Useless Conversation

[schild]

Oh, you're freaky old. That's cool though. You're in better shape than the rest of us.

[Selby]

Ah well, those of you competing against that cohort ought to have an easier time, at least.

When I interviewed for my last job, I was essentially told that it was mine "to refuse" before I even interviewed.  Apparently the previous guy used to sit at his desk sleeping and watching Youtube videos all day (60+ years old) and the other guy was a fresh out of college kid who didn't understand that actually calling people to schedule work, getting things done, and being useful at all (or at least the illusion of it) was more important than buying really fancy oscilloscopes that demonstrated that you didn't know how to use them nor could you actually learn how.  When you're on a PIP and one of your items that needs to be reviewed every week is "call person X for an update" and you admit you haven't done it all month, how serious are you taking the job?

And yes, I can leisurely stroll along getting all kinds of important things done and the bear focuses on these buffoons who just sit around staring at the walls all day.  It's not a "young vs. old" thing either as I've ranted plenty here about people old enough to be my parents or grandparents completely unable to get anything done and responding with "not my job\problem" when in fact it IS their job.  I have found management in many cases just doesn't want to deal with firing people so we let these morons collect paychecks indefinitely.

When I hear about Gen X\Y getting screwed, I just wonder who they're talking about as I graduated college (early) and managed to start a career which I've had for 10+ years now (minus an unemployed stint during layoff city in 2009).  Then I hear all these other stories and realize that in previous generations I'd have tons of competition.  Now I just look like a superstar because I have so many idiots out there making me look good through their inaction and laziness.  Kind of amusing to think about.

[Paelos]

Smart-talented-motivated people almost always excel and get ahead. Then they get blamed for getting special treatment. Which I find funny.

The other dirty secret is that if you generate large revenue, you will never get fired short of pulling a full insubordinate coup, and you can press them on getting more money constantly. You can run over someone with a truck if you're a huge sales guy, and nobody will care.

[Engels]

Its so odd to hear this stereotype of millennials as good for nothings, when at my place of work, a university, I see them working their ass off in a very competitive environment. I swear, they work harder now than 7 years ago by a mile, and for the most part, they are going to get good jobs with better pay than I'm ever going to get. Granted, I'm seeing a 'cream of the crop' skewed sample, but its still an odd contrast.

[Paelos]

Its so odd to hear this stereotype of millennials as good for nothings, when at my place of work, a university, I see them working their ass off in a very competitive environment. I swear, they work harder now than 7 years ago by a mile, and for the most part, they are going to get good jobs with better pay than I'm ever going to get. Granted, I'm seeing a 'cream of the crop' skewed sample, but its still an odd contrast.

Schools are different than the actual marketplace. In most cases your school goals are very obviously defined. That's not the case in the business world. Adaptability is a key component that you don't get in school.

[schild]

Its so odd to hear this stereotype of millennials as good for nothings, when at my place of work, a university, I see them working their ass off in a very competitive environment. I swear, they work harder now than 7 years ago by a mile, and for the most part, they are going to get good jobs with better pay than I'm ever going to get. Granted, I'm seeing a 'cream of the crop' skewed sample, but its still an odd contrast.

That's because millennials aren't bad students. Well, maybe they are in a philosophical sense - but performing in school is fucking trivial.

[Merusk]

Where Mils are going to run into trouble is they're very collaborative in their approach to things. We all work together, we all get credit. It will only take one or two encounters with managers who'll make them do all the work then steal all the glory to poison that outlook.

[Teleku]

I'll say this as both a CPA and a semi-exec now.

People are generally unhappy with their jobs when they suck at their jobs, or the company around them is toxic.

But the biggest problem I run into with people is they think small. They don't think company-wide. They think if they are great at this pointless exercise, someone will eventually notice and promote them. That's not how things work. You get better jobs by showing you can think of ways to improve the situation, not just keep the wheels turning.

People that stay in their little sphere or use phrases like "That's not in my job description." Those people get sandbagged and fired.

Pretty much how it works in the Government as well (well, Foreign Service at least).  While the first promotion is easier to get as long as you do you job well, in order to advance after that, you pretty much have to be doing the work of somebody a grade above you already, before you'll get promoted to that grade.  Doing lots of other work outside of you job position is also a must.

Or you just drink and/or sleep with the right people, if the bitter old (unpromoted) hands are to be believed.  

Once you have tenure, you pretty much can't be fired.  But if your reputation sucks, you'll find you magically can't seem to get any of the posts you want, and only places like South Sudan are open to you (that's not to say everybody in those places is bad, as a lot of very talented and passionate people bid on them.  But they also very often just need a warm body to fill a slots as attrition takes its toll).  Or the worst fate of all, they send you back to DC and lock your ass in an office somewhere deep in a building for several years, where you can't hurt anything.

[HaemishM]

I don't realize that's how we elected Congressmen. 

[Signe]

Most of us are the same age. I turn 33 in 2 months.

Yes, we're all about the same age.  I'm going with that one.   

Right behind you!  (boo!)

[calapine]

Most of us are the same age. I turn 33 in 2 months.

1-yearish older than you. Not that I would have guessed that.

Schild, you need to stop being so cynic. You'll have 40 - 75+ to hone old, bitter, seen-it-all persona to perfection.   

[schild]

If it makes you feel better, I don't know what stress feels like, it is totally foreign to me as a concept.

[Cheddar]

Belongs in the job thread, but I'm finding the quip about not needing to outrun the bear, only the other guy, to be more and more applicable in terms of career.  I've decided this is why I've been retained to do work on tech I'm unfamiliar with while account veterans who were employees before the outsourcing were let go.  I'll not get preachy here, but looks like a lot of people aren't taking success seriously.

This.   I only got squirmy at work after poor Hans was mauled.

I liked Hans.

[MrHat]

Most of us are the same age. I turn 33 in 2 months.

1-yearish older than you. Not that I would have guessed that.

Schild, you need to stop being so cynic. You'll have 40 - 75+ to hone old, bitter, seen-it-all persona to perfection.   

Excited to see what his 40's brings.

Christ, have we been on this site since college? 

[Paelos]

I started going to waterthread when I was on an internship in college. Mostly because they had fuckall to do and it wasn't blocked by filters.

[Samwise]

I was just barely out of college, playing SW:G way too much, getting increasingly disillusioned by it, and a friend linked me to a wonderful rant on Waterthread about SW:G's stupid Jedi system.  And here we are.

[bhodi]

We're all the same age because we had the free time around college/HS to understand and play UO/EQ. I'm 35.

[Paelos]

I was just barely out of college, playing SW:G way too much, getting increasingly disillusioned by it, and a friend linked me to a wonderful rant on Waterthread about SW:G's stupid Jedi system.  And here we are.

I forgot that I arrived here because of SW:G as well. It was an MMO forum at the time, you see...

[WayAbvPar]

Noobs.

[Paelos]

Way showed up because he thought it was a poker forum.

[WayAbvPar]

I think I was searching for EQ info and stumbled onto Lum's page. I read a rant with the word fucktard in it (which was new to me then!) and I knew I was home. This was probably circa 1999 or 2000.

[Chimpy]

Why can't IBM email me a tracking number when they ship a replacement drive so I can see if it was delivered myself and who signed for it without calling them and waiting for a callback?

[Merusk]

The same reason my Adobe sales guy can't call me back and explain why I don't have access to the CCE portal and it seems like our entire account is under their corporate umbrella.

It's Christmas week and fuck working.

[Rasix]

I feel old.  I think there's handful that are older, although I'm barely older than the rest.  I came to this crap via UO beta.

Why can't IBM email me a tracking number when they ship a replacement drive so I can see if it was delivered myself and who signed for it without calling them and waiting for a callback?

No one at IBM works from around December 15 on.  Our vacation time is all use or lose. I don't even know who I'd be able to get a hold of at work if I tried.  As an aside, I don't like working with the parts people, so I refuse to and let someone else handle it. 

[RhyssaFireheart]

I think I found Waterthread via a friend mentioning it because Player2Player was dying off.  Decided to stick around.

Since I never played EQ or UO, I was a wanderer, because there wasn't a rant site about AC around.

[Chimpy]

It was actually UPS deciding to reschedule my next day air delivery for tomorrow instead of today.

Thankfully IBM has a local tech who has the drives we use in stock.

[Evildrider]

Hmm I'm gonna be 41 in a couple months, you damn young'uns!

I found this place cuz of SWG back in the day, then I think I lurked for like 4 years.

[Abagadro]

I'm 43 but I was carded today at the liquor store. Nyah!

[Teleku]

/utah

[apocrypha]

Hmm, nobody has yet admitted to bring older than me, although I suspect a couple are. I'm 45. And I'm spending Christmas week curled up with a stinking cold. Bah humbug.

I also seem to have accidentally ordered 2 different cases for the tiny server I'm building and I'm beginning to think neither of them is the right size. Yay me!

[Reg]

I was born in 1958 and am an unrepentant boomer. My great pleasure in life is in occupying a job that younger people want for themselves.

[Pennilenko]

I was born in 1958 and am an unrepentant boomer. My great pleasure in life is in occupying a job that younger people want for themselves.

[IainC]

41 here. My primary focus is figuring out what I want to be when I grow up.

[Lantyssa]

I know exactly what I want to be--retired.  It's the getting there that's killing me.

[satael]

41 here. My primary focus is figuring out what I want to be when I grow up.

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