In other news, I may kill someone this week. Just a heads up. Because it could be you.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
News flash!
Reading a book to little kids called Diary of a Fly, and having them mishear "diary" as "diarrhea," is not a funny enough story for me to have to listen to you retell it 45 times. Thank you.
In other news, I may kill someone this week. Just a heads up. Because it could be you.
In other news, I may kill someone this week. Just a heads up. Because it could be you.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Reasons Boomers suck
Okay, not to detract from the seriousness of yesterday's post, but I'm fuming and I need to vent. My current boss is a complicated person; half of the time, I'd consider her one of my closest friends, because she's very funny and intelligent and is capable of being very kind. She's also, however, extremely fragile and brittle (emotionally, not physically), and has one of the worst tempers I've ever encountered. She doesn't know when to let things go, and can be spiteful and rude without even realizing that's what's she's doing.
I say this not to bash her, but to give some background to what happened a little while ago. One of her favorite hobbyhorses to ride is the supposed ignorance, stupidity, laziness, and just general worthlessness of any generation younger than her own (she's a Baby Boomer, but just barely; she's the next youngest person who works here). Today she showed me an article she clipped from the newspaper to send to her mother; said article professed to be a humorous list of 8 reasons why companies should hire Baby Boomers.
I say "professed to be," not "was," because the article (to put it in my generation's terms) was full of fail. It was neither funny nor true, and it made Boomers out to be God's greatest gift to the world (generally by slyly and indirectly bashing the generations following them), which of course lands squarely in the middle of the things other generations, especially older ones, criticize them for thinking about themselves. In particular, the members of the Greatest Generation seem appalled by their arrogance and self-absorption; from my own perspective as someone who's stuck in the crease between GenX and GenY, they seem to spend an inordinate amount of time whining about how the world should be, rather than actually working to make it that way. They're also appallingly short-sighted about some things (global climate change and the economy, for example), making a nearly constant string of poor decisions that my generation and those that follow us will have to clean up after.
This article, and similar blatheration from members of the Baby Boomer generation tend to infuriate me; I look around at the shitstorm (pardon my French) that they seem bent on leaving to us, and wonder how they can possibly justify their own high opinions of themselves to themselves. In particular the supposed faults they're constantly finding with the younger generations; everything that we are, they directly molded and shaped us to be. If we're ignorant, it's because they failed to teach us anything, too preoccupied with "finding themselves;" if we're lazy, it's because we were raised by people determined to avoid as many of the responsibilities of parenthood as possible.
But that's a frivolous argument, anyway; the primary problem I have is that I don't believe we're either ignorant or lazy. Certainly, some of us are, but that's been true of every generation of people who's ever lived; ours just get better media coverage than theirs (*cough* Paris Hilton *cough*). The very notion that every single person born after 1971 is a lazy whiny lump who couldn't find Iowa on a map because they're too busy texting somebody or illegally downloading Britney Spears albums is manifestly ludicrous; and if you're one of those people who thinks it's true, I'd like to introduce you to a few friends of mine: 99% of the active duty members of the United States Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, most of the astronauts in the space program, some research scientists at MIT, the majority of pro athletes of all sports...I could go on, but I think you see my point.
The truth, at least from our perspective, is something entirely different; no, we're not very good at fulfilling the traditional paradigms of our grandparents (marriage, 2.5 children, live in same house and work at same job for forty years, retire). What we are good at is communicating, building consensus, and seeing our environment for what it actually is and then shaping it to fit our needs. We work smarter, not harder; if we can see that something isn't practical or workable, we drop it and move on to something that will rather than beating our heads against a wall.
That's probably one of the things about us that drives older folks crazy the fastest. That adaptability, our tendency to just drop it all without hesitation, pull up roots and look for something better looks to them like we're a generation of spineless quitters unwilling to work for what we want. But really, aren't we working for it? I would say that we are, and that we don't just expect to have life handed to us on a silver platter; we're willing to jump through all the hoops we need to if that's how you play the game. However, if we see a higher hoop, off there in the distance without a safety net under it to catch you if you fall, but offering a quicker path to the ultimate goal, well, there's really no hesitation in us: we'll go for that far-off hoop every time, and I don't think Boomers are capable of understanding that. They see us jumping off into the distance, and they're sure that we're going to fall, and that we're too stupid or ignorant to have figured out the consequences before we leaped.
What they don't seem to realize is, we're neither foolish nor reckless: we're taking a calculated risk, not jumping blindly into space. Firstly, we're more connected with those we care about than any previous generation has ever been; at no point are we actually in danger of falling all the way down, because we're tied to a complex web of family, friends, friends of friends, and even total strangers who we can rely on to help catch us at a moment's notice.
Secondly, we almost never pin all of our hopes and dreams on a single path; should we fail to make our leap, we'll just get back up and try to reach our destination another way. Because of our more adaptable nature, we have less of a problem with being rerouted; after all, in a group that is more likely to be afflicted with "optional paralysis" (freezing up and not being able to come to a decision about something because you've been offered too wide a variety of equally good options), taking an alternate path is not likely to cause the least anxiety.
So, with all of that boiling in the back of my mind every time this topic comes up around the office, I'm obviously frustrated when I read something like the article my boss loved so much. But consider these two points: if the premise of the article was that companies need a reason to hire Boomers, obviously it's because they're not already doing so. If that's so, and if they're hiring GenX/Y members instead, then obviously they're not overly dissatisfied with those workers, which puts the lie to the supposed superiority of Boomers.
Secondly, if the only way the Boomers can make themselves feel better about their capabilities as employees is to tear down those of the people beating them out for jobs, well, that becomes less of a "we're so great!" article and more of a "well, at least we don't suck as hard as they do (no, really, they totally suck, we swear!)" one. This is clearly the behavior of a jealous member of the high school poetry club, listing reasons why it's totally unfair that they're not more popular than the football team.
I say this not to bash her, but to give some background to what happened a little while ago. One of her favorite hobbyhorses to ride is the supposed ignorance, stupidity, laziness, and just general worthlessness of any generation younger than her own (she's a Baby Boomer, but just barely; she's the next youngest person who works here). Today she showed me an article she clipped from the newspaper to send to her mother; said article professed to be a humorous list of 8 reasons why companies should hire Baby Boomers.
I say "professed to be," not "was," because the article (to put it in my generation's terms) was full of fail. It was neither funny nor true, and it made Boomers out to be God's greatest gift to the world (generally by slyly and indirectly bashing the generations following them), which of course lands squarely in the middle of the things other generations, especially older ones, criticize them for thinking about themselves. In particular, the members of the Greatest Generation seem appalled by their arrogance and self-absorption; from my own perspective as someone who's stuck in the crease between GenX and GenY, they seem to spend an inordinate amount of time whining about how the world should be, rather than actually working to make it that way. They're also appallingly short-sighted about some things (global climate change and the economy, for example), making a nearly constant string of poor decisions that my generation and those that follow us will have to clean up after.
This article, and similar blatheration from members of the Baby Boomer generation tend to infuriate me; I look around at the shitstorm (pardon my French) that they seem bent on leaving to us, and wonder how they can possibly justify their own high opinions of themselves to themselves. In particular the supposed faults they're constantly finding with the younger generations; everything that we are, they directly molded and shaped us to be. If we're ignorant, it's because they failed to teach us anything, too preoccupied with "finding themselves;" if we're lazy, it's because we were raised by people determined to avoid as many of the responsibilities of parenthood as possible.
But that's a frivolous argument, anyway; the primary problem I have is that I don't believe we're either ignorant or lazy. Certainly, some of us are, but that's been true of every generation of people who's ever lived; ours just get better media coverage than theirs (*cough* Paris Hilton *cough*). The very notion that every single person born after 1971 is a lazy whiny lump who couldn't find Iowa on a map because they're too busy texting somebody or illegally downloading Britney Spears albums is manifestly ludicrous; and if you're one of those people who thinks it's true, I'd like to introduce you to a few friends of mine: 99% of the active duty members of the United States Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, most of the astronauts in the space program, some research scientists at MIT, the majority of pro athletes of all sports...I could go on, but I think you see my point.
The truth, at least from our perspective, is something entirely different; no, we're not very good at fulfilling the traditional paradigms of our grandparents (marriage, 2.5 children, live in same house and work at same job for forty years, retire). What we are good at is communicating, building consensus, and seeing our environment for what it actually is and then shaping it to fit our needs. We work smarter, not harder; if we can see that something isn't practical or workable, we drop it and move on to something that will rather than beating our heads against a wall.
That's probably one of the things about us that drives older folks crazy the fastest. That adaptability, our tendency to just drop it all without hesitation, pull up roots and look for something better looks to them like we're a generation of spineless quitters unwilling to work for what we want. But really, aren't we working for it? I would say that we are, and that we don't just expect to have life handed to us on a silver platter; we're willing to jump through all the hoops we need to if that's how you play the game. However, if we see a higher hoop, off there in the distance without a safety net under it to catch you if you fall, but offering a quicker path to the ultimate goal, well, there's really no hesitation in us: we'll go for that far-off hoop every time, and I don't think Boomers are capable of understanding that. They see us jumping off into the distance, and they're sure that we're going to fall, and that we're too stupid or ignorant to have figured out the consequences before we leaped.
What they don't seem to realize is, we're neither foolish nor reckless: we're taking a calculated risk, not jumping blindly into space. Firstly, we're more connected with those we care about than any previous generation has ever been; at no point are we actually in danger of falling all the way down, because we're tied to a complex web of family, friends, friends of friends, and even total strangers who we can rely on to help catch us at a moment's notice.
Secondly, we almost never pin all of our hopes and dreams on a single path; should we fail to make our leap, we'll just get back up and try to reach our destination another way. Because of our more adaptable nature, we have less of a problem with being rerouted; after all, in a group that is more likely to be afflicted with "optional paralysis" (freezing up and not being able to come to a decision about something because you've been offered too wide a variety of equally good options), taking an alternate path is not likely to cause the least anxiety.
So, with all of that boiling in the back of my mind every time this topic comes up around the office, I'm obviously frustrated when I read something like the article my boss loved so much. But consider these two points: if the premise of the article was that companies need a reason to hire Boomers, obviously it's because they're not already doing so. If that's so, and if they're hiring GenX/Y members instead, then obviously they're not overly dissatisfied with those workers, which puts the lie to the supposed superiority of Boomers.
Secondly, if the only way the Boomers can make themselves feel better about their capabilities as employees is to tear down those of the people beating them out for jobs, well, that becomes less of a "we're so great!" article and more of a "well, at least we don't suck as hard as they do (no, really, they totally suck, we swear!)" one. This is clearly the behavior of a jealous member of the high school poetry club, listing reasons why it's totally unfair that they're not more popular than the football team.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Sonnie
Hey, for anybody who knows or remembers Sonnie Stock, the attendance secretary from SL high school, please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Her husband passed away earlier this week, and I know she's got to be really hurting right now. Anyone who's ever met Sonnie knows just what a joy she is to be around, and how loving and caring a person she is; her husband, Frank, was also always a kind and quiet person, at least from what I knew of him, as well as one of the hardest-working men I've ever met. He will be missed.
On a separate (but related) note, this is the second time in a month or so that the husband of a woman I look up to and admire has taken his own life (my former boss, Wendy, also lost her husband Max a few weeks ago). What in the world is going on? I really, really hope this isn't one of those times when bad news comes in threes; it hurts to see anyone you care about go through something like this.
That's the really sad thing about suicide; it doesn't erase your pain from the world, it just transfers it onto the shoulders of your friends and family, as well as their friends and family. I wish more people would consider that before they decided to take such a drastic action; I think fewer of them would go through with it if they did, or at least I hope so...
On a separate (but related) note, this is the second time in a month or so that the husband of a woman I look up to and admire has taken his own life (my former boss, Wendy, also lost her husband Max a few weeks ago). What in the world is going on? I really, really hope this isn't one of those times when bad news comes in threes; it hurts to see anyone you care about go through something like this.
That's the really sad thing about suicide; it doesn't erase your pain from the world, it just transfers it onto the shoulders of your friends and family, as well as their friends and family. I wish more people would consider that before they decided to take such a drastic action; I think fewer of them would go through with it if they did, or at least I hope so...
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