me. I worked overtime hours on a ridiculous project that was crucial, and I wound up getting severe eye strain and two anxiety attacks in the process. And they told me “meets expectations”. Never again
Last year I was working about 70 hours a week- 30 hours of it being unpaid overtime. I kept getting reviewed as “needs improvement”, despite knowing I was doing well, and it ended up causing me to have a mental breakdown. When the data came in, I had surpassed, by far, every single person in my department. I cried staring at the computer screen as the data rolled in, because I had been so broken down, and the data felt like a miracle and I was so happy knowing the entire time it wasn’t me- my boss was just a horrible person. There needs to be accountability for workplace abuse- I left that place but I’m still severely anxious all the time because of it, and am struggling from perfectionism OCD. It’s not acceptable.
@@superkawaii8315 that works fine in social situations that are optional, not with an employer you work for and rely on for a paycheck and health insurance. “Just find a new job” isnt the advice you think it is.
@@superkawaii8315no they won't. If you add value, they'll keep the value and say you meet expectations. Employers don't care how well you do your job because their motivation is to keep as much of the value you produce. If you make them double the money, if they can, they'd give you nothing of it. Why would anyone work more in that?
Honestly this just boils down to the economy situation. I'm willing to believe that if working a standard 9-5 could support someone getting a house and family, there would be significantly less complaining.
We’re not asking for a nice house, we just want a house that’s livable. They have foreclosures listed for 250k+ where I live and they’re completely unlivable. Black mold, ceilings falling in, water damage, you’d be paying the house price, the price to tear it down, on top of rebuilding, just to have somewhere to live. How are we supposed to afford that with high student loan payments, inflation, and increasing grocery prices? We can’t do it
@@gaufridusofthefire6555 the 3bed 2bath my parents bought in 2003 was 110k. Now it’s selling price is 350k… my parents bought a second home in 2012 for 185k 4bed 2.5bath, now it’s worth 450k. They lease the old house for a very reasonable price, just the mortgage, which is about 1,200. I know I will never have the financial stability to own a house like the first one my parents bought, let alone the second one. I so depressing and demoralizing 🫠
Almost as if the current socieconomic system is finally starting to show its cracks and people are starting to open their eyes to the incoherences of it...
My job is purely transactional. I clock in, they tell me what they want me to do, I do the task, and then they cut a check for my labor. I’m not striving to go above and beyond.
At the same time, this is a philosophy that churns out products of chinesium quality. By the time we're 50, I mean you think the roads and services are shitty Now..
gen z here. I got a job right out of college and worked like crazy to stand out. I started training others less than 6 months in and exceeded all the metrics thrown my way while still producing high-quality work. when promotions came around, I was (of course) overlooked in favor of people who regularly came to me for help with their work. I asked for a reason why, and the only person who didn't give me a run-around answer said the others spent more time talking to leadership while in the office. so someone else was taking up my time asking me dumb questions because they were so busy sucking up to managers and partners that they didn't spend any time actually trying to work... and got rewarded for it! 😀 why work hard when hard work gets you no where?
That's a painfully familiar story. I spent years at a job I genuinely loved, working my butt off, to wind up training people who were getting promoted or given new positions and being sent to different offices. My "raises" were a joke (as were all of our raises, at the entry level. And MOST of us were stuck there). When I saw how people who were friends with the right people were the ones getting promoted (even if they started years after me, or were not nearly as well-versed in the job as I was) , I was working myself to the point of nervous breakdowns, it made me feel like I'd died inside. I quit the job when I had an accident and realized I'd almost lost my life while wasting time at a job that seemed like the first rung on a career ladder, but which I realized (too late) was just a single rung that went nowhere.
@@rosethorne9155 I'm sorry to hear that. I quit my job when I had people tell me I should just suck it up like they did for the paycheck, when all we ever got were raises that were outpaced by the inflation rate and endless excuses as to why the company couldn't afford to pay out bonuses despite boasting about huge increases in profit to shareholders. I was regularly recognized for producing high quality work and being a great team member, but the promotion always went to someone who consistently 'forgot' about weekly team meetings and had no clue how to add a new column in an excel sheet even though almost all of our work was done in excel. networking is important, but being forced to indulge people over twice my age who can't even be bothered to pronounce my name correctly after working with them for nearly 2 years... lol. my depression while working there made me feel exactly like how you said, just completely dead inside while still overworking myself. even I was sitting at my desk sobbing, I was still stupidly working hard filling out reports. taking time to reevaluate everything after quitting has helped tremendously. I have completely lost the passion for the field I was in, but I've made peace with that. I hope you are doing better now!
They prefer those types of people... I worked in a grocery store for five days, for free. Three days in a supermarket to see if I was qualified. I was qualified and did everything right. But I wasn't social enough. Didn't get hired.
@@delirium5381 They tricked you and cheated you out of 3 days' wages. Absolutely cruel. 😞 I hope you find/found ethical, decent employers who will pay you properly.
Being told that we're lazy genuinely feels like a punch in a gut when you just went through a full time six months unpaid internship, got a job for a month and got let go bc the boss "can't afford to pay you minimum wage" basically had to beg for them to let me work there because I realized way too late that there is no job market for my degree. So I wasted four years and am considering working for any cleaning company and give up continuing education, cause that seems like the only peaceful way to get through this life at all. What does it matter if I clean or sit at an architectural studio if I'll get paid the same amount. At least I won't end myself from chronic stress
Sounds a bit familiar. After 12 months of internship and passing national exams to get the paper proving I completed the basic 12-month work training program, the company didn't employ me because they couldn't afford to actually pay another person minimum wage. Other places that used to say "Get the proof you have one year of working experience" were suddenly saying " Well, that doesn't mean anything. We need X years of work experience." which basically meant "We're not paying more people".
Why would you work if nothing comes of it? They can’t afford a car, buying a home or building a family because those same corporations don’t want to pay and the economy is trash. Why would they want to work for nothing ? This generation is disenchanted.
THIS. We teach them about sharing, justice and fairness and the American dream then pull the rug out as soon as they become adults and say every man for himself. HUH?! I don't blame them for feeling the whole thing is BS.
@@Kiuraish You'll most likely end up doing 3 people's jobs for 1 person's pay while your boss calls you a "top performer." (In name only, not pay) The current work environment isn't good for anyone but the owners.
Problem with this is companies will just hire migrants, outsource or use AI to replace gen z. Gen z is not rebelling. They're just making the dystopia worse. At the very least, work to learn work skills. Then use learned skills to do own hustle. Maybe learn trade work. Maybe teach english in non english speaking countries or something. Preferably in countries with lower costs of living. But if gen z keep saying their dream job is to not have a job, the world is gonna leave them behind.
@@midnight816 or getting proper hours. It's a weird world today. I'm glad I developed other skills to support myself, but oh man is it weird to live in a world that my job can't even support me (and I'm a minimalist person who devotes most of his money helping his family). I work very hard, but if a job literally cannot support you, it's weirder to think you can legit make more money investing in yourself and doing your own thing. The problem is the government really doesn't like that. So you'll always be caught. My recommendation? Be smart with your time, your money, who you socialize with etc. Invest in yourself, your skillset, and don't worry so much about education. Real knowledge and wisdom is acquired by experience and application. If you have a passion for something that requires an education, remember you're not there to be educated, you're there to get a diplomat. That's it. You will always need to learn, so keep educating yourself, whether you're in school or not. Support your family, the ones you choose and the ones who choose you, we are social creatures, and when everything fails in this world and system (and it does and will) it will always always always be to your people and your 'tribe' that you will help you survive and make it through the otherside. So fight like hell, you deserve to be on this Earth. This life isn't fair, it will never be fair, so try your best to make your life easier. Start by making it smaller.
They said it about GenX too. The only difference is the second it went from GenX is entitled and lazy to Millennials are entitled and lazy, GenX switched sides and pretended it was never said about them.
"work hard or you'll be broke and homeles by the time your 60" morphed into "you'll be broke and homeless forever whether you work hard or not". I'd put in 110% effort if I had any chance of owning a house or retiring. That's not an option so I'm going to use my time more productively.
1998 here! I gave my company my all when I went through training. I worked as hard as I could. I volunteered to help, was excited to learn new things, and I was as engaged as possible. I was SO excited. 5 years later and now I do bare minimum. All of my hard work came with pats on the back but no pay increase, it’s SO HARD to get a promotion, and when you bring up issues it’s swept under the rug. Corporate America is a joke and it treats me and my work like I’m a joke. So I’m just returning the energy!
LoL, another (old? geriatric?) Millennial here, I gave up like 7 years ago. Career was my focus for 10 years (the only raises I got was when I switched jobs) until I realized that the level of performance I needed to maintain a certain level was too much; embraced mediocrity instead, I fear I might be fired soon, but a lot of people I regarded as better than me have been also fired, so I'm ok if it happens.
Little Miss don't let them take your "excitement" away. Get that motivation back for you-bc that IS who you are.There is a lot to be said for being able to pay bills timely. Don't let them suck the life out of you. Know your goals for today and this week and month. If they don't match your boss's, talk it through and incorporate theirs with yours. Ask them "which do you prefer?" Makes it look like you are a team person they can depend on. It will be noticed. Do that every day bc that IS who you are. Work places change and shift. Your personal life-keep it tidy so that again you are in control. I'm talking about cleaning, wardrobe preparation and outside interest like group yoga, dance, who knows but do that for you. What you're going through is common for the work place. One more time, YOU be the best at your job. Have things done before the deadline date. Make it a game for you. They will notice. Keep your eyes open for new opportunities. Please let me know how you do. This is my strength. And The Darkest Fateful- you have this. Write or know your work goal per month then by week at work. You don't need anyone for direction on that. Think of it kind of like one of those computer games. Work faster and smarter. Over and over again. It can actually be engaging and rewarding to you. Wrap up all loose ends on Fridays. Then Mondays are brand and in an odd way it is kind of fun. Please tell how it goes bc you do have this. Don't worry about the raise or promo yet. Get this down. YOU be the best.
I'm in my 50's and work for one of the largest corporations in the USA. I work hard and it's been noticed. I have been offered a management position several times and I refuse, because I don't want or need the responsibility or the money at this point in my life. I don't care what anyone says, if you do work hard, it does pay off even today.
@@aSuspiciousPete "what we pay you is enough to live! you dont need a raise" "pull yourself from your bootstraps like we did" iT'S FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE IN THIS FUCKING WORLD TO NOT BURN OUT AND DIE TRYING TO BE FUCKING STABLE THEY DON'T WANT TO PAY YOU FAIRLY BUT WANT YOU TO WORK ALL DAY EVERY DAY
@@aSuspiciousPetedidn’t teach us any of the relevant tech skills needed in the economy. Didn’t teach us about the job market. Didn’t teach us financial literacy. But the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell
As a Genz member, I experienced this shifting of the goal post when my dad kept telling me: “Son, get a Bachelors and you’re set.” And then when I got it, he said: “Son, no job will seriously consider you without a Masters.” He told me any Masters degree will get my foot through the door. Thank God I used my brain not to listen to that nonsense. Yet I’m the stubborn one who doesn’t know how to listen. Dad’s not even an American Boomer, but he’s worked with enough of them to become like them. Smh.
As Gen Z I feel the anwser is pretty simple, I put in the exact amount off effort and respect as I am given. And if you as my employer repeatedly tell me my life and labor isn't worth bare minimum being able to clothe, feed, and tend to basic nessesities, then you get EXACTLY what you paid for.
Why is it that everyone who complains in Gen Z isn’t doing well? And the people that don’t complain are moving along. Maybe it’s a mindset thing because I’ve worked hard, I’ve been disrespected, I’ve been knocked down more times than I can count and yet I put 100% of my passion into what I love and my employer has promoted me twice for it. Y’all need a life and passion
Why is it that everyone who complains in Gen Z isn’t doing well? And the people that don’t complain are moving along. Maybe it’s a mindset thing because I’ve worked hard, I’ve been disrespected, I’ve been knocked down more times than I can count and yet I put 100% of my passion into what I love and my employer has promoted me twice for it. Y’all need a life and passion
My job recently fired six people from my team, were now down to 3 people working three different locations (mailroom). They decided to lump two peoples jobs on the three people remaining, and when I had the “audacity” to ask for a raise, it was rejected and they told me we could “discuss it” next year. I have college classes after work, I’m so unbelievably burnt out and I’m one missing pay check from being homeless. I’m 22, and by no means a lazy worker I just want to be paid a fair wage so I can LIVE, not SURVIVE.
Remember unions exist for precisely this reason. Logically there is no reason for management to do anything differently because for you as an individual the situation is almost always perilous, because the company can always make others take the slack and hire another individual as quickly as they need to. 8 billion people on this earth, none of us are that special.
@@Foof0811please I go above and beyond at my job all the time I ain’t seen not one raise and all I get is “ur the best cleaner we’ve ever had” and a fucking handshake like really but guess what the new ppl they hire get paid more than me and do way less work than I do ts got me fucked up
@@Foof0811 oh boy you are either delusional,or you don't really have a job 😂 And I'm guessing you don't really have a job to make such a dense statement
@@BxByDoll927Is getting another job an option for you? I’m looking for a new job while doing the bare minimum at my current one. Maybe you can do the same. Don’t stand by when the boss spits in your face. Fuck loyalty to companies. Most will drop you like a hat if they failed to plan for bad times.
@@Wahbulance not in my area bcs it’s hella small and employers been tryna cut labor costs and they don’t wanna hire anyone frl and whenever I go in for an interview I’m met with”oh sorry we’re not hiring right now” so I just been wasting my time falling for constant ghost jobs 🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️
I'm gen X,1979. My kids are gen Z. Our kids aren't the problem. Genz know it's all BS at 18. I didn't understand until I was 40 with 4 kids. My kids don't even want kids because they see me work all the time.
Gen z here, I think most of us knew before 18. I’d say most of us work as we’re paid (there are of course exceptions just like with every generation). Pay us enough to care and we probably will. Pay us an unlivable wage and we’ll probably put in the bare minimum because why do more work when all you get is a plate of tired and maybe a side of irritation as a thanks
@@thatonearoaceYea. It’s called striking a hard bargain. The only reason they shame people as “lazy” is to try and squeeze more out of them without incurring any extra cost. It’s a cynical game they play. Remember it’s a war. A class war. All you’re doing is fighting back. I mean, if you genuinely like your work and find purpose in it, by all means put in your best effort. If it’s just a standard dull corporate job then do the minimum you can get away with. The managerial class can b*tch about you all they want. You don’t have to care what they think. They made their bed a long time ago.
@@marshallsweatherhiking1820 The one thing I’ll slightly disagree on is that if you want to move up, be careful about what putting in 100% looks like even if you like the company. If you’re going beyond what you need to do, you might be essentially locking yourself out of promotions since why should they promote you? You already do the work you would be expected to do if promoted without any extra pay or anything
@@thatonearoace ancient millennial here- I think being born during or after September 11 thrust you guys into a world of cynicism. All you’ve ever known is “things suck.“
I'm 1997, and I'm a person who has always valued education for the simply the sake of it, I ENJOY school, and I'm a naturally very intrinsically motivated person. But I will say these past 4 years have taken it out of me. I did everything right -- went to college, got a degree, got a fantastic internship in my (white collar) field right out of school, was hired on full time... and then a year later I was laid off in a mass layoff. I fought my way into a new job, just to be laid off in another mass layoff a year later. I WANTED to love my career, but my industry does not value me. Companies don't value people. Meanwhile I have people asking why I never want kids... how am I supposed to feel comfortable enough with my income to have kids if companies either A) layoff people every two years or B) grind their workers to the bone? All of this has me questioning my place in the world as an Employee. The climate situation is not getting better, the political situation is not getting better, and I'm fighting for my life to help big companies that don't care about me get richer and richer.
29 year old here 8+ years of expereince in a professional pest control licensed technician, 15 years of work experience in the workforce since i was 14. These past 5-10 years has been the worst and it is only getting worse. No jobs will hire, and if they do you will have 3 peoples job and they want to start you off at 7.25, it literally cost more to work than to not. I will be looking at different countries and hopefully the new country will accept a 29 yr old extremely healthy and able to work 15+hrs a day in the 100+ degree weather, just not in this country!
@jaimeerindy4573 i empathize. I've never worked in corporate on the level you have experienced. I don't even know what motivates the most to go a corporate route. If you're looking for challenges and good pay that requires intelligence and spacial awareness, you can be an electrician or HVAC. There are so many opportunities. How do you even know what will best suit you until you explore? There's more to life than corporate.
I've been laid off before and interviewed for a job after where they frankly told me they would be closing and laying everyone off in another year. That's how I learned to research the company and the job market before applying. Of course, sometimes you just need a job, any job.
Same age. Became an engineer. Worked my ass off. Company’s won’t pay you for your hard work. Have literally been told that I have to wait to get paid more because I don’t have 20 years of experience whenever I became the best engineer on my team after 3 years. I left made a lot more doing WAY less when I left. Crazy why they can’t figure out why genz doesn’t have motivation. I have little desire to keep the current system going 😊
Dude. Thank you for making this. It genuinely brought me so much comfort & you took my thoughts and laid them out in front of me. Ironically it gives me an ounce of hope to know I'm not the only one of this generation that is immensely struggling in every aspect even though they're seemingly doing exactly what they're "supposed to do". Thank you times a million.
I think it's also important to talk about the death of entry level jobs. Companies are pushing back against remote and forcing RTO, citing collaboration and that it's harming Gen Z because they never learn work norms. And while there's some validity to this, companies are not actually investing in training and development. New hires are expected to hit the ground running and have years of experience. As a millennial I don't think I've ever had a good onboarding experience, and I get so many questions from gen Z employees that make me roll my eyes, but it's because none of this stuff was explained to them and they're never put in a position to learn.
Don't forget all the "entry level" job postings out there that pay peanuts per hour but still have the audacity to put "preferred: masters degree" in the requirements and qualifications.
RTO is better for Gen Z in the sense that mentorship is much more difficult over emails and zoom. First job out of school especially would be a nightmare if it was strictly online.
@ yes, but they aren’t getting that mentorship even if they are in the office. Pretty much anyone who was just entering the workforce in 2017 onward has pretty much been left to fend for themselves.
Every company wants you to have experience but no one wants to train. I can learn anything fairly quickly and have excelled at every job I've had - that I've been trained properly for. I feel like it's not hard!!
The dollar has lost half of its value since 2000. Yet wages have increased by only 25%. That means someone making 20 dollars an hour in modern day is making the equivalent of 12.5 dollars an hour just 24 years ago! You think we're going to work hard for that? NO! Pay us more!
@@SaulAguilar.this is the shit that gets me 😭💀. The powers at be fighting TOOTH and NAIL to not have to pay us a wage so measly it’s already a slap in the face. Meanwhile, it’s STILL not enough. Minimum wage should be raised or straight up redefined because wtf. Maybe UBI if they don’t want to make it possible to survive off “minimum wage”.
I was wondering how things are with the euro. The answer: we’re obviously being ripped off… I work for €1,800 (before taxes) [about €1500 after] for 40 hours… Since 2000, the euro has lost about 41% of its value due to inflation, meaning it only buys around 59% of what it did back then. Specifically, €100 in 2000 would need to be €168.28 in 2024 to have the same purchasing power. This reflects a cumulative inflation rate of approximately 68.28% in the eurozone, averaging 2.19% annually. In contrast, wage growth has not kept up with this rate, meaning many people feel a financial squeeze similar to what you’re describing with the dollar in the U.S. Regarding Austria’s minimum wage, it’s currently around €1,800 gross per month based on a 40-hour work week. Given the euro’s value decrease since 2000, for this wage to match purchasing power effectively, it would need to be closer to €3,000 per month to compensate for inflation and reflect an increase in living costs. This difference highlights the growing demand for wages that more accurately reflect inflation and cost-of-living adjustments across many sectors.
2003, married to a 2002, both Gen Z, we both lost our jobs, and cannot get new jobs. We are constantly ghosted by fake jobs. I've heard calls that my Husband gets saying "sorry we are canceling your interview as the position has been filled." We are both very unhappy, and the worst part is that, even if we do get jobs, we'll still be unhappy. We won't be able to see each other anymore because we'll have to work different shifts because if we try for the same shifts, we will be denied even more jobs. We won't even earn enough money to live anyways, so what even is the point. I keep hearing bull about "the job economy is great" and "well, why don't you try all these resources to get a job?" I did, and I am now in a huge pool with thousands of other people waiting for a job. It has been 2 months since then, and almost 10 since I've had a job now. This country is a sh#tshow, and I'm tired of listening to the lies of how great it is here. I just want to leave and live in the forest... if that wasn't illegal.
I'm Gen Z who feels like my future was completely stolen from me. I went to college and that entire experience was upended by a global pandemic. Then I graduate into the worst job market since basically 2007/2008 and can't get a job. That and these jobs don't factor in rent/cost of living so you're stuck no matter how hard you work. We're just tired. We just want to have hope and happiness, not slave away for nothing.
I'm a mill married to a xenial. We got married in 2020 and literally as we started a life together, rent went up x2 and jobs were hard to find. He couldn't find work in our town because everything responded saying he was overqualified. I've had an anxiety disorder all my life so at the time I was cleaning houses which only covered maybe a couple of bills. We literally had to move for both of us to get jobs, and it didn't pay much. After the work experience we moved again to work better paying jobs in the same field of work. Places started laying us off because of lack of work. Even made friends with our boss who was upset about having to let us go. I 100% agree with your last comment. Having experienced literally what boomers lecture everyone to do, and it backfiring because of corporate logistics, I'm fucking done buying into the "american dream" brainwash. You are expendable. You're just a number that can be flicked off the page when you're becoming a hindrance to the rich guy's profits. Corporations don't care if you can't pay your mortgage.
I'm in the exact same boat: the money I make at my part time job is gone as fast as I make it and every job listing demands years of experience for even entry-level positions. This country is a joke.
I'm an elder millennial and I LOVE my gen z staffers. Do they push the boundaries sometimes? Yes. Does it make me uncomfortable sometimes? Yes. Do they demand previously unprecedented levels of flexibility? Also Yes. Literally none of that is bad. Challenging maybe, but not bad. Their work ethic is high, and so are their expectations. They inspire me all the time and are seriously unbelievable employees, and I really value and appreciate them. They said the same thing about us 20 years ago, when most of us worked multiple jobs starting in our teens. I recognize there are real challenges and problems facing gen z, but we can learn a lot from them!
yes yes yes! I am also a millennial, and I love how GenZ pushes boundaries in the workplace. In the USA specifically we've become so used to giving up all of our free time and energy to our work, and it's not healthy! The work culture propaganda is so ingrained that any pushback against it feels like a slight against the "working American". Meanwhile, our jobs don't actually give us anything. Barely any vacation, if at all, little to no sick time, little to no health insurance, and parental leave is usually a pipe dream. Other developed countries look over at us in shock because of how far behind we are. We need GenZ to push back against these stupid ingrained work culture norms, so we can move forward as a society.
@1Fresh_Water I'll never forget when my zoomer employee called me and said "I logged in and started working this morning, but I'm really not feeling it today. My brain is just not in work mode and I feel like I need to step away from the screen and have an offline day". I was STUNNED. I was really impressed with how direct and honest she was, so of course I told her to enjoy her mental health day but it actually changed me as a person lol. I thought about all the days when I really needed to do that, and I never did. Why?? Why didn't I ever do that?? We should all be doing that, why the hell not. It was the first of many experiences with gen z at work that really changed my perspective. I take more time for myself now. I don't overextend. I don't work when I'm sick. I prioritize differently. Gen Z gave that to me and I'm grateful!
I can sit down a get work done, and accurately. I can't get yelled at for everything, treated like a dog by customers, no flexibility for my disability, etc. Give me the work, I'll get it done.
I'm a current graduate student and gen z, and I'd just like to say, I'm worried that much of what is being termed "laziness" in the workplace is burn out. I know that some people may scoff at that, but to put it into perspective: I've gone straight through school. I went straight from high school to undergrad to grad school. My field requires a master's, so I chose to go straight through. To afford school, I worked full time in college. I had between 3 and 6 jobs at any given time in undergrad, and worked between 40 to 60 hours depending on the semester. Much of that money went into school and basic living expenses, I wasn't able to build a savings with it. My mom went to college in the early 90s and was able to afford each semester by working as a part time waitress each summer. Anytime I talk to someone my parent's age or older, they often tell me how jealous they am that I'm in grad school because they miss the days of getting to "just be a student" and enjoy learning. I love learning, but no one seems to understand that college students are not "just students" anymore. So, when my generation graduates, gets what they think to be a good job, and start making real money, they are disappointed to find that they still cannot afford to live and that they cannot use this new job to leverage a work life balance. In our society, college is marketed as the time when you get to explore yourself, have freedom, and travel, but that's not the reality anymore.
This is the best take I’ve seen so far. I definitely agree our parents had it easier. But when you get started you don’t always get what you want. My first year being out on my own I agree it was hard to make living expenses work. But as I got experience, I learned how to have a work life balance with no change in pay. Some of what people are complaining about is dealing with the normal challenges of starting adulthood alone. When my parents left school they were pharmacists. But even they lived paycheck to paycheck back then when they started. Now they had it easier because their college promised work right out of school so they weren’t worried about eating to survive. BUT they didn’t get a great work-life balance right away. I only have that now as a 22yr because I sacrificed for 1-1.5yrs before I was really saving money. Now that I am saving, I can afford a great work-life balance. I think there are societal factors that make it hard. But I skipped college and made it work so I feel like this is a mindset thing as well.
you are no different than your mother. There are lots of us who did the same thing, and yeah, we were tired, but WE.... KEPT ... GOING! PUSH THROUGH IT!
@tjholmes66 maybe but it doesn't change that it's a bad system. You can't just say push through when people say something is bad. At some point, it actually has to be fixed
The term "pull yourself up from your bootstraps" is even about it being impossible. Think about if. If you're wearing a pair of boots, you cannot physically pull yourself up by the straps on them because you are literally standing in them.
My personal experience is if you work hard you will be taken advantage of. I am someone who starts a new job very motivated doing everything thats asked of me to the best of my capabilities. At my last job I had another apprentice working the same job as me. He didn't do anything except listen to music and scroll through instagram all day while I did my work. I was constantly forced to work late, take on extra tasks and was criticized heavily when I didn't do it to perfection. He got to leave early every friday and flew under the radar. I ended up with a nervous breakdown cause my autistic brain cannot handle this type of pressure and I got canned. And this is not a one time experience. I have a disability, which makes burnout more likely for me, but I see a lot of people my age either completely overwork themselves or not giving two shits at work because if they did, they would burn out as well
I know it can be a challenge (and debilitating at times, let’s be real), but it’s actually a gift . Unlike others, you are very aware of your strain and this will help you in the long run. NT get burnt out just as easily, but usually they turn to substance abuse and don’t realize they have a problem until a sudden mid-life crisis. Sometime down the line they have an extrem and sudden crash. Take the time to find yourself and a community you enjoy. Rooting for you!
When companys try to spend the least amount of money to make to biggest profit its smart busines, but when employes want to spend the least amount of time to make the biggest profit its suddenly lazy.
As a zillennial, my very worth as a person and how I was treated as a person was tied to how good my grades were. There was an extreme amount of pressure to perform academically. Of course I'd be resentful. When I became an adult, of course I checked out. I don't hate learning new things or working hard. I just got tired of my worth being tied to my output exclusively. There is so much more to life.
im a gen z ('06), being a junior in high school and im trying so hard to get out of this bad habit of my self worth being based on school grades. its hard but i remind myself every single day that my self worth is not and will never be based on my grades
@@baldjungkook4582 fortunately if you go to uni you, and your parents hopefully, realize that's not true unless you have plans for something like medical school. I'm about to graduate with an okay gpa which my parents were initially concerned about, but I have far more work experience out of and in field than my 4.0 friends, so you end up seeing that your grades only matter for a short amount of time.
Thinking of my mom's stepdad who worked a full time job with a 5hr commute everyday and then got diagnosed to be dying within the next few months literally 3 days after retiring. He had finally bought the house of his dreams too. Companies are not families, they will replace you if you don't function well. I think it is hilarious that people point to Gen Z with terms such as, "Quiet quitting", when in reality it just means Gen Z does not identify their workplace as a foundational structure within their lives like prior generations with more security within their employment did. Back then there was at least some semblance or illusion of meritocracy. Nowadays, we don't even have that.The dramatized TikToks to me are exaggerated versions of this shift in the workforce. The numerous lay offs from jobs that were deemed safe have only fuelled the detachment. I have heard a million regrets of people who were old or on their deathbed, but not once have I heard they wished they had worked harder or more. It is not that Gen Z has wildly different priorities than previous generations, it’s that socially speaking, Gen Z does not care to uphold the image of “Hard worker” while losing sight of the things that will actually matter in the long run. A company is not going to be at your deathbed, a company will not hold your hand if you get chronically ill, regardless of how many things you sacrificed for it. Work is just work. And if you are not careful, you’ll retire an empty husk of yourself. Because once your desk is cleaned out and your workspace items of 50 years are packed into an old dusty cardboard box, you may just exit the building you resided your entire life in and won’t have anywhere else to go.
as depressing as it is to hear about how bad our generation is struggling, i’m legitimately crying tears of relief because i thought it was just me. i’m 26 years old and in so much credit card debt. i have an incredibly hard time finding work. it is so exhausting to hear from my mother over and over again how i’m a failed adult because i can’t support myself financially. if it weren’t for the fact that my boyfriend got a job in STEM that pays decently, i wouldn’t even have a place to live. i’m so tired y’all. but i’m also really glad that it’s not 100% my own damn fault-because feeling that way is debilitating for one’s self esteem.
im 29. when i quit my job in 2021 i was unable to find a job for 2 years. i genuinely tried. i dont have a criminal record. my savings reduced in those 2 years. all progress lost because theres no jobs out there
@deamorebeaute2412 it is hard finding work. I luckily have a job rn but am looking elsewhere and it has been hard. I have a college degree and cant get an interview at costco.
@deamorebeaute2412 there A LOT of fake job postings being made. Companies make job posts they have no interest in filling to say no one is applying in order to continue justifying wage cuts or the absolute worst I have heard is some have even used job interviews whereby they ask candidates "hypothetical" scenarios on solving a problem or process only to NOT hire any of the candidates and then use the solutions they said to solve their own problems (basically using them as free consultations, by scamming them into thinking there's a role) Sometimes they use the interviews to just basically set up a nepotism hire, in which having good candidates against makes the "hire" more credible. The world is absolute trash. Yes there are jobs, but what is the point of having a job that pays so low that it costs MORE to work than simply not. The job has to first and foremost cover my basics (which have gone up hugely- rent, gas, electricity, municipal bills and food - hell I don't even go out anymore)
I think a big part of this that everyone is missing is that Gen z is the first group to be fully aware of the fact that America is the only “first world” country (and I say that VERY loosely) that pushes this mindset of living to work. We know that our European counterparts have health insurance and paid vacation and maternity leave, and we might get some sick time off if we live in a liberal area. I currently work for an Italian company, and even though my job is harder than any job I’ve had previously, it’s infinitely less stressful because everyone in corporate is Italian (except for me and like 3 other people). We’re all working from home/ out of office from the first week of December to the third week of January. Everyone in the company who works 15 hours or more gets full benefits, which are great and very affordable. I was out for 3 weeks sick after only being there for a month, and they told me to take another 3 days when I got back, just in case I didn’t feel 100%. Fully paid. We see these things being the bare minimum, literally the law, everywhere but here. They can continue to not hire us for maybe 10 more years at absolute maximum before their entire labor market dies and retires, but one way or another America is gonna have to make some adjustments for us.
There was a time when the US needed to push that mindset. It was 1946 to 1991, because that was the time when the US was footing the bill for Europe's defense against the Soviet Union. Then the Soviet Union dissolved, so the US could relax, right?
If you want a hardworking workforce treat them well, give them healthcare, paid holidays, good maternity leave etc. Workers deserve to have a life beyond the workplace otherwise what is the point. Americans need to realise how they have been shafted by their governments and corporations
i'm from the uk, where it's very much "live to work". the jobmarket in the uk is awful. all these benefits mean nothing when you're unable to work anywhere that actually provides these benefits. there are enough food/retail customer service jobs, but so few entry-level jobs that you can actually make a decent career out of. i know only two people in my generation who might be able to afford to buy a house in the next 5 years (excluding people with parents who will help them pay for/give them a property).
I’m moderately sucesssful by all of the traditional metrics. My wife and I both make good money, own a home, and are almost completely done paying off our student loans. It’s fucked up that we feel like we are the exception, not the rule. It feels like we have to work SO hard to make all of the traditional milestones that our parents reached with relative ease. Continue to prioritize your work life balance. Don’t sacrifice yourself for someone else’s profit.
I don't know about "relative ease" but the minefield was certainly less dense. I graduated college in 1969 from the City University of New York. It was tuition free and I lived with my parents and commuted until I graduated so no student debt. I had a $300 1961 Mercury Comet that my dad gave me so no car loan. He replaced the Comet with a $150 Ford Fairlane. There were no charge cards so no charge card debt. There was no internet, cable TV or cell phones so these expenses just didn't exist. Air fares were regulated so no one but the rich could afford to fly so vacations were pretty much limited to where you could get to by car. With no internet there was no online shopping with all the potential pitfalls that come with that. Plus, every decent company provided good health insurance AND a real life pension.
Similar feeling. I grew up with parents who were poor and drug addicts (one died when I was young). Yet, I didn't see myself as a victim and instead worked hard my whole life. Skipped social events to study. Budgeted my money. Worked multiple jobs whenever I could. Went to the best university in my state in order to get in-state tuition and worked as an RA for room and board. I now make a six figure salary, but this is only after decades of under paid temp contract jobs, which means I've only now (in mid-30s) started saving for retirement. With student loan payments and $2k+ rent per month, and now paying for my Dad's home care because he has dementia, I'm still a lifetime away of ever owning my own dwelling. That's the crazy thing---I work so much harder, make all the "right" choices, and yet struggle as much as my parents who made $30k and were drug addicts. I'd be better off never working hard, being stupid and low skilled, and having parents who I could inherit a house from. The truth is, the only way to get ahead in this economy, is to start ahead. There is no longer any sort of social ladder to be climbed through hard work. That's the truth of it.
I'm not even from the US, and I feel like I'm stuck in limbo. All my life I worked hard, got good grades, finished my uni degrees even at the cost of my mental health. There is no entry-level jobs. No one to give you a chance and actually invest in onboarding you. I WANT a job so bad, yet all I've gotten for over a year is "we regret to inform you" over and over and over again, and it's devastating. I even completely threw the towel on my pursued education and career path and applied for different other career training paths and apprenticeships, and even *that* is going nowhere. It's frustrating beyond words, and impossible to remain hopeful day to day. Either you get rejected from low-paying jobs because they're afraid you will demand more and argue with your degree, or they demand 5-10 years of experience with lots of other bonus qualifications and AI-filter anything that doesn't compare to that high standard immediately. Hearing politicians argue that "nobody wants to work anymore" over and over makes me want to scream.
YES YOU GET IT god i feel so heard I had to quit my job in MD to move in with my husband here in FL (he already had a home and like hell were we gonna sell that so I could keep a minimum-wage part-time job). It wasn't much, but it was work as a teacher's aid at a private school every week and it still paid something, I figured I'd at least be able to find something similar here NOPE. I get rejected from entry-level jobs in ALL fields because I don't have work experience. Because that totally makes sense. Most frustrating shit on the damn planet - like, yes, I don't know anything, because NO ONE WANTS TO FUCKING TRAIN ANYONE AND THAT INCLUDES ME I'm so done with the job market at this point. me and my husband survived on one income over the year since I moved in, but even then only just barely. suffice to say the savings account is pretty much gone at this point and any hopes we had about buying land and moving out into the wilderness to try and make something of ourselves in a more self-sustaining kind of way is all but gone. I'm so sick of this bs, I'm ready to put in the hours but I need some mf flexibility while I learn (part of me thinks the only reason these entry-level, experience-required positions are getting filled at ALL is because the people who got bachelor and/or master's degrees but aren't getting hired for the work they actually want due to inexperience are desperate enough to apply for minimum wage entry-level work just so they can start making *some* kind of money, and companies are picking them instead of someone like me who has neither. but then I hear about these very same people not getting hired at all because employers know they'll move on ASAP to the job they actually want and don't want to invest in someone who's going to dip. So I don't even know what the fuck they want anymore and who the HELL they're hiring, because this just.... god it makes no sense)
@@lunaredelvour2972 I relate to your thoughts so much, and I'm so sorry you and your husband have had to drain your savings just to get by. I hope that things will swing back up again soon, so that we can *actually get some work* and try and start over on bulding the futures we want. Hang in there 🫂🖤
In addition to all of this, i think older generations need to put more effort into working with and teaching Gen Z and be more understanding that jobs are learned. Most people don't start a corporate job in their early teens so now we have 22 year olds who have never worked in a formal environment showing up on their first day with no experience. Yet some employers seem to expect us to have these skills immediately after the university hands us our degree (plus that 4+ years of experience on the entry level job posting). When i got my first job out of University it was obvious my older colleagues didn't immediately understand how many things I simply didn't know how to do. Learning office and departmental norms was like learning a new language and i am grateful my older colleagues took the time to teach me.
An unspoken thing amongst all this is that older generations just had a more relaxed work environment. When they came home from work, they didn’t work. As simple as that. At work, you’d still have time to socialize and chat. Now, workdays spill over into the rest of your day and you’re taking meetings and replying to emails 24/7 without getting paid for that time. Of course you’re going to have to turn down meetings to go eat and work out.
Yep! My job will call you in on your days off and when you say no you’re in trouble ! It’s my DAY OFF but if you don’t come in it’s just as bad and no showing a scheduled shift! So even in your day off.. your on call …
I was told my job I recently started would be from 6 to 2-2:30 only to find it was expected of me to stay until 3:30 or 4 pm and I very quickly quit don’t gaslight me into thinking I’ll have my afternoons free if it’s not true
@@geekgirl616 I feel you. Our job gives days off based the no. of hours worked. (They were soo excited to mention that during my orientation). Initially they'd apologize if they weren't able to schedule all the days off in the same month because of 'short staffing'. Now they get upset/offended if you enquire about your missing days off. They act as though they've done you a huge favor by even giving you one. I now understand why this department is perpetually short staffed.
something that is very scary to me as a gen z is that the goal posts keep moving, so we are told that we still need to do MORE or spend MORE even if we have already exceeded expectations. we don’t get enough credit for being adaptable. i see so many of peers still struggling after choosing a practical and safe career path. so, when we attempt to pivot to account for such, hiring managers tell us we cannot be successful and that we are “so indecisive”. for example, i want to move from marketing to accounting since i want to own something/be my own boss someday. marketing career paths are becoming fewer and farer between as more flock to join the field. but, when trying to switch with coursework, transferable experience/skills (albeit limited), and professional work history, i’m told i cannot possibly excel at accounting because i don’t have an accounting degree. never mind the 2 business administration degrees and same amount of accounting courses as an accounting major... it’s exhausting feeling like you cannot win.
Who would have known that creating a society where the only thing that people care about is money, and the only drive for production is money, and you need money just to survive and have a place to live, that because of that all anyone cares about is money and that it's extremely important to be paid enough and have enough money to live but because the people currently in control of all the money want to keep it all for themselves there isn't any chance of new people getting enough money to do literally anything. People aren't paid what their work is worth, businesses don't want to pay people what they are worth, the people in control of businesses are highly incentivized to scam as much money for themselves as possible while artificially raising the stock price by laying off thousands of workers and destroying a company for short term gains so they can get their golden parachute payout when the company goes out of business. Whereas one CEO could cut his paycheck in half and cover the cost of all the people he laid off multiple times over, when it comes to choosing between the company and those peoples' livelihood or choosing to be slightly more impossibly richer, they always always every single time choose to keep the money for themselves. Just look at Elon Musk, he moved Tesla's headquarters because his massive CEO salary was denied for being too large, the lawyers involved getting it denied got paid 2+ billion dollars, he moved the company and got the salary anyway, and subsequently started laying off thousands of people and cutting back on the company, when just a fraction of his salary could have covered the payroll for all of those people. Not to mention that he is the CEO of multiple companies so the idea that he has time to run all of these companies, campaign for Trump, potentially become a member of Trump's cabinet, raise multiple families, and do all the advertising he does while posting on Twitter more than anyone else... It's laughable to say that he deserves that salary. Actually ridiculous. He just delegates all the work to other people, he is not fulfilling 30 billion worth of work for Twitter, Tesla, Space X, and his AI company and whatever other crap even if you combined them all together. And that is just one example..
Before my junior year of high school, I remember having passions. I loved baking, I loved drawing and writing, I loved movies and stories, I wanted to help the community and the environment, I was learning a second language. I’m in my first year of university now and it feels like there’s nothing left in me to keep trying. Everything is exhausting, things I like doing are near impossible, classes I really do enjoy and want to learn more in I just can’t do the schoolwork for. I don’t care what my career is, I don’t care what my job is. Everything feels like it’s only going to get worse and I can’t do shit, so what’s the point?
The problem with the school system is that it's working as intended. They teach you to sit in one place and follow instructions. That's the primary purpose of our public school system. It was designed with the express purpose of training the masses for factory work.
@@tjholmes66 That’s only due to ignorance. Try researching a topic before presenting an opinion on it. It’s not a contested issue; it’s just not openly discussed.
Yes. With limited learning (most of the time). Smart enough to run the machines and dumb enough to not know they're getting messed over for the adult world.
I'm gen z. I worked extra hours at my corporate job. Took pride in being exact in my work. I got only a $1300 raise after my performance review. I asked if they'd reevaluate for a higher raise because my skills had increased and I was getting more responsibilities. No one would respond to me. I got so burnt out. When my husband offered to have me be a stay at home mom, I jumped at the opportunity. I'm thankful this dynamic is something we can afford. I'm so much happier. That company did not care about me but my family does
Damn, at least you got a raise though. I was doing supervisor work, ended up training people, and found out some guy i was training was making 4 dollars more per hour than i was making. They denied even the yearly 3% inflation rate raise.
@korvincarry3268 The $1300 raise was an inflation raise and they had the audacity to call it a "merit based raise". Which tbf a lot of companies call it that but still. But dang that sucks to not even get the inflation raise. You should quit and reapply for the job to get the $4 raise (jk, but I like the idea of it because it also makes HR do more paperwork than if they just straight give you a raise)
@napoleons_wife oh yeah, i already quit. Which sucked for them cause i took all that supervisor ability, all that overtime and sudden coverage, all that expertise in our many technical systems, EVERYTHING and left. Many other people saw me later outside of work and followed suit, even people whod worked there for 16+ years. They had a huge shortage of people, knowledge, and skills then, and still are recovering nearly a year and a half later.
I use to have an incredibly strong work ethic throughout school. I went above and beyond on everything I was given. I graduated high school with a 4.3 GPA and graduated college with a 3.86 GPA. I was bought fully into the idea that hard work and doing well in school will get rewarded. Three years later in the workforce, that illusion is completely shattered. It was shattered within my first year in the workforce. My first job out of college refused to pay me more than $19 an hour, and gave me a 2% raise at the end of the year, after a year with 10% inflation. My next job was better, because they at least gave raises in line with inflation, but then a month ago I was fired with absolutely no warning, completely out of the blue, with no reason given. I later found out it was probably because they were downsizing the department (3 other people got fired that month, too, from my 30 person department), but didn't want to lay us off because they didn't want to pay severance. I am now back to looking and applying for jobs, but I have been so disillusioned with everything that it feels like no matter what job I get it will be an endless cycle of soulless jobs.
It's almost like there's a structural disjunction, literally diametric opposition, between the incentives employers have--to maximize the amount of profit squeezed out per unit of employee labor time--and the incentives employees have to maximize the real value they're paid in compensation for each unit of their labor time.
Im a Zillenial and nothing feels stable anymore. During the pandemic friendships broke that I never thought would break, people got more into security, trading community for working harder inside the hamster wheel. I feel like we lost so much - not just all these materialistic outlooks, I feel like we could do without that but with the pandemic and being online we also lost hope that community exists and friendships survive the challenges of life.
"They don't have any incentive to pull up their bootstraps when they don't have anywhere to go when their boots are on." That shit hit me like a punch to the chest. It so eloquently summed it all up. Older generations yelling at us to "pull up our boot straps". Ok... AND GO WHERE?!
I hadn't even reached that thought damn The idea that even if you somehow voided all debt, held a stable.job with supportive management and included paid leave and logistics planning, was connected to and maintained regular checkups with a free government health service and had sufficient time to relax and have downtime- in what place of the world or just what world would this be worth pursuing right now? let alone rewarding and progressive for people Even the idea of what we could do for the world in 50 years has basically become so abandoned it's an uncanny liminal horror to think about it in the way some people think wistfully about what they would do when they were grown up during early childhood
@@AlexQuinn-f2rI don’t know what you’re all off about with this horror scene. I left school and worked my ass off, didn’t complain to everyone, didn’t say the world was against me, but got knocked down by so many people, dealt with drug abuse, got payed pennies for professional work and so much more. But I pushed through, I worked through shitty times and I’ve been promoted twice because I didn’t blame my problems on other people. I could’ve said what you guys are saying and said it was all for nothing. That is loser, victim mentality. You will always fail with that mindset
@@superkawaii8315 or you could fight so other people don't have to go through what you went through. You want to leave the world as hard and the same as you went through? Do you not care about future generations? What's really victim mindset is rolling over and accepting sh*t. You've internalized the cr*p.
@@superkawaii8315 I mean yeah, generally the way the system works is to give arbitrary promotions up to the level of incompetency in order to keep everyone fighting each other to be the most productive. You basically got given what you have so that the people under you remain resentful enough to want to take your job and work harder, not because you specifically are anything special
@@superkawaii8315 Why should anyone listen to you? You're essentially tweaking out in every comment. Defending getting paid pennies for work lol. You'd be much richer if you spent less time licking off employers and demanding to be paid what you're worth. Everything you said is debunk the moment you said you worked for pennies. From there, your own work is worth less no matter what. Instead of setting your expectations higher and higher, you're "pushing through." You can SAY that, but you'll never get back that time wasted, and if you were really dealing with so many issues let's say you've lost a lot of potential money over that time as well as people moved around you. Those promotions, well, someone got them earlier than you and is further ahead than you now... that's why you got to move up. You didn't even decide that-- someone else took pity on you for a promotion. Demanding what you're worth is bargaining with an employer for the work. Not hoping you get promoted for working hard. You're bunker than the whiners. Defending getting paid pennies, then spending more than 30 minutes in a comment section chasing tail definitely makes you an expert on how to use time. Victim mentality and sucker mentality are two sides of the same coin. Make em "work for it" so they can get what they feel they deserve. More likely than not, especially if you're an engineer in an energy-based field (a well-paying field, if you're so aware), you're STILL being dangled. Lmao. The only way out of that is showing off that you're a boomer or a Gen X, and even that betrays whether or not you're sincere. An older man wouldn't laugh at a child for not being able to work on the same level as a 40-year welder. It is obvious which is worth more.
The person that thinks they can and the person that thinks they can’t are both probably right. If you think there is no future for you then that’s how it’s gonna be! Half of this is a mindset thing. If you think you are a victim then you are. That’s the biggest issue with Gen Z. We have been taught to blame our problems on other people. When you take accountability for yourself you no longer feel like a victim
@@superkawaii8315fun quotes from books aren't material reality. "You can do it" quotes isn't enough. Victim mindset is for people who actually have nothing working against them but we know factually the economy is worse and employers are using whatever power they have to scr*w over employees. If so many are feeling the same way, it's systemic, not a personal failing.
@@hatter5834 The economy has been worse and has been better. It’s still plausible to have a middle class life with sacrifice. Sacrifice means the economy sucks, so you have to eat the same thing 2 days in a row. Eat rice and beans, don’t buy dinner out with friends… personal choices we make everyday influence this. It’s really not that expensive for the bare necessities unless you live in a really shitty area. People consider Starbucks and brand name clothes necessary. You need to adapt to the economy. It’s always going up and down. You have a point, our parents had it easier but we’re not in a depression. Getting a job you like and working is the best you can do for future generations. Employers aren’t fair because they follow what’s best for them based on the economy. If you had a business wouldnt you do what’s best for it?So if the economy sucks, employers are to be less fair and vice versa. We cant control that though because it’s their business. So adapt and give them a reason to keep you around
@@hatter5834Yup, victims aren’t supposed to realize they’re victims? lol. Yeah all that mindset garbage as to why an ENTIRE GENERATION is struggling is mind numbingly stupid. Mindset is more about your PERSONAL struggles, and being optimistic about your own life in the face of despair. It’s not any sort of tool or explanation for systemic issues. The only reason this system perpetuates is because of poor and disenfranchised people still being deluded and brainwashed into being “temporarily embarrassed millionaires”. Rather than breaking the chains, they perpetuate the wage slave system, because they’re like ONE DAY ILL GET OUT OF THIS GRIND, BE RICH AND POWERFUL, AND THEN ALL OF THIS WILL HAVE BEEN WORTH IT.
@@superkawaii8315 You're ignoring the significant macroeconomic effects caused by employers all trying to pay as little as possible while working their employees as hard as possible. Every financial crisis in US history has been a crisis of overproduction. If workers cannot afford to live while working full time, they will stop working generally. No number of limp platitudes about hard work paying off will change those material conditions. The answer isn't optimism, it's collective action
I hope that with Gen Z and Gen Alpha will experience work-life "balance" changes in the coming years. Watching my parents (Gen X, Gen Y) work themselves into poor health and mediocre living situation while corporate America expects them to hand over their soil has affected me and definitely attributed to my burnout in the past. Not just burnout with work or life, but empathetic burnout too.
"In early 2020, 54% of 18-year-olds said they were willing to work overtime. By 2022, it was 36%. That's a (relative) drop of 33% in just two years." This is going to be long but it's relevant, so bear with me. I am Gen Z (late 90s) and was working full time in 2020 during the pandemic, in a grocery store. I had no problem with working overtime if I was asked to stay late, I liked my manager and I liked the extra money. I'll never forget that first day they announced the local schools were closing. It was a Thursday in mid March, and I was originally scheduled a 3-11 shift. I didn't find out what was happening until I got to work and it was the busiest I had ever seen it. We had 16 registers and 18 self-checkouts, and the line for every single lane stretched back halfway through the store (this was already one of the largest and busiest stores in the region). I ended up working 10.5 hours that night and the lines didn't get short until halfway through the 9th hour of my shift. I was standing there all day, unable to go to the bathroom even because it was an endless stream of customers. We spent the last hour desperately trying to clean, sort and return "reshop" and scan out damaged products for the opening crew. Normally those tasks are done by someone every couple hours throughout the afternoon and evening, but during the pandemic it was "all hands on deck," at the front. People were panicking, angry that the service desk was closed, frustrated that the lines were so long and products were already sold out, and it was just an awful experience. Every single day working during the pandemic was horrible, but I pushed through. The only solace was that the company was giving us an hourly bonus of $2/hr (so I was making $12 an hour) for being essential, frontline workers. However, just a few months into the pandemic, they got rid of the hourly pay. In response to massive backlash, they gave us a one time bonus, $400 for full-time and $200 for part-time. I received the part-time bonus because of my employment status, despite the fact that I had regularly worked 10 and 11 hour shifts during the first 5 months of the pandemic. I was full-time during that period the bonus was being awarded for. Many employees had a similar experience and felt betrayed by corporate. While we were suffering through busy shifts breathing through masks and foggy glasses, trying to balance new cleaning procedures, backed up reshop and damaged products, and dealing with irate, stir crazy people...they got to work from home. People really high up got to work from home AND got massive bonuses on top. It disgusted me that even though WE were the ones facilitating sales during the pandemic, our $2/hr pay was taken away, and many of us were cheated out of an extra $200 on the bonus. Meanwhile, the executives were sitting on their *** in the safety of their own homes taking multi-million dollar pay packages. In fact, when our $2/hr bonus was taken away, the CEO gave himself a 6% bonus, up to $22.4 million in 2020. So you are me, you are a young person in the U.S. that has experienced this during your young adult years. Why would you continue to work overtime? Why would you be loyal to a corporation ever again? The pandemic was a wake up call for a lot of Gen Z; neither your labor nor your life is valued by the elite, ruling class. This is actually why I decided to go back to school and pursue a career where I can have a positive impact on people's lives and situations. I can't stand the idea of working for a corporation. I have lost all respect for them.
@@haakon_hk When did they ever say anything about working from home? Tell me you didn't read the comment without telling me you didn't read the comment.
@@monkalina "and dealing with irate, stir crazy people...**they got to work from home. People really high up got to work from home** AND got massive bonuses on top." They mention that upper management got to work from home twice in two sentences. I understand that they might be upset because they were working a job that cannot work from home. It still doesn't really make sense to complain about not being able to, as it's just not possible. Complaining about your wages and management getting bonuses? Makes perfect sense. Complaining about an aspect of the job that isn't able to be changed? Does not make any sense.
@@haakon_hkI think the main point about that sentiment is that the people working from home aren't dealing with irate, crazy people in their workplace (usually). There is the pressure to resolve conflict, communicate effectively, and provide a service to someone while multitasking in an underpaid and overworked position. It's not a frustration packaged in its own box, it's a combined feeling. Just because it's not possible to restock shelves at home doesn't mean you can't complain about the unfair position. It doesn't have to make sense for it to be real, much like all the other problems gen z face.
In the trades, if we are mistreated by a boss, we just start our own crew with our friends and start working for ourselves. If you believe that you have value that you are not being rewarded for then why not start your own business? You will find out very quickly what you are worth. Sometimes that’s more than you were paid sometimes it’s less but you don’t know till you try.
@@superkawaii8315 no employers want to take responsibility for hoarding wealth. They're greedy and would rather pretend like everyone else is lazy. For the short time we had an employee market, all employers had to say was "no one wants to work anymore" instead of working with the market. The wind only blows one way it seems. They also said the same thing to previous generations. Maybe if every generation is feeling like this, there's something wrong with the system
I'm a gen Z who started working at a company as part time while I was getting my degree. The entire time I was basically told that it's very easy to move up even without a degree and I should have no problem climbing from my entry level position. So after four years, a fucking master's degree and three rejections later I'm still stuck in the same position and get passed up for outsiders. Tell me why I should stay motivated when hard work + education does not get rewarded in any way.
That statistic about the amount of people in their 20’s still living with their parents reminded me of the friends that I have who are living on their own but still receiving financial support for their living expenses from their parents to some degree. You have to wonder how much that factors into the number of young people living on their own.
I am looking after my aunts house 5 states away from where I used to live and I only have to pay utilities.. I still can only afford a shy amount of great value products from the grocery store and maybe 2 tanks for gas and that's it... No rent and I'm walking on thin ice.. absolutely crazy.
If it were affordable, there’s a lot of degrees I would go for just for the sake of learning (mainly art/music related, but some others as well). Since it’s not, I’m doing strictly what I need to get enough to have a roof over my head and at least two meals per day (I can go without heating or electricity, but I want breakfast and dinner)
I majored in STEM due to it supposedly being a more lucrative path, but the whole time in uni I wish I could done art classes instead since that’s my passion. I didn’t even have time to take them as electives, or had the time for language learning classes. I miss what could’ve been.
School SHOULD be a place to get a broad idea of the world outside of your life, make friends, learn to collaborate, etc College is that plus getting to apply yourself to learning about a field you find interesting But since living is so expensive, many can't afford to learn things that aren't related to career. They basically have to hone themselves into "hussle machines" to afford survival.
Gen X nurse here. We actually had a Gen Z nurse that fraudulently clocked work hours that she did not work and got paid for them. She is having very serious repercussions as a result of that. We now have a replacement Gen Z nurse for her that is absolutely great. You can’t judge the whole Gen based on a few bad apples.
You’re right. But there is something about this generation that is very vocal about not wanting to work. Maybe I’m crazy but people have always had to work to live.
@@superkawaii8315 I'm with Gen Z. Yeah, considering we have so many people, I actually agree. You should get more than 14 days PTO a year. Your world is sad, dreary, and frettered with advertisements. It looks like a wasteland with no public spaces to relax.. no places to meet others without drugs.. Across the pond, easily get time off and good pay. Lazy people in every generation, acting like nobody wanted to be a rock star in the 90s. From across the world, other countries scratch their heads at your old people "Boomers" willing to always make things just as hard for the next generation. May as well start cloning yourselves. Lol.
I have a coworker doing this except we're on salary and they just always show up late and leave early. I hope my coworker faces consequences. If their manager asked security for their badge swipes... Game over.
Millenial here. We're on the same boat as Gen Z. Prices go up, salaries aren't going up, you're not promoted or paid appropriately for the hard work and/or the hours. It's not paying off anymore. Nothing more, nothing less
try looking for work elsewhere and using a new job offer as leverage! i'm not saying that to undermine what you said, it's a legitimate suggestion lol. my friend just used that method & it worked-- she got a raise and an extra week vacation. she's shocked, didn't think it would pay off (literally).
@@SaraxAdam I'm a bit puzzled, did she go for the new job or stayed at the old one and used the offer to show she's wanted and that resulted in promotion?
@@SaraxAdam I told that to people elsewhere but they said I was entitled. Idk, when I hated my jobs I worked towards solutions. Theres still a lot of real problems in the world but I think that approach is the most productive and successful for oneself.
As a 20 year old, it's disheartening that this generation is getting the eventual problems of so many of the problems which were started and left to fester by past generations. Climate, health, economics are the main three areas which you have brushed on, and this is largely true from my own experience as well as those of my peers. And you said it in the video--we can do everything right, and still get extremely fucked over. Though I think we should all realize that nothing should be guaranteed if you follow x,y, and z (that was never truly what happened in reality, it's just most people were able to succeed with that mindset), it does strip us of a lot of the hope that makes living bearable and worthwhile. I think being more intentional about how we do things is fine, and actually a net good. For example, college is no longer a cornerstone of success, it's just an option like any other. That's how it should be, and how it really always was for disadvantaged communities who couldn't access it in the first place. So while it's very memeable that so many of us have "given up", and some of us may be either intentionally or unintentionally using our external pressures to justify being crude or brash to colleagues, so many of us are also realizing we were never meant to succeed in this world. It's not about us. As sad as that is to realize, it's true, and it's also very humbling. I think our generation may be one of the wisest because of this. I know I am. I've been diagnosed Audhd and it's only this year that I got both diagnoses. It's also just one of the many marginalized groups I'm a part of. The frame shift required to accommodate my needs was huge, but well-needed. Every day is a fight for me, and one I know I'm not meant to do well in. And because my existence is the extreme of what others in my peer group normally are, I have to confront each one of the real world struggles with an even more intense ferocity, which requires energy which I have to continually replenish. I'm not meant to succeed, but every time I do, I reaffirm that my worth is not defined by the world outside, because each success is for me, not for someone else looking in to receive validation from. I'm not waiting anymore, but I'm also taking the time I need to do things the way I want or need to, and it gives me hope that eventually I will be able to exist in a way which defies all conventions, because I have survived. Not just managed my symptoms to save face everyday, but survived to enjoy my life, and if that simple goal is not inspiring and worth supporting, I don't know what is.
At 26 after clearing all my debt and saving a few grand and still being unable to progress in my life because of the cost of living; I’ve essentially given up on having stable future for myself..
28, no debt, married, and we have $60k in our account. Can confirm we still can't do anything. Buying a house isn't possible still. Even with a fistful of worthless currency, it's still so incredibly hard.
@@lindsay833how the heck did you save 60k? Me & my husband are both 27, both work blue collar jobs, no college, we have a mortgage and his truck loan no other debt, but were barely able to save $500 a month
Why should younger people have to suffer just because we have? A better way is possible. It’s up to us older generations to make workplace changes that will benefit ALL of us. Thank you Gen Z for unionising against corporate greed, exploitation and abuse.
Wait. What! 14 minutes in and as an Australian I can NOT believe these higher education debt amounts. We have to pay for university but only when we earn a certain amount, and while it does accumulate some interest and is by no means perfect… it’s so much more doable than what some of these American TikTok’s are talking about. No young adult should be facing hundreds of thousands of dollars debt for education. What a way to wreck havoc on their futures and overall stress levels and mental health.
Yup fellow Aussie here, for reference my 4.5 years was 21k and has grown to 23k since I graduated in 2021 because I haven't paid due to being just under the threshold. From some of these American tik toks I've seen, some people are paying that amount per year + interest 😱 no wonder they're coming out with 100k+ of debt when they finish!
The student debt support and the help of the administration at the uni I went to after I had to drop out in my final year due to critical health issues I was neglecting in favour of trying to complete the course is one of the few things I have respect for in relation to the government and administrative support here in Australia Although I do have mixed feelings knowing that despite my GP appointments being mostly bulk-billed and receiving the maximum amount of the disability support pension- I am still trying to survive just being able to maintain my parent's house without it falling apart due to construction corner cutting and effective criminal negligence- I burnt through all my savings this year trying to deal with critical engineering hazards in the property and said savings were only saved because I got locked out of my bank account due to a malware breach at the start of the year and my account was left abandoned in an idle state for months until I could regain placeholder access while processing ID theft account deletion and documentation re-issuing It's better by an immeasurable amount that the US but it's breaking me away slowly knowing that this is supposed to be the best
Mine was horrible - $130k+. And I just went to a mid size school and got a bachelor's degree in Criminology, but I get paid a whole $19/hr after almost 4 years with my company. 🙄
If you haven’t entered college yet, I recommend community colleges if you have a local one! That’s what I’m doing and it’s less than a thousand dollars a semester and financial aid can sometimes cover the first few years of education, depending on the school. A few extra years of college and working part time to transfer to a university and having no student loans and a degree is worth it, at least to me. Just a thought for those who aren’t sure!
A thousand times, yes! I graduated from high school in 2023, and despite being an incredibly high achieving honors student who always prioritized school, my mental health has gotten in the way of a lot of things throughout my life. By my senior year of high school, I had made a lot of progress to living a much healthier life. But, despite having the privilege of coming from an upper middle class family that can financially support me, and despite being confident in the major I've chosen, I chose to go to community college anyway. My mental health problems returned with a vengeance, and I dropped and flunked a number of classes - something I had never done before. Being in a community college that offers up to two free years of tuition instead of a 4-year that would cost at least $15K per semester to attend has lowered the stakes a lot. I will maintain that attending community college is one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. Sometimes I get in my head about underachieving or not keeping up with my peers (since I'm the only one in the friend group who isn't at a 4-year, and my family can afford to throw a lot more money around for me), but shit happens. Life throws you curveballs, and I'm so happy that my stumbles won't be bleeding tens of thousands of dollars from me or my family. Again, I am in an incredibly privileged position - I doubt that many students would be able to take this time to rebuild their mental health until they reach a place where they can handle regular college student life again. But even with all of the support I have, I'm not sure if I could have this luxury if I had chosen to attend a 4-year, and it really sucks to see my friends drowning in their courseloads when they're struggling with similar issues, but they all have the pressure of thousands of dollars weighing on their shoulders. So sorry about the ramble! I could say so much more about the advantages of attending my community college over one of the other 4-years around (all just from anecdotal experience), but I'll stop myself here. I hope this can be helpful to any other students who are stuck deciding between university or community college!
YES, community colleges get so much flack but they are by FAR the most sensible school choice right now. And the professors there are usually just as passionate about their work as university professors! If I ever go back to school, it’s community college all the way.
@@RAAAUGHGUAGHAHA I've said it time and time again that CC is the way to start unless you get enough money or a full ride. I myself knew this, and, thinking it would be different, still found out the hard way. I'm completely debt free now and doing significantly better for myself but if there was anything I'd do-over, it would be to go to CC first. A majority of my credits were transferrable to my intended degree at the university, which ended up saving me hundreds of dollars and tens of hours of sweat equity. I also met an enrollment counselor who I to this day credit having a major impact on my life. For context I'm a nurse and at around this time (2015) I was attending CC for prereqs for an ADN, she discouraged this as most major hospitals are phasing out ADN/LVN and just hiring BSN instead, which is why she told me to take what I already had and go to a university for my BSN. I work as a nurse now, and she couldn't have been any more right. There are still ADN/LVN on my unit but they were grandfathered in, but we have since stopped hiring more. I often think of her and I hope she is doing well, I could use more of her advice. Point of the matter is, there are a multitude of benefits in going to CC, I may have just gotten lucky, but every dog has its day, no?
alternatively - learn a trade/craft that doesn't require college. seems like companies value experience more than they do degrees these days and are realizing that college is.... uh. low-key a scam 90% of the time- (I'm saying this as someone that went to college, community college at that, someone who fell into the trap of taking AP classes in advance to try and get ahead, too - please be careful, y'all)
Fully agree with you!! Recently i was told "we are thinking that you could take more responsibilities and even lead a team", I was polite with my response, but i said that i was ok being a single contributor and at this point in my Life, I was not interested in the extra stress of managing others, they looked at me like i was crazy for saying No, but all i want is Live my Life and enjoy it as much as possible!!
I'm 24, born in 2000. I graduated college a year and a half ago, did everything I was told to do. Studied hard, fought through covid and made it out the other end. However now, a year and a half after graduating, I'm living with my parents and stuck working a low-paying retail job that barely relates to my degree. I've applied to hundreds of "entry level" jobs, went through a gauntlet of 3 interviews for a pair (including one 1hr long interview), and have ended up rejected from them all. It's been incredibly frustrating, and has left me really burnt out. I've got a mountain of debt to pay off, but I'm barely getting paid enough for groceries. I can't see myself buying a house, much less paying rent somewhere. I work hard, and I'm trying to get a better job while also trying to get promoted. But it's hard not to feel exhausted when all your hard work leads to getting paid poverty wages. I can't even begin to imagine trying to start a family, I mean I'm still scrambling for pennies in an attempt to create some sort of stable foundation for myself! Like, how are we supposed to live? I'm just so tired, and I really don't want the bulk of my working years to be spent in the retail mines. I'm really regretting getting my degree at this point, like I'd have been better off spending those 5 years building up the work experience these companies seem to value above a degree.
I’m in the exact same situation and feel the exact same way. I hardly apply to any jobs in my field. Why? Just so some HR rep can throw my resume in the trash? Over and over and over? Before they even give me a chance? Or waste my time with an interview when they already know they're not going to hire me? I'm just demoralized.
In 24 myself living at hoke slaving away at retail just the same. I get paid almost nothing and my parents had two kids by the time they were my age. They complain about it but juat simply dont understand the different world we live in now
We don’t want this world. You can’t sell us. We grew up in the 2000s, life had a certain verve to it. There was color and life just seemed normal. Social media has rotted the world, and then on top of that, when we work hard. It goes so fast. It’s impossible to be motivated to go out here and work any harder than we already are. I’m absolutely miserable.
We literally have the worst housing to income and rent to income ratios in modern history. What is the point of working if you can't even afford a basic essentials? We used to live in a country where you could be a half braindead incompetent who failed out of HS yet could still buy a home and support a family on a single income. Nowadays, we have educated young professionals struggling to afford rent on a basic apartment (if not struggling to find a job).
I feel robbed after having gone through college and now I'm saddled with debt and not using my degree. I would never do it again and I caution every single young person I see about college.
do you have an associates? you could be a teacher in some states, even a police officer. very stressful job though, i wouldnt do it. my staff agency gatekeeps jobs. they only offer me ONE specific position. pays dirt. when i try asking for another option they ghost me or become evasive. eventually blocked my number
That was your choice to get a useless degree. I didnt go to college and do great. I might return to get a higher paying job. But its just the sheep mentality to follow the basic process and then complain about it afterwards
@@superkawaii8315Define “useless degree”. A degree with useful skills doesn’t even guarantee you decent employment anymore. Most HR departments spend all of but 6 seconds looking at your resume and some now want masters degrees for jobs that previously only required a bachelors degree.
@@superkawaii8315 yikes put away the fedora 😅"I'm going to assume you got a useless degree because you're not using it while also bragging that I'm going to go back to school to get a degree to get a higher paying job". Do you even hear yourself? Just because I'm not using it doesn't mean the degree itself is useless. The field I'm in is extremely high-competition and I regret going to college mainly due to the amount of debt. If degrees were more affordable, this wouldn't be near as much of an issue.
@@lmattsonart I would only get a degree that gets me a job. All experience and skills are valuable but you’re complaining about debt. And if the degree can’t pay the debt it’s a poor investment. I went to trade school. I might return for a degree in massage therapy. A degree is valuable if you have a use for it. Value is subjective. An employer determines its value.
I'm a millennial and I understand where gen Z is coming from. You work hard at your job for what? Loyalty isn't rewarded and you can be fired without warning, wages are stagnating while housing and cost of living skyrockets, there's no upward mobility because boomers aren't retiring, and if you went to college you have a predatory amount of debt on your shoulders. And all the while, the rich get richer. At some point you just want to say fuck it and do what you want lest you be crushed by the unfairness of it all.
There is absolutely no incentive to have a work ethic. My husband worked extremely hard at his job, 10-12 hours a day, all of the higher-ups like him and he has great relationships with other employees and customers. He got really good reviews and he was excited for his raise...it was less than a dollar. That raise doesn't even keep up with inflation, so technically he's making less than he did when he started in context with the economy and cost of living. When he confronted his bosses about it they said they can't give him anymore because they would have to give everybody more pay because of inflation...yet the company is making more profit than ever and still growing. Why work hard when it won't get rewarded at all.
Straight up. My best friend in my state is a gen x dude (so a little older but the point remains the same). He works for a fucking *company that builds rockets and has defense contracts* yet after YEARS on the job, still makes barely $20/hr. At his last review, they tried to deny him a raise, citing the same bullshit as your bf was told. My buddy got pretty pissed and demanded a raise and after an insane amount of back and forth, the “best they could do” was LESS THAN FIFTY CENTS. They are making record profits and alll drive new sports cars.
Great distillation here. We don't reject 'work culture.' We reject capitalist work culture. Most of us love serving others. We love sharing, helping, and cultivating hobbies. We have interests and we love learning. We genuinely want to do worthwhile things. The neoliberal political economy does _not_ incentivize worthwhile work. It incentivizes cost-cutting, price-rigging, tax-evasion, law-hopping, behavioral nudging, sharp elbows, predatory business models...
@shanicem.6291 neoliberalism's economic policies are largely observed though Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher, I believe. Don't think they're referring to modern US politics, although we have been profoundly crippled by Reagan. Idk
Whenever a Gen Z employee leaves on time I'm so proud of them. Like I still remember starting out and doing all that free overtime just because I want to do a good job, and it was all for nothing.
Zillenial here- Worked my ass off, was eager to learn and improve, improved the pipelines we had at work including setting up what order tasks should go in, was given more responsibilities, was asked to manage outsourcing, was always 2-4 weeks ahead of due dates, did a ton of bug fixing.. I asked for a raise as I saw the post for a new hire for the same job but with less responsibilities was starting off 4K more than me (also found out other people were making the same amount the post had but doing less than me) and what did that get me? Nothing. I got laid off. : ) Def in the boat of just doing the bare minimum if working hard gets you nowhere.
What they’re doing is wrong, but it’s also wrong to assume that they skated by in life. I have boomer parents, but they did not skate through life. They had it really rough and poverty.
I'm 94. my sister is 86. Sister got the best grades, top of the class. Got into Stanford.... couldn't find a good paying job out of college. She made the same money as the person who got Cs in a state school. Went to law school. Struggled to find work with lack of experience. Buried in student debt. Can't afford to buy a home in 2024. I was bullied in school and had health issues, so I struggled to catch up. My parents told me they both went to trade school and were able to give us vacations and buy a home. I went to trade school. Worked in trade for 10 years. Never made a livable wage. Got injured and lost that career. Now I'm at community college, getting a medical associate degree. I have zero student debt. College is free because I'm poor ✌️ and my parents didn't do it 😄 thanks mom and dad. What I'm saying is work smart, not hard. We all end up with the same opportunities. Do whatever you want, bunny.
I'm an elder Millennial. I had to live with my dad until I was 36, saving $1000-$1400/month for years to put together a down payment on a house. I got married at 31, so my wife lived with me at my dad's house! That's what it took. Also, got lucky and got a house just before interest rates ballooned. Life sucks for everybody these days, not just Gen Z. This has been the normal for a long time now. Before anybody assumes I'm some burger flipper BTW, I'm a Regional Manager for a national corporation. Even with that we can barely afford to have both a 1000 square foot house and 1 car. Welcome to the end stage capitalism, America!
Same. I graduated college and moved back in with my mom shortly after. It took 5 years to find a good paying job in my career field. Within 3 years, that salary could not keep up with inflation. Within 3 more years, I gave up on ever being able to move out and have any money left over for my other financial goals. In that time, I paid off all of my debt and was saving a substantial amount every month (with the exception of the fact that I had a baby, and childcare really set me back). I got married at age 39 and moved into my husband's house (a 700 square foot concrete bunker that is falling apart), and that will probably be the best we can hope to achieve for the foreseeable future. I quit my job a year and a half ago after the burnout got so bad that I couldn't take care of my kid or myself anymore. I have no desire to go back to work. It's just not worth it for a payout that will never meet my goals.
I'm early-mid gen z (2004) and have been busting my ass at every job I've ever worked at since I was 13, all its ever gotten me is my bosses and coworkers taking my work ethic for granted or abusing it. I'm halfway through college and working two jobs and still can't support myself in this economy.
I’m a young millennial, busted my ass in education and work, barely anything to show for it. I love this for them, they are breaking the unfair mould of society.
As a Gen z, I just graduated college and there are nooo entry level jobs in my field as a bio major. I’m thinking of going back to school but I don’t even think it’s worth it anymore with this job market.
To weigh in on the college discourse; I am a Gen Z in college right now. I’m paying to take an online class I’m forced to, nothing to do with my degree, and my teacher has not given a single lecture. Literally told us the textbook, and gives us tests on the readings with questions that sometime aren’t even in the text. This is a common occurrence! They can’t even provide an education in college anymore.
You want things to change then you have to vote the people who want to help Americans not illegals and Ukrainians. If you voted left you got what you deserve.
As a Gen Z high school science teacher, I get the question on the daily of "why do I have to learn this if I'm not going to use this in my job". They miss the whole point that school is not just preparing you to be good in whatever job you decide. It is trying to educate you enough about the world so you have background knowledge to go out an make informed decisions in life. Educational standards and general education classes are what has been determined to be the important basics of information and problem solving skills. Universities have Gen Ed classes because you are supposed to get a "universal education" with standards that are shared across all students. "Why do I need to learn about the basics of how cells work?" Because when you have a health issue at the cellular level or have a politician that is trying to make policy related to biology, you have background knowledge on how that shit works. So you can make accurate decisions about your health or about who to vote for. Or to know science basics so you don't get scammed by people selling pseudoscientific remedies. Why do I need to know how to use the quadratic formula? So that you can think about multi-step problems when you are faced with them. Why do I need to read about Huckleberry Finn? So that you have an understanding of how history and racism has shaped a country, which puts policy and societal relationships into context and again decide who you want to vote for. Not to mention improve reading level so you can actually read important documents. Good and broad education is the basis for a well informed and well functioning society. As a side note, a lot of schools do require personal finance classes in order to graduate. What a lot of people don't realize is that most high schoolers don't take those classes seriously and actually absorb any of the info. Our business teacher has said she has had former students ask why they weren't taught about taxes and similar things and she's like yeah we definitely did that in class.
@@NoName-rb6fjThey’re gen Ed’s. They’re not voluntary (at least definitely NOT nationally across the US). To graduate from my college, you needed to take gen Ed’s in order to graduate
So many people say they never learned how to pay taxes, but most states do teach that! It’s just many humans don’t really lock it in until they need to file a few years later.
You might like this story. I was a para working in an algebra class, helping a student who was the class clown. Good kid, but I think he used jokes to distract from how much he struggled to understand the material. I was helping him with a math problem and he suddenly says "I don't need to know any of this, I'm going to be a drug dealer." of course he was not being serious at all, just trying to distract from what I was showing him. So I says, without skipping a beat "Oh then you DEFINITELY need to know this! How else will you be able to tell who owes you money?" then kept going with what I was showing him. He was stunned for a moment, but he didn't have any more distractions and actually kinda seemed to pay better attention after that. 🤣
Here is a perspective from a 25 year old Gen Z . I grew up in foster care, I have no family to support me. So I have no family currently I can live with. I was offered college, but it is too expensive. Some 2 year college degrees only offer pay at $14 an hour, the same wage some Walmart workers are making. Why would I go to college for 2 years, have thousands in debt, to make the same wage as a Walmart worker? The Walmart workers that didn't go to college don't have to pay off that college debt, but even without the college debt, they can't afford the basic necessities or bills. Then if I want to go to college for lets say 4 years to only make $25 an hour, I still have to pay off those loans as well as bills, rent, or god forbid a home loan. If they have kids, what then? I also have a 6 year old child, so much of my costs go to them. I don't plan on having anymore, because it is too expensive. This is another major topic right now, the population decrease. You can ask me why I have a child but that is a different discussion. Anyways, my rent right now is $600 a month, NOT including the utilities. We can add about $200 in utilities to that. The only subscription I have is Disney+ for my child, and I might be ending that because I am paying about $7 for ads? I am lucky right because I found a duplex in the middle of the forest from a renter who didn't have a lease because they want to do everything under the table. Why would I live here? The apartments, which the closest is an hour away, are over $1,000 in rent. This DOES NOT include utilities. Oh and lets talk about how most of them only allow senior living. All of the income based apartments are full. Most of the available apartments for people my age are only 1 bedroom. Legally I need 2 bedrooms since I have a child. The 2 bedroom apartments are so expensive I cannot afford them. They are over $1,200. My boyfriend is the only one who works, because we could only afford one car that I bought with my income tax return. I received $6,000. I bought a $4,000 car. It was the cheapest car that I could find that didn't have something that needed to be repaired. I could have received a loan for a car, but then I would have to be in, you guessed it, debt. The other $2,000 went directly to my child. My boyfriend has to drive an hour to work to only make $15 an hour. Every job nearby are only paying $10 an hour and for only 20-35 hours a week. If you tell them you can't work a 11-7 or 9-6, because you have a school age child, forget about getting the crappy job. I can't drive to the job even if I wanted to, because my boyfriend has to take the car to an 11-7 job everyday. My child rides the bus. The bus also doesn't stop near our house, so we have to walk about 10 minutes everyday to the nearest bus stop. We live about a 15 minute drive away from the closest town, so I can't walk to work. Gas is so expensive! He has to pay about $7 everyday just to get to work. Are you adding up the costs yet? We haven't even talked about food or clothing yet. We can only afford maybe $30 in food every week. Food stamps are off the table because apparently we make too much? We try to go to food banks, but our community only offers a box of food every month. This does not get us through the whole month. We buy all of our clothes from Goodwill, but we can't do that every month. We still have clothes we owned in high school and again I am 25. Any extra money we have always goes towards our child. We make sure they have clothes that fit them, food in their belly, and they are clean and healthy. Thank goodness we qualified for Medicaid, because the price of healthcare is ridiculous. I see older generations going to college and ending up at the same job as people my age not going to college. Before we lived in this home my boyfriend and I worked at McDonalds. My boyfriend and I made the same wage he is making now, but combining a two person income. That is why he is working and I am not. I have to be there to drop my child off at school and pick them up, because we cannot afford a daycare for him to go to after school. Even if we could, our local daycare only allows children under 5. I am always hearing that our generation is lazy and nobody wants to work anymore. All of these businesses have "NOW HIRING" signs right? They pay you crap wage and expect you to be completely free for their odd work schedules. If your not flexible, they don't want you. Most of the time they aren't even hiring! I try to ask a ton of random women online how they got their work from home jobs, but they are always gatekeeping. That or a job such as a Data Analyst requires programs you must know. I can't afford to get excel to learn it for those jobs. I am trying to make content online, but it is hard. It is so competitive. I refuse to do sex work online even though that seems like easy money. It is disheartening hearing people call us lazy, because I have a dedicated schedule for my social media postings, and they still aren't successful. I am working hard. I can't afford beautiful lighting or a creative room that catches everyone eye. Being an adult with no support from family is so difficult.
I graduated top of my class in Business Accounting, spent most of my 20s miserable working a corporate audit job, 65 hrs a week. Now I make more money as a restaurant supervisor and I *enjoy* this job.
As an old gen z, I will say I think changing your mindset from working for corporate jobs forever to learning a skill so I can build my own business and will temporarily work somewhere else until that personal business is providing me enough is a hope inspiring shift. Working for a corporation is temporary then and a means to an end for you. Pick jobs that teach you skills for the things you want to do and then use those skills to do them under your own name
@ I think it depends on the industry. But if your only goal in life is to sell your time for money you will never have time. It’s very motivational and inspiring to work and have all the money made come back to you, be able to have the time off you need when you need it. Also in this economy how many of us have been laid off? Is there any real job security in working for a company?
I'm in the UK and we also have kids who are massively behind. We've never done the holding kids back a year thing, because the research doesn't support that as being effective. The major issue we have is that kids are not able to read at the right level, and therefore can't write as the right level either. By the time they get to me at 11, this reading age problem has become so significant that I can only do so much to help them individually while teaching 30+ kids an hour at a time. We have interventions and things, but PARENTS are not doing the work at home. READ TO YOUR CHILDREN BEYOND THE AGE YOU THINK THEY NEED IT! DO IT FOR AS LONG AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN! It is honestly that simple.
I love/hate these discussions when they bring in the education system. It’s honestly not the teachers’ fault-it’s the policies, the culture, and the unrealistic expectations piled on them. Education has become so focused on standardized tests that schools keep lowering standards just to make sure kids pass. But that means basic skills like reading, writing, and critical thinking are slipping. Teachers are stuck in a system where they’re expected to manage behavior solo, without the support they used to get from parents or the community. Attention issues are off the charts, and while tech’s everywhere now, we’re not teaching the practical skills that go with it. The whole setup feels like it’s working against teachers and students, making it tough for this generation to be truly prepared for what’s next.
Yeah that was a fucking jumpscare. I was liking the video until then, now I don’t think I’m going to watch this channel anymore. Jordan Peterson is a terrible person to look up to
Yes. He's at least trying to improve on the system. Trump University was very, very similar to a regular For-Profit Uni. Peterson Academy is VERY different.
I’m 18, when I was 16 I had a corporate internship and again when I turned 17. The offices I worked in were lovely and filled with incredible mentors. I learned so much and was paid handsomely; however it really furthered my own idea that I don’t want to do that for the rest of my life. I felt trapped in my little cubicle and not getting to outside. Of course 9-5 jobs are not bad at all, a lot of the people I met who were grateful for their jobs didn’t have a stable income in their childhood (nothing bad about that) but it made me realize that stability isn’t everything to me as it is for others.
Everything feels like a scam nowadays. Older generations should take responsibility, instead of blaming gen Z and millennials for wanting to enjoy their lives, despite all the challenges we have to face.
Older generations had just as much challenges, just in different ways. There were way less jobs tbh, like you weren’t going to be a barista.. At best you’d be lucky to be stocking shelves in a store, or doing clerical work. Take away all of the jobs that involve a computer, and make it so you are probably doing something that involves moving an object from one place to another. That is pretty much what all of the jobs were like.
@@chrislail3824That's fine and all but a grocery stocker could still afford more than a grocery stocker would today. For a baby boomer it was possibly getting promoted from stocker to management over time. Now a stocker will remain in that position gaining 1-2% in pay each year if raises happen at all until they switch employers because very few employers promote workers internally.
@@chrislail3824 but they could at least have their own place with food with a basic job like that. people have BA and cant even afford a place by themselves
I’m a “millennial”. I share absolutely nothing with anyone. Suck it up and get to work. That’s why your broke. Broke broke broke. Whine whine whine. Waa waa waa. Get to work.
Fellow Zillenial here and partner is gen Z. What gets my goat about work is that some employers expect the world for a pittance. We’re homeowners but only because we were able to camp at my parents house for 3 years to save money and if we were renting in our area we would have no chance. So why work ourselves to death when there is no reward really.
To live. Life is work, gathering food, building a shelter, and maintaining it. Or you trade your services for it. I make electricity for a living. Since everyone uses that service, and few people are either qualified or want to do the work, so I get rewarded handsomely, and able to use that to barter for services I don't want to do. I just don't understand how a generation thinks they will survive off consumption, without producing anything.
It's also impossible to get into a field without experience, they say we wont work but we cant get into that work to start with as they continue hiring older people
What's the point of working hard if your career dies with you unles you are an exceptional genius. I'd rather have fun. My fun goes away with me, too. But it makes me happy at least.
I completely relate to feeling burnt out before even entering the workforce, something about the school system just sucked all the life, hope and soul outta of me.
Time is something you can never get back, but companies think you owe them 40-60 hours a week to never see your loved ones and to still not be able to afford a house to live in.
they took yours? take theirs.
Yes this is exactly it, the payoff to working now is so low. I live in Sydney Australia a place that looks beautiful but is structurally broken. Recently the data showed you need an income of 293,000 per year to be able to afford the average dwelling.
Like, bruh, nothing about that makes me want to sell my soul to work if it will still take me 40+ years to own a home
@@Laura-mi3nvWhat kind of job are you doing?
@@Laura-mi3nvwhat type of degree / courses do you think would get someone into your field
@@ShaytownDown - for many you just need a degree. I have one in criminal justice, but came with a decade of using it. That came with some useful skills. If you have a degree, start applying to starting positions for places like Icon LLC, IQVIA, PPD, Parexel. Those are all large contract research organizations that pharma's outsource a lot of work to. Many will take people with a non-scientific degree and train them. There are also clinical research programs at community colleges around the country. You could take a year long course to learn CTA work, which is a starting position and then start working once you were done (but this step may not be necessary). Once you're in that starting position, you will learn so much about the industry and people will help you learn. But its a vast, complicated field, so there are many niches in it. If you find your niche and do well in it, you can make very good money. If anyone has any type of nursing degree, they're almost certain to get hired. My manager has a pharmacist degree, but just didn't like the work. Starting positions are positions like CTA (clinical trial associate), SSA (study start up associate), SMA (study management associate), project management associate. Basically, the associate positions are the starting points and there will likely be more of those advertised on the website than any other position. Make sure your linkedin is up to date, add some goals and make sure you say you'd like to move into clinical research. Recruiters are on that site looking heavily for people in this field. And switch on "looking for a job" and make sure you chose clinical research as a field you're looking at or just as a job title. Our job titles can get more complex and no 2 companies use the same names! So, just put clinical research as the job you want. If you don't have a degree because you're still in college or thinking, go into life sciences. Biology or Chemistry would do well.
As a gen z, I don't WANT to work.
I WILL work. I'll come in on time, I'll do my tasks, I'll be friendly to annoying customers and coworkers, I might even go above and beyond sometimes. I'm just tired of pretending I like it. I don't need to be passionate about my job and the company to do a good job. I can just do the work.
Obviously not everyone is gonna have a job field they love, some people don’t like any sort of modern jobs. But most people will happily do the work and be good at their job if they’re paid enough to live a comfortable life. I don’t expect a McMansion, but at least a small 2 bed 1.5 bath that doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg just for the down payment
Work is unfulfilling in many cases. You go in, do something in a nebulous void, and then leave. If you work as a farmer, youbsee your crops grow. If you work in manufacturing, you'll see the things you make being used.
But a lot of jobs feel like all you do is write something on a board just to erase it. Cyclical with no meaning to it. The only fruit of your labor is your pay but that's often not enough to get you excited to continue doing seemingly meaningless tasks all day every day
I just want to garden and make music.
@@catelynh1020 I think we should encourage people to monetize their passions so they can create work they feel more pride in
Based zoomer
Being told unironically that desiring the lifestyle my parents had when *they were raising baby me* is an unrealistic expectation by that same generation is absolutely wild to me.
Yea and then they still call us lazy.
Older generations talk as though Gen Zers are rejecting a perfectly good system that serves their interests.
In truth, they're seeing a system designed such that work makes you broke instead of giving you a better life and seeing there's nothing to be gained from participating in it and making the first steps to answering "If not that, then what?"
That's because the system DID serve the interests of those older generations, at least to a much larger extent than it did the current generation. The policy changes that made everything so unlivable only happened AFTER those older generations already made their stake.They can't seem to fathom that things have gotten so bad that you can't just work your way to the top anymore because they grew up in a system where they could and did.
I saw it described pretty well in another video's comment section, so I'll paraphrase it here: it's like if your grandfather bought a brand new truck when he was 16, then later passed it down to his 16-year-old son who didn't maintain it properly and left it in a barn to rot. Then, when it was time for you to learn to drive, your dad and grandfather dug up the old truck. Your grandfather remembers it being the best vehicle he ever had, your dad remembers it being reliable but outdated, but as it stands, it's now a rusted old piece of junk that can barely get you from point A to point B without threatening to fall apart. Without making either of them work on or drive the truck themselves, how do you convince them that the truck you've been given isn't the same truck it was back when they learned to drive it?
Yes!!
@@limetime9045 Guess why baby boomers in early adulthood had it pretty well-off economically. That's right, the dominance of Keynesian economic policy. Since Reagan, our fiscal policy has been neoliberal and more focused toward corporations.
@commscan314 good luck trying to explain that to the boomers, they all seem to think that Reagan was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Not to mention we are so alienated from what we even do. Everything is SO compartmentalized it feels like numbers on a screen and nothing more
There was a point in life i used to bust my ass, doing double my work quotas. Know what i got on all my reviews? “Meets expectations”
It really fucks with your ability to keep giving a shit.
Millennial here and it was such a slap in the face when this happened to me. I worked overtime hours on a ridiculous project that was crucial, and I wound up getting severe eye strain and two anxiety attacks in the process. And they told me “meets expectations”. Never again
my department told us straight up there will never be any raises. when they ask me to work faster i laugh and tell them i cant
Last year I was working about 70 hours a week- 30 hours of it being unpaid overtime. I kept getting reviewed as “needs improvement”, despite knowing I was doing well, and it ended up causing me to have a mental breakdown. When the data came in, I had surpassed, by far, every single person in my department. I cried staring at the computer screen as the data rolled in, because I had been so broken down, and the data felt like a miracle and I was so happy knowing the entire time it wasn’t me- my boss was just a horrible person. There needs to be accountability for workplace abuse- I left that place but I’m still severely anxious all the time because of it, and am struggling from perfectionism OCD. It’s not acceptable.
@@superkawaii8315 that works fine in social situations that are optional, not with an employer you work for and rely on for a paycheck and health insurance.
“Just find a new job” isnt the advice you think it is.
@@superkawaii8315no they won't. If you add value, they'll keep the value and say you meet expectations. Employers don't care how well you do your job because their motivation is to keep as much of the value you produce. If you make them double the money, if they can, they'd give you nothing of it. Why would anyone work more in that?
Honestly this just boils down to the economy situation. I'm willing to believe that if working a standard 9-5 could support someone getting a house and family, there would be significantly less complaining.
THIS!
We’re not asking for a nice house, we just want a house that’s livable. They have foreclosures listed for 250k+ where I live and they’re completely unlivable. Black mold, ceilings falling in, water damage, you’d be paying the house price, the price to tear it down, on top of rebuilding, just to have somewhere to live. How are we supposed to afford that with high student loan payments, inflation, and increasing grocery prices? We can’t do it
I will buy a house with literally three rooms I just want somewhere give me a bathroom a kitchen and bedroom just give me something.
@@gaufridusofthefire6555 the 3bed 2bath my parents bought in 2003 was 110k. Now it’s selling price is 350k… my parents bought a second home in 2012 for 185k 4bed 2.5bath, now it’s worth 450k. They lease the old house for a very reasonable price, just the mortgage, which is about 1,200.
I know I will never have the financial stability to own a house like the first one my parents bought, let alone the second one. I so depressing and demoralizing 🫠
Almost as if the current socieconomic system is finally starting to show its cracks and people are starting to open their eyes to the incoherences of it...
My job is purely transactional. I clock in, they tell me what they want me to do, I do the task, and then they cut a check for my labor. I’m not striving to go above and beyond.
Same, I earn minimum wage. The legal bare minimum. I'm not going above and beyond for that 😅
What is your job?
Yeah I’d another employer asks if I’d every gone above and beyond my pay also better go above and beyond
True
At the same time, this is a philosophy that churns out products of chinesium quality. By the time we're 50, I mean you think the roads and services are shitty Now..
gen z here. I got a job right out of college and worked like crazy to stand out. I started training others less than 6 months in and exceeded all the metrics thrown my way while still producing high-quality work. when promotions came around, I was (of course) overlooked in favor of people who regularly came to me for help with their work. I asked for a reason why, and the only person who didn't give me a run-around answer said the others spent more time talking to leadership while in the office. so someone else was taking up my time asking me dumb questions because they were so busy sucking up to managers and partners that they didn't spend any time actually trying to work... and got rewarded for it! 😀 why work hard when hard work gets you no where?
Socialize with the managers. People skills directed at the old fogeys will get you everywhere. Learn the lesson and keep being awesome.
That's a painfully familiar story.
I spent years at a job I genuinely loved, working my butt off, to wind up training people who were getting promoted or given new positions and being sent to different offices. My "raises" were a joke (as were all of our raises, at the entry level. And MOST of us were stuck there).
When I saw how people who were friends with the right people were the ones getting promoted (even if they started years after me, or were not nearly as well-versed in the job as I was) , I was working myself to the point of nervous breakdowns, it made me feel like I'd died inside.
I quit the job when I had an accident and realized I'd almost lost my life while wasting time at a job that seemed like the first rung on a career ladder, but which I realized (too late) was just a single rung that went nowhere.
@@rosethorne9155 I'm sorry to hear that. I quit my job when I had people tell me I should just suck it up like they did for the paycheck, when all we ever got were raises that were outpaced by the inflation rate and endless excuses as to why the company couldn't afford to pay out bonuses despite boasting about huge increases in profit to shareholders. I was regularly recognized for producing high quality work and being a great team member, but the promotion always went to someone who consistently 'forgot' about weekly team meetings and had no clue how to add a new column in an excel sheet even though almost all of our work was done in excel. networking is important, but being forced to indulge people over twice my age who can't even be bothered to pronounce my name correctly after working with them for nearly 2 years... lol. my depression while working there made me feel exactly like how you said, just completely dead inside while still overworking myself. even I was sitting at my desk sobbing, I was still stupidly working hard filling out reports. taking time to reevaluate everything after quitting has helped tremendously. I have completely lost the passion for the field I was in, but I've made peace with that. I hope you are doing better now!
They prefer those types of people... I worked in a grocery store for five days, for free. Three days in a supermarket to see if I was qualified. I was qualified and did everything right. But I wasn't social enough. Didn't get hired.
@@delirium5381 They tricked you and cheated you out of 3 days' wages. Absolutely cruel. 😞 I hope you find/found ethical, decent employers who will pay you properly.
Being told that we're lazy genuinely feels like a punch in a gut when you just went through a full time six months unpaid internship, got a job for a month and got let go bc the boss "can't afford to pay you minimum wage" basically had to beg for them to let me work there because I realized way too late that there is no job market for my degree. So I wasted four years and am considering working for any cleaning company and give up continuing education, cause that seems like the only peaceful way to get through this life at all. What does it matter if I clean or sit at an architectural studio if I'll get paid the same amount. At least I won't end myself from chronic stress
Sounds a bit familiar.
After 12 months of internship and passing national exams to get the paper proving I completed the basic 12-month work training program, the company didn't employ me because they couldn't afford to actually pay another person minimum wage. Other places that used to say "Get the proof you have one year of working experience" were suddenly saying " Well, that doesn't mean anything. We need X years of work experience." which basically meant "We're not paying more people".
i just dropped out of engineering to get a graphic design degree. i felt that last sentence hard (i wanted to be an architect)
Why would you work if nothing comes of it? They can’t afford a car, buying a home or building a family because those same corporations don’t want to pay and the economy is trash. Why would they want to work for nothing ? This generation is disenchanted.
THIS. We teach them about sharing, justice and fairness and the American dream then pull the rug out as soon as they become adults and say every man for himself. HUH?! I don't blame them for feeling the whole thing is BS.
@@Kiuraish go ahead man you won't get anything out of it either. at least i'll still have hobbies
@@Kiuraish You'll most likely end up doing 3 people's jobs for 1 person's pay while your boss calls you a "top performer." (In name only, not pay)
The current work environment isn't good for anyone but the owners.
Problem with this is companies will just hire migrants, outsource or use AI to replace gen z. Gen z is not rebelling. They're just making the dystopia worse. At the very least, work to learn work skills. Then use learned skills to do own hustle. Maybe learn trade work. Maybe teach english in non english speaking countries or something. Preferably in countries with lower costs of living. But if gen z keep saying their dream job is to not have a job, the world is gonna leave them behind.
@@Kiuraishcongratulations ur rich 🙄🙄🙄
Corpos: "Millenials are lazy!"
Millenials: "You won't promote us."
Corpos: "GenZ is lazy!"
GenZ: "You don't pay us."
Millennials are also not being paid. Things are great.
@@midnight816 or getting proper hours. It's a weird world today. I'm glad I developed other skills to support myself, but oh man is it weird to live in a world that my job can't even support me (and I'm a minimalist person who devotes most of his money helping his family). I work very hard, but if a job literally cannot support you, it's weirder to think you can legit make more money investing in yourself and doing your own thing. The problem is the government really doesn't like that. So you'll always be caught. My recommendation? Be smart with your time, your money, who you socialize with etc. Invest in yourself, your skillset, and don't worry so much about education. Real knowledge and wisdom is acquired by experience and application. If you have a passion for something that requires an education, remember you're not there to be educated, you're there to get a diplomat. That's it. You will always need to learn, so keep educating yourself, whether you're in school or not. Support your family, the ones you choose and the ones who choose you, we are social creatures, and when everything fails in this world and system (and it does and will) it will always always always be to your people and your 'tribe' that you will help you survive and make it through the otherside. So fight like hell, you deserve to be on this Earth. This life isn't fair, it will never be fair, so try your best to make your life easier. Start by making it smaller.
They said it about GenX too. The only difference is the second it went from GenX is entitled and lazy to Millennials are entitled and lazy, GenX switched sides and pretended it was never said about them.
Replace "corpos" with "boomers who refuse to quit and would sell their kids for a seventh house".
Maybe it's just young people are lazy and it takes decades to build up a work ethic.
"work hard or you'll be broke and homeles by the time your 60" morphed into "you'll be broke and homeless forever whether you work hard or not". I'd put in 110% effort if I had any chance of owning a house or retiring. That's not an option so I'm going to use my time more productively.
1998 here! I gave my company my all when I went through training. I worked as hard as I could. I volunteered to help, was excited to learn new things, and I was as engaged as possible. I was SO excited.
5 years later and now I do bare minimum. All of my hard work came with pats on the back but no pay increase, it’s SO HARD to get a promotion, and when you bring up issues it’s swept under the rug. Corporate America is a joke and it treats me and my work like I’m a joke. So I’m just returning the energy!
Millenial here. I feel this so much.
LoL, another (old? geriatric?) Millennial here, I gave up like 7 years ago. Career was my focus for 10 years (the only raises I got was when I switched jobs) until I realized that the level of performance I needed to maintain a certain level was too much; embraced mediocrity instead, I fear I might be fired soon, but a lot of people I regarded as better than me have been also fired, so I'm ok if it happens.
Little Miss don't let them take your "excitement" away. Get that motivation back for you-bc that IS who you are.There is a lot to be said for being able to pay bills timely. Don't let them suck the life out of you. Know your goals for today and this week and month. If they don't match your boss's, talk it through and incorporate theirs with yours. Ask them "which do you prefer?" Makes it look like you are a team person they can depend on. It will be noticed. Do that every day bc that IS who you are. Work places change and shift. Your personal life-keep it tidy so that again you are in control. I'm talking about cleaning, wardrobe preparation and outside interest like group yoga, dance, who knows but do that for you. What you're going through is common for the work place. One more time, YOU be the best at your job. Have things done before the deadline date. Make it a game for you. They will notice. Keep your eyes open for new opportunities. Please let me know how you do. This is my strength.
And The Darkest Fateful- you have this. Write or know your work goal per month then by week at work. You don't need anyone for direction on that. Think of it kind of like one of those computer games. Work faster and smarter. Over and over again. It can actually be engaging and rewarding to you. Wrap up all loose ends on Fridays. Then Mondays are brand and in an odd way it is kind of fun. Please tell how it goes bc you do have this. Don't worry about the raise or promo yet. Get this down. YOU be the best.
@@conniejohnson3029 are you being sincere?
I'm in my 50's and work for one of the largest corporations in the USA. I work hard and it's been noticed. I have been offered a management position several times and I refuse, because I don't want or need the responsibility or the money at this point in my life. I don't care what anyone says, if you do work hard, it does pay off even today.
Let’s just be honest: we’ve all been lied to for most of our live regarding jobs, education, and lives.
Exactly. This is definitely not just a Gen Z issue (or millennial).
Lied how lol.
@@aSuspiciousPete "what we pay you is enough to live! you dont need a raise" "pull yourself from your bootstraps like we did" iT'S FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE IN THIS FUCKING WORLD TO NOT BURN OUT AND DIE TRYING TO BE FUCKING STABLE THEY DON'T WANT TO PAY YOU FAIRLY BUT WANT YOU TO WORK ALL DAY EVERY DAY
@@aSuspiciousPete Seriously?
@@aSuspiciousPetedidn’t teach us any of the relevant tech skills needed in the economy. Didn’t teach us about the job market. Didn’t teach us financial literacy.
But the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell
As a Genz member, I experienced this shifting of the goal post when my dad kept telling me: “Son, get a Bachelors and you’re set.” And then when I got it, he said: “Son, no job will seriously consider you without a Masters.” He told me any Masters degree will get my foot through the door. Thank God I used my brain not to listen to that nonsense. Yet I’m the stubborn one who doesn’t know how to listen. Dad’s not even an American Boomer, but he’s worked with enough of them to become like them. Smh.
As Gen Z I feel the anwser is pretty simple, I put in the exact amount off effort and respect as I am given. And if you as my employer repeatedly tell me my life and labor isn't worth bare minimum being able to clothe, feed, and tend to basic nessesities, then you get EXACTLY what you paid for.
Damn right, don't blame you one bit 😊
They pretend to pay us, we pretend to work.
@@MarcelGomez-e3lWhy NOT believe they're right over their boss's opinions? 🤔
Why is it that everyone who complains in Gen Z isn’t doing well? And the people that don’t complain are moving along. Maybe it’s a mindset thing because I’ve worked hard, I’ve been disrespected, I’ve been knocked down more times than I can count and yet I put 100% of my passion into what I love and my employer has promoted me twice for it. Y’all need a life and passion
Why is it that everyone who complains in Gen Z isn’t doing well? And the people that don’t complain are moving along. Maybe it’s a mindset thing because I’ve worked hard, I’ve been disrespected, I’ve been knocked down more times than I can count and yet I put 100% of my passion into what I love and my employer has promoted me twice for it. Y’all need a life and passion
My job recently fired six people from my team, were now down to 3 people working three different locations (mailroom). They decided to lump two peoples jobs on the three people remaining, and when I had the “audacity” to ask for a raise, it was rejected and they told me we could “discuss it” next year. I have college classes after work, I’m so unbelievably burnt out and I’m one missing pay check from being homeless. I’m 22, and by no means a lazy worker I just want to be paid a fair wage so I can LIVE, not SURVIVE.
Look for a new job and leave ASAP. It is just another thing you gotta do.
Remember unions exist for precisely this reason. Logically there is no reason for management to do anything differently because for you as an individual the situation is almost always perilous, because the company can always make others take the slack and hire another individual as quickly as they need to. 8 billion people on this earth, none of us are that special.
@@LpSC2onlineall jobs are like this. I’ve worked a handful of jobs in different industries. They all have this problem.
@@gracefulsnake6399then all of those jobs need to change. Just because it's the norm does not mean that it should he embraced.
@@Guru_1092 yeah I agree. But my point was getting a new job isn’t going to do anything
Did that one guy legit just openly admit to age discrimination??? wild.
It's only illegal not to hire old people, after all :)
I’m a millennial and have the exact same problems as gen z… hard work is not rewarded anymore.
Hard work was never rewarded. High value is rewarded
Hard work with no value is not rewarded
@@Foof0811please I go above and beyond at my job all the time I ain’t seen not one raise and all I get is “ur the best cleaner we’ve ever had” and a fucking handshake like really but guess what the new ppl they hire get paid more than me and do way less work than I do ts got me fucked up
@@Foof0811 oh boy you are either delusional,or you don't really have a job 😂 And I'm guessing you don't really have a job to make such a dense statement
@@BxByDoll927Is getting another job an option for you? I’m looking for a new job while doing the bare minimum at my current one. Maybe you can do the same. Don’t stand by when the boss spits in your face. Fuck loyalty to companies. Most will drop you like a hat if they failed to plan for bad times.
@@Wahbulance not in my area bcs it’s hella small and employers been tryna cut labor costs and they don’t wanna hire anyone frl and whenever I go in for an interview I’m met with”oh sorry we’re not hiring right now” so I just been wasting my time falling for constant ghost jobs 🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️
I'm gen X,1979.
My kids are gen Z. Our kids aren't the problem. Genz know it's all BS at 18. I didn't understand until I was 40 with 4 kids.
My kids don't even want kids because they see me work all the time.
Gen z here, I think most of us knew before 18. I’d say most of us work as we’re paid (there are of course exceptions just like with every generation). Pay us enough to care and we probably will. Pay us an unlivable wage and we’ll probably put in the bare minimum because why do more work when all you get is a plate of tired and maybe a side of irritation as a thanks
@@thatonearoaceYea. It’s called striking a hard bargain. The only reason they shame people as “lazy” is to try and squeeze more out of them without incurring any extra cost. It’s a cynical game they play. Remember it’s a war. A class war. All you’re doing is fighting back.
I mean, if you genuinely like your work and find purpose in it, by all means put in your best effort. If it’s just a standard dull corporate job then do the minimum you can get away with. The managerial class can b*tch about you all they want. You don’t have to care what they think. They made their bed a long time ago.
@@marshallsweatherhiking1820 The one thing I’ll slightly disagree on is that if you want to move up, be careful about what putting in 100% looks like even if you like the company. If you’re going beyond what you need to do, you might be essentially locking yourself out of promotions since why should they promote you? You already do the work you would be expected to do if promoted without any extra pay or anything
I agree!!! They realize it’s BS in the first 6months of employment. Took me 3 years lol. I’m also on the border with gen z though
@@thatonearoace ancient millennial here- I think being born during or after September 11 thrust you guys into a world of cynicism. All you’ve ever known is “things suck.“
Currently learning the fine art of not picking up my coworkers slack and not feeling bad when shit gets bad
Just turned 59, the youngsters standing up for themselves is fantastic !
Happy late birthday! Wish you many more to come :3
I'm 1997, and I'm a person who has always valued education for the simply the sake of it, I ENJOY school, and I'm a naturally very intrinsically motivated person. But I will say these past 4 years have taken it out of me. I did everything right -- went to college, got a degree, got a fantastic internship in my (white collar) field right out of school, was hired on full time... and then a year later I was laid off in a mass layoff. I fought my way into a new job, just to be laid off in another mass layoff a year later. I WANTED to love my career, but my industry does not value me. Companies don't value people. Meanwhile I have people asking why I never want kids... how am I supposed to feel comfortable enough with my income to have kids if companies either A) layoff people every two years or B) grind their workers to the bone? All of this has me questioning my place in the world as an Employee. The climate situation is not getting better, the political situation is not getting better, and I'm fighting for my life to help big companies that don't care about me get richer and richer.
29 year old here 8+ years of expereince in a professional pest control licensed technician, 15 years of work experience in the workforce since i was 14. These past 5-10 years has been the worst and it is only getting worse. No jobs will hire, and if they do you will have 3 peoples job and they want to start you off at 7.25, it literally cost more to work than to not. I will be looking at different countries and hopefully the new country will accept a 29 yr old extremely healthy and able to work 15+hrs a day in the 100+ degree weather, just not in this country!
@jaimeerindy4573 i empathize. I've never worked in corporate on the level you have experienced. I don't even know what motivates the most to go a corporate route. If you're looking for challenges and good pay that requires intelligence and spacial awareness, you can be an electrician or HVAC. There are so many opportunities. How do you even know what will best suit you until you explore? There's more to life than corporate.
@@TheAdamGiles Hi yes I have tried many other trades they do not train anymore! Good luck everyone!
I've been laid off before and interviewed for a job after where they frankly told me they would be closing and laying everyone off in another year. That's how I learned to research the company and the job market before applying. Of course, sometimes you just need a job, any job.
Same age. Became an engineer. Worked my ass off. Company’s won’t pay you for your hard work. Have literally been told that I have to wait to get paid more because I don’t have 20 years of experience whenever I became the best engineer on my team after 3 years. I left made a lot more doing WAY less when I left. Crazy why they can’t figure out why genz doesn’t have motivation. I have little desire to keep the current system going 😊
Dude. Thank you for making this. It genuinely brought me so much comfort & you took my thoughts and laid them out in front of me. Ironically it gives me an ounce of hope to know I'm not the only one of this generation that is immensely struggling in every aspect even though they're seemingly doing exactly what they're "supposed to do". Thank you times a million.
I think it's also important to talk about the death of entry level jobs. Companies are pushing back against remote and forcing RTO, citing collaboration and that it's harming Gen Z because they never learn work norms. And while there's some validity to this, companies are not actually investing in training and development. New hires are expected to hit the ground running and have years of experience. As a millennial I don't think I've ever had a good onboarding experience, and I get so many questions from gen Z employees that make me roll my eyes, but it's because none of this stuff was explained to them and they're never put in a position to learn.
Don't forget all the "entry level" job postings out there that pay peanuts per hour but still have the audacity to put "preferred: masters degree" in the requirements and qualifications.
RTO is better for Gen Z in the sense that mentorship is much more difficult over emails and zoom. First job out of school especially would be a nightmare if it was strictly online.
@ yes, but they aren’t getting that mentorship even if they are in the office. Pretty much anyone who was just entering the workforce in 2017 onward has pretty much been left to fend for themselves.
Every company wants you to have experience but no one wants to train. I can learn anything fairly quickly and have excelled at every job I've had - that I've been trained properly for. I feel like it's not hard!!
I wonder how many employers who are complaining about the poor work skills ever offered young people summer jobs?
The dollar has lost half of its value since 2000. Yet wages have increased by only 25%. That means someone making 20 dollars an hour in modern day is making the equivalent of 12.5 dollars an hour just 24 years ago! You think we're going to work hard for that? NO! Pay us more!
Finally some hard logic in the comment section
They been delaying federal minimum wage of $15. It should be $23 now.
@@SaulAguilar.this is the shit that gets me 😭💀. The powers at be fighting TOOTH and NAIL to not have to pay us a wage so measly it’s already a slap in the face. Meanwhile, it’s STILL not enough. Minimum wage should be raised or straight up redefined because wtf. Maybe UBI if they don’t want to make it possible to survive off “minimum wage”.
I was wondering how things are with the euro.
The answer: we’re obviously being ripped off… I work for €1,800 (before taxes) [about €1500 after] for 40 hours…
Since 2000, the euro has lost about 41% of its value due to inflation, meaning it only buys around 59% of what it did back then. Specifically, €100 in 2000 would need to be €168.28 in 2024 to have the same purchasing power. This reflects a cumulative inflation rate of approximately 68.28% in the eurozone, averaging 2.19% annually. In contrast, wage growth has not kept up with this rate, meaning many people feel a financial squeeze similar to what you’re describing with the dollar in the U.S.
Regarding Austria’s minimum wage, it’s currently around €1,800 gross per month based on a 40-hour work week. Given the euro’s value decrease since 2000, for this wage to match purchasing power effectively, it would need to be closer to €3,000 per month to compensate for inflation and reflect an increase in living costs. This difference highlights the growing demand for wages that more accurately reflect inflation and cost-of-living adjustments across many sectors.
2003, married to a 2002, both Gen Z, we both lost our jobs, and cannot get new jobs. We are constantly ghosted by fake jobs. I've heard calls that my Husband gets saying "sorry we are canceling your interview as the position has been filled." We are both very unhappy, and the worst part is that, even if we do get jobs, we'll still be unhappy. We won't be able to see each other anymore because we'll have to work different shifts because if we try for the same shifts, we will be denied even more jobs. We won't even earn enough money to live anyways, so what even is the point. I keep hearing bull about "the job economy is great" and "well, why don't you try all these resources to get a job?" I did, and I am now in a huge pool with thousands of other people waiting for a job. It has been 2 months since then, and almost 10 since I've had a job now. This country is a sh#tshow, and I'm tired of listening to the lies of how great it is here. I just want to leave and live in the forest... if that wasn't illegal.
I'm Gen Z who feels like my future was completely stolen from me. I went to college and that entire experience was upended by a global pandemic. Then I graduate into the worst job market since basically 2007/2008 and can't get a job. That and these jobs don't factor in rent/cost of living so you're stuck no matter how hard you work. We're just tired. We just want to have hope and happiness, not slave away for nothing.
Welcome to being an adult, it sucks.
I'm a mill married to a xenial. We got married in 2020 and literally as we started a life together, rent went up x2 and jobs were hard to find. He couldn't find work in our town because everything responded saying he was overqualified. I've had an anxiety disorder all my life so at the time I was cleaning houses which only covered maybe a couple of bills. We literally had to move for both of us to get jobs, and it didn't pay much. After the work experience we moved again to work better paying jobs in the same field of work. Places started laying us off because of lack of work. Even made friends with our boss who was upset about having to let us go.
I 100% agree with your last comment. Having experienced literally what boomers lecture everyone to do, and it backfiring because of corporate logistics, I'm fucking done buying into the "american dream" brainwash. You are expendable. You're just a number that can be flicked off the page when you're becoming a hindrance to the rich guy's profits. Corporations don't care if you can't pay your mortgage.
Millennial here, we said the exact same thing in 2008.
I'm in the exact same boat: the money I make at my part time job is gone as fast as I make it and every job listing demands years of experience for even entry-level positions. This country is a joke.
@@Gnomezonbacon100%
I'm an elder millennial and I LOVE my gen z staffers. Do they push the boundaries sometimes? Yes. Does it make me uncomfortable sometimes? Yes. Do they demand previously unprecedented levels of flexibility? Also Yes. Literally none of that is bad. Challenging maybe, but not bad. Their work ethic is high, and so are their expectations. They inspire me all the time and are seriously unbelievable employees, and I really value and appreciate them. They said the same thing about us 20 years ago, when most of us worked multiple jobs starting in our teens. I recognize there are real challenges and problems facing gen z, but we can learn a lot from them!
You obviously don’t own the company. Otherwise your muppet rant would lead you to bankruptcy, you and your Gen Z bum crew.
yes yes yes! I am also a millennial, and I love how GenZ pushes boundaries in the workplace. In the USA specifically we've become so used to giving up all of our free time and energy to our work, and it's not healthy! The work culture propaganda is so ingrained that any pushback against it feels like a slight against the "working American". Meanwhile, our jobs don't actually give us anything. Barely any vacation, if at all, little to no sick time, little to no health insurance, and parental leave is usually a pipe dream. Other developed countries look over at us in shock because of how far behind we are. We need GenZ to push back against these stupid ingrained work culture norms, so we can move forward as a society.
@1Fresh_Water I'll never forget when my zoomer employee called me and said "I logged in and started working this morning, but I'm really not feeling it today. My brain is just not in work mode and I feel like I need to step away from the screen and have an offline day". I was STUNNED. I was really impressed with how direct and honest she was, so of course I told her to enjoy her mental health day but it actually changed me as a person lol. I thought about all the days when I really needed to do that, and I never did. Why?? Why didn't I ever do that?? We should all be doing that, why the hell not. It was the first of many experiences with gen z at work that really changed my perspective. I take more time for myself now. I don't overextend. I don't work when I'm sick. I prioritize differently. Gen Z gave that to me and I'm grateful!
I can sit down a get work done, and accurately. I can't get yelled at for everything, treated like a dog by customers, no flexibility for my disability, etc. Give me the work, I'll get it done.
Why does it feel so nice to have someone say that gen z doesn’t suck for a change?
1:48 I’m 33 and I just want a job that doesn’t feel like I’m wasting my life
I'm a current graduate student and gen z, and I'd just like to say, I'm worried that much of what is being termed "laziness" in the workplace is burn out. I know that some people may scoff at that, but to put it into perspective: I've gone straight through school. I went straight from high school to undergrad to grad school. My field requires a master's, so I chose to go straight through. To afford school, I worked full time in college. I had between 3 and 6 jobs at any given time in undergrad, and worked between 40 to 60 hours depending on the semester. Much of that money went into school and basic living expenses, I wasn't able to build a savings with it. My mom went to college in the early 90s and was able to afford each semester by working as a part time waitress each summer. Anytime I talk to someone my parent's age or older, they often tell me how jealous they am that I'm in grad school because they miss the days of getting to "just be a student" and enjoy learning. I love learning, but no one seems to understand that college students are not "just students" anymore. So, when my generation graduates, gets what they think to be a good job, and start making real money, they are disappointed to find that they still cannot afford to live and that they cannot use this new job to leverage a work life balance. In our society, college is marketed as the time when you get to explore yourself, have freedom, and travel, but that's not the reality anymore.
Spot on
This is the best take I’ve seen so far. I definitely agree our parents had it easier. But when you get started you don’t always get what you want. My first year being out on my own I agree it was hard to make living expenses work. But as I got experience, I learned how to have a work life balance with no change in pay. Some of what people are complaining about is dealing with the normal challenges of starting adulthood alone. When my parents left school they were pharmacists. But even they lived paycheck to paycheck back then when they started. Now they had it easier because their college promised work right out of school so they weren’t worried about eating to survive. BUT they didn’t get a great work-life balance right away. I only have that now as a 22yr because I sacrificed for 1-1.5yrs before I was really saving money. Now that I am saving, I can afford a great work-life balance. I think there are societal factors that make it hard. But I skipped college and made it work so I feel like this is a mindset thing as well.
@@superkawaii8315you're right, it also has to do with mindset but we shouldn't forget the systemic issues at play here either.
you are no different than your mother. There are lots of us who did the same thing, and yeah, we were tired, but WE.... KEPT ... GOING! PUSH THROUGH IT!
@tjholmes66 maybe but it doesn't change that it's a bad system. You can't just say push through when people say something is bad. At some point, it actually has to be fixed
We can’t pull ourselves up from our bootstraps because we can’t even afford to buy any boots :/
You get what you keep repeating to you.
The term "pull yourself up from your bootstraps" is even about it being impossible. Think about if. If you're wearing a pair of boots, you cannot physically pull yourself up by the straps on them because you are literally standing in them.
@@boratlion8613 shut up boomer
THIS
@@superkawaii8315it's almost as if people are trying and getting nowhere
My personal experience is if you work hard you will be taken advantage of. I am someone who starts a new job very motivated doing everything thats asked of me to the best of my capabilities. At my last job I had another apprentice working the same job as me. He didn't do anything except listen to music and scroll through instagram all day while I did my work. I was constantly forced to work late, take on extra tasks and was criticized heavily when I didn't do it to perfection. He got to leave early every friday and flew under the radar. I ended up with a nervous breakdown cause my autistic brain cannot handle this type of pressure and I got canned. And this is not a one time experience. I have a disability, which makes burnout more likely for me, but I see a lot of people my age either completely overwork themselves or not giving two shits at work because if they did, they would burn out as well
Same. Scale back your commitments when that happens.
I know it can be a challenge (and debilitating at times, let’s be real), but it’s actually a gift . Unlike others, you are very aware of your strain and this will help you in the long run.
NT get burnt out just as easily, but usually they turn to substance abuse and don’t realize they have a problem until a sudden mid-life crisis. Sometime down the line they have an extrem and sudden crash.
Take the time to find yourself and a community you enjoy. Rooting for you!
When companys try to spend the least amount of money to make to biggest profit its smart busines, but when employes want to spend the least amount of time to make the biggest profit its suddenly lazy.
And the status quo around the world are surprised that there's a global cultural decline in the developed world
As a zillennial, my very worth as a person and how I was treated as a person was tied to how good my grades were. There was an extreme amount of pressure to perform academically. Of course I'd be resentful. When I became an adult, of course I checked out. I don't hate learning new things or working hard. I just got tired of my worth being tied to my output exclusively. There is so much more to life.
im a gen z ('06), being a junior in high school and im trying so hard to get out of this bad habit of my self worth being based on school grades. its hard but i remind myself every single day that my self worth is not and will never be based on my grades
@@baldjungkook4582 it gets easier when you don't feel like your entire life's future is tied to the quality of your grades - an '03 gen z
@@izzybennet.t it gets but the only thing that makes it worse is that u have to remind ur parents that grades dont define a persons future 🌚
@@baldjungkook4582 fortunately if you go to uni you, and your parents hopefully, realize that's not true unless you have plans for something like medical school. I'm about to graduate with an okay gpa which my parents were initially concerned about, but I have far more work experience out of and in field than my 4.0 friends, so you end up seeing that your grades only matter for a short amount of time.
yea school kinda just made me have to go to therapy!! i am very checked out and very done. i just wanna be treated like a person instead of a number
Thinking of my mom's stepdad who worked a full time job with a 5hr commute everyday and then got diagnosed to be dying within the next few months literally 3 days after retiring. He had finally bought the house of his dreams too.
Companies are not families, they will replace you if you don't function well. I think it is hilarious that people point to Gen Z with terms such as, "Quiet quitting", when in reality it just means Gen Z does not identify their workplace as a foundational structure within their lives like prior generations with more security within their employment did. Back then there was at least some semblance or illusion of meritocracy. Nowadays, we don't even have that.The dramatized TikToks to me are exaggerated versions of this shift in the workforce. The numerous lay offs from jobs that were deemed safe have only fuelled the detachment. I have heard a million regrets of people who were old or on their deathbed, but not once have I heard they wished they had worked harder or more. It is not that Gen Z has wildly different priorities than previous generations, it’s that socially speaking, Gen Z does not care to uphold the image of “Hard worker” while losing sight of the things that will actually matter in the long run. A company is not going to be at your deathbed, a company will not hold your hand if you get chronically ill, regardless of how many things you sacrificed for it. Work is just work. And if you are not careful, you’ll retire an empty husk of yourself. Because once your desk is cleaned out and your workspace items of 50 years are packed into an old dusty cardboard box, you may just exit the building you resided your entire life in and won’t have anywhere else to go.
as depressing as it is to hear about how bad our generation is struggling, i’m legitimately crying tears of relief because i thought it was just me. i’m 26 years old and in so much credit card debt. i have an incredibly hard time finding work. it is so exhausting to hear from my mother over and over again how i’m a failed adult because i can’t support myself financially. if it weren’t for the fact that my boyfriend got a job in STEM that pays decently, i wouldn’t even have a place to live. i’m so tired y’all. but i’m also really glad that it’s not 100% my own damn fault-because feeling that way is debilitating for one’s self esteem.
This is also a reason why I'm in therapy And our generation is more stressed out because of the shit economy
im 29. when i quit my job in 2021 i was unable to find a job for 2 years. i genuinely tried. i dont have a criminal record. my savings reduced in those 2 years. all progress lost because theres no jobs out there
It's not hard to find work. Are you being picky about the jobs you're applying for?
@deamorebeaute2412 it is hard finding work. I luckily have a job rn but am looking elsewhere and it has been hard. I have a college degree and cant get an interview at costco.
@deamorebeaute2412 there A LOT of fake job postings being made.
Companies make job posts they have no interest in filling to say no one is applying in order to continue justifying wage cuts or the absolute worst I have heard is some have even used job interviews whereby they ask candidates "hypothetical" scenarios on solving a problem or process only to NOT hire any of the candidates and then use the solutions they said to solve their own problems (basically using them as free consultations, by scamming them into thinking there's a role)
Sometimes they use the interviews to just basically set up a nepotism hire, in which having good candidates against makes the "hire" more credible.
The world is absolute trash. Yes there are jobs, but what is the point of having a job that pays so low that it costs MORE to work than simply not. The job has to first and foremost cover my basics (which have gone up hugely- rent, gas, electricity, municipal bills and food - hell I don't even go out anymore)
I think a big part of this that everyone is missing is that Gen z is the first group to be fully aware of the fact that America is the only “first world” country (and I say that VERY loosely) that pushes this mindset of living to work. We know that our European counterparts have health insurance and paid vacation and maternity leave, and we might get some sick time off if we live in a liberal area. I currently work for an Italian company, and even though my job is harder than any job I’ve had previously, it’s infinitely less stressful because everyone in corporate is Italian (except for me and like 3 other people). We’re all working from home/ out of office from the first week of December to the third week of January. Everyone in the company who works 15 hours or more gets full benefits, which are great and very affordable. I was out for 3 weeks sick after only being there for a month, and they told me to take another 3 days when I got back, just in case I didn’t feel 100%. Fully paid. We see these things being the bare minimum, literally the law, everywhere but here. They can continue to not hire us for maybe 10 more years at absolute maximum before their entire labor market dies and retires, but one way or another America is gonna have to make some adjustments for us.
There was a time when the US needed to push that mindset. It was 1946 to 1991, because that was the time when the US was footing the bill for Europe's defense against the Soviet Union.
Then the Soviet Union dissolved, so the US could relax, right?
If you want a hardworking workforce treat them well, give them healthcare, paid holidays, good maternity leave etc. Workers deserve to have a life beyond the workplace otherwise what is the point. Americans need to realise how they have been shafted by their governments and corporations
i'm from the uk, where it's very much "live to work". the jobmarket in the uk is awful. all these benefits mean nothing when you're unable to work anywhere that actually provides these benefits. there are enough food/retail customer service jobs, but so few entry-level jobs that you can actually make a decent career out of.
i know only two people in my generation who might be able to afford to buy a house in the next 5 years (excluding people with parents who will help them pay for/give them a property).
That's good you have a caring boss. Most American boomer work mindset is toxic
Japan would like a word
They're mad that people are realizing what's important. Wealthy people always knew it, which is why they avoid working like a plague
I’m moderately sucesssful by all of the traditional metrics. My wife and I both make good money, own a home, and are almost completely done paying off our student loans. It’s fucked up that we feel like we are the exception, not the rule. It feels like we have to work SO hard to make all of the traditional milestones that our parents reached with relative ease.
Continue to prioritize your work life balance. Don’t sacrifice yourself for someone else’s profit.
How old are you? Are you from the gen Z?
@@merlokiii I’m 31, so Millennial.
@@matth8924 congrats homeownership is wonderful. im close to your age and spent 2 years unable to find work but trying
I don't know about "relative ease" but the minefield was certainly less dense. I graduated college in 1969 from the City University of New York. It was tuition free and I lived with my parents and commuted until I graduated so no student debt. I had a $300 1961 Mercury Comet that my dad gave me so no car loan. He replaced the Comet with a $150 Ford Fairlane. There were no charge cards so no charge card debt. There was no internet, cable TV or cell phones so these expenses just didn't exist. Air fares were regulated so no one but the rich could afford to fly so vacations were pretty much limited to where you could get to by car. With no internet there was no online shopping with all the potential pitfalls that come with that. Plus, every decent company provided good health insurance AND a real life pension.
Similar feeling. I grew up with parents who were poor and drug addicts (one died when I was young). Yet, I didn't see myself as a victim and instead worked hard my whole life. Skipped social events to study. Budgeted my money. Worked multiple jobs whenever I could. Went to the best university in my state in order to get in-state tuition and worked as an RA for room and board. I now make a six figure salary, but this is only after decades of under paid temp contract jobs, which means I've only now (in mid-30s) started saving for retirement. With student loan payments and $2k+ rent per month, and now paying for my Dad's home care because he has dementia, I'm still a lifetime away of ever owning my own dwelling. That's the crazy thing---I work so much harder, make all the "right" choices, and yet struggle as much as my parents who made $30k and were drug addicts.
I'd be better off never working hard, being stupid and low skilled, and having parents who I could inherit a house from. The truth is, the only way to get ahead in this economy, is to start ahead. There is no longer any sort of social ladder to be climbed through hard work. That's the truth of it.
I'm not even from the US, and I feel like I'm stuck in limbo. All my life I worked hard, got good grades, finished my uni degrees even at the cost of my mental health. There is no entry-level jobs. No one to give you a chance and actually invest in onboarding you. I WANT a job so bad, yet all I've gotten for over a year is "we regret to inform you" over and over and over again, and it's devastating. I even completely threw the towel on my pursued education and career path and applied for different other career training paths and apprenticeships, and even *that* is going nowhere. It's frustrating beyond words, and impossible to remain hopeful day to day. Either you get rejected from low-paying jobs because they're afraid you will demand more and argue with your degree, or they demand 5-10 years of experience with lots of other bonus qualifications and AI-filter anything that doesn't compare to that high standard immediately. Hearing politicians argue that "nobody wants to work anymore" over and over makes me want to scream.
YES YOU GET IT god i feel so heard
I had to quit my job in MD to move in with my husband here in FL (he already had a home and like hell were we gonna sell that so I could keep a minimum-wage part-time job). It wasn't much, but it was work as a teacher's aid at a private school every week and it still paid something, I figured I'd at least be able to find something similar here
NOPE. I get rejected from entry-level jobs in ALL fields because I don't have work experience. Because that totally makes sense. Most frustrating shit on the damn planet - like, yes, I don't know anything, because NO ONE WANTS TO FUCKING TRAIN ANYONE AND THAT INCLUDES ME
I'm so done with the job market at this point. me and my husband survived on one income over the year since I moved in, but even then only just barely. suffice to say the savings account is pretty much gone at this point and any hopes we had about buying land and moving out into the wilderness to try and make something of ourselves in a more self-sustaining kind of way is all but gone. I'm so sick of this bs, I'm ready to put in the hours but I need some mf flexibility while I learn
(part of me thinks the only reason these entry-level, experience-required positions are getting filled at ALL is because the people who got bachelor and/or master's degrees but aren't getting hired for the work they actually want due to inexperience are desperate enough to apply for minimum wage entry-level work just so they can start making *some* kind of money, and companies are picking them instead of someone like me who has neither. but then I hear about these very same people not getting hired at all because employers know they'll move on ASAP to the job they actually want and don't want to invest in someone who's going to dip. So I don't even know what the fuck they want anymore and who the HELL they're hiring, because this just.... god it makes no sense)
@@lunaredelvour2972 I relate to your thoughts so much, and I'm so sorry you and your husband have had to drain your savings just to get by. I hope that things will swing back up again soon, so that we can *actually get some work* and try and start over on bulding the futures we want. Hang in there 🫂🖤
You can always leave off credentials when you apply! It sucks, but it may help!
In addition to all of this, i think older generations need to put more effort into working with and teaching Gen Z and be more understanding that jobs are learned. Most people don't start a corporate job in their early teens so now we have 22 year olds who have never worked in a formal environment showing up on their first day with no experience. Yet some employers seem to expect us to have these skills immediately after the university hands us our degree (plus that 4+ years of experience on the entry level job posting).
When i got my first job out of University it was obvious my older colleagues didn't immediately understand how many things I simply didn't know how to do. Learning office and departmental norms was like learning a new language and i am grateful my older colleagues took the time to teach me.
An unspoken thing amongst all this is that older generations just had a more relaxed work environment. When they came home from work, they didn’t work. As simple as that. At work, you’d still have time to socialize and chat. Now, workdays spill over into the rest of your day and you’re taking meetings and replying to emails 24/7 without getting paid for that time. Of course you’re going to have to turn down meetings to go eat and work out.
This an unbelievably bad take.
Yep! My job will call you in on your days off and when you say no you’re in trouble ! It’s my DAY OFF but if you don’t come in it’s just as bad and no showing a scheduled shift! So even in your day off.. your on call …
I was told my job I recently started would be from 6 to 2-2:30 only to find it was expected of me to stay until 3:30 or 4 pm and I very quickly quit don’t gaslight me into thinking I’ll have my afternoons free if it’s not true
Yes!!!
@@geekgirl616 I feel you. Our job gives days off based the no. of hours worked. (They were soo excited to mention that during my orientation).
Initially they'd apologize if they weren't able to schedule all the days off in the same month because of 'short staffing'.
Now they get upset/offended if you enquire about your missing days off. They act as though they've done you a huge favor by even giving you one.
I now understand why this department is perpetually short staffed.
something that is very scary to me as a gen z is that the goal posts keep moving, so we are told that we still need to do MORE or spend MORE even if we have already exceeded expectations. we don’t get enough credit for being adaptable. i see so many of peers still struggling after choosing a practical and safe career path. so, when we attempt to pivot to account for such, hiring managers tell us we cannot be successful and that we are “so indecisive”. for example, i want to move from marketing to accounting since i want to own something/be my own boss someday. marketing career paths are becoming fewer and farer between as more flock to join the field. but, when trying to switch with coursework, transferable experience/skills (albeit limited), and professional work history, i’m told i cannot possibly excel at accounting because i don’t have an accounting degree. never mind the 2 business administration degrees and same amount of accounting courses as an accounting major... it’s exhausting feeling like you cannot win.
Who would have known that creating a society where the only thing that people care about is money, and the only drive for production is money, and you need money just to survive and have a place to live, that because of that all anyone cares about is money and that it's extremely important to be paid enough and have enough money to live but because the people currently in control of all the money want to keep it all for themselves there isn't any chance of new people getting enough money to do literally anything.
People aren't paid what their work is worth, businesses don't want to pay people what they are worth, the people in control of businesses are highly incentivized to scam as much money for themselves as possible while artificially raising the stock price by laying off thousands of workers and destroying a company for short term gains so they can get their golden parachute payout when the company goes out of business.
Whereas one CEO could cut his paycheck in half and cover the cost of all the people he laid off multiple times over, when it comes to choosing between the company and those peoples' livelihood or choosing to be slightly more impossibly richer, they always always every single time choose to keep the money for themselves.
Just look at Elon Musk, he moved Tesla's headquarters because his massive CEO salary was denied for being too large, the lawyers involved getting it denied got paid 2+ billion dollars, he moved the company and got the salary anyway, and subsequently started laying off thousands of people and cutting back on the company, when just a fraction of his salary could have covered the payroll for all of those people. Not to mention that he is the CEO of multiple companies so the idea that he has time to run all of these companies, campaign for Trump, potentially become a member of Trump's cabinet, raise multiple families, and do all the advertising he does while posting on Twitter more than anyone else... It's laughable to say that he deserves that salary. Actually ridiculous.
He just delegates all the work to other people, he is not fulfilling 30 billion worth of work for Twitter, Tesla, Space X, and his AI company and whatever other crap even if you combined them all together. And that is just one example..
Before my junior year of high school, I remember having passions. I loved baking, I loved drawing and writing, I loved movies and stories, I wanted to help the community and the environment, I was learning a second language. I’m in my first year of university now and it feels like there’s nothing left in me to keep trying. Everything is exhausting, things I like doing are near impossible, classes I really do enjoy and want to learn more in I just can’t do the schoolwork for. I don’t care what my career is, I don’t care what my job is. Everything feels like it’s only going to get worse and I can’t do shit, so what’s the point?
The problem with the school system is that it's working as intended. They teach you to sit in one place and follow instructions. That's the primary purpose of our public school system. It was designed with the express purpose of training the masses for factory work.
Sitting in that position isn't good for your posture either. Theyhave us sitting for 8hrs a week day. (Besides recess, extra ciricularss, & lunch)
Completely disagree!
@@tjholmes66 That’s only due to ignorance. Try researching a topic before presenting an opinion on it. It’s not a contested issue; it’s just not openly discussed.
Yes. With limited learning (most of the time). Smart enough to run the machines and dumb enough to not know they're getting messed over for the adult world.
And the funny thing is factory’s don’t want you to sit down. Got to do the job standing even if you could do the same job sitting down.
I'm gen z. I worked extra hours at my corporate job. Took pride in being exact in my work. I got only a $1300 raise after my performance review. I asked if they'd reevaluate for a higher raise because my skills had increased and I was getting more responsibilities. No one would respond to me.
I got so burnt out. When my husband offered to have me be a stay at home mom, I jumped at the opportunity. I'm thankful this dynamic is something we can afford. I'm so much happier. That company did not care about me but my family does
Damn, at least you got a raise though. I was doing supervisor work, ended up training people, and found out some guy i was training was making 4 dollars more per hour than i was making. They denied even the yearly 3% inflation rate raise.
@korvincarry3268
The $1300 raise was an inflation raise and they had the audacity to call it a "merit based raise". Which tbf a lot of companies call it that but still.
But dang that sucks to not even get the inflation raise. You should quit and reapply for the job to get the $4 raise (jk, but I like the idea of it because it also makes HR do more paperwork than if they just straight give you a raise)
@napoleons_wife oh yeah, i already quit. Which sucked for them cause i took all that supervisor ability, all that overtime and sudden coverage, all that expertise in our many technical systems, EVERYTHING and left. Many other people saw me later outside of work and followed suit, even people whod worked there for 16+ years. They had a huge shortage of people, knowledge, and skills then, and still are recovering nearly a year and a half later.
I've watched older friends and family struggle with loans and overworking themselves to the grave, I refuse to burn myself out for some company.
I use to have an incredibly strong work ethic throughout school. I went above and beyond on everything I was given. I graduated high school with a 4.3 GPA and graduated college with a 3.86 GPA. I was bought fully into the idea that hard work and doing well in school will get rewarded. Three years later in the workforce, that illusion is completely shattered. It was shattered within my first year in the workforce.
My first job out of college refused to pay me more than $19 an hour, and gave me a 2% raise at the end of the year, after a year with 10% inflation. My next job was better, because they at least gave raises in line with inflation, but then a month ago I was fired with absolutely no warning, completely out of the blue, with no reason given. I later found out it was probably because they were downsizing the department (3 other people got fired that month, too, from my 30 person department), but didn't want to lay us off because they didn't want to pay severance. I am now back to looking and applying for jobs, but I have been so disillusioned with everything that it feels like no matter what job I get it will be an endless cycle of soulless jobs.
It's almost like there's a structural disjunction, literally diametric opposition, between the incentives employers have--to maximize the amount of profit squeezed out per unit of employee labor time--and the incentives employees have to maximize the real value they're paid in compensation for each unit of their labor time.
Get to work.
@@superkawaii8315 says the user who has over a 100+ comments on this video alone 😂
Im a Zillenial and nothing feels stable anymore. During the pandemic friendships broke that I never thought would break, people got more into security, trading community for working harder inside the hamster wheel. I feel like we lost so much - not just all these materialistic outlooks, I feel like we could do without that but with the pandemic and being online we also lost hope that community exists and friendships survive the challenges of life.
"They don't have any incentive to pull up their bootstraps when they don't have anywhere to go when their boots are on."
That shit hit me like a punch to the chest. It so eloquently summed it all up. Older generations yelling at us to "pull up our boot straps". Ok... AND GO WHERE?!
I hadn't even reached that thought damn
The idea that even if you somehow voided all debt, held a stable.job with supportive management and included paid leave and logistics planning, was connected to and maintained regular checkups with a free government health service and had sufficient time to relax and have downtime- in what place of the world or just what world would this be worth pursuing right now? let alone rewarding and progressive for people
Even the idea of what we could do for the world in 50 years has basically become so abandoned it's an uncanny liminal horror to think about it in the way some people think wistfully about what they would do when they were grown up during early childhood
@@AlexQuinn-f2rI don’t know what you’re all off about with this horror scene. I left school and worked my ass off, didn’t complain to everyone, didn’t say the world was against me, but got knocked down by so many people, dealt with drug abuse, got payed pennies for professional work and so much more. But I pushed through, I worked through shitty times and I’ve been promoted twice because I didn’t blame my problems on other people. I could’ve said what you guys are saying and said it was all for nothing. That is loser, victim mentality. You will always fail with that mindset
@@superkawaii8315 or you could fight so other people don't have to go through what you went through. You want to leave the world as hard and the same as you went through? Do you not care about future generations? What's really victim mindset is rolling over and accepting sh*t. You've internalized the cr*p.
@@superkawaii8315 I mean yeah, generally the way the system works is to give arbitrary promotions up to the level of incompetency in order to keep everyone fighting each other to be the most productive. You basically got given what you have so that the people under you remain resentful enough to want to take your job and work harder, not because you specifically are anything special
@@superkawaii8315 Why should anyone listen to you? You're essentially tweaking out in every comment. Defending getting paid pennies for work lol. You'd be much richer if you spent less time licking off employers and demanding to be paid what you're worth.
Everything you said is debunk the moment you said you worked for pennies. From there, your own work is worth less no matter what. Instead of setting your expectations higher and higher, you're "pushing through." You can SAY that, but you'll never get back that time wasted, and if you were really dealing with so many issues let's say you've lost a lot of potential money over that time as well as people moved around you. Those promotions, well, someone got them earlier than you and is further ahead than you now... that's why you got to move up. You didn't even decide that-- someone else took pity on you for a promotion. Demanding what you're worth is bargaining with an employer for the work. Not hoping you get promoted for working hard.
You're bunker than the whiners. Defending getting paid pennies, then spending more than 30 minutes in a comment section chasing tail definitely makes you an expert on how to use time. Victim mentality and sucker mentality are two sides of the same coin. Make em "work for it" so they can get what they feel they deserve. More likely than not, especially if you're an engineer in an energy-based field (a well-paying field, if you're so aware), you're STILL being dangled. Lmao.
The only way out of that is showing off that you're a boomer or a Gen X, and even that betrays whether or not you're sincere. An older man wouldn't laugh at a child for not being able to work on the same level as a 40-year welder. It is obvious which is worth more.
"Sabotaging your future" implies there's a possibility for a future with material conditions as they currently stand.
There isn't.
The person that thinks they can and the person that thinks they can’t are both probably right. If you think there is no future for you then that’s how it’s gonna be! Half of this is a mindset thing. If you think you are a victim then you are. That’s the biggest issue with Gen Z. We have been taught to blame our problems on other people. When you take accountability for yourself you no longer feel like a victim
@@superkawaii8315fun quotes from books aren't material reality. "You can do it" quotes isn't enough. Victim mindset is for people who actually have nothing working against them but we know factually the economy is worse and employers are using whatever power they have to scr*w over employees. If so many are feeling the same way, it's systemic, not a personal failing.
@@hatter5834 The economy has been worse and has been better. It’s still plausible to have a middle class life with sacrifice. Sacrifice means the economy sucks, so you have to eat the same thing 2 days in a row. Eat rice and beans, don’t buy dinner out with friends… personal choices we make everyday influence this. It’s really not that expensive for the bare necessities unless you live in a really shitty area. People consider Starbucks and brand name clothes necessary. You need to adapt to the economy. It’s always going up and down. You have a point, our parents had it easier but we’re not in a depression. Getting a job you like and working is the best you can do for future generations. Employers aren’t fair because they follow what’s best for them based on the economy. If you had a business wouldnt you do what’s best for it?So if the economy sucks, employers are to be less fair and vice versa. We cant control that though because it’s their business. So adapt and give them a reason to keep you around
@@hatter5834Yup, victims aren’t supposed to realize they’re victims? lol. Yeah all that mindset garbage as to why an ENTIRE GENERATION is struggling is mind numbingly stupid. Mindset is more about your PERSONAL struggles, and being optimistic about your own life in the face of despair. It’s not any sort of tool or explanation for systemic issues.
The only reason this system perpetuates is because of poor and disenfranchised people still being deluded and brainwashed into being “temporarily embarrassed millionaires”. Rather than breaking the chains, they perpetuate the wage slave system, because they’re like ONE DAY ILL GET OUT OF THIS GRIND, BE RICH AND POWERFUL, AND THEN ALL OF THIS WILL HAVE BEEN WORTH IT.
@@superkawaii8315 You're ignoring the significant macroeconomic effects caused by employers all trying to pay as little as possible while working their employees as hard as possible. Every financial crisis in US history has been a crisis of overproduction. If workers cannot afford to live while working full time, they will stop working generally. No number of limp platitudes about hard work paying off will change those material conditions. The answer isn't optimism, it's collective action
I hope that with Gen Z and Gen Alpha will experience work-life "balance" changes in the coming years. Watching my parents (Gen X, Gen Y) work themselves into poor health and mediocre living situation while corporate America expects them to hand over their soil has affected me and definitely attributed to my burnout in the past. Not just burnout with work or life, but empathetic burnout too.
"In early 2020, 54% of 18-year-olds said they were willing to work overtime. By 2022, it was 36%. That's a (relative) drop of 33% in just two years." This is going to be long but it's relevant, so bear with me.
I am Gen Z (late 90s) and was working full time in 2020 during the pandemic, in a grocery store. I had no problem with working overtime if I was asked to stay late, I liked my manager and I liked the extra money. I'll never forget that first day they announced the local schools were closing. It was a Thursday in mid March, and I was originally scheduled a 3-11 shift. I didn't find out what was happening until I got to work and it was the busiest I had ever seen it.
We had 16 registers and 18 self-checkouts, and the line for every single lane stretched back halfway through the store (this was already one of the largest and busiest stores in the region). I ended up working 10.5 hours that night and the lines didn't get short until halfway through the 9th hour of my shift. I was standing there all day, unable to go to the bathroom even because it was an endless stream of customers. We spent the last hour desperately trying to clean, sort and return "reshop" and scan out damaged products for the opening crew. Normally those tasks are done by someone every couple hours throughout the afternoon and evening, but during the pandemic it was "all hands on deck," at the front.
People were panicking, angry that the service desk was closed, frustrated that the lines were so long and products were already sold out, and it was just an awful experience. Every single day working during the pandemic was horrible, but I pushed through.
The only solace was that the company was giving us an hourly bonus of $2/hr (so I was making $12 an hour) for being essential, frontline workers. However, just a few months into the pandemic, they got rid of the hourly pay. In response to massive backlash, they gave us a one time bonus, $400 for full-time and $200 for part-time. I received the part-time bonus because of my employment status, despite the fact that I had regularly worked 10 and 11 hour shifts during the first 5 months of the pandemic. I was full-time during that period the bonus was being awarded for.
Many employees had a similar experience and felt betrayed by corporate. While we were suffering through busy shifts breathing through masks and foggy glasses, trying to balance new cleaning procedures, backed up reshop and damaged products, and dealing with irate, stir crazy people...they got to work from home. People really high up got to work from home AND got massive bonuses on top. It disgusted me that even though WE were the ones facilitating sales during the pandemic, our $2/hr pay was taken away, and many of us were cheated out of an extra $200 on the bonus. Meanwhile, the executives were sitting on their *** in the safety of their own homes taking multi-million dollar pay packages. In fact, when our $2/hr bonus was taken away, the CEO gave himself a 6% bonus, up to $22.4 million in 2020.
So you are me, you are a young person in the U.S. that has experienced this during your young adult years. Why would you continue to work overtime? Why would you be loyal to a corporation ever again? The pandemic was a wake up call for a lot of Gen Z; neither your labor nor your life is valued by the elite, ruling class. This is actually why I decided to go back to school and pursue a career where I can have a positive impact on people's lives and situations. I can't stand the idea of working for a corporation. I have lost all respect for them.
Complaining about not being able to work from home as a grocery store cashier doesn't make much sense. I hope you realize that.
@@haakon_hk When did they ever say anything about working from home? Tell me you didn't read the comment without telling me you didn't read the comment.
@@monkalina "and dealing with irate, stir crazy people...**they got to work from home. People really high up got to work from home** AND got massive bonuses on top."
They mention that upper management got to work from home twice in two sentences. I understand that they might be upset because they were working a job that cannot work from home. It still doesn't really make sense to complain about not being able to, as it's just not possible. Complaining about your wages and management getting bonuses? Makes perfect sense. Complaining about an aspect of the job that isn't able to be changed? Does not make any sense.
@@haakon_hkI think the main point about that sentiment is that the people working from home aren't dealing with irate, crazy people in their workplace (usually). There is the pressure to resolve conflict, communicate effectively, and provide a service to someone while multitasking in an underpaid and overworked position. It's not a frustration packaged in its own box, it's a combined feeling. Just because it's not possible to restock shelves at home doesn't mean you can't complain about the unfair position. It doesn't have to make sense for it to be real, much like all the other problems gen z face.
@@haakon_hk Ur comment doesnt make much sense because that wasnt the point of the Argument
the answer is no we don’t. corporations have a greed problem
Cope and sneed
@@RealRatchetoh yeah I’d definitely cope with not being able to AFORD TO BE ALIVE
In the trades, if we are mistreated by a boss, we just start our own crew with our friends and start working for ourselves. If you believe that you have value that you are not being rewarded for then why not start your own business? You will find out very quickly what you are worth. Sometimes that’s more than you were paid sometimes it’s less but you don’t know till you try.
You are just blaming the problem on someone else. No one in this generation wants to take accountability for their lives.
@@superkawaii8315 no employers want to take responsibility for hoarding wealth. They're greedy and would rather pretend like everyone else is lazy. For the short time we had an employee market, all employers had to say was "no one wants to work anymore" instead of working with the market. The wind only blows one way it seems. They also said the same thing to previous generations. Maybe if every generation is feeling like this, there's something wrong with the system
I'm a gen Z who started working at a company as part time while I was getting my degree. The entire time I was basically told that it's very easy to move up even without a degree and I should have no problem climbing from my entry level position. So after four years, a fucking master's degree and three rejections later I'm still stuck in the same position and get passed up for outsiders. Tell me why I should stay motivated when hard work + education does not get rewarded in any way.
That statistic about the amount of people in their 20’s still living with their parents reminded me of the friends that I have who are living on their own but still receiving financial support for their living expenses from their parents to some degree. You have to wonder how much that factors into the number of young people living on their own.
Bingo. I live on my own but need help from my family to make it happen. I am VERY lucky. My rent is 50% of my salary.
@@laurenm3148like I guarantee most are receiving help from parents in some way.
Yea I’d never be able to rent without my family’s help
YUP! I moved out with a roommate, and even then my parents have to help pay part of the rent.
I am looking after my aunts house 5 states away from where I used to live and I only have to pay utilities.. I still can only afford a shy amount of great value products from the grocery store and maybe 2 tanks for gas and that's it... No rent and I'm walking on thin ice.. absolutely crazy.
I’m a glutton for knowledge. I would stay in college and be a professional student if it was cost-effective
If it were affordable, there’s a lot of degrees I would go for just for the sake of learning (mainly art/music related, but some others as well). Since it’s not, I’m doing strictly what I need to get enough to have a roof over my head and at least two meals per day (I can go without heating or electricity, but I want breakfast and dinner)
I majored in STEM due to it supposedly being a more lucrative path, but the whole time in uni I wish I could done art classes instead since that’s my passion. I didn’t even have time to take them as electives, or had the time for language learning classes. I miss what could’ve been.
What state do you live in?
@@selkrasouza6262 It is a more lucrative path. You chose money and security over fulfillment.
me too, im a little stuck on what im meant to do 😵💫
I agree.
School is not just a place to develop knowledge but also to build character, discipline, and connections.
School SHOULD be a place to get a broad idea of the world outside of your life, make friends, learn to collaborate, etc
College is that plus getting to apply yourself to learning about a field you find interesting
But since living is so expensive, many can't afford to learn things that aren't related to career. They basically have to hone themselves into "hussle machines" to afford survival.
Gen X nurse here. We actually had a Gen Z nurse that fraudulently clocked work hours that she did not work and got paid for them. She is having very serious repercussions as a result of that. We now have a replacement Gen Z nurse for her that is absolutely great. You can’t judge the whole Gen based on a few bad apples.
You’re right. But there is something about this generation that is very vocal about not wanting to work. Maybe I’m crazy but people have always had to work to live.
@@superkawaii8315 I'm with Gen Z. Yeah, considering we have so many people, I actually agree. You should get more than 14 days PTO a year. Your world is sad, dreary, and frettered with advertisements. It looks like a wasteland with no public spaces to relax.. no places to meet others without drugs.. Across the pond, easily get time off and good pay. Lazy people in every generation, acting like nobody wanted to be a rock star in the 90s. From across the world, other countries scratch their heads at your old people "Boomers" willing to always make things just as hard for the next generation. May as well start cloning yourselves. Lol.
We had a boomer do that at my work 😂 that’s not a generation thing, that’s a untrustworthy person thing
It’s more about trends but I question how tracked older generations were. Seems like we only integrated more hardcore analytics in during millennials.
I have a coworker doing this except we're on salary and they just always show up late and leave early. I hope my coworker faces consequences. If their manager asked security for their badge swipes... Game over.
Millenial here. We're on the same boat as Gen Z. Prices go up, salaries aren't going up, you're not promoted or paid appropriately for the hard work and/or the hours. It's not paying off anymore. Nothing more, nothing less
try looking for work elsewhere and using a new job offer as leverage! i'm not saying that to undermine what you said, it's a legitimate suggestion lol. my friend just used that method & it worked-- she got a raise and an extra week vacation. she's shocked, didn't think it would pay off (literally).
@@SaraxAdam I'm a bit puzzled, did she go for the new job or stayed at the old one and used the offer to show she's wanted and that resulted in promotion?
@@SaraxAdam I told that to people elsewhere but they said I was entitled. Idk, when I hated my jobs I worked towards solutions. Theres still a lot of real problems in the world but I think that approach is the most productive and successful for oneself.
As a 20 year old, it's disheartening that this generation is getting the eventual problems of so many of the problems which were started and left to fester by past generations. Climate, health, economics are the main three areas which you have brushed on, and this is largely true from my own experience as well as those of my peers. And you said it in the video--we can do everything right, and still get extremely fucked over. Though I think we should all realize that nothing should be guaranteed if you follow x,y, and z (that was never truly what happened in reality, it's just most people were able to succeed with that mindset), it does strip us of a lot of the hope that makes living bearable and worthwhile.
I think being more intentional about how we do things is fine, and actually a net good. For example, college is no longer a cornerstone of success, it's just an option like any other. That's how it should be, and how it really always was for disadvantaged communities who couldn't access it in the first place. So while it's very memeable that so many of us have "given up", and some of us may be either intentionally or unintentionally using our external pressures to justify being crude or brash to colleagues, so many of us are also realizing we were never meant to succeed in this world. It's not about us. As sad as that is to realize, it's true, and it's also very humbling. I think our generation may be one of the wisest because of this. I know I am.
I've been diagnosed Audhd and it's only this year that I got both diagnoses. It's also just one of the many marginalized groups I'm a part of. The frame shift required to accommodate my needs was huge, but well-needed. Every day is a fight for me, and one I know I'm not meant to do well in. And because my existence is the extreme of what others in my peer group normally are, I have to confront each one of the real world struggles with an even more intense ferocity, which requires energy which I have to continually replenish. I'm not meant to succeed, but every time I do, I reaffirm that my worth is not defined by the world outside, because each success is for me, not for someone else looking in to receive validation from. I'm not waiting anymore, but I'm also taking the time I need to do things the way I want or need to, and it gives me hope that eventually I will be able to exist in a way which defies all conventions, because I have survived. Not just managed my symptoms to save face everyday, but survived to enjoy my life, and if that simple goal is not inspiring and worth supporting, I don't know what is.
At 26 after clearing all my debt and saving a few grand and still being unable to progress in my life because of the cost of living; I’ve essentially given up on having stable future for myself..
28, no debt, married, and we have $60k in our account. Can confirm we still can't do anything. Buying a house isn't possible still. Even with a fistful of worthless currency, it's still so incredibly hard.
@@lindsay833how the heck did you save 60k? Me & my husband are both 27, both work blue collar jobs, no college, we have a mortgage and his truck loan no other debt, but were barely able to save $500 a month
Revolution it is l, just tell me where we’re meeting and our unit size and I’ll bring lunches for everyone🤝
got all my hours cut like 2 months ago. can no longer save up for anything. almost unemployed really
@@XJ9sodypop god bless you we’ll find a way💪
I do the same amount of grinding and overachieving as my mother did.
The difference? Rent keeps rising but my paycheck does not
Why should younger people have to suffer just because we have? A better way is possible. It’s up to us older generations to make workplace changes that will benefit ALL of us. Thank you Gen Z for unionising against corporate greed, exploitation and abuse.
Wait. What! 14 minutes in and as an Australian I can NOT believe these higher education debt amounts. We have to pay for university but only when we earn a certain amount, and while it does accumulate some interest and is by no means perfect… it’s so much more doable than what some of these American TikTok’s are talking about. No young adult should be facing hundreds of thousands of dollars debt for education. What a way to wreck havoc on their futures and overall stress levels and mental health.
Wait till you see how much debt American CHILDREN are in. It’s called lunch debt.
Yup fellow Aussie here, for reference my 4.5 years was 21k and has grown to 23k since I graduated in 2021 because I haven't paid due to being just under the threshold. From some of these American tik toks I've seen, some people are paying that amount per year + interest 😱 no wonder they're coming out with 100k+ of debt when they finish!
The student debt support and the help of the administration at the uni I went to after I had to drop out in my final year due to critical health issues I was neglecting in favour of trying to complete the course is one of the few things I have respect for in relation to the government and administrative support here in Australia
Although I do have mixed feelings knowing that despite my GP appointments being mostly bulk-billed and receiving the maximum amount of the disability support pension- I am still trying to survive just being able to maintain my parent's house without it falling apart due to construction corner cutting and effective criminal negligence- I burnt through all my savings this year trying to deal with critical engineering hazards in the property and said savings were only saved because I got locked out of my bank account due to a malware breach at the start of the year and my account was left abandoned in an idle state for months until I could regain placeholder access while processing ID theft account deletion and documentation re-issuing
It's better by an immeasurable amount that the US but it's breaking me away slowly knowing that this is supposed to be the best
“The greatest country on earth”
Yeah for who? The top 1%, not us regular people.
Mine was horrible - $130k+. And I just went to a mid size school and got a bachelor's degree in Criminology, but I get paid a whole $19/hr after almost 4 years with my company. 🙄
If you haven’t entered college yet, I recommend community colleges if you have a local one! That’s what I’m doing and it’s less than a thousand dollars a semester and financial aid can sometimes cover the first few years of education, depending on the school. A few extra years of college and working part time to transfer to a university and having no student loans and a degree is worth it, at least to me. Just a thought for those who aren’t sure!
A thousand times, yes! I graduated from high school in 2023, and despite being an incredibly high achieving honors student who always prioritized school, my mental health has gotten in the way of a lot of things throughout my life. By my senior year of high school, I had made a lot of progress to living a much healthier life. But, despite having the privilege of coming from an upper middle class family that can financially support me, and despite being confident in the major I've chosen, I chose to go to community college anyway.
My mental health problems returned with a vengeance, and I dropped and flunked a number of classes - something I had never done before. Being in a community college that offers up to two free years of tuition instead of a 4-year that would cost at least $15K per semester to attend has lowered the stakes a lot. I will maintain that attending community college is one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. Sometimes I get in my head about underachieving or not keeping up with my peers (since I'm the only one in the friend group who isn't at a 4-year, and my family can afford to throw a lot more money around for me), but shit happens. Life throws you curveballs, and I'm so happy that my stumbles won't be bleeding tens of thousands of dollars from me or my family.
Again, I am in an incredibly privileged position - I doubt that many students would be able to take this time to rebuild their mental health until they reach a place where they can handle regular college student life again. But even with all of the support I have, I'm not sure if I could have this luxury if I had chosen to attend a 4-year, and it really sucks to see my friends drowning in their courseloads when they're struggling with similar issues, but they all have the pressure of thousands of dollars weighing on their shoulders.
So sorry about the ramble! I could say so much more about the advantages of attending my community college over one of the other 4-years around (all just from anecdotal experience), but I'll stop myself here. I hope this can be helpful to any other students who are stuck deciding between university or community college!
YES, community colleges get so much flack but they are by FAR the most sensible school choice right now. And the professors there are usually just as passionate about their work as university professors! If I ever go back to school, it’s community college all the way.
@@RAAAUGHGUAGHAHA I've said it time and time again that CC is the way to start unless you get enough money or a full ride. I myself knew this, and, thinking it would be different, still found out the hard way. I'm completely debt free now and doing significantly better for myself but if there was anything I'd do-over, it would be to go to CC first. A majority of my credits were transferrable to my intended degree at the university, which ended up saving me hundreds of dollars and tens of hours of sweat equity. I also met an enrollment counselor who I to this day credit having a major impact on my life. For context I'm a nurse and at around this time (2015) I was attending CC for prereqs for an ADN, she discouraged this as most major hospitals are phasing out ADN/LVN and just hiring BSN instead, which is why she told me to take what I already had and go to a university for my BSN. I work as a nurse now, and she couldn't have been any more right. There are still ADN/LVN on my unit but they were grandfathered in, but we have since stopped hiring more. I often think of her and I hope she is doing well, I could use more of her advice. Point of the matter is, there are a multitude of benefits in going to CC, I may have just gotten lucky, but every dog has its day, no?
alternatively - learn a trade/craft that doesn't require college. seems like companies value experience more than they do degrees these days and are realizing that college is.... uh. low-key a scam 90% of the time-
(I'm saying this as someone that went to college, community college at that, someone who fell into the trap of taking AP classes in advance to try and get ahead, too - please be careful, y'all)
My local community college doesn’t offer the major I want so I’m moving to a location where I can attend community college
Fully agree with you!! Recently i was told "we are thinking that you could take more responsibilities and even lead a team", I was polite with my response, but i said that i was ok being a single contributor and at this point in my Life, I was not interested in the extra stress of managing others, they looked at me like i was crazy for saying No, but all i want is Live my Life and enjoy it as much as possible!!
I'm 24, born in 2000. I graduated college a year and a half ago, did everything I was told to do. Studied hard, fought through covid and made it out the other end. However now, a year and a half after graduating, I'm living with my parents and stuck working a low-paying retail job that barely relates to my degree. I've applied to hundreds of "entry level" jobs, went through a gauntlet of 3 interviews for a pair (including one 1hr long interview), and have ended up rejected from them all. It's been incredibly frustrating, and has left me really burnt out. I've got a mountain of debt to pay off, but I'm barely getting paid enough for groceries. I can't see myself buying a house, much less paying rent somewhere. I work hard, and I'm trying to get a better job while also trying to get promoted. But it's hard not to feel exhausted when all your hard work leads to getting paid poverty wages. I can't even begin to imagine trying to start a family, I mean I'm still scrambling for pennies in an attempt to create some sort of stable foundation for myself! Like, how are we supposed to live? I'm just so tired, and I really don't want the bulk of my working years to be spent in the retail mines. I'm really regretting getting my degree at this point, like I'd have been better off spending those 5 years building up the work experience these companies seem to value above a degree.
I’m in the exact same situation and feel the exact same way. I hardly apply to any jobs in my field. Why? Just so some HR rep can throw my resume in the trash? Over and over and over? Before they even give me a chance? Or waste my time with an interview when they already know they're not going to hire me? I'm just demoralized.
In 24 myself living at hoke slaving away at retail just the same. I get paid almost nothing and my parents had two kids by the time they were my age. They complain about it but juat simply dont understand the different world we live in now
When hard work is not rewarded, people will stop working hard.
We don’t want this world. You can’t sell us. We grew up in the 2000s, life had a certain verve to it. There was color and life just seemed normal. Social media has rotted the world, and then on top of that, when we work hard. It goes so fast. It’s impossible to be motivated to go out here and work any harder than we already are. I’m absolutely miserable.
SM just exposed the truth for everyone.
We literally have the worst housing to income and rent to income ratios in modern history. What is the point of working if you can't even afford a basic essentials?
We used to live in a country where you could be a half braindead incompetent who failed out of HS yet could still buy a home and support a family on a single income. Nowadays, we have educated young professionals struggling to afford rent on a basic apartment (if not struggling to find a job).
I feel robbed after having gone through college and now I'm saddled with debt and not using my degree. I would never do it again and I caution every single young person I see about college.
do you have an associates? you could be a teacher in some states, even a police officer. very stressful job though, i wouldnt do it. my staff agency gatekeeps jobs. they only offer me ONE specific position. pays dirt. when i try asking for another option they ghost me or become evasive. eventually blocked my number
That was your choice to get a useless degree. I didnt go to college and do great. I might return to get a higher paying job. But its just the sheep mentality to follow the basic process and then complain about it afterwards
@@superkawaii8315Define “useless degree”. A degree with useful skills doesn’t even guarantee you decent employment anymore. Most HR departments spend all of but 6 seconds looking at your resume and some now want masters degrees for jobs that previously only required a bachelors degree.
@@superkawaii8315 yikes put away the fedora 😅"I'm going to assume you got a useless degree because you're not using it while also bragging that I'm going to go back to school to get a degree to get a higher paying job". Do you even hear yourself? Just because I'm not using it doesn't mean the degree itself is useless. The field I'm in is extremely high-competition and I regret going to college mainly due to the amount of debt. If degrees were more affordable, this wouldn't be near as much of an issue.
@@lmattsonart I would only get a degree that gets me a job. All experience and skills are valuable but you’re complaining about debt. And if the degree can’t pay the debt it’s a poor investment. I went to trade school. I might return for a degree in massage therapy. A degree is valuable if you have a use for it. Value is subjective. An employer determines its value.
I'm a millennial and I understand where gen Z is coming from. You work hard at your job for what? Loyalty isn't rewarded and you can be fired without warning, wages are stagnating while housing and cost of living skyrockets, there's no upward mobility because boomers aren't retiring, and if you went to college you have a predatory amount of debt on your shoulders. And all the while, the rich get richer. At some point you just want to say fuck it and do what you want lest you be crushed by the unfairness of it all.
There is absolutely no incentive to have a work ethic. My husband worked extremely hard at his job, 10-12 hours a day, all of the higher-ups like him and he has great relationships with other employees and customers. He got really good reviews and he was excited for his raise...it was less than a dollar. That raise doesn't even keep up with inflation, so technically he's making less than he did when he started in context with the economy and cost of living. When he confronted his bosses about it they said they can't give him anymore because they would have to give everybody more pay because of inflation...yet the company is making more profit than ever and still growing. Why work hard when it won't get rewarded at all.
Straight up. My best friend in my state is a gen x dude (so a little older but the point remains the same). He works for a fucking *company that builds rockets and has defense contracts* yet after YEARS on the job, still makes barely $20/hr. At his last review, they tried to deny him a raise, citing the same bullshit as your bf was told. My buddy got pretty pissed and demanded a raise and after an insane amount of back and forth, the “best they could do” was LESS THAN FIFTY CENTS. They are making record profits and alll drive new sports cars.
Great distillation here. We don't reject 'work culture.' We reject capitalist work culture. Most of us love serving others. We love sharing, helping, and cultivating hobbies. We have interests and we love learning. We genuinely want to do worthwhile things.
The neoliberal political economy does _not_ incentivize worthwhile work. It incentivizes cost-cutting, price-rigging, tax-evasion, law-hopping, behavioral nudging, sharp elbows, predatory business models...
It's not capitalism. It's poor policy requiring public companies to have endless profit quarter after quarter.
And high school like work environments where cliches form and people who are "the undesirables" get thrown to the curb and end up without jobs
@@ingavarh This is so true. The weirdly infantalizing work environments are so dispiriting.
Asking a genuine question, what exactly do you mean by 'neoliberal political economy'?
@shanicem.6291 neoliberalism's economic policies are largely observed though Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher, I believe. Don't think they're referring to modern US politics, although we have been profoundly crippled by Reagan. Idk
Whenever a Gen Z employee leaves on time I'm so proud of them. Like I still remember starting out and doing all that free overtime just because I want to do a good job, and it was all for nothing.
Zillenial here- Worked my ass off, was eager to learn and improve, improved the pipelines we had at work including setting up what order tasks should go in, was given more responsibilities, was asked to manage outsourcing, was always 2-4 weeks ahead of due dates, did a ton of bug fixing.. I asked for a raise as I saw the post for a new hire for the same job but with less responsibilities was starting off 4K more than me (also found out other people were making the same amount the post had but doing less than me) and what did that get me? Nothing. I got laid off. : ) Def in the boat of just doing the bare minimum if working hard gets you nowhere.
While some gen z are lazy, almost all hiring managers are disgustingly ageist old people who skated by in life. So their opinion on us hardly matters
What they’re doing is wrong, but it’s also wrong to assume that they skated by in life. I have boomer parents, but they did not skate through life. They had it really rough and poverty.
@ElinWinblad But they more options to make it l at a young age, that's what the video explains.
@@ElinWinbladTrue but then again most jobs during their prime paid enough for them to get a house and live.
They had enough money to have you
You're boos mean nothing
I've seen what makes you cheer
I'm 94. my sister is 86.
Sister got the best grades, top of the class. Got into Stanford.... couldn't find a good paying job out of college. She made the same money as the person who got Cs in a state school. Went to law school. Struggled to find work with lack of experience. Buried in student debt. Can't afford to buy a home in 2024.
I was bullied in school and had health issues, so I struggled to catch up. My parents told me they both went to trade school and were able to give us vacations and buy a home. I went to trade school. Worked in trade for 10 years. Never made a livable wage. Got injured and lost that career.
Now I'm at community college, getting a medical associate degree. I have zero student debt. College is free because I'm poor ✌️ and my parents didn't do it 😄 thanks mom and dad.
What I'm saying is work smart, not hard. We all end up with the same opportunities. Do whatever you want, bunny.
Bro, you need to put a 19 in front of them numbers. I thought you were 94 in community college talking about you poor and work smarter 💀
I'm an elder Millennial. I had to live with my dad until I was 36, saving $1000-$1400/month for years to put together a down payment on a house. I got married at 31, so my wife lived with me at my dad's house! That's what it took. Also, got lucky and got a house just before interest rates ballooned. Life sucks for everybody these days, not just Gen Z. This has been the normal for a long time now.
Before anybody assumes I'm some burger flipper BTW, I'm a Regional Manager for a national corporation. Even with that we can barely afford to have both a 1000 square foot house and 1 car. Welcome to the end stage capitalism, America!
Don't disrespect the burger flipper.
Covid made it very clear that at least half of this country wouldn't survive a fastfood ban.
yup. and not everyone can just live with their parents…
Same. I graduated college and moved back in with my mom shortly after. It took 5 years to find a good paying job in my career field. Within 3 years, that salary could not keep up with inflation. Within 3 more years, I gave up on ever being able to move out and have any money left over for my other financial goals. In that time, I paid off all of my debt and was saving a substantial amount every month (with the exception of the fact that I had a baby, and childcare really set me back). I got married at age 39 and moved into my husband's house (a 700 square foot concrete bunker that is falling apart), and that will probably be the best we can hope to achieve for the foreseeable future. I quit my job a year and a half ago after the burnout got so bad that I couldn't take care of my kid or myself anymore. I have no desire to go back to work. It's just not worth it for a payout that will never meet my goals.
I'm early-mid gen z (2004) and have been busting my ass at every job I've ever worked at since I was 13, all its ever gotten me is my bosses and coworkers taking my work ethic for granted or abusing it. I'm halfway through college and working two jobs and still can't support myself in this economy.
I’m a young millennial, busted my ass in education and work, barely anything to show for it. I love this for them, they are breaking the unfair mould of society.
Actually, Millinals are the 1st generation to have no hope for their future. Gen Z is just a continuation of that struggle. We are all SOL.😢
In fairness, we started out with hope, then we found out it was a lie. Gen Z didn’t even get to enjoy the false hope.
As a Gen z, I just graduated college and there are nooo entry level jobs in my field as a bio major. I’m thinking of going back to school but I don’t even think it’s worth it anymore with this job market.
To weigh in on the college discourse; I am a Gen Z in college right now. I’m paying to take an online class I’m forced to, nothing to do with my degree, and my teacher has not given a single lecture. Literally told us the textbook, and gives us tests on the readings with questions that sometime aren’t even in the text. This is a common occurrence! They can’t even provide an education in college anymore.
You want things to change then you have to vote the people who want to help Americans not illegals and Ukrainians. If you voted left you got what you deserve.
As a Gen Z high school science teacher, I get the question on the daily of "why do I have to learn this if I'm not going to use this in my job". They miss the whole point that school is not just preparing you to be good in whatever job you decide. It is trying to educate you enough about the world so you have background knowledge to go out an make informed decisions in life. Educational standards and general education classes are what has been determined to be the important basics of information and problem solving skills. Universities have Gen Ed classes because you are supposed to get a "universal education" with standards that are shared across all students.
"Why do I need to learn about the basics of how cells work?" Because when you have a health issue at the cellular level or have a politician that is trying to make policy related to biology, you have background knowledge on how that shit works. So you can make accurate decisions about your health or about who to vote for. Or to know science basics so you don't get scammed by people selling pseudoscientific remedies.
Why do I need to know how to use the quadratic formula? So that you can think about multi-step problems when you are faced with them.
Why do I need to read about Huckleberry Finn? So that you have an understanding of how history and racism has shaped a country, which puts policy and societal relationships into context and again decide who you want to vote for. Not to mention improve reading level so you can actually read important documents.
Good and broad education is the basis for a well informed and well functioning society.
As a side note, a lot of schools do require personal finance classes in order to graduate. What a lot of people don't realize is that most high schoolers don't take those classes seriously and actually absorb any of the info. Our business teacher has said she has had former students ask why they weren't taught about taxes and similar things and she's like yeah we definitely did that in class.
Hard disagree. School presents students from learning about the world by stealing their time.
University geneds are voluntary at least
@@NoName-rb6fjThey’re gen Ed’s. They’re not voluntary (at least definitely NOT nationally across the US). To graduate from my college, you needed to take gen Ed’s in order to graduate
So many people say they never learned how to pay taxes, but most states do teach that! It’s just many humans don’t really lock it in until they need to file a few years later.
You might like this story. I was a para working in an algebra class, helping a student who was the class clown. Good kid, but I think he used jokes to distract from how much he struggled to understand the material. I was helping him with a math problem and he suddenly says "I don't need to know any of this, I'm going to be a drug dealer." of course he was not being serious at all, just trying to distract from what I was showing him. So I says, without skipping a beat "Oh then you DEFINITELY need to know this! How else will you be able to tell who owes you money?" then kept going with what I was showing him. He was stunned for a moment, but he didn't have any more distractions and actually kinda seemed to pay better attention after that. 🤣
Here is a perspective from a 25 year old Gen Z . I grew up in foster care, I have no family to support me. So I have no family currently I can live with. I was offered college, but it is too expensive. Some 2 year college degrees only offer pay at $14 an hour, the same wage some Walmart workers are making. Why would I go to college for 2 years, have thousands in debt, to make the same wage as a Walmart worker? The Walmart workers that didn't go to college don't have to pay off that college debt, but even without the college debt, they can't afford the basic necessities or bills. Then if I want to go to college for lets say 4 years to only make $25 an hour, I still have to pay off those loans as well as bills, rent, or god forbid a home loan. If they have kids, what then? I also have a 6 year old child, so much of my costs go to them. I don't plan on having anymore, because it is too expensive. This is another major topic right now, the population decrease. You can ask me why I have a child but that is a different discussion. Anyways, my rent right now is $600 a month, NOT including the utilities. We can add about $200 in utilities to that. The only subscription I have is Disney+ for my child, and I might be ending that because I am paying about $7 for ads? I am lucky right because I found a duplex in the middle of the forest from a renter who didn't have a lease because they want to do everything under the table. Why would I live here? The apartments, which the closest is an hour away, are over $1,000 in rent. This DOES NOT include utilities. Oh and lets talk about how most of them only allow senior living. All of the income based apartments are full. Most of the available apartments for people my age are only 1 bedroom. Legally I need 2 bedrooms since I have a child. The 2 bedroom apartments are so expensive I cannot afford them. They are over $1,200. My boyfriend is the only one who works, because we could only afford one car that I bought with my income tax return. I received $6,000. I bought a $4,000 car. It was the cheapest car that I could find that didn't have something that needed to be repaired. I could have received a loan for a car, but then I would have to be in, you guessed it, debt. The other $2,000 went directly to my child. My boyfriend has to drive an hour to work to only make $15 an hour. Every job nearby are only paying $10 an hour and for only 20-35 hours a week. If you tell them you can't work a 11-7 or 9-6, because you have a school age child, forget about getting the crappy job. I can't drive to the job even if I wanted to, because my boyfriend has to take the car to an 11-7 job everyday. My child rides the bus. The bus also doesn't stop near our house, so we have to walk about 10 minutes everyday to the nearest bus stop. We live about a 15 minute drive away from the closest town, so I can't walk to work. Gas is so expensive! He has to pay about $7 everyday just to get to work. Are you adding up the costs yet? We haven't even talked about food or clothing yet. We can only afford maybe $30 in food every week. Food stamps are off the table because apparently we make too much? We try to go to food banks, but our community only offers a box of food every month. This does not get us through the whole month. We buy all of our clothes from Goodwill, but we can't do that every month. We still have clothes we owned in high school and again I am 25. Any extra money we have always goes towards our child. We make sure they have clothes that fit them, food in their belly, and they are clean and healthy. Thank goodness we qualified for Medicaid, because the price of healthcare is ridiculous. I see older generations going to college and ending up at the same job as people my age not going to college. Before we lived in this home my boyfriend and I worked at McDonalds. My boyfriend and I made the same wage he is making now, but combining a two person income. That is why he is working and I am not. I have to be there to drop my child off at school and pick them up, because we cannot afford a daycare for him to go to after school. Even if we could, our local daycare only allows children under 5. I am always hearing that our generation is lazy and nobody wants to work anymore. All of these businesses have "NOW HIRING" signs right? They pay you crap wage and expect you to be completely free for their odd work schedules. If your not flexible, they don't want you. Most of the time they aren't even hiring! I try to ask a ton of random women online how they got their work from home jobs, but they are always gatekeeping. That or a job such as a Data Analyst requires programs you must know. I can't afford to get excel to learn it for those jobs. I am trying to make content online, but it is hard. It is so competitive. I refuse to do sex work online even though that seems like easy money. It is disheartening hearing people call us lazy, because I have a dedicated schedule for my social media postings, and they still aren't successful. I am working hard. I can't afford beautiful lighting or a creative room that catches everyone eye. Being an adult with no support from family is so difficult.
I graduated top of my class in Business Accounting, spent most of my 20s miserable working a corporate audit job, 65 hrs a week. Now I make more money as a restaurant supervisor and I *enjoy* this job.
65h hrs...
As an old gen z, I will say I think changing your mindset from working for corporate jobs forever to learning a skill so I can build my own business and will temporarily work somewhere else until that personal business is providing me enough is a hope inspiring shift. Working for a corporation is temporary then and a means to an end for you. Pick jobs that teach you skills for the things you want to do and then use those skills to do them under your own name
Do businesses always work? I was under the impression starting a business has a high chance of failure
@ I think it depends on the industry. But if your only goal in life is to sell your time for money you will never have time. It’s very motivational and inspiring to work and have all the money made come back to you, be able to have the time off you need when you need it.
Also in this economy how many of us have been laid off? Is there any real job security in working for a company?
I'm in the UK and we also have kids who are massively behind. We've never done the holding kids back a year thing, because the research doesn't support that as being effective.
The major issue we have is that kids are not able to read at the right level, and therefore can't write as the right level either. By the time they get to me at 11, this reading age problem has become so significant that I can only do so much to help them individually while teaching 30+ kids an hour at a time. We have interventions and things, but PARENTS are not doing the work at home.
READ TO YOUR CHILDREN BEYOND THE AGE YOU THINK THEY NEED IT! DO IT FOR AS LONG AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN!
It is honestly that simple.
I love/hate these discussions when they bring in the education system. It’s honestly not the teachers’ fault-it’s the policies, the culture, and the unrealistic expectations piled on them. Education has become so focused on standardized tests that schools keep lowering standards just to make sure kids pass. But that means basic skills like reading, writing, and critical thinking are slipping. Teachers are stuck in a system where they’re expected to manage behavior solo, without the support they used to get from parents or the community. Attention issues are off the charts, and while tech’s everywhere now, we’re not teaching the practical skills that go with it. The whole setup feels like it’s working against teachers and students, making it tough for this generation to be truly prepared for what’s next.
36:59 wait you’re saying it’s a positive that jordan peterson is making a university when we know how trump university went?
Yeah that was a fucking jumpscare. I was liking the video until then, now I don’t think I’m going to watch this channel anymore. Jordan Peterson is a terrible person to look up to
Yeah, this was kinda out of nowhere and made me reconsider what kind of video I've been watching 😬
Yes. He's at least trying to improve on the system. Trump University was very, very similar to a regular For-Profit Uni. Peterson Academy is VERY different.
@@lidu6363fr
@@haakon_hkLol he's just out there to brainwash people and make money. Just look at the reviews he got while teaching people at an actual university.
I’m 18, when I was 16 I had a corporate internship and again when I turned 17. The offices I worked in were lovely and filled with incredible mentors. I learned so much and was paid handsomely; however it really furthered my own idea that I don’t want to do that for the rest of my life. I felt trapped in my little cubicle and not getting to outside. Of course 9-5 jobs are not bad at all, a lot of the people I met who were grateful for their jobs didn’t have a stable income in their childhood (nothing bad about that) but it made me realize that stability isn’t everything to me as it is for others.
Everything feels like a scam nowadays. Older generations should take responsibility, instead of blaming gen Z and millennials for wanting to enjoy their lives, despite all the challenges we have to face.
Older generations had just as much challenges, just in different ways. There were way less jobs tbh, like you weren’t going to be a barista.. At best you’d be lucky to be stocking shelves in a store, or doing clerical work. Take away all of the jobs that involve a computer, and make it so you are probably doing something that involves moving an object from one place to another. That is pretty much what all of the jobs were like.
@@chrislail3824That's fine and all but a grocery stocker could still afford more than a grocery stocker would today. For a baby boomer it was possibly getting promoted from stocker to management over time. Now a stocker will remain in that position gaining 1-2% in pay each year if raises happen at all until they switch employers because very few employers promote workers internally.
@@chrislail3824 but they could at least have their own place with food with a basic job like that. people have BA and cant even afford a place by themselves
I’m a “millennial”. I share absolutely nothing with anyone. Suck it up and get to work. That’s why your broke. Broke broke broke. Whine whine whine. Waa waa waa. Get to work.
truth is there is no one to vote for. unemployed under both obama and trump. i dont care about voting anymore
Fellow Zillenial here and partner is gen Z. What gets my goat about work is that some employers expect the world for a pittance. We’re homeowners but only because we were able to camp at my parents house for 3 years to save money and if we were renting in our area we would have no chance. So why work ourselves to death when there is no reward really.
To live. Life is work, gathering food, building a shelter, and maintaining it. Or you trade your services for it. I make electricity for a living. Since everyone uses that service, and few people are either qualified or want to do the work, so I get rewarded handsomely, and able to use that to barter for services I don't want to do. I just don't understand how a generation thinks they will survive off consumption, without producing anything.
It's also impossible to get into a field without experience, they say we wont work but we cant get into that work to start with as they continue hiring older people
What's the point of working hard if your career dies with you unles you are an exceptional genius. I'd rather have fun. My fun goes away with me, too. But it makes me happy at least.
Most people would rather have fun, who will pay our bills ?
if you're a genius you're more likely to become ostracized and homeless than be successful. people can't handle their intelligence being challenged
I completely relate to feeling burnt out before even entering the workforce, something about the school system just sucked all the life, hope and soul outta of me.