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Being a Boomer was actually pretty plush. I'd rather have been a Boomer than War Gen or anything after us.
At least we grew up with the dream that we could fix the world. We were wrong...but being young with a big dream is more fun than being young without one.
I guess you can speak for yourself when it comes to living the plush life. It hasn't been my experience at all, nor that of my brother who is close to my age, or my husband...or his brother...his wife...my high school friends...I could go on and on. But then - I don't know how old you are. I am 51. During my childhood, my dad spent most of my school years getting shot at over Vietnam. Then he came home to a wrecked economy and had to rebuild his life and ours. He started with a job at the federal penitentiary as a parole officer - then he worked as a minister for awhile (and not a minister for a megachurch either), and then finally ended up in HR for a Burger King franchise owner till well after I had moved out as an adult - at which point he started his own business working from his basement.
I worked from age 13 up - through high school, through college. So did my husband. We both paid for much of our own college. By the time I was 30, my own husband was off at war getting shot at. Throw some PTSD in there, some abuse, and you've got a single mom raising four kids and beating against a glass ceiling at work. Just as my career began to come together, 9/11 came along and the bottom dropped out of my career field - TOTALLY dropped out. So...I re-adjusted and got my real estate license. Had it for three years, built up a good career and income flow in that, and GUESS WHAT - the bottom dropped out of THAT field as well. So...I re-adjusted again, got some more education, and worked my way from an entry level job in banking up to a local manager position. During the worst banking crisis in the US since the great Depression. With no bachelor's degree. Competing against younger people WITH degrees. I built a third career from scratch in my forties, after having the absolute rug yanked out from under me not once, not twice, but three times.
Oh, and while all this was going on, my son spent 21 months in the Triangle of Death in Iraq, was wounded twice, and lost 44 men from his battalion, including his company commander, whose head was blown off right in front of my son (my son has no fingerprints on his right hand because they were burned off as he tried to get his company commander's body out of the burning vehicle). Every day that I went to work, I was afraid that a black vehicle with men in uniform inside it would pull up in front of the bank to deliver terrible news to me.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not crying in my milk or my beer - I'm sure there are stories from every generation before and after mine that are filled with a lot more hardship than mine, and I've had a very exciting and fulfilling life overall. But my story is pretty typical of many BBers. I just want to take the opportunity to remind people of that, lest people get this crazy mental image in their mind of Woodstock, then a career in the movie industry, then a move to NYC and a cushy corner window job with a company that's outsourcing labor to India, then choosing which of my three retirement homes I want to live in while I draw my 70 percent of income pension is the norm for BBers - errrrr, it's not.
I don't guess I ever spent too much time pontificating about saving the world...I was too busy just trying to make a living in an economy that shifted, changed shapes, morphed, crashed, boomed, then crashed again, with a motion as fluid as that of a Cheshire cat.
I hope I was able to teach my Gen Yer kids those same balancing skills - I think I was able to pass those on to them, because they are doing well, as are many of their friends. Like the people I graduated from, some of their friends are doing well and others are struggling. My parents could share similar stories...and my kids' kids will probably be able to relate as well.
I think Gen Y's best hope is either to get into STEM if that's your thing (it's not my thing) or be an entrepreneur and find some way to make money, such as doing YouTube videos, massage therapy or selling books.
(Aside to KathrynAragon: Does your husband know you're calling him old? I think 56 is still firmly in middle age.)
LOL my husband isn't old - but if he's "middle aged" that means he's going to live till he's 112 - and I don't think that EITHER of us are quite up to that!
LOL my husband isn't old - but if he's "middle aged" that means he's going to live till he's 112 - and I don't think that EITHER of us are quite up to that!
He's still a hottie, by the way.
Meh , middle age is a range, not a point. I don't expect to make it to 99, either.
Meh , middle age is a range, not a point. I don't expect to make it to 99, either.
Many men your husband's age are hotties!
Well, you're right on both counts - I consider myself "middle aged" at 51 but in my case, with my family history, I really do stand a very good chance of living till I'm over 100.
Just like every generation blames the one before, they call the one behind lazy. Go back and read old newspapers and you'll find it throughout history.
Why do people here keep saying crap jobs ARE entry level jobs?Most of us in Gen Y are looking for entry level jobs IN OUR FIELD. Those of us with useful degree's want a job in that actually uses at least some of what learned in school.
Entry level jobs should be something that you gain "relative " experience through. If it can be avoided ,I would rather take an unpaid internship + a par-time job than just take some random full-time job for the sake of having a job and wasting time gaining irrelevant work experience. One big issue I've seen is that many Entry level jobs want experience.
Just like every generation blames the one before, they call the one behind lazy. Go back and read old newspapers and you'll find it throughout history.
Why do people here keep saying crap jobs ARE entry level jobs?Most of us in Gen Y are looking for entry level jobs IN OUR FIELD. Those of us with useful degree's want a job in that actually uses at least some of what learned in school.
Entry level jobs should be something that you gain "relative " experience through. If it can be avoided ,I would rather take an unpaid internship + a par-time job than just take some random full-time job for the sake of having a job and wasting time gaining irrelevant work experience. One big issue I've seen is that many Entry level jobs want experience.
You make a couple of valid points here. Working as a waitress, for example, is an entry-level job only for someone wishing to go into the restaurant or hospitality business. Similarly, running a cash register at Kmart isn't entry-level for any field other than retail. And neither of these jobs requires a degree.
At the same time, a lot of what once would've been considered entry-level jobs in several fields are starting to show up with "must have X years of experience" attached. Sometimes the ads say that AND still state the job is entry-level. It's like employers want it both ways.
Last edited by Kineticity; 01-21-2014 at 03:26 PM..
You make a couple of valid points here. Working as a waitress, for example is an entry-level job only for someone wishing to go into the restaurant or hospitality business. Similarly, running a cash register at Kmart isn't entry-level for any field other than retail. And neither of these jobs requires a degree.
At the same time, a lot of what once would've been considered entry-level jobs in several fields are starting to show up with "must have X years of experience" attached. Sometimes the ads say that AND still state the job is entry-level. It's like employers want it both ways.
What would be good is if we had more post grad paid internships or part-time jobs in these fields. or at least provide alternatives to college.
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I think 56 is still firmly in middle age.)
