Letter to Gen Z

Dear Gen Z 

I'm exhausted. Let's just pass the baton of the world to you and retire. Dealing with you is mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting. 

You are, at the very least, united in religion - Individualism. "Mental Health" and "Protecting my peace" are the mool mantras of your religion. Ayn Rand would be proud. The rest of us are just perplexed. 

Being inconsiderate is a flex! 

Even though Gen AI came out in November 2022 (that's just 4 years ago), you are incapable of writing an email without it. Your grammar is creative, punctuation misses the point, and the less said about your ability to structure an email, the better. 

You are a generation that grew up on respawning video games and Ctrl Z. The concept of finality, consequences, etc., is alien to you. You also do not need to get anything right the first time because "So what? it can always be done again." We grew up without Ctrl Z. We learnt to get it right the first time. We captured the world through 36 exposure reels, not 1000 shots on an iphone and filters to boot. We do not understand the concept of doing 10 times what can be done right the first time. 

Working with you is like living a nightmare. You do not understand the concept of keeping stakeholders informed. You mess up first and consult later. Your PTO is your not-negotiable birthright. Your KPIs, on the other hand, are completely optional. 

You are constantly asking what everyone else brings to the table. In all these years, I have only seen u bring Zomato or Blinkit deliveries to the table. 

You have SO MANY ideas. So much entitlement that everyone needs to hear your ideas out. Why? Why do we need to listen to half-baked ideas? Learn to refine them, find a presentation layer that is not claude generated, then bring them to everyone else. 

You may not be able to think through a scenario fully, but that has never stopped you from interrupting whoever is trying. 

We want to put you in Sales, but you cannot make a pitch. 

We would put you in Coding, but you cannot do it without Claude. 

We would put you in Law, but you cannot write a brief. 

We would put you in Hospitality, but the hours would kill your mojo. 

We would put you in administration, but balancing 3 things together is too much stress. 

We could put you in teaching, but for that you would have to know something first. 

And finally, dear Gen Z, here is what Gen X would like to say: 

To betray you must first belong. 

To desire you must first deserve. 

And even in the dictionary, Responsibilities come before Rights. 

Please, please, take my responsibilities. Deliver the work. Let us retire and rest. The workplace should not be a battleground of the generations. The future belongs to you. No reason the present also should not. 

Best, 

A tired Gen Xer. 

Why its really, really hard to interact with you: 

You have NO IDEA what Please means. You have never said sorry in life. You do not apologise because in your eyes, you are never wrong. 

When we were in a relationship, it was an exclusive commitment, usually leading to marriage. Sure, we had flings that did not lead to marriage. We did not have a buffet of situationship, FWB, FB, polyamory......it feels like everyone has such a spread of choices now but no one is feeling satiated.  

When we had to break up, we broke up. When we had to fight, we fought. We did not ghost, gaslight, breadcrumb, love bomb, bench, etc. The inability to say "I don't think this is working out" or "I think we need to talk" - WHY are you incapable of saying these sentences? 

You do not understand the concept of respect. Not for seniority, not for intelligence. Not even for good work. Or rizz. Your respect lasts one second, and then you are on to the next distraction. 

You have the memory of a goldfish. You cannot read maps. You cannot navigate your neighbourhood without a maps app. You cannot talk to strangers. We walked to a park and joined whoever was playing whatever. We made friends with fellow passengers 15 minutes after the train rolled out of the station and reached everywhere using paper maps and asking strangers for directions. We learnt how to get along with people because we NEEDED to. You don't. 

Mark Twain once said - The world owes you nothing. In your mind, the world owes you EVERYTHING. It is you who owes the world nothing.