https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:20:51 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy/page/2#post-1093028 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 15:10:19 +0000 googly-eyes 1093028@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mae: all good points, I agree!</p> <p>On a personal note, I wasn't frustrated after college because I couldn't get a lucrative job... I was frustrated because I couldn't get any job, with a decent work history (for a 20 year old) that started at 16 (really I worked at 15 summers for my dad but I never put that down) and a college degree albeit a useless one. I would have been happy to answer the phones or work at Starbucks or retail to start... I did eventually get job offers but in the meantime it was frustrating, yes. Dh was flat out lied to by the city he works for about pay. The older people always tell the younger ones to leave for greener pastures if they can (not sure if there are any but dh may leave anyway.) So I don't think being disappointed necessarily means we were totally delusional.</p> <p>Also on a personal note I know very few of these types of people and lots who work where they can and make do.. But that of course could be just because I don't associate with a certain type?</p> <p>While pretty exaggerated there was a kernel of truth in there about having realistic expectations. Who is to blame? That I'm not sure of.. I don't think those described got their expectations from thin air... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy/page/2#post-1093014 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 15:06:32 +0000 cascademom 1093014@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mediagirl: The entitlement part of that question gets me as I'm dealing with a coworker who acts like this and is about 5-7 years older than me (39-40 years old). If I didn't know any better, she acts like the entitled younger ones I've come across. What grinds my gears about it is that I've worked for 7 years to get where I am, have a degree in the field, etc. She took the position 6 months ago and has more flexibility than me. She acts super superior to me. So annoying. Sorry if this is turning into a vent, but the entitlement thing happens in all generations and workplaces. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy/page/2#post-1092957 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 14:45:18 +0000 Mrs. High Heels 1092957@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrbee: oops I meant the boomers then wrote Gen X, but that's who I meant. Sorry! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy/page/2#post-1092826 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 13:53:12 +0000 mrbee 1092826@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. High Heels: I had always heard it was the boomers who got the US into its current financial rut? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy/page/2#post-1092822 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 13:51:50 +0000 dojo 1092822@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This was interesting! This is how I felt right out of college (with my mostly useless art degree). I was unhappy working front desk positions and after a few years decided to go back to school to pursue a more technical degree. Unfortunately life caught up with us and DH and I decided to get married and buy a house (and more recently have a baby) and couldn't do this with one income so I stopped my classes and went back to working full time. I basically ended up having to start back at the bottom. I still feel frustrated and unhappy but I do feel that I have matured and understand that I will have to work longer and harder to get closer to where I would like to be. I will probably never be in the flowery garden meadow with prancing unicorns and that's ok with me. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy/page/2#post-1092812 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 13:48:41 +0000 Mrs. Sketchbook 1092812@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I think it depends. Gen Yers are less likely to buy a car or a house. They may like gadgets, or trips, but those sorts of luxuries aren't near as excessive as boomer Cadillacs and gen x McMansions. What telegraphs "success" has changed. I don't think this generation is more materialistic, they just want different material goods than previous generations did </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092776 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 13:34:09 +0000 Shutterbug 1092776@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is interesting, and growing up in a very affluent community (in the poor section) and going to a fairly ritzy liberal arts college (on grants and scholarships) I definitely know lots of entitled Gen Y-ers. They get degrees in something impractical, lean on their parents for financial support well past college, complain that they aren't taken seriously at work, complain that they can't buy XYZ rightthisminute.</p> <p>My parents were very solidly lower middle class when I was growing up. My mom was a SAHM, my dad was (still is) a blue collar worker, and while my childhood was wonderful, they didn't give me unrealistic expectations of my future. I worked for everything I wanted, starting with babysitting at 12, and summer/after school jobs starting at 15. </p> <p>Now at 30 I am more successful than my parents. I think, as the article says, this is the reason I don't relate to the people they are describing - because my reality exceeds my expectations. I never expected to love my job every single day, and I never expected to have everything I wanted by my 20's. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092713 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 13:14:42 +0000 avivoca 1092713@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@2PeasinaPod: I feel like you do. My husband and I have worked hard to get where we are and have put in our time with crappy jobs to get where we are now. He's not managing anyone, but he works with a girl who will literally not do anything unless she's getting paid for it. Sometimes they are asked to volunteer for certain projects that might not have a lot of money left in the budget, and she won't do them and wonders why she isn't getting promoted. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092711 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 13:13:39 +0000 MsLipGloss 1092711@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: Hahaha! As a matter of fact, some of the *ladies* I worked with at my corporate job never bothered to learn my name . . . they just called me the *front desk girl*. When I left for law school a few years later, several these same *ladies* either interviewed for my position (I was conducting the interviews for my replacement) and/or sought career advice from me. I am sure you can imagine what part of the *advice* entailed . . . ! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092685 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 13:05:45 +0000 2PeasinaPod 1092685@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I mostly agree with this article. I've worked pretty hard to get where I am today and so has my DH, but now that he's managing a few people, he's feeling the effects of this. He has a particular employee who he can't give any constructive feedback to b/c she has such an entitlement attitude. She expects to be at the top of the ranks when it comes to merit time for doing mediocre work and doesn't really understand when people are promoted over her. Definitely a tough person to manage. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092673 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 13:02:33 +0000 looch 1092673@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MsLipGloss: omg, are you me? what are the chances that we both started out answering the phones? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092669 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 13:02:20 +0000 mrbee 1092669@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mediagirl: I think she's referring to the word gypsy, which can be seen as a pejorative or racist term?</p> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_Romani_people#Gypsy_and_Gipsy" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_Romani_people#Gypsy_and_Gipsy</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092667 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 13:01:16 +0000 MsLipGloss 1092667@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mediagirl: I am right there with you . . . imo, that makes us Generation Awesome! :P I, too, have worked from the ground up, starting with working through college with crappy jobs, and, at least in undergrad, usually working 2 jobs while going to school full-time (although my first true job was as a full-time nanny the summer before my senior year in HS), starting out in corporate America as a receptionist and rising through the ranks, deciding to go back to law school (and figuring out how to pay for school and support myself), and then starting all over again as a new attorney right before a huge economic crisis. I understand working for what I want (which I why I work at night after a full day at work and after solo-ing all of the late afternoon and bedtime routine activites for LO), and not expecting any handouts or breaks. I am suuuuper appreciative when they come along, but that's because I don't expect them. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092639 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 12:54:04 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 1092639@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So true! </p> <p>The article left out while or parents were telling us we were special they were giving us any and everything our hearts desired. Gyspy's feel entitled to have fulfilling careers and stuff- fab housing, clothes, gadgets, trips. Realizing starting salaries and meager wages cannot afford all the stuff breaks the heart of Gypsys. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092574 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 12:36:55 +0000 looch 1092574@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mediagirl: thanks! </p> <p>I think the larger issue at play is the shift that's occuring in terms of offshoring white collar jobs. We're not reacting well as a country, we're complaining that the jobs are going offshore but we're lagging behind in innovation, which is what built this country. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092550 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 12:31:49 +0000 Mrs. Sketchbook 1092550@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I love the article but I don't mind being a GYPSY. I have seen firsthand (my parents) the damaging effects of putting ones career over family and personal satisfaction, and I don't want to go down that road. I would rather be poor but at least feel that my life is congruent with my values. My perspective is that GYPSYs will eventually learn to live with less out of necessity, but may ultimately be happier than their parents. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092516 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 12:19:09 +0000 mediagirl 1092516@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: If it was possible to give you a round of applause on the internet, I would. I identify with everything you said.</p> <p>@pastemoo: gypsy or yuppie? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092484 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 12:09:45 +0000 mediagirl 1092484@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ShootingStar: I would expect someone I hire to fire back at me for asking like "why are you superior to your co-workers?" It is a sucky question but Paul Harvey has a good point in why you should ask it. </p> <p>@MsLipGloss: I completely agree with what you said here: "I had a relative who used to say *they call it work for a reason . . . it if were meant to be fun, it would have been called fun* . . . My point being that I have never looked to my career for personal happiness. A sense of achievement which contributed to my overall happiness? Sure. But my *calling* and thus the source of my happiness/sense of self? Meh, not so much."</p> <p>My Dad has said the same thing to me that your relative said to you.</p> <p>My husband and I have jobs that provide us with our basic needs and more. Neither of us are in love with our jobs but we work to make money and to feel some personal accomplishment. We never expected anything to be handed to us. </p> <p>That being said, we were born in '73 and '77 so perhaps we were just before the period this article talks about? I've always felt like people born when we were are kind of in a lost category. We're lumped into GenX and GenY ...so what does that make us? Another lost generation? The ones who try to do all the "right" things to get ahead but keep hitting walls that stop us on our way?</p> <p>My personal goal is to make enough money to provide a good life for my child. At this point in my life, that is it. I don't expect any handouts and I will work hard to get where I want to be. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092451 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 12:01:07 +0000 looch 1092451@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ok, I thought about it a bit, and here's my 2 cents:</p> <p>I am not a Gen Yer, I may be a Gen Xer, but who really knows where the boundaries lie (i was born in 1975 if any one gives a crap). When I was in college, I thought everyone got consulting jobs with Deloitte or a finance job with JP Morgan. I got neither, but I did get a job that has since turned into a lucrative career.</p> <p>When I think about who I am, I am a daughter, sister, wife, mother, friend. I very rarely classify myself as a Wall Streeter or a Project Manager. Those just happen to be things I do during the day to fund my life, because let's face it, I have no trust fund. Whatever I have is mine because I worked for it.</p> <p>That's where I see the difference. I had my first job at 15. I worked as a lifeguard at a local pool. I got my certifications during my gym class because my school had a pool and we convinced the teacher to hold the classes. I decided I needed a job with real world experience, so I dug out the phone book and sent letters to all the brokerage houses in my area. I got a call back and I was the receptionist. Eventually, I started handling the Branch Manager's accounts. I wasn't afraid to start at the bottom. It seems to me that people entering the work force today wouldn't even consider answering the phones, that it would be beneath them. But you know what, I bet that job looks decent after you can't find anything. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092445 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 11:59:25 +0000 pastemoo 1092445@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm annoyed with the racial slur as the acronym but otherwise find a lot of it to be a "fun read." </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092415 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 11:51:43 +0000 MsLipGloss 1092415@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. High Heels: I agree. I find a lot of the *characteristics* cited in this article to be true of young people in general, as opposed to young people from any particular generation. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092410 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 11:50:50 +0000 MsLipGloss 1092410@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@littlek: Admittedly, the longer I work and the more I sacrifice for the purposes of work, the tougher it can be to keep that distinction clear in my mind. The best reminder is my LO's soft beautiful face waiting for me at the end of every day. </p> <p>@blackbird: :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092407 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 11:50:22 +0000 Mrs. High Heels 1092407@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Maysprout: I agree completely. </p> <p>I found a lot of humor in this article, and thought it had some very valid points. I agree that Gen Y-ers tend to be more picky and selective with their career and life choices, and would rather do something that they're passionate about than "settling", but these are sweeping generalizations and from what I've observed, a lot of college grads these days would just like to get a job - any job! </p> <p>As a whole, I found it very skewed and put all the blame on Gen Y when there are so many more factors involved. Rising college costs mixed with stagnant/decreasing wages plus continued, escalating inflation have a lot to do with Gen Y's dissatisfaction. I would think even those with realistic/reasonable expectations and from previous generations would be hard pressed to find their expectations met in an economy like this. </p> <p>The article also places no blame on the Gen X generation when they are deserving of at least part of the blame. Who do you think got us in the financial rut in the first place? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092397 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 11:48:12 +0000 blackbird 1092397@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mslipgloss-it makes sense. I feel like I know what that would be and I'm just waiting for the opportunity :P I'm putting in my time, so to speak! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092366 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 11:42:26 +0000 littlek 1092366@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MsLipGloss: Agree. DH struggles with this because he can't separate "job" from "who he is". I don't associate who I am based on my career. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092352 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 11:39:25 +0000 MsLipGloss 1092352@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@blackbird: What helped me was to accept the limitations of (, i.e., to manage the expectations for) what a career/job can provide for me emotionally/personally. While it is a part of who I am (and a big part at that), it is not who I am . . . if that makes sense.</p> <p>ETA: It's importance comes not only from what it can provide to me personally (for my sense of self), but also--and far more significantly--what it can provide to my personal goal for *enough*. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092342 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 11:36:25 +0000 Mae 1092342@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Bookish: oh man, insult to injury! lol If I am able to transition from law to photography as planned, I'll be in the same boat. Although I met some of my very best friends in law school so I can't say I'll ever regret it (debt or not). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092335 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 11:33:37 +0000 mrsjazz 1092335@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ShootingStar: I was born in 78, too and I definitely don't feel like I fall into this generation, seems like more of a 20-something thing.</p> <p>I will say that the only thing that rang true for me and what I see my friends going through is the part that @blackbird: pointed out--I do want to be fulfilled by my career. My mom worked 8 hours at a job she didn't like but she had to do that and she regrets that she wasn't able to do xyz with her career. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092281 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 11:20:30 +0000 blackbird 1092281@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@littlek, yes, being "less successful" (financially speaking, solely) than your parents take some getting used to. I won't be retiring in my 40's, that's for damn sure.</p> <p>@mslipgloss, I am still struggling with that definition. Many days, I do look at work as just "work". But i realize that i sit here 8 hours/day, so I don't want to hate it, either, and my career *is* important to me. If it wasn't, I wouldn't work. And i'm still young, so I"m still nurturing that career and trying to figure out where it's going. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-gen-y-yuppies-are-unhappy#post-1092278 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 11:20:04 +0000 MsLipGloss 1092278@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@blackbird: I had a relative who used to say *they call it work for a reason . . . it if were meant to be fun, it would have been called fun* . . . My point being that I have never looked to my career for personal happiness. A sense of achievement which contributed to my overall happiness? Sure. But my *calling* and thus the source of my happiness/sense of self? Meh, not so much.</p> <p>Regarding the *blowing smoke* . . . I hate that too. While I do get that some folks really thrive in their jobs and genuinely like (and I mean just like) what they do, *living the dream* . . . ? Well, I kinda see it like this . . . there are two types of people in this world, those who pee in their wetsuits, and those who lie about it. </p> <p>The trick is to decide what is enough . . . and this is, obviously, a fluid concept throughout your life. Before LO, DH and I had more than enough for just us (minus perhaps a beach house, but that wasn't on my very very short list). But now that our baby girl is here, I want more for her, so I am choosing to continue to work so that I can provide her with the tools to be as secure and happy as possible. Because having LO changed my criteria for what was *enough* for our family.</p> <p>ETA: To clarify, having *enough* is not solely comprised of a list of material things (or financial assets). </p>