Could Today's Young Employee's Handle Employment Years Ago?

Discussion in 'Not Sure Where it Goes' started by Cody Fousnaugh, Mar 27, 2018.

  1. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    LIke, before cell phones came to being? At work, a non-office employee had to call on a pay phone in the Break Room or wait until the supervisor or manager left and use the phone in their office to make any personal calls. If the employee had their own office, they could use their office phone. Companies back in the 80's really frowned on personal calls coming into the company or being made from the company.

    Like, only being able to work from work? Today, a company can set up a person's PC at home, so the employee can work from home sometimes. That was never done way back when.

    Like, no computers? I didn't start using a computer at work until 1989. In fact, when I worked for a division of Bell & Howell (1982 thru 1986) there wasn't any computers at all in the company. We manufactured microfilm computers, but no computers for Inventory, Purchasing, Shipping/Receiving or anything else. Inventory was done on 3 x 5 Index Cards and the Buyer used Buy Cards for Purchasing. Could today's young employee's survive in that type of atmosphere??

    REALLY, could today's young employee's handle what we, us Senior's, had to handle back in the 80's and some time beyond?

    Do they really know how good they have it???
     
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  2. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I'm sure they could if not used to iPhones etc.

    Lots of companies even now don't allow personal calls etc.
     
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  3. Kitty Carmel

    Kitty Carmel Veteran Member
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    While technology has helped many, in many ways it's been a disaster in the workplace. I'm not talking about doing actually work. I'm talking about people talking on their cell phones when they should be working and looking at non work stuff on the computer when they should be doing work on the computer. I think some people get by with too much at work.
     
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  4. Tex Dennis

    Tex Dennis Veteran Member
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    Per topic I have seen them not able to make change for a customer when the computer was not working telling them how much, plus attendance issues
     
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  5. Kitty Carmel

    Kitty Carmel Veteran Member
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    OMG I had this happen to me once at Sears. I bought one item. Came to something like $16.37 for example. I gave the young female individual (I'm refraining from calling her anything else) $21.37 to get a five back. The register was down and she couldn't figure it out.
     
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  6. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Today, young employee's are ordering stuff online during business hours, not just during breaks. My wife seen one young lady ordering Christmas stuff.

    And, since the younger generation can text pretty fast, many will text their boyfriend or girlfriend, because texting isn't talking.

    I will still say that today's generation simply couldn't make it in the workplace that we endured. No cell phones, no computers...........they would be totally lost!
     
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  7. Harry Havens

    Harry Havens Veteran Member
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    The older generation would also be totally lost without those conveniences.
     
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  8. Jane Smith

    Jane Smith Veteran Member
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    Every new generation has it easier than the previous one. It's called progress and as parents it's what we hope for our children. The generation prior to ours could rightfully claim that they had it tougher than ours. If the technology is there why not embrace it?
     
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  9. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Not nearly as many as you might think. There are plenty of the older generation that don’t even like cell phones and computers.
     
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  10. Kitty Carmel

    Kitty Carmel Veteran Member
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    @Cody Fousnaugh I went to Kmart once and there was no line. Lucky me. So I went to the register and the young punk is on his cell phone texting. I felt like going to another register but I just paid and left.
     
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  11. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Although I have had a computer since the early 1980s, my son has never used a computer and has no interest in it. Since I adopted him when I was very young, he's only thirteen years younger than me, but has never used a computer.
     
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  12. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    At the small Country store my Honey works part time at there are a lot of young workers for the after school and early evening shifts. There is a policy at the store that no cell phone usage is allowed unless you are on your break. At one time there was a real problem enforcing this policy until the Boss just starting collecting any cell phones from workers not obeying the policy. At the end of their shifts their cell phones were returned to them. :)

    I don't find that young people have the same work ethic that youth had in the past either. Many do not want to start at the bottom and work their way up...nor do they want to be paid minimum wage. And why should they? Most of their parents give them everything they want for doing absolutely nothing...and now they think everyone else should do this too.
     
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  13. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    If I were employing someone to perform a task, I know that I wouldn't appreciate having them on their cellphones while they were supposed to be working. As it is, the only people I have employed were EMTs and paramedics, but the nature of their job was to wait around until a call came in, so I didn't much care what they did with their time while they were waiting for a call to come in, as long as their ambulance was clean and stocked. We even had computers available for them to use while on duty. I employed a few instructors while I was the program chairman for the EMT program at TSTC, but when they were working, they were teaching, so that wasn't a problem.
     
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  14. Harry Havens

    Harry Havens Veteran Member
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    Probably as many as was in the walmart parking lot today... driving the wrong way in almost every lane. lol
     
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  15. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    I believe @Babs Hunt has really gotten to the crux of the whole matter.
    If we leave out the technological differences and simply look at the way the younger generation operates, we have a whole different view of things.
    Most of us were brought up with some type of work and life ethic which has nearly disappeared with today's youth. A vast majority expects a reward or award for simply participating even though little effort if any is applied to whatever the task might be.
    It seems that the whole psychology is changed in that they somehow believe that they are owed something for nothing and owed more if they happen to really do something that might tax their brains.

    But not to bring the youth to the judges bench too quickly, who is it who taught them or rather, didn't teach them what they really need to know in order to be successful in life and at work? Who didn't teach ethics and morals and the whole psychology of work and personal performance? Who allowed the kids to sit around and play with their new toys instead of doing homework, housework, and earning their allowance? Who decided that a swat on the butt wasn't good for a kid when they screwed up?

    Yeah, I know that there are a whole lot of government directives which dictate how our public schools teach and even how parents should rear their children but who allowed those directives to be put into place?

    Maybe...........some of our generation didn't do so well after all......................
     
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