Why were the 70s such a tacky decade?

[2jakes]

Actually, underemployment was a very big issue in the '70s and on into the '80s. There were a lot of people working part time who wanted full time work and the jobs just weren't there. I spent a good three years after getting out of school trying to find *any kind of* full time work, but with a 25 percent local unemployment rate I was screwed. My first job after graduation was sorting empty soda bottles in a leaky shed behind a grocery store, up to my ankles in stagnant water, stale beer, and flies. If I was lucky I got 20 hours a week at $3.35 an hour. I considered that pretty damn "underemployed."

My mother started the seventies working fifteen hours a week as a cook in a nursing home, and we had to go on welfare because she couldn't get anything better than that. Underemployment.

:bolt:the 60s... $1.69 an hour...sorting empty soda bottles in back sheds of saloons / beer joints.
There's nothing quite like the aroma of stale beer bottles in the hot summer time. uke:

 

[LizzieMaine]

But even that was better than working on the line in the t-shirt factory. On my feet ten to twelve hours a day, breathing toulene and acetone vapors, repetitive motion, on machines with the safety guards disabled because "they slowed down production." Can you tell it was a non-union shop?

 

[2jakes]

But even that was better than working on the line in the t-shirt factory. On my feet ten to twelve hours a day, breathing toulene and acetone vapors, repetitive motion, on machines with the safety guards disabled because "they slowed down production." Can you tell it was a non-union shop?

 

[HudsonHawk]

There were no participation trophy's. Second place was the first looser!

 

[HudsonHawk]

I still believe this is why the generations who grew up with this "There are no losers; everybody is a winner" rubbish are so screwed up. First, if you reward youngsters for mediocrity as well as for actual accomplishments they have no way to determine their strengths and weaknesses, so they grow older believing they're good at everything. Second, it teaches those who perform poorly that they don't have to try harder to receive the same rewards as those who perform well. Third, it teaches those who perform well that their extra efforts were for nothing because the dullard standing next to them received an equal reward for a lesser performance. :tsk:

While I agree with this in principle, it also leads to the idea that the trophy is all that matters, which is often just a manifestation of parental unfulfillment. I've coached kids baseball for many years, everything from 6 year olds to 16 year olds. The parents of the 6-year olds are usually the worst. "My kid is the best player on the team, why isn't he playing more." "You're gonna cost my kid a college scholarship." "We would have won that game if you hadn't put in that sorry Shlabotnik kid", and on an on. First of all, your kid is terrible. Secondly, he's going to peak at around 10, so I hope you've got a back up plan for his education that doesn't involve an athletic scholarship. Thirdly, they're 6 years old. I'm happy if they're not picking daisies in the outfield. I tell all my parents the first day...at this level, it's about having fun and learning/improving basic skills. If they do that, it will have been a success, and you should congratulate them appropriately for it. Trust me, there'll be plenty of opportunity to separate the "winners" from the "losers" before they start shaving.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've been supervising millenials in a workplace environment for nearly a full decade now, and I can honestly say I've never had a single kid with the kind of attitude people seem to think they all have. Maybe it's because all the kids I hire come from working-class backgrounds and didn't go to fancy schools, but they're all honest and hard-working, and none of them have any sense of "being a winner because I showed up." None of them ever got trophies, either. I'd even suggest that some of these kids work a lot harder for what they have than a lot of the dough-bottomed internet jockeys who criticize them.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I've been supervising millenials in a workplace environment for nearly a full decade now, and I can honestly say I've never had a single kid with the kind of attitude people seem to think they all have. Maybe it's because all the kids I hire come from working-class backgrounds and didn't go to fancy schools, but they're all honest and hard-working, and none of them have any sense of "being a winner because I showed up." None of them ever got trophies, either. I'd even suggest that some of these kids work a lot harder for what they have than a lot of the dough-bottomed internet jockeys who criticize them.

I've never had an issue with millenials not working hard. But there are issues with 1) they want to do it on their own terms ("I don't mind doing 8 hours of work, but I'll do it between noon and midnight, in between my doing other things") and 2) they have unrealistic expectations about being rewarded for doing their jobs ("I did what I was assigned, now where's my raise and promotion?"). I suspect the latter is something like the participation trophy mentality, though I don't think they expect to get something for just showing up. Of course, these are all very bright, top-of-their-class college graduates, so I'm sure that influences their attitude as well.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I've never had an issue with millenials not working hard. But there are issues with 1) they want to do it on their own terms ("I don't mind doing 8 hours of work, but I'll do it between noon and midnight, in between my doing other things") and 2) they have unrealistic expectations about being rewarded for doing their jobs ("I did what I was assigned, now where's my raise and promotion?"). I suspect the latter is something like the participation trophy mentality, though I don't think they expect to get something for just showing up. Of course, these are all very bright, top-of-their-class college graduates, so I'm sure that influences their attitude as well.

When I was in high school the listings for summer jobs were at the school's Career Center and you could always tell which ones were the jobs nobody wanted (crazy hours, a-hole boss, etc) because the job listing almost always included the descriptor "character building." lol

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've never had an issue with millenials not working hard. But there are issues with 1) they want to do it on their own terms ("I don't mind doing 8 hours of work, but I'll do it between noon and midnight, in between my doing other things") and 2) they have unrealistic expectations about being rewarded for doing their jobs ("I did what I was assigned, now where's my raise and promotion?"). I suspect the latter is something like the participation trophy mentality, though I don't think they expect to get something for just showing up. Of course, these are all very bright, top-of-their-class college graduates, so I'm sure that influences their attitude as well.

I've never run into any of this. My kids will show up whenever I need them, and will do whatever I ask them without kicking. Perhaps because our operation is run like a family -- we don't so much hire kids as adopt them. They know I care about them as people, not as interchangeable minimum-wage drones, and they know they're always going to get a fair deal from me if they do their jobs well.

If you want to understand why employees are lousy, the first place to look is their bosses.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I've never run into any of this. My kids will show up whenever I need them, and will do whatever I ask them without kicking. Perhaps because our operation is run like a family -- we don't so much hire kids as adopt them. They know I care about them as people, not as interchangeable minimum-wage drones, and they know they're always going to get a fair deal from me if they do their jobs well.

If you want to understand why employees are lousy, the first place to look is their bosses.

Having a family run atmosphere probably helps. Ours work in a 70,000-employee multi-national corporation. It's hard to feel special.

As for them having a lousy boss, I do my best. I can recognize their expectations, but there's only so much I can do to accomodate them. I've reconciled in my mind that we only have one CEO and I'm not him, nor will I ever be. I'm ok with that, and I've enjoyed a rewarding career anway. Perhaps that's a defeatist attitude that's rubbing off, but indulging their fantasies doesn't get them ahead any faster either.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Perhaps because our operation is run like a family -- we don't so much hire kids as adopt them. They know I care about them as people, not as interchangeable minimum-wage drones, and they know they're always going to get a fair deal from me if they do their jobs well.

If you want to understand why employees are lousy, the first place to look is their bosses.

Sounds like the boss at the first job that I ever held, 1970-72. Setting trap targets at a gun club (trap & skeet) for the princely sum of $1.70/ hour. I'm guessing that OSHA would never let a sixteen year old near those trap machines today (they could rip off one's arm) and there was always the remote risk of getting shot, but it sure beat flipping burgers.

My boss had been a young lieutenant under (and had been chewed out by) the great General Patton. (Well, I think that he is the Vastly Overrated General Patton...but I digress.) Many was the day that he saw to it that one of his boys had a hot meal, or a warm jacket, or even a cash advance. Sad to say that he died too damn young. I've had a number of good bosses since, but never a better one.

 

[sola fide]

Polyester!!!
Mike A

 

[jamespowers]

....but indulging their fantasies doesn't get them ahead any faster either.

lol lol lol

 

[Harp]

My boss had been a young lieutenant under (and had been chewed out by) the great General Patton. (Well, I think that he is the Vastly Overrated General Patton...but I digress.).

sit fur, sit sacrilegus: at est bonus imperator (Verr. v. iv). [angel]

 

[jamespowers]

sit fur, sit sacrilegus: at est bonus imperator (Verr. v. iv). [angel]

sit fur, sit sacrilegus, sit flagitiorum omnium vitiorumque princeps; at est bonus imperator … (Cic. Ver. 5.4)

 

[2jakes]

sit Lassie, sit fur, good girl... (Chapt.1,ver.1954 series)

A true Champion...

 

[jamespowers]

sit Lassie, sit girl ...( Chap. 1 1954 series )

A true Champion...

Without worry of him taking over the world.

 

[2jakes]

Without worry of him taking over the world.

Him ????

 

[jamespowers]

Him ????

Her---even worse.

 

[Harp]

sit fur, sit sacrilegus, sit flagitiorum omnium vitiorumque princeps; at est bonus imperator … (Cic. Ver. 5.4)

sit Lassie, sit fur, good girl..

:eusa_clap lol