Generation X at Work

I know it's been over a week since I've posted, but it's been a pretty uneventful week. I'll post some pictures tomorrow from the Wild hockey game. Today I want to post about an article I read about what it is GenX people want out of work. Although the exact dates are debated, this particular article defined a Gen Xer as someone born between 1964 and 1977. Since I fall into that category, I was curious what the article had to say.

According to a survey of 1,200 Gen X employees, the following were the top 3 job characteristics (out of 15):

• Positive relationships with colleagues
  
• Interesting work
  
• Continuous opportunities for learning
  

Lets examine each one of these characteristics shall we? First off, we have the positive relationships with colleagues. Or as I like to call it, "Don't be an asshole at work." If you want to have positive relationships, then use common sense. Be honest, courteous, and respectful to your coworkers. Engage people in witty conversation if you so deem it necessary and don't bother people when they are busy. However, if this characteristic is referring to some kind of deeper meaningful relationship with coworkers, then ahhh wtf? Work relationships are called that because they happen AT WORK. If you have some need/desire to have a deeper relationship with coworkers, then you need to be spending less time at work. Don't even get me started on people that use the workplace as a dating pool.

Okay so onto the second characteristic: Interesting work. Ummmm no shit sherlock. You mean people don't want to sit around staring at computer screens all day? Office Space FTW! (that’s "For the Win" for you non-gamers) I'd never have guessed this one. Too bad "interesting work" is itself an oxymoron. If it were "interesting" and "fun" it wouldn't be work, it would be what I do on my free time. I think the main problem here is that too many Gen Xers look at work as something to be "enjoyed". Sounds great in theory, to bad reality is a bitch huh? If we all got "paid" to do what we enjoyed, I'm pretty sure the economy would collapse in a matter of hours.

Which brings us to the final characteristic, continuous opportunities for learning. I'm so sick of hearing this. So many people around my age, older and younger, go on about how they love to learn. Sure, even I've said it, it works great during interviews. But if you love learning so much, go read a book. Go explore another country. Find a cure for cancer. I'll be the first to admit - I don't enjoy learning in the pure sense of the word. I'm a boring, small minded individual with a narrow view of the world and very little concern about what goes on around me unless it directly effects my family, my friends or me. There I said it. I don't wake up every morning going, "Gee, what don't I know that I can learn today?" And I sure as hell don't expect my employer to provide me with some type of life enriching learning experiences. If I want that, I'll make it happen. I'll DO something that gives me the opportunity to learn. You know, like becoming a Father?

They probably would have been better off calling this a "Biased survey of 1,200 over-educated, over-paid, well off Gen Xers with nothing better to do but dream about a more interesting job." Cause you know somewhere out there is a GenX garbage man, sorry "Sanitation Laborer", who probably doesn’t look forward to work each day because of his "continuous opportunities to learn" about what kind of shit people throw away. Or maybe I'm just too cynical.