My apologies, but I’m going to vent. Here and now.

Hubz & I were watching “normal” tv tonight. By “normal”, I mean network TV, over the air for free, no money. One of the things we noticed was that no matter what, all the kids on this show were still getting “gold stars” for their performances. You know, the automatic “atta boys/girls” “you are an amazing person” etc etc., while saying whether they liked their performance or not. Even if the judges weren’t feeling the performances… “you are awesome”

Hubz looked at me and said “Someone needs to do a skit based around if Hitler had a kid in today’s current ‘supportive’ system. I wonder if anyone would get it.”

Imagine:
Hitler’s kid just gets finished doing something in the school yard, like tries to skin a squirrel or trip the little physically challenged kid. He comes back into the classroom and the teacher says, “That was really heinous little Dieter, but you get a gold star for playing today and coming back inside in a quiet and orderly fashion.” Two things that the kid should have done anyway if taught well by his parents, with no real mention or focus on correcting the inappropriate acts the kid did while he was out in the yard.

Maybe hubz & I are being too critical, but maybe, just maybe we aren’t the only ones who see this trend of “everyone gets a gold star” which is now affecting our current generation of kids entering the work force? A strange sense of entitlement and wanting to get kudos for everything they do, good or bad, so as not to crush their spirits or stunt their emotional growth. 

I see basics like kids in middle school who are touted as being so smart and beyond their classes learning, yet they can’t write OR even spell common words and that’s okay and allowed and not counted against them on tests or papers, “as long as they get their point across.” Or those who don’t understand that a lot is two words. it always has been and it always will be unless you decide to give a portion or allot something to someone, but it’s never alot. Spell check is not your friend in the end if you couldn’t spell the word to begin with or even make an educated attempt at spelling the word.

I keep hearing more and more horror stories from people who are now encountering this generation of kids in the workforce… thinking that they should automatically get a raise after (3) three months because it’s been (3) three months, not because they are good workers. Or some kids who demand they get special treatment now based on their future potential as soon as they finish college. People who are our age (my hubz & mine) having to go thru worker sensitivity training to learn how to DEAL with these kids entering the workforce and how to speak to them…Really?

Retraining people who have been in the workforce for 25-30 years on how to deal with this new sense of indulgence so as not to crush their spirits when they discover that the world is not going to hand them a gold star for missing a major deadline, for example? Can you imagine the dialogue? 

How many clients of yours would be forgiving if you came back to them with “Sorry we missed getting your product/service to you by the time you needed it, but little Jimmy/Jenny didn’t feel comfortable doing the work in the timeline we set, so we told them it was okay and we’ll let you know when they are ready. Oh and we’re giving them a raise because they tried as hard as they could.” or even better, “I know your contract said you’d get a 50% discount, but little Jimmy/Jenny didn’t realize how that math really worked and it was only supposed to be a 15% discount, so we’re going to have to charge you more for this order, okay? Thanks.”

I would hazard a guess and say your business wouldn’t do so well and your clients wouldn’t be giving your company many gold stars for that kind of support or result.

I have been let go because of poor work performance back when I was younger and I knew it. Was I crushed? A bit. Did I let it keep me down and go running home to mommy & daddy? No. I went on, got another job and never looked back. It was part of what I was expected to do. Go out work my butt off and get rewarded for my ability to complete my work and my overall growth and performance as I went on. If I wanted to move up, I couldn’t just expect or demand a promotion/raise just because I felt it was due me, I had to have solid proof of my ability.

Don’t’ want to burst anyone’s bubble, or hurt their feelings, but dang nab it! To quote RuPaul “You gotta work!”

I’m off my soap box for this evening.