i absolutely agree with you, but we could ask ourselves: "how did this entitlement generation come to be?" - they are after all "our" children, so i guess we did something wrong when teaching them values etc... just a thought.
Do you really have to ask this question ? Seriously, you don't need to look very far for the answer. Look at the families of the 50s, 60s and 70s. A working dad, mom at home taking care of the kids. Kids would do chores around the house, go to school, get help with their homework.
It wasn't perfect (balance of the sexes) but as far as creating a solid generation (Generation X), it worked out fine.
The problem came from fast inflation. Somehow, 1 salary wasn't good enough anymore (especially a factory worker salary). Both parents now had to work. Flash forward to the late 80s, early 90s, with both parents at work, children got bought into submission. New nintendo, new toys were fast ways to make the brats shut up when no parent had enough rest to take care of them. Homework is done alone, supper is usually some kind of fast tv dinner or at least eaten in front of the tv.
Do you really wonder where they got the sense of entitlement from ?
As a representative of the 20-somethings (24), I can at least explain partially for this view.
From an employers point of view, they want employees who will be lifers, since turn over is costly for them in training. But what's in it for an employee to stay at one company their whole life? So they can get laid off? Have their jobs shipped overseas?
But that's not a reason to do your job half assed or not take responsibility for your acts. I've seen guys come in to my work place, and not care at all if they perform or get fired. It's not just about being there for life, these guys want to be there and get the promotions now, get the big salary now.
When you train them on how to do simple tasks (like follow operations procedure), they always go "Yeah but...". Usually, the suggestion is just a way for them to have less work with no better results for the company. Then when they have to do the work, they don't follow the procedure, forget things and this results in extra work for everyone else. Again, they go "Yeah but..." instead of just admitting they were wrong.
Heck, when you start questionning them further and telling them they made a mistake, they go "It's not like you don't make mistakes either...". They don't accept blame, they don't take responsibility and they don't seem to want to better themselves. They want to change the things to benefit themselves.
Obviously, the entire generation is not like that, but I'm seeing it more and more as time progresses. The last 3 operators we had straight out of college are walking stereotypes for this behavior. And the 3 interns after them never made operator after their intership. It's downhill year after year.
