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HorrorMovieRei

Do boomers hate minimum wage workers?

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Of course, i'm using "boomer" in the internet slang meaning of the word, referring to roughly to middle aged to older folk(stating this to avoid the obligatory etymologically pedantic post). I guess this is a good place to discuss this, as Doom world has quite a wide range of ages from what I seen.

 

This is a phenomenon that I've started to observe for the last year or so. Older people seem to have very little or no tolerance towards people working retail, or waiters and such people working on any low education jobs. Usually the younger ones. I can throw a lot of anecdotal evidence here to make my point, but I've noticed that a lot of people around the internet seem to share these same experiences? I'm sure a lot of you have at least seen one meme about a teenage or young adult standing up for a low income worker, while their parents chew them out. And even out of the hyperbolic nature of memes, I see people who work in retail sharing their horror stories. And it's almost always an old fuck who treats them like they're a doormat, usually for a minor mistake that is really not worth wasting the energy on, or which is straight up out of their control. I'm not saying you shouldn't complain if a worker's gross incompetence causes you damages, but it comes to a point where it just seems unnecessary, excessive, and dehumanizing.

 

I have asked my mother about it one time after she was rude to a pharmacy clerk for not having a certain medication in stock. She went off on a tangent about how I should focus on my studies so I don't end up like that, and that these people are there because they didn't study. And I just dropped the subject after that. I guess she could be right, but that's also a generalization? For all we know these people really didn't have a chance to go to a good college(having a degree is the only way to have a fleeting chance at success in my country), or even a good school for that matter. Maybe they are studying, but also working on the side to make ends meet. There are many possibilities, but the assumption is always that "they're fucking bums who didn't make anything of themselves".

 

And yeah, people are different, but here's the thing: I never see younger people with this level of hostility towards these workers. Even when they fuck something up, younger people usually want to be done with it as soon as possible. They try to work with the worker, not against them to solve the issue.

Every time I see an older person complaining about service they're raising their voice, cursing to high heavens and insulting the person(s). Problems that could be solved with class become a matter of national security.

 

Am I missing something here? Do you just, literally, run out of patience juice™ in your brain after a certain age? These people are already struggling in these shitty jobs, the last thing I would want is to make t worse for them, and then I see these already made adults treating them like they're second class citizens and I feel awful for them.

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This seems to be somewhat common behavior here as well. Older people tend to raise their pitchfork really fast against someone younger and/or less experienced, because they're "too slow", "they're not careful enough", "they're lazy fucks", "they're people wasting their lives on the internet, doing nothing productive", "they probably only got a job due to their parents finally stopping to babysit them", "they're failures, learn if you want to avoid becoming a loser like them", and the list can go on...

 

Needless to say that I find such vitriolic and intolerant attitudes very out of place. If we could all go to college and maybe get better jobs too it would be perfect, but that's not how life is. I tried taking that route and it only resulted in massive disappointment, so unfortunately for me I'll end up in a similar situation like the ones they utterly despise. The vitriol seems to spring from the fact that they often see younger generations as generations who had far more opportunities than they had, and this is indeed true I guess, but that doesn't mean every one of us actually had this opportunity, or managed to seize it... as if they actually care...

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Ya some of them, I used to work at a movie theater where I would occasionally get customers who would get pissed because they couldn't use a 2 year expired coupon or they would get pissed because they wanted more than the coupon allowed. But there were also allot of "Boomers" who were some of the best customers and most patient customers I got.

 

And latter on when I worked for the government, my coworkers were only Boomers and they were some of the best and most memorable people I've worked with yet.

 

So I guess some are like that and some aren't is pretty much all I want to say. 

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1 hour ago, HorrorMovieGuy said:

Am I missing something here? Do you just, literally, run out of patience juice™ in your brain after a certain age? These people are already struggling in these shitty jobs, the last thing I would want is to make t worse for them, and then I see these already made adults treating them like they're second class citizens and I feel awful for them

Personal anecdote:

 

While I was studying, I worked as a tourist guide during times when my regular schedule would allow for "gaps to fill". In that "field of work", you get to deal with all ages, and all kinds of people, for that matter. Looking back at it now, I seem to remember that the most annoying customers were boomers. Many of which being pretty impatient overall, with kind of a "volatile" demeanour at times, if you didn't answer their questions prior to anybody else's, or took your time to answer somebody else's questions when you were stopping to explain something about anything - which they (the boomers) were not particularly interested in.

 

Before I could sustain myself without the job, I worked it for a couple years, and over the course of these years, I've had more than a dozen "formal complaints" inbound from these very people, stating how I wasn't moving on fast enough, or how I didn't pay them the kind of attention they think they were deserving of - being the paying customers they were. It's not like they were the only ones who paid, but I guess you get the idea. After having a talk with my boss about these kinds of things, his answer was that this kind of shit comes "with the territory" (that being "working with people"), and most of these formal complaints are usually dismissed based on where they come from and what they say, so I wasn't in danger of loosing the job at any point, but it certainly made the job a lot less enjoyable.

Edited by Nine Inch Heels

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Boomers hate everything and their dearest wish is to make sure the world will not survive them.

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11 minutes ago, Gez said:

Boomers hate everything and their dearest wish is to make sure the world will not survive them.

 

I work with a boomer and i swear to god i have to control my urge to cuss them out, Since they are so wrapped up in there world and you can't tell them anything without a "NO,YOUR WRONG!" retort, Honestly i don't even bother listening to the Boomer anymore since all they do is complain about anything they can. And i think you just summed up why.

 

Also the Boomer i know HATES Lower class people for some reason, (basically anyone who isn't crazy enough to spend $20 on toilet paper)

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Just making sure, according to my search result, Boomers are born in between 1946 and 1964? Sorry for the ignorance.

 

If so, here are some of my feelings for this type of people (or maybe these are impressions of Chinese stereotypes since I grew up there):

 

1. It seems they like to say you should follow their experience;

2. It seems more likely they want to succeed in something by whatever means they want; (Like the example raised by OP, they probably will try to know why there's no such medication, which doesn't actually help with the situation, and will be angry about it if they can do nothing about this)

3. If you don't do things in their ways, they will be unhappy; (Like the example raised by NIH, if you don't things the "quick" way in their mind, they may say things. However, I have my ways to do things efficiently. Being hasty doesn't mean quick and efficient.)

4. It seems they like to influence your choices, or even make decisions for you.

 

Sadly, my parents fall into generation, and they do have some behaviors that I don't agree with. However, I have to say this is something from the background back in those days, so I don't really blame them for this since we grew up in a different background. I also do see a lot of people born in these years are the wisest and most comprehensive people out there. It just depends.

Edited by GarrettChan

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Some astonishing generalizations here. It almost reads like a troll thread.

 

I must declare an interest, as a 'Boomer'.

 

Lollus lollorum lollissimus.

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13 minutes ago, GarrettChan said:

4. It seems they like to influence your choices, or even make decisions for you.

EXACTLY! this is what they do, Even if the idea is so out of this world or stupid they want you to do it regardless,

 

(the one told me my Arctic thermos coat was too "Thin") (i wore this jacket in Alaska during the winter and i was nice and cozy)

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There's a sense of irony in that boomer parents urge their millenial children into the work force, then bitch about them picking something that's lower in pay than their own occupations.

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20 minutes ago, GarrettChan said:

Just making sure, according to my search result, Boomers are born in between 1946 and 1964? Sorry for the ignorance.

 

Yep.  Marketers and sociologists have broken age ranges into 'generations' to make it easier to categorize people.  These age-ranges are rough and overlap with each other, but can be useful tools for talking about general differences between people of different ages.

 

The "main" generations that are around today are:

  • The Silent Generation - early 1930s to the end of WW2 (1945)
  • Baby Boomers - End of WW2 to mid 1960s.  So named because of the birth rate boost following the end of the war
  • Generation X - Mid 1960s to late 1970s / early 1980s. 
  • Generation Y, also known as Millennials - early 1980s to late 1990s.  
  • Generation Z - late 1990s/early 2000s to 2015 ish (exact years are still being debated)
  • Generation Alpha - kids born today  

Understanding the differences between these generations is part of my day-job, so happy to answer any questions anyone has on them.

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20 minutes ago, Bauul said:

Generation Alpha - kids born today  

 

 

Understanding the differences between these generations is part of my day-job, so happy to answer any questions anyone has on them.

 

Any predictions for how gen Alpha will turn out?

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1 hour ago, HorrorMovieGuy said:

Do you just, literally, run out of patience juice™ in your brain after a certain age?

My experience is that young people tend to be more grateful for the worker's service while older people see it more like "just their damn job". It's a generalization of course.

 

Older people have less time left on earth which makes them value it more, which results in less patience juice.

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7 minutes ago, JBerg said:

 

Any predictions for how gen Alpha will turn out?

 

One can't really predict how Gen Z will turn out, let alone Gen Alpha.  For example, one of the defining characteristics of Millennials didn't happen until the eldest were in their early 20s: the late 2000s economic crash hit.  Because of the crash, Millennials' career paths have been stunted compared to Boomers and Gen Xs before them.  Less money has in-turn impacted what Millennials value: unlike prior generations who were more materialistic, Millennials value experiences: it's not what you own that defines you, it's what you've done.  So how Millennials judge the world is very different to how Gen Xs, and especially Boomers, judge it, for instance.  

 

So how Gen Alpha turns out will depend on what happens in the world in the next 10 or 20 years, and we just can't know that yet.  

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Ok I'm going to play the devils advocate and defend Boomers a bit. I have worked years in a customer facing roles so ive experienced all sorts of personalities.

 

Can Boomers be the most pushy and critical customers? Yes. But some of the nicest customers are Boomers or older.

 

If I gave bad service to someone youthful they're likely to keep it to themselves. A Boomer would make noise and wants to ruin your day. If I provided great service, the youthful customer may act no different and the older customer may praise me. In fact I got a couple surprise gifts from them with cards, money and itune vouchers just for slightly going above and beyond.

 

Boomers sometimes need validation on their opinions and then they start to love instead of hate you. This may sound degrading but you essentially apply basic psychology tactics with them like you would with children. They may say "This store use to do this and that but now it has turned crappy for reasons I'm assuming" which you may reply "tell me about it, I think it' was better when we use to do whatever it was you wanted" (well not exactly those words). Do that and you have started turning their attitude around. Playing the "emotionless neutral stance with fake professionalism thanks for feedback" role that your manager wants is not going to make things better.

 

Just think of them as more emotional where it could turn more positive or negative. Also some young people are a bit too shy and naive and let some people get away with things they shouldn't. 

Edited by Chezza

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19 minutes ago, Bauul said:

One can't really predict how Gen Z will turn out, let alone Gen Alpha.  For example, one of the defining characteristics of Millennials didn't happen until the eldest were in their early 20s: the late 2000s economic crash hit.  Because of the crash, Millennials' career paths have been stunted compared to Boomers and Gen Xs before them.  Less money has in-turn impacted what Millennials value: unlike prior generations who were more materialistic, Millennials value experiences: it's not what you own that defines you, it's what you've done.  So how Millennials judge the world is very different to how Gen Xs, and especially Boomers, judge it, for instance.

I love the information here. Since the world we're living in is ever changing, I guess our characteristics was built up under the influence of the environment, by quite a lot. IMO, generation gap is formed due to the reason of age differences for sure, but I personally think the environment plays a greater role in this one.

 

2 minutes ago, Chezza said:

Can Boomers be the most pushy and critical customers? Yes. But some of the nicest customers are Boomers or older.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. I did put up some views about that generation, but that's only my speculations for some specific topics.

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2 hours ago, Linguica said:

Yes.

 

Boomers above all else are some of the most self-absorbed people ever to live and are basically unwilling and unable to understand the perspectives of people who are not them. Add onto that the realization that they are starting to get old and decrepit and are realizing they too will die, something many boomers spent decades never thinking about. Finally, boomers have ruined the planet, and feel a deep shame about this that is almost but not quite internally drowned out by their self absorption. The result of all of this is that boomers are completely unequipped to deal with the modern world but also have hoarded all the money, which is the only thing they ever cared about, and will continue to act in increasingly belligerent, illogical, and reactionary ways.

So, basically DoomWorld since most of the vets are Boomer age by now.

I kid, i kid. Boomers can be annoying - but Boomers can also be the nicest folks. One of the Boomers i had to help with her computer currently rocks the age of 90, knows a thing or two about computers due to working with them in the 80s (When she was close to retiring already!) and is generally one awesome madam i had the pleasure of helping out.

 

That isn't to say that yes, you will have Boomers that have been there and done that: Why should they learn something new?

 

I find that in general, stubborn Boomers do have wiggle room to be convinced otherwise. The ones that truly wouldn't budge are the ones i can't help eitherway, and then i am not going to help them out either way.

On a more general scale, its often Boomers that make terrible decisions - but i like to marr that with power and seperate it from whether one is a boomer or not. Even younger folks (esp in politics) still act totally clueless over the things they have ultimate powers over. A Minister of Information that has no idea how internet security works, for instance. Now that's just plain silly.

I think in regards to DoomWorld, it all went to shit when Boom was released - Everyone became a Boomer by default, to the point where nowadays we even have Boomer-compatible ports. If that isn't bad.... ;)

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1 hour ago, Bauul said:

 

Yep.  Marketers and sociologists have broken age ranges into 'generations' to make it easier to categorize people.  These age-ranges are rough and overlap with each other, but can be useful tools for talking about general differences between people of different ages.

 

The "main" generations that are around today are:

  • The Silent Generation - early 1930s to the end of WW2 (1945)
  • Baby Boomers - End of WW2 to mid 1960s.  So named because of the birth rate boost following the end of the war
  • Generation X - Mid 1960s to late 1970s / early 1980s. 
  • Generation Y, also known as Millennials - early 1980s to late 1990s.  
  • Generation Z - late 1990s/early 2000s to 2015 ish (exact years are still being debated)
  • Generation Alpha - kids born today  

Understanding the differences between these generations is part of my day-job, so happy to answer any questions anyone has on them.

I've read claims that the early millenials' experiences are so different than those of the later millenials, the latter having never known a time before internet access was widespread and having grown up with social media, that it doesn't make sense to consider them the same generation; what's your take on this?

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Generalization much? Not all boomers are assholes, the resident doomer boomers here are an example of that.

 

1 hour ago, HorrorMovieGuy said:

Am I missing something here? Do you just, literally, run out of patience juice™ in your brain after a certain age?

It usually tends to be the other way around, the older you get the more tolerant and "wise" you grow, it gets more difficult to get pissed off by trivial shit when you are old enough. But that varies from person to person, some people seem to turn into bigger dipshits the older they get. 

My personal experience of working in retail, the most anyoing, entitled, rude customers were mostly people in ther 30+ years, however those who were in their 60+ years were nice folks. 

1 hour ago, unerxai said:

Older people have less time left on earth which makes them value it more, which results in less patience juice.

It doesn't seem that some older folks value their time that much when they spend all day sitting on their asses watching stupid shit on TV. Or wasting away in loneliness, besides it's not like younger people are imune to death, both a 20 year old and an 80+ years old can die by a slip up fall on the street and hitting the back of their head on the sidewalk, sometimes even hitting a less vulnerable part of the head might be a death sentence.

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7 minutes ago, Solmyr said:

It doesn't seem that some older folks value their time that much when they spend all day sitting on their asses watching stupid shit on TV.

Some of them may do that (and that could be valuable time for them too), but others may have stuff pending in their lives, things that need to get done before they get to an age they can't do many things. Of course after a certain age I guess some shit starts to not matter anymore, and people take things easy again like when they were young.

 

I worked in retail 2 years (in a musical instruments store) and what I learned is that people will almost always think that they're smarter and more experienced than people younger than them no matter what. I could offer tons of knowledge and guidance to some old guy but since I'm younger than them I don't know shit in his eyes. Now consider the fact most workers in retail are young people and there you go.

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I will admit(if that wasn't obvious enough from the op), I can't help but to feel some degree resentment towards the so called boomers because of what feels like a constant "holier than thou" attitude the more vocal ones have, which really does not bode well with today's highly polarized society, and seems hypocritical overall.

Some posts in this thread have been enlightening though. If anything for putting things in perspective. I got a little heated writing that first post but this is the kind of discussion I wanted to get going.

 

1 hour ago, Chezza said:

Boomers sometimes need validation on their opinions and then they start to love instead of hate you.

[...]

Just think of them as more emotional where it could turn more positive or negative.

I have to say I have a bit of problem with this, specially keeping in mind the boomers that constantly mock Millennials for being "entitled crybabies". But fair enough. I do understand where you're coming from. And I guess it's easy to forget the nice ones that go the extra mile to show their gratitude when you're usually exposed to the more noxious side of this age group, or maybe it's negativity bias. I feel like I have to state, I never thought it was all in bad faith so much as I was confused/annoyed as to the reason behind the unwarranted hostility.

 

1 hour ago, Redneckerz said:

On a more general scale, its often Boomers that make terrible decisions - but i like to marr that with power and seperate it from whether one is a boomer or not. Even younger folks (esp in politics) still act totally clueless over the things they have ultimate powers over. A Minister of Information that has no idea how internet security works, for instance. Now that's just plain silly.

Now, this sounds completely reasonable. I guess my problem is more with boomers making decisions in a world they don't understand anymore than boomers being boomers per say.

 

2 hours ago, Bauul said:

Less money has in-turn impacted what Millennials value: unlike prior generations who were more materialistic, Millennials value experiences: it's not what you own that defines you, it's what you've done.  So how Millennials judge the world is very different to how Gen Xs, and especially Boomers, judge it, for instance.  

And although we're getting into a more broad analysis now, this post here is very helpful.

Edited by HorrorMovieGuy

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Who knows. I don't concern myself with slang, especially not when the news defines a boomer as a 30 year old (at least, Taylor Lorenz at the New York Times does). People are just turning 30 if they were born in 1990. They grew up with video games, with a few super popular anime, and in just several years after they were born the internet was common in every household, making them very very similar in mindset to the people who grew up after them. When I think of a boomer I think back much farther. 

Edited by Asking4Id : add details

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Why do people hate Boomers so much? I don't get it. I myself am GenY but I actually feel more like a Boomer and relate more with that generation than my own and definitely more than the newer ones. I can't stand 99% of GenZ, which means the next will be worse.

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I've worked at a burger joint for 2 years, when I encounter a boomer they normally do that thing where they ask for non-salted fries(so that we have to make a new batch) like yes let's just make a whole new fucking batch because you want your fries just a little bit crispier KAREN

 

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2 hours ago, Cynical said:

I've read claims that the early millenials' experiences are so different than those of the later millenials, the latter having never known a time before internet access was widespread and having grown up with social media, that it doesn't make sense to consider them the same generation; what's your take on this?

 

It's a legitimate argument, and some companies I work with will sub-divide Millennials into older and younger categories.

 

However, what is true for all Millennials is that the Internet was readily available when they were at an age where they actually needed it.  For older Millennials, the Internet became widespread when they were in their early teens, so like their younger equivalents they used the 'net for the majority of the early important activities, things like high-school essay writing, University degrees and their first jobs.  

 

While it is true older Millennials didn't experience the Internet as children, research has shown that has relatively little impact on their subsequent outlook.  Older Millennials were still young enough when the Internet became widespread that they jumped on it with both feet and embraced it fully.  It is a full part of their identity as much as younger millennials.  

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4 hours ago, Morpheus666 said:

 

I work with a boomer and i swear to god i have to control my urge to cuss them out, Since they are so wrapped up in there world and you can't tell them anything without a "NO,YOUR WRONG!" retort, Honestly i don't even bother listening to the Boomer anymore since all they do is complain about anything they can. And i think you just summed up why.

 

Also the Boomer i know HATES Lower class people for some reason, (basically anyone who isn't crazy enough to spend $20 on toilet paper)

 

You are wrong, boomers don't hate lower class people, because even boomers could be one of them. Maybe boomers just hates you, because you are one of these arrogant smart asses, who think you have seen it all while you just started your own life, while the boomers have already more than half of their lifetime behind, and have experienced all the shit you still have to see yourself.

 

It is really funny, that you mention, that all boomers do is complaining, in a thread where people like you don't do anything else as complaining.

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Has nothing to do with Boomers, people in general are just bad at social interaction, despite the air of coolness and normality they try to put up. The Boomer vs. Millenial thing is manufactured animosity, it helps funnel people into groups so that you can reliably predict on them to behave a certain way (e.g. voting, purchasing)

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i think as a resulf of historical contingencies many non wealthy people are predisposed to be suspicious of the poor and identify with the rich

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