This is an article about Walmart and change . But first, can I share a quick message directly with Generation Z ? Cool. I'm Generation X , so probably your parents' generation.
I just wanted to say -- and we don't say this enough -- that we like you guys. We see a lot of ourselves in you. No, we didn't have the exact same experiences that you're having.
In many ways, you have it harder. But if you go back 30 years, we were the generation that older people complained about the same way they complain about you now (some of the same older people, come to think of it). They said we wanted things we hadn't earned, and that we weren't willing to pay our dues.
What they probably meant was that they didn't want to make way for us. The economy was a bear, but people blamed us for not being able to somehow defy the laws of math to buy a house or fund a retirement plan, based on an entry-level McJob and moonlighting by tending bar or working at a video rental store (for example). Oh, and they had zero understanding of technology.
When your older boss asks you for the ninth time to show them how to do some basic task on a computer, but does it with an air that suggests they think this critical tech tool is beneath them, let's just say, as the president when Gen Xers were your age used to say, " I feel your pain ." Maybe some of this sounds familiar. And maybe you're wondering what launched me on this sentimental, cross-generational commiseration? Of all things, it was a press release fro.