Now, about this generation.....

[BarryBobPosthole]

I'm talking the generation of kids that are my kid's age.....they'd be 25-30 or so right now. One of the things I've really started to notice, me being a journeyman noticer, is how much this generation is struggling to find their way in life. The ones I know, that'd be mostly my kids, nieces and nephews, and their close friends, can't make up their minds what the hell they want to do in their lives. Its like they are thinking something is gonna happen, a switch is gonna throw, or a cloud is going to take a shape, and show them what they want to be when they grow up. They're good kids, all of 'em that I know. They have awesome values, they are willing to work hard, and they are some of the most comfortable young people around people outside their own age group that I've ever seen. But a lot of them seem to just be in a holding pattern waiting for that $100k a year job to pop out of nowhere and save them.

I sure don't understand it. I don't recall ever having that much angst about what I wanted to do with myself, career wise. If you look at my high school yearbook my senior year, under 'Ambition' it says 'Electronic communication'. It seems like I've wanted to do something in the field since I was first around radio when I was a kid.

What the heck did we do to screw these kids up? Or is it our fault as parents? I ain't saying they're bad people, just the opposite, but they sure as hell are confused.

BKB

[Buckrub]

Yeah, I think it's probably our fault. I think we either allowed, or possibly facilitated, their becoming the "channel changer" generation. Heck, it's even rubbed off on us. If they don't like A, they say "Heck with A", and they try B. They figure they are now going to live to be 204 years old and have time. They are in it for them. They think less of others than they do themselves. Most of their conversations are not about "How is Aunt Betty?" anymore, it's "I did X and then I'm going to visit Z".......

And no, that's not all of them, or even half..........but it's enough that it bothers me too.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Man, I hope that's not the reason. It could be. Most of them though are pretty thoughtful at least the ones I know well. Its the tendency to bitch and moan about their situation but not being able to come up with a plan to do something about it that irks me the most though, I gotta admit. Its like they know how to set goals and stuff and reach them, but they forgot how to enjoy the getting there part or something.


BKB

[Buckrub]

Maybe should only speak for myself. Always gave 'em what they wanted, even when that changed often. They came to expect it. Two of 'em shook that off and learned how to live right, one didn't really. Guess that's about the general percentage.

[Thumper]

My son (just turned 30 last month) recently finished school ... some sort of mechanical design school or sumpin' (I'm not even sure myself). He was the same way. After h/s he wanted to be a firefighter and went to firefighting school ... but his mom insisted he also become a paramedic. He wanted no part of it, became disenchanted and dropped out. I will say, he's worked at a Chevy dealership since h/s and has held a steady job there for 12+ years, so he does have a good work ethic, just never quite knew what direction he wanted to take. I'm proud of him though and he bought his first house (by himself, NO help from mom or dad) a couple years ago, has been working a fulltime job and going to night school and hasn't knocked up any of his MANY girlfriends. He recently graduated and has finally left the Chevy dealer to take a job in his new career. They seem to like him and are cross-training him in every department in the company. We talked just the other day and he was a bit confused as to why they were moving him around so much. I informed him it's a GOOD thing. I did the same when I was a "kid" ... I started out sweeping floors, parking cars, p/u and deliver customers and/or cars, ran parts, became a mechanic's helper, a mechanic, a dispatcher, a service advisor, a shop foreman .. and then moved into "middle management". My employees always appreciated the fact I could do (and had at one time done) their jobs and could relate to their problems or needs.

I hope I convinced my son to take this bouncing around as a positive thing and that they're grooming him for bigger and better things in the future. Plus, he will make a great go-to guy when they're short-handed in a certain area, which translates to job security. I hope I was able to turn (what he considered) a negative into a positive for him. He seems happy and has "maybe" found a home with a future ... finally.

That said, when I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be involved with cars. They were my passion at the time. I loved working on them, but my goal wasn't to be "just" a mechanic. When I was about to graduate h/s, it was like the scene in "The Graduate" where Dustin Hoffman was confused as to what career goal he wanted to pursue. One dude pulled him aside and said, "PLASTICS"! That scene has been forever implanted in my brain because I experienced the same thing. In "my day" ... Engineering was the thing to do. So, I went to college to become a Mechanical Engineer. I hated every minute of it. I knew I didn't want to be an engineer, but I felt everyone else expected it from me. I was miserable but continued on. Then I got the call from a big-wig from General Motors whom I'd met through the G.M. Training Center in Memphis. He knew me personally and had a ton of recommendations from other big-wigs in Detroit who'd worked with me and he convinced me to move to Texas to work at the G.M. Assembly Plant in Arlington. He wanted to start me on the line (due to union restrictions) but would see to it I would work my way up into the main office at an accelerated pace. I dropped out of college, moved to Texas on a Saturday in preparation to start work on Monday. SUNDAY the railroads went on strike! How can a plant run with no trains to bring in parts? First thing Monday morning (the day I was to start), they put a freeze on hiring! Damn! The strike dragged on and they started laying off workers. It was explained to me, due to union rules, I could not be hired until ALL laid-off workers had returned to work. The strike dragged on and more were laid off. I finally took a job at a gas station while I waited.

In the meantime, they started the draft lottery. Since I gave up my student deferment when I quit school ... well, you guessed it ... I was drawn with a low number ... welcome to Vietnam son!! I got that out of the way and was seriously considering re-enlisting .. it was the only job I'd ever had that I really enjoyed, BUT ... my dad had this wild idea about starting a business building custom Cadillacs (pick-ups and station wagons). He sucked me right in and I had fun with it. The business was a great success and we built '74's - '76's. In '77, the body style totally changed and we needed a bazillion $$$ we didn't have to totally retool. We folded and I went back to dealership work at a time the car business wasn't fun anymore. I made a good living at it, but was never happy with my job. I'd finally had enough, quit and moved back to Florida to start my own business. Same problem, I KNEW I wanted to work for myself, but had no clue what I wanted to do. I kind of stumbled into something, thought "I can do that" and started working. Like the car business, I made great money, but really didn't like what I was doing. After 20 years, the economy went into the toilet, I closed the business and started driving a truck to pay the bills. Health issues hit me HARD and I couldn't even do that anymore ... now I live on disability. :(

The point of this whole diatribe (and autobiography) is the fact, to this day, I'm not sure I EVER knew what I wanted to do with my life. Oh sure, I had dreams, but I have to be realistic and limit it to what I'd been capable of doing ... for example, a porn star would have been fun, but I didn't have the "proper equipment". ;)

Looking back ... playing James Bond in the military was the one job I really enjoyed and I probably should have made the military my career. Heck, I'd have retired 22 years ago with a nice pension and full benefits .. yet here I am today, wondering what tomorrow will bring.

Soooo, I'm not totally sure "our" generation was that much different than today's. Same ballgame, just a different ball park.

[Niner]

Hells bells.......I am STILL trying to decide what I want to do when I grow up. :banghead

[Sunshine]

I'm with you Niner. Still don't know what I want to be, when I grow up.

I can actually say if had known how my life would have been, married to my first husband, I would never had married him. Wasted 23 yrs.

My life would have been different, hopefully better and maybe I would have known what I wanted to be.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Another thing I've noticed about that generation is how clueless they are about just how stuff works. My step dad has a tenth grade education, as does my mom. Yet, my step dad is the best electrical engineer/mechanical genius I've ever met. And my Mom has been successfully running the financial side of their businesses her whole life. And yet, most of this new generation seems to think that education is the answer to everything. Everybody wants to 'go back to school'. Bullshit. Research it a little bit. You don't have to go to school to read a textbook. Its about having a basic curiosity in how things work and the gumption to go try it. Failure is just another data point. I envy Captain for his artistry, yes artistry, with just about anything he touches and fixes. While I'm nowhere near that talent level, I am a passable shade tree mechanic and I at least know what makes things go. A lot of that is likely being dumb enough to try just about anything, but I think there's an innate aptitude that's part of it too.
BKB

[Thumper]

Excellent point P-hole! When I was a kid, I just HAD to take things apart to see how they worked. If something broke, I'd jump right in, rip it apart and try to fix it (and USUALLY did). Heck, I kinda miss the old days when the tv or radio would go on the blink and I'd pull the tubes, go down to the local drug store, pop 'em in the ol' tube tester, buy a replacement for the bad one and go home to fix the tv. I think I was doing that when I was when I was 8-9 years old!

But it's not really ALL the new generation's fault. We now live in a "disposable" society. Many things are riveted together instead of screwed or bolted. That's a clue right there. I remember probably 25 years ago, we had a party and somebody stuffed too many strawberries into the blender while making margaritas and burned up the motor. I took the thing apart days later and set out to order a new motor for it. HUH??? A new motor was something like $39.95 and I think I paid $19.95 for the frigging blender when it was new! It was meant to be thrown away if it broke.

And cars? I used to be able to do ANYTHING with an automobile. If it broke, chances were I could fix it. Nowadays, you need a bazillion $$$ computer just to find out what's wrong with it ... and the same story, parts get changed out ... not repaired or rebuilt. These days if my car quits, I know it's useless to even open the hood. Like Bucky talking about his boat motor the other day, it's sometimes hard to figure out where the frigging spark plugs are on many of today's cars.

[BarryBobPosthole]

That's another thing I find amazing about my step dad. He always helped me work on my old cars when I was a kid. I bought a 65 VW once and we took the whole thing apart and rebuilt the engine on the back porch! (talk about 'you might be a redneck if....). anyway, my folks had just sold one of their businesses once and he had some free time so he went to work for a family friend working on marine engines. He'd never even owned a boat before and here he was rebuilding marine engines. he got a pretty good reputation and the best engine guy in that area and everyone wanted him to work on their boat motors. I look at a two cycle marine engine and just scratch my head.
BKB