Millennials often get a lot of flak for being so coddled; the common stereotype is that “kids these days” are unaccustomed to being independent & self-sufficient. Many of them have been raised with participation trophies & the idea that everyone is perfect in their own way.
Now I’m not knocking millennials by any means. Stereotypes are exactly that: vague generalizations about too large a group to be fairly accurate. While many young people display amazing qualities that defy every wrong assumption about their generation, there are a few rotten apples that spoil the bunch.
A Twitter thread posted by user Carol Blymire (@CarolBlymire) described her observations of a young woman’s immature, entitled response following a meeting with her boss, & it points out the danger of raising kids to think they’re “perfect”.
The situation involved a young woman in her (estimated) late 20’s. She was meeting with her female boss; they were in the process of editing a piece of work written by the young woman.
The editing session took a weird turn, however. The woman appeared to be growing agitated by a specific edit that the boss was requesting.
Now as a writer, I know firsthand that it can be tough to have someone else edit your work. You grow attached to your own phrases & style, but you have to learn not to take constructive criticism personally.
However... in this case, the boss’ edit request was pretty cut & dried:
That particular edit was correcting the spelling of “hampster” to “hamster”. Apparently she had used the phrase “like spinning in a hamster wheel” in this draft (presumably) speech or or op-ed.
— Carol Blymire (@CarolBlymire) July 12, 2019
HAMSTER, not hamPster. We all have those words that we assumed we have always spelled correctly, until it’s eventually pointed out to us. It happens. Regardless, a spelling correction should be a simple, straightforward edit.
But it was about to get weird, folks. Because after her boss kindly explained that there was no “p” in “hamster”, the young woman’s quickly retorted:
But you don’t know that! I learned how to spell it with a “P” in it, so that’s how I spell it.
(Webster’s Dictionary be damned! She’s doing it her way!)
The boss suggested that they consult the dictionary on the matter, to which the young woman said there was no need, because:
The young woman insists she doesn’t need to look it up because it’s FINE to spell it with a P because that’s HOW SHE WANTED TO SPELL IT.
— Carol Blymire (@CarolBlymire) July 12, 2019
At this point I give her boss credit, because instead of throwing a well-deserved, “Are.You.SERIOUS??” her way, she calmly suggests to the young woman that they continue onto other edits.
It was a generous gesture- the “agree to disagree” approach. Boss Lady even offered consolation:
Boss says, “I know edits can be difficult to go over sometimes, especially when you’re working on new kinds of things as you grow in your career, but it’s a necessary process and makes us all better at what we do.”
— Carol Blymire (@CarolBlymire) July 12, 2019
They parted ways, & if it had ended there, we’d merely be shaking our heads at the young woman’s stubborn lack of concern over spelling words correctly.
But like all good Internet tales, it gets even better.
The young woman, still clearly agitated, began texting furiously. She was spilling her woes to someone. And a moment later, her phone rang- it was her mother. On speakerphone.
She bursts into tears and wants her mom to call her boss and tell her not to be mean about telling her how to spell words like “hamster”.
— Carol Blymire (@CarolBlymire) July 12, 2019
So traumatized by her boss being “mean” to her, the young woman implored that her mother address the situation for her.
Seriously??
But, of course it gets even better. Rather than give her snowflake daughter a much-needed dose of reality, the mom sympathizes with her daughter about how horrifically unfair it is that her delicate sweetheart has been subjected to such harsh treatment:
The mother tells her that her boss is an idiot and she doesn’t have to listen to her and she should go to the boss’ boss to file a complaint about not allowing creativity in her writing.
— Carol Blymire (@CarolBlymire) July 12, 2019
Who do you contact when you’re not happy about your boss implying that anything you do is less than absolutely perfect? Your mom, first. Then your boss’ boss, apparently.
The young woman explained the real source of her angst:
I thought what I wrote was perfect and she just made all these changes and then had the nerve to tell me I was spelling words wrong when I know they are right because that is how I have always spelled them.
Our young woman is perfect, people. And so is her writing. And her spelling, too, of course. Total perfection. How dare her editor –you know, a person that is paid to suggest changes & improvements to author’s written work- have the audacity to question anything about her work.
And her mom obviously agreed, urging her daughter to go above the boss’ head in order to attempt to have the boss reprimanded for *gasp* DOING HER JOB. And kindly, too.
After filling her mom in (still on speakerphone) about her drunken shenanigans from the night before, the young woman then:
She ended the conversation asking her mom how she should bring this up with the boss’ boss. “I mean, I always spell hamster with a P, she has no right to criticize me.”
She walked to the office kitchen for the rest of the call so I don’t know what happened next.
— Carol Blymire (@CarolBlymire) July 12, 2019
Carol (the Twitter user that shared the incident) unfortunately left us hanging by explaining that the young woman had left the room at that point, so we don’t know how the situation evolved. She fairly mentions that it’s possible that the young woman is neuroatypical, or perhaps there was another issue affecting this situation that she wasn’t aware of.
Carol explained that what she observed seems to be a common problem: many young men & women are now raised with the assumption that they are above any criticism at all.
But I don’t know what her situation is/was. Based on the way her mom spoke to her and they way they spoke to one another, it seemed as though his young woman had never been told she was anything but perfect by family.
— Carol Blymire (@CarolBlymire) July 12, 2019
Why is that a problem? Well, as Carol next explained,
And that kind of child rearing is quite difficult on people when they grow up, and frustrating for professors, teachers, bosses, and colleagues of people who were raised that way.
For kids that are raised to believe they are perfect, anyone that attempts to disrupt that assumption is considered “mean” or incorrect. It either becomes a painful lesson to the individual (shattering the illusion), and/or difficult for those that have to deal with this mentality in their employees or colleagues:
But it seemed more like someone who has never been told no, or that she is anything other than 100% perfect and amazing and can do no wrong. And that is going to be exhausting for anyone in her orbit.
— Carol Blymire (@CarolBlymire) July 12, 2019
Carol’s Twitter thread exploded with likes, retweets, and countless anecdotes from followers that have experienced similar issues with entitled young individuals.
Is this woman indicative of an entire generation? Certainly not. But her attitude is more common than it should be nowadays, & it’s not compatible with success in the workplace. While it’s important to raise your child with healthy self-esteem & pride in his/her work, too much of anything (like ego!) is not a good thing.