I'm turning into my grandparents lol

you know the old story - granny and grampy complaining about how 'kids these days' are lazy and don't know how to work? I remember hearing that from older folks when I was a teenager and in my 20s, working at various jobs. You would hear the stories about how grampa had to walk 5 miles in snow up to his ears to get to work, and then you would just laugh cos you figured Grampa was full of doo-doo and enhancing his nostalgic stories.

Well I think grampa was right, and even with a minor embellishment here and there (like my mom telling me she walked a mile to school and when I visited her home town the darn school was right at the bottom of the hill near her house LOL).... grampa was still right! Because I am turning into that older person that tells nostalgic stories and b*tches about 'the young folk' being lazy.Why? My god just look around!

I have beefed before about how some teen girls at a local A&W actually sighed and rolled their eyes when I went to the counter to ask for more napkins. It was like I had asked them to stand on their heads and sing christmas carols while making my order or something. All I could think at the time was 'holy crud, these girls are making $14 an hour and don't want to lift a finger to get their d*mned checks, when I had to focus focus focus on customer happiness while I worked at KFC when I was their age, for less than 5 bucks an hour'. I started to realize at that point that I was turning into Grampy - but I am RIGHT and grampy was too I'm sure :)

My bf was talking tonight about how he is over 40 and works harder than most of the young people who get hired on at his jobsite and he can hardly stand it. He said that the 22 yr old stands around whining about 'the cold' while the guy that's over 50 is down in a ditch doing physical labour. They are both paid the same, but the young guy cries about the work. He was out on a jobsite for another company today and could not believe how long it took them to get going. He was out there for 7am and nothing was ready until after 11am. He said there were about 6 guys doing a job that only needed 2, and even then it took them over 4 hours to get their cr*p together. It annoys him greatly. They saunter around acting hard-done-by while making almost $30/hour, doing the same job my bf did at their age for only $7/hour. It nearly drives him out of his mind.

He told his young coworker that when he was their age, his pipeline boss told him to 'run and grab that hose'. He said 'I walked, and suddenly my boss ran up behind me and kicked me in the a$$. Like really kicked me in the butt and said 'i told you to RUN', so I ran'. I love that story. It's hilarious. He said he ran anytime someone told him to after that and he was making 7 bucks an hour, working in the mud rain snow sleet and hail, to get the darn job done. That was 20 years ago. Now it takes 3 days to do what they used to do in 1, even though they have better, more specialized equipment nowadays. Sound like grampy talkin'? Yup, it does, and as I said - grampy was right.

If our grandparents and great grandparents thought we were a bunch of whiny lazy little turds, what on earth must they think of the young people TODAY? I'm not saying all of them are lazy of course - there are always going to be some that actually strive to earn their money and go above and beyond expectations - but there are far too many that do not. Yet they are making three times the money per hour we did only 20 years ago. It's disgusting really. It's not like $14 an hour at a fast food restaurant barely lets you get by in today;s world - that's more than I make per hour and I've held my job since 1995 lol. We have hired new kids, 22 and just out of college (or younger) and they literally walk in the door and sit on the floor reading a book instead of watching the kids. Or they go into the bathroom 15 mins before their hour-long lunch break and then take their lunch and come back and go into the can again for another 15 mins (so it's really a 90 min break) and then they say they want more money per hour. GET A GRIP kiddos! Are you insane? We only have one worker in her 20s that has survived and that's because she is the daughter of another worker so she has been brought up to get a job and DO that job.

I remember when I worked in fast food, customer happiness was THE number one issue because if a customer wasnt happy, they werent coming back, and the store and your job would suffer directly. Now I feel like I am being a pain in the arse if I ask for no tomatos on my burger lol. I really do! Last week I stopped at A&W again on the way to work and a new young girl was working. She was SO bored and slow and acting like her life was just going to end cos a customer was speaking to her, I almost left !If it wasnt for my 3 yr old loving a bacon and egg sandwich, I would have told her off and left. Instead, I watched her. She ignored me completely while fiddling with something on the counter, and then finally turned and in the most-bored-everrrrr voice said 'how can i help you?'. It was 8am - WAKE UP CHICKIE lol. I was the only customer at the counter, so it's not like she was busy, and she never spoke to me again after I placed my order. She looked like she was cleaning out buffalo cr*p instead of working a pretty easy job. Easy at that moment cos hello - one freaking customer! If I had acted like that 20 years ago, I would have been fired on the spot. that store is actually still owned by the man that hired my brother back in the mid-90s and there is NO WAY he would have put up with that attitude back then. Im quite shocked to be honest, but I see it everywhere and it's sad. These kids have NO idea what it's like in the real world because there isnt a real world anymore!

Now I understand why gramps and grams tsk'd and tutted every time they went somewhere - because back in their day, kids had to bend over backwards to serve customers for 25 cents an hour lol. My bf remembers that his step dad started working for an oilfield services company in 1976 for $2.50 an hour! He would come home covered in mud and gunk and totally exhausted - while the kids today doing the exact same job are making about $25/hour and more concerned with getting cell reception so they can hop on FB than anything else. It's ridulous. So I'm sorry for thinking your stories were full of kaka gramps and grams! I am starting to sound just like you now, and I finally understand what you were trying to say to us!

Smarten up, quit whining, and just do your d*mned job!