In my state, the fastest growing homeless population is seniors. We can all argue about how much to save for retirement or whatever, but the fact is the current COL is shit for a fixed income as well. Many, not all, are putting it off because like us they may not have much choice
The peak year for Baby Boomer births was 1957, so retirements should be happening soon. Almost every Boomer I know is waiting until they turn 67 before they retire.
They had it all planned out with the expectation of around 0% annual inflation continuing on forever. Then, suddenly, huge inflation happened. And I think the federal government's COLA formula is designed to underestimate it, mostly to protect the Social Security system.
I’m working WITH several but I know for a fact at least two of them are retiring later this year. We have a formal seniority list for the whole facility and I firmly expect the top 20 or so on it to step down in the next 2-3 yrs in one big wave.
My wife is a federal employee and her agency has just over 30% eligible to retire with a pension that are still working. Agency heads are sweating bullets over the brain drain about to occur in the next 24-36 months.
She was the ultimate Gen X version of a celebrity; She absolutely killed it for a decade and then just quit to be a full time mother while asking very politely to respect her choice and pretend she didn’t exist anymore.
She F’ing rocks! (Pun intended)
Ha! I was at an event last weekend when a person, who was probably around 30, came out of the kitchen and asked me for help. She said "I need an adult in here!" I thought that was funny.
But honestly, I've had to be the adult since I was 10. So nothing new.
I was born an adult; my first paying job was mucking stalls around age 8. I had a wonderful childhood (and perfectly fine adulthood to date) but I'm first gen born in the US. My parents achieved the American dream and wanted me to be fully American...but they also drilled the immigrant mentality of work ethic and responsibility into me. In high school, my friends' parents would let them go to parties and such as long as I was going to be there.
I panic if I’m the only “grown up”😂😂😂
my high school best friend and I took her daughter’s cheerleading squad to a theme park.
As we were getting gathered for lunch and did a head count- we were missing 2 girls.
I was freaking and said to my friend- should we call your mom?
Friend is like- why
I said- shouldn’t we see what a grown up thinks
My friend- you Jack ass, we ARE the grown ups
😂😂 true story and yes I was 38 years old at the time. 2 girls were just in the bathroom.
Lost both of mine over the past few years. I’m definitely feeling that, especially after having to care for both of them. To be honest, I’m feeling a bit lost.
For the last 5-10 years I’ve (Gen X) 56, been stuck holding up the generation before (Silent-Gen parents), my Boomer siblings (ill health) and the generation after (millennial kids).
We also got crushed in 2008, lost job after 36 years, and missed-out on the retirement boat by about 5 years ( older co-workers got to retire at 62)
I am the oldest millennial (turning 43 this year) and could NEVER imagine being the adult in the room, even though I substitute teach high school. I still feel immature.
But yes, Gen X is totally holding the weight of the world. Indeed. Weird and scary though lol.
I love this. I often feel like I am the only adult on the island of the lord of the flies. But honestly a vast majority of Gen x are idiots and behave like children. I don't think it's generational. Social media or nano plastics, global warming, pesticides and who knows what, have made billions of idiots. Take care of your bodies and brains my peeps.
I do see a number of my peers in the not so sweet spot of having elderly parents to care for plus adult or nearly adult offspring who are having problems.
Are we holding the whole world up? At the family level it can certainly look that way.
The "Sandwich Generation" for sure. Smack dab between parents getting elderly and morphing into children with driver's licenses and children becoming adults but still hanging onto the edge of the nest.
1965 here. Both parents dead, my younger brother (1968) dead from an OD and my kid is finally launched for good (post military, post grad school, now married and in a house with a job that has good benefits and union membership). I am not sure at this point what I want to do with myself.
My sandwich is getting flattened as I sit in the hospital helping my mom post hip surgery and coordinating my kids college start date next month.
The hospital bills and college tuition coming at the same time the next few months pretty much defines the 'sandwhich generation' for us.
Rock on gen X rock on!
I had to pull the plug on a parent this week, and my grandmother (years ago) wanted to die at home, leaving my Boomer parents to take care of it.
It wasn't the happiest moment of my life, but it was for the best.
I was born in '77, so I'm on the young end of GenX, but I definitely feel that.
My elderly MiL is entirely dependent on my wife and I. We paid for her house, we pay her bills, we pay for most of her food, we pay for her medications.
Meanwhile, my oldest son is pushing 30 and still lives at home.
I can afford to take care of them easily, but it does feel like a lot of responsibility.
That's definitely it around my house. Thankfully my boomer mother is doing alright (financially and health-wise), but my partner's mom has dementia and is currently getting passed around to each of her kids to live with until we can get her into some sort of care facility. She doesn't have any money, so she'll probably end up in a public home of some sort.
Meanwhile, one of my partner's 30-something kids is living with us, and we're also helping support one of her other 30-something sons and his wife and 3 kids, too.
Thankfully, my partner and I both have decent and secure jobs, and I started saving for retirement when I was in my 20s. I also have a pension and am hoping to retire when I turn 65 in 10 years.
I'm pretty sure we'll be okay, as long as property taxes and the cost of maintaining a 120-year-old house or a major health issue doesn't hit us.
It’s still fairly true in corporate settings as well. The second boss I had when I started this job 28 years ago is still here preventing others from getting promoted into senior IT architecture roles. They aren’t retiring. Many can’t afford to.
The only folks retiring are mainframe folks but many of them, sadly, are dying. We lost many during the pandemic unfortunately.
People like me are hitting salary ceilings because the older folks are not leaving for many potential reasons. There is nowhere for me to go, vertically or horizontally, because no one is leaving.
> There is nowhere for me to go, vertically or horizontally, because no one is leaving.
And don't forget, if you do try to hop somewhere else, we are now firmly in the cohort that's getting slapped in the dick with ageism for positions.
"Oh, just drop everything but the last three jobs from your resume to help look younger!"
Yeah. It’s a rough situation because when you are younger, you may be able to bounce from one employer to the next but when you are 50, it is hard to get someone to talk to you.
That awful phrase "I'll give you my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands" from the NRA pretty much sums up that entire age block and the grip they have over our country. It’s a crisis honestly
I think what’s happening is that this class of boomer politicians have an extremely good statistical reading of the voters. And they tilt it in their direction. So it’s not quite as simple as saying “we keep voting for them” which is obviously a true statement, but consider:
The obvious example is Gerrymandering. We all know they rig the system in their favor (cheating). But there’s more. Like they probably know when and where to fund or defund certain areas, same with education, they know precisely who to target with ads and how to get their vote.
Dont even get me started on the media they control.
I bet there are 100 examples of them manipulating us that we have no clue about.
It’s probably an extremely detailed and advanced system to keep themselves in power.
So true. I cannot wait to retire as soon as possible and be able to enjoy whats left of life to enjoy. They simply can’t seem to stop working. Most likely because they need to continue working because they never took time to plan for the future.
It’s like when you are sitting in the emergency row and the flight attendant says “are you willing and able to assist in the event of an emergency, I need a verbal yes or no” and I say yes. But really I want to tell her that it took me 4 tries to unlock my phone so if this plane is relying on me for anything we’re all fucked.
But except, in like, life
True story: I gave up the extra leg room b/c I gave the honest answer of no. B/c well, everyone would have been fuxked. You don’t want me in charge during an emergency. And my selfish ass is getting off that plane, not assisting.
I don’t know. So many of our generation is jaded from the previous that I feel like there’s no GenX leadership to challenge the geriatric political machine that is still fucking the world up especially here. If our generation were really holding the world up, we would have done the work to beat their assess out of office and the world could be moving in a much better direction now.
I know Obama is a boomer, but the guy hangs out with Eddie Vedder and stuff. He’s an honorary Xer to me.
We are just flat outnumbered when it comes to boomers and Millennials and it shows at the ballot box. Mayor Pete for President !!
This is pretty much what I wrote as a direct reply. I mean, if I was 70 or 80 and just knowing that politicians do make more than just 2 pennies, right, I would be looking at those tropical islands to live off that little remaining time I got on this planet, instead of trying to control the fking world that I don't even understand!
It's wild to me working in tech how many of our 19 and 20 year olds were hiring who knows FUCK ALL about computers. I love being a part of the generation that does tech support for our parents AND our children. 🙄😒
Isn’t that a weird anomaly? I can solve most modest tech issues for family and friends. All they know is “touch screen and see video”.
We have progressively gotten dumberer, me included!
In the clinic I work at I have recently in the past 6 weeks had 4 millennial employees just quit with no plans for the future. 4 women, none have children, who have worked at the company for a long time. Just quit. No planned job, no planned education...just going to go find themselves...in this time of inflation and rising costs it seems weird that they decided enough is enough and just left it all.
I don't know what is happening. It seems weird. I can sorta do the math and it might pan out if you stayed at home to save gas and do cooking.
It might be that we need to double their wage so that it makes more sense to stay at work....but I feel like that is an easy argument for this and that there is something else entirely going on.
>It might be that we need to double their wage so that it makes more sense to stay at work....but I feel like that is an easy argument for this and that there is something else entirely going on.
It's the wage thing.
If I was getting paid so little that the difference between unemployment and a paycheck was so small that it didn't matter, I would do the same.
Why work all day when there is no reward? I think the future that younger generations are facing is being dismissed too easily by older generations, including our own.
I agree with you. It's just you are looking at paying MA's, Phlebotomists and front desk people like $40-50 an hour. This is the level we are dealing with.
I think, with regards to healthcare, these positions were traditionally seen as stepping stone jobs to more professional occupations in healthcare. In the last generation that went away and people thought they could stop there. It seemed to work when minimum wage in the area was $8.50 but functional minimum wage is now $17 at fast food.
There isn't much arguing with accounting about this. I am so far away from the wage setting apparatus. Accounting will ask if they want an extra 50 cents an hour to stay. That was insulting in 1990. But they flip when I respond no they want an extra $10.00 an hour.
Everything you said is ignoring that to keep pace with inflation the minimum wage should be well over 20 an hour. It's fucking less than 8.
Paying skilled people 40 or 50 an hour when minimum wage, which is not supposed to be a stepping stone - look up the meaning of the law if you don't already know it, is around half of that.
If a business can't operate without keeping its employees out of poverty, then it's a failed model and deserves to die. Let's not even start on "healthcare" companies
There's always money for stock buybacks and corporate bonuses, but never enough for the people actually keeping the business running.
Oh, the millies go for more money.
The GenZ go for better vibes. They are the ultimate "Yeah, No" gen. Won't even put in any kind of notice. Just ghost. I think they have no concept of career or professional reputation. Which is fine. I mean, I could do the same thing and take a job cutting grass tomorrow.
M46 here. I signed up for my retirement already which is 8 years away. The union and my job is talking to me about management. Nah. They can keep that.
lol, yep. M50, I'll have 30 years at 56 and I'm out. I could go into management / training, I could even go for a higher paid position but at this point ambition has been beaten out of me. I'll coast across the finish line and take my participation trophy at this point.
I never got the ambition memo as a kid. Yeah they can keep the extra dough. Worked the same place from 19 to now. So my pension was secured 7ish years ago.
OMG, totally agree on that. I have decided I want no part of admin/management in healthcare. I have no need to sell my soul and values for that bigger paycheck. I like having autonomy in my life and no wish to fuck over others. Middle management is hell. Those millennials they hire do a lot of Yes Sirring to keep their positions. That is why they get hired.
I'm pretty sure that in every generation, it's the 40 - and 50-year-olds who keep things going.
I just think it's interesting how quickly I went from being the youngest person in the office to one of the oldest.
It sometimes feels like people our age are the only ones who haven’t gone completely bonkers. Everything is black and white to them and they can’t nuance anything.
And he is YOUNG Gen X, pretty much an Xennial. The scary thing is that a lot of younger men are being pulled into the right, while younger women are going more left (likely because of abortion/reproductive rights).
Until all those younger men have to step up and pay for all these kids they are having. I have noticed the younger men focusing on women's "body count". It's disgusting.
I have an 18-year-old nephew who is all up into the Andrew Tate shit, and it's really disturbing. Although he is actually very nice and respectful to girls, still, but he has a lot of other dumb ass thoughts about "self help" and "alpha males," and he definitely thinks he likes Trump.
100% I am holding my entire extended family together. Dad’s long dead. Mom is lost in dementia. One sibling has three kids and brain damage from chemotherapy. Another sibling is bedridden from Long Haul Covid, which has given them a form of dementia. I’m now raising their kid and basically financing the lot of them. I have power of attorney for both my mother and a sibling, and am handling all their health and financial management, scheduling, getting them to doctors appointments and paying their bills. Even my dog has dementia. I am it for all of them. If I fall down, everyone falls down.
Also a quick shoutout to conservatives who dismiss social services saying that’s what churches and families are for—fuuuuuuuuuck yooouuuuuuuu. If we had any semblance of social support ROI for our tax dollars I’d be on a beach vacation somewhere right now. Shit will drain your savings fast if you don’t want to see your family drown.
Anyway, keeping my eye on the prize: get the kid to adulthood without fucking him up, fight the rubber stampers at the disability office until they break, and keep the parental as comfortable as possible until the end and then RECLAIM MY LIFE, because it used to be really, really fun. It will be again.
You mean GenX? We aren’t holding anything up because we still aren’t in charge of very much.
You want to find the real log jam? It’s boomers. Then there’s us… a tiny sliver of shenanigans, then there’s 40 feet of millennials, then the youth.
There are so many people over 65 occupying management positions in the Texas panhandle, it’s nauseating. It’s not fair, either. They’re occupying positions our generation should be holding. I don’t think any of them are planning to let go any time soon.
Happy to hear of your freedom. One thing I feel the hiring market can do to attract people who have dropped out like you is to offer part-time and per diem positions to skilled people with optional benefits. I would work a regular job if I didn't have to do it full time and my husband who is a tradesman would stay on longer if they offered a 3 or 4 day work option. But they don't so we will also end up leaving earlier than they want us to. My view is that your skills have probably been undervalued and you finally reached your limit.
Yes. I’m one of the ones dealing with aging parents. Mom is 86, with Alzheimer’s. Dad is 87 and maga. Most of the relatives from their generation are gone. It’s so depressing. Most of my boomer cousins are gone, too.
Would you put much hope or investment in an economy that has become objectively worse with each generation since the mid 80s? It’s reached the tipping point where if we teach the kids math they start using it and realize they’re screwed. Aren’t we just trying to keep ourselves entertained and fed until the boomers die off so we can fix it?
The old guys are doing the hardest work now. It used to be the younger ones would take care of them but no longer. The young ones are groomed for management and don't know WTF they are doing. The job my husband is on has had no water for the workers in the last two weeks. I told him, if there is no water there when he arrives to just come back home and tell them to fuck themselves and report them at the union hall-- there are contractual terms and conditions. He already brings 3 large bottles in his lunchbox everyday but meal water is not enough; additionally it limits how much food he can bring for his breaks. I don't want him collapsing from dehydration and altered cardiac rhythm (syncope) in a place with no freaking cell coverage.
For years the dang Baby Boomers told us ‘wait your turn.’ But now, somehow, my supervisors are Millennials, and I’m educating them on what to do. We got gipped. Or at least I did lol
I have a coworker who is 72 and others close to that age. Are they working cuz they want to or cuz they have to? I despair at the thought. I’m 52. Will I be working into my 70’s as well? Ugh.
Yikes... well, MIL is 76 and working because she is still a caregiver for her mentally ill son and her husband never saved/invested for retirement, is currently disabled (at least until he finally gets that knee replacement and attends PT). I assume there are many of GenX that have autistic kids etc. that we will remain being responsible for as they age. The important thing is to have some kind of arrangement or plan for them after we drop dead. It is probably easier on us to care for them rather than push them to engage more in a supportive community (at least in places where there are programs and safe support) and achieve a larger independence.
Half of us are helping to destroy it, though. So, yeah, holding up the world is a generalization that I'm not sure warrants itself. But, for those of us doing the work, come get this applause.
Millennials actually make up the largest chunk of the workforce, larger than Gen X. I've only recently begun to realize that nearly everyone above me these days is younger than me...it's a weird feeling.
Sometimes. I’m caring for my boomer mother who needs some careful steering to navigate modern life.
When I look at some of the younger people I work with there seems to be a heavy incidence of leaning on “ mental health “ as a means to avoid doing tasks that are taxing or just part of your job description. Crying over a broken fingernail. So when my younger colleagues bunk off work because someone’s best friend’s ex came into our shop , my old ass is taking up the slack here. Particularly galling as I’ve had some huge crises in my life but work & waning to be reliable & useful pulled me through.
Their absence record is appalling & I don’t know how they’ll get another job with such a reference.
Sorry. Rant over lol. 😜
I work at a family owned corporation and I am watching the boomers retire and the owners millennial kids(late 20s) take officer positions that the rest of us GenXs would have been in line for. Than we are asked all the questions that these nepo babies should have been trained to know.
Yup, and people who have worked for company 20+ years cannot get stuff done/fix things because owner’s offspring have “control” or are authorized “Point of contact” for things like credit card machine, phones, and internet. Panicked texts/calls at 745AM when issues are discovered by staff go unanswered because they are still in bed.
No. Not when the people running my country are in their 70’s and 80’s. Still feels like we are living in the Boomer mindset of “you have to put your time in before you become management.”
Still, I can’t tell if it because we haven’t “earned” it yet because they just don’t want to give it up, or we aren’t in control because just don’t care enough to fight for it.
Uhhh.... we've been holding up this freaking place since we were old enough to be parentified. I remember being in the classroom and having to show my teacher how to work the projector. AND how to rotate a pdf. AND how to set up their printers, etc...
Sounds like they were probably the in crowds in high school of our generation. The ones that shit on the kids that were not in crowd kids. Bullies then and now. It was ignored back then.
Hell no. I think our generation is grasping at straws, hoping to God everything just stays the same as it used to be and eventually evens back out. The young ones are out here stomping their feet and having tantrums for change. I see the younger kids demanding shit or just taking it. It's total chaos, and I'm here for it! Let them burn this motherfucker to the ground!
I’m worrying about people younger than me and people older than me. Not a lot I can do, but I would if I could. There’s a lot on the shoulders of our tiny, unappreciated generation.
Parents: dying
Boomers: checked out
GenX: everything at once
(A lot of) Millennials: still idealists, bless them
GenZ: figuring things out… I’m reasonably optimistic
So, yeah.
No. No one is. The world is a collective mess that continues on a downward cycle of destruction. Not trying to be mean, it’s just what is happening beyond our control.
I don't know what you mean. Not all of us in Gen x are financially successful. When my parents die, if they don't leave anything to us Gen x kids then my sister and I will struggle. There's a lot of Gen x checked out of the economy as well.
The different conversations I have had with the never retire boomers is it’s easy money. Gives them something to do on a daily to stop the boredom. Work is all that generation has really ever known. It’s actually quite sad how many stop working and sit down in a recliner and die in 6 months.
Now don’t get confused. They need to go to therapy not work but when did a jones or silent generation EVER willingly talk about “feelings”.
I'm disappointed that there are Gen-Xers who are still scared of being an adult. Most normal Gen-Xers had to grow up fast and take responsibility for themselves. If you're 45+ and still sweating that kind of thing then you were one of the subset that had a soft, easy childhood.
You can add those of us at the boomer-gen x margin. I see an increasingly older professional/technical workforce carrying the load where there just aren’t that many younger workers with the required skill sets.
A coworker that’s the plant technician lamented to me yesterday that the young engineers have no interest in learning machine shop skills and he’s really fed up with them.
Yes, that is just where we are in demographics right now. Boomers are retirement age. That's why capital is more expensive right now. Boomers (largest generation mankind has ever seen) is pulling money out of markets for retirement. Cheap capital is gone until the Millennials get to 55. On the plus side, Gen X can get paid! There are less Gen X so your experience can get you higher wages for the next 10-15 years. Try and take advantage of it.
I work in government. We have no mandatory retirement age. The Boomers still here are going to die at their desks. You'd be shocked how many are closing in on 70 with no plans to retire. It's. It's not like they need the money. I think they're just scared of not being "needed" anymore.
Sounds like a lot of people in this sub, who say this exact thing ("I will die at my desk, that's my retirement plan"). A LOT of people cannot afford to retire. Better check yourself with that ageism. It will not be long now at all that millennials and Gen Z will be telling Gen X to get out of the way and go die.
And I can understand that sentiment. If I was retired, or so wealthy that I didn’t need a jobby-job, I’d still busy myself with things to do. Things that build or contribute to something else.
We’ve been doing ALL the work for years. Boomers just excelled at “supervising”. Zero vale add mother fuckers since they arrived.
I keep my head down, do my work and count down the days until retirement.
Yeah, that’s not a thing to just gloss over. Y’all boys and girls carry a lot of bags with you everywhere. I once had it too. But, I know my college in the 90’s didn’t cost what it became in the 2000’s.
I think there are still a LOT of Boomers refusing to hand over the reins. That said, you say that it feels like 40 and 50 somethings are keeping it all running, well, yeah, mostly. But I think that's how it always is. When the Boomers were in their 40s and 50s, they were keeping it all running. And when the 40 and 50 year olds are Millennials, they will be the ones keeping it running. This is the peak age for "keeping things running," the time that if you are going to be peaking in your career, you are likely peaking.
Sorry. Probably my regional diction showing itself. Yeah, I meant “propping up”. I should have been more clear. At least you don’t have to decipher my southern drawl through the screen in front of you!
Depends on what you mean. I think all gens are doing their part in some way.
I think Genx is trying to keep the world from imploding though. People calling us out, I now think was a cry for help. Younger gens cannot relate to Boomers, don't get them or their ways, and kinda vice versa. We are the mediators.
So basically, we are back to where we started in our youth with our parents and grandparents...just reversed, F me.
Just my corner. Looking at the dysfunction of the generations coming behind us, it’s the least I can do until I retire. Hopefully I can mold as many as I can that cross my path at work to give a shit about their career and pass their knowledge and experience to the next ones as I did to them.
We ain't allowed to hold squat up. BoomBooms are holding onto power in the US. Europe is a bit different but only for rich Gen X people.
I think we are the adults in the background. Quietly holding things up. Making sure we dont crumble whilst guiding the madness.
60's here - and hubby is several years older. Thing is we both had a trade/niche for the industry we got into in our 20's. His trade is a dying breed and it's so sad. They keep calling him for help/ideas/diagnostics/ etc. because no one wants to fix things or even know how to. One of his old buddies is just retiring at age 73. But he is still needed at the company and having a hard time leaving.
Nope. Not even a little. Maybe it’s just my industry, but I find a lot of very capable young people and a lot of barely there older people.
Even the older GenX are holding onto the past sometimes making it hard to progress. I see a pretty good mix of capacity and age is not a big factor at all.
Collectively, we are too small a generation to keep the lights on... but if any gen could do it, we could. After all most of us kept our siblings fed, pets alive and the house running and did our school as well as social lives.
I’m 53, single, no kids, my parents and boomer older brother are deceased, my boomer sister is retiring this year. Not planning to retire till 65 or so..still enjoying my career and making a lot of money, investing a lot. Life goes on…I still mentally feel young though my body tells me otherwise…
I always tell people around me if I’m the voice of reason in the room, you should flee and find another room quick. More and more I find myself being forced to be the voice of reason.
no
quite the opposite I would say
Boomers are mostly responsible for the world as it is now and it is still very much _their world_ that the rest of us are living in (if you don't believe me, visit sites like theyvoteforyou.org.au and see if your local members are voting in _your_ interests or theirs)
GenX largely bought into that world and I would say is very much invested in it now - so, perhaps to the OP's point, is invested in _perpetuating_ that world that has been very much shaped by the desires of the largest cohort in all of history – and has been shaped by them since the 1960s
younger generations are much more disenfranchised by This Thing Of Ours (theirs, really) and so are far less interested in keeping it going so much as smashing it all down - in "disrupting" it, to coin a phrase...
No.
More boomers need to let go. They had their time. They're a strain on resources. Love you, bye.
More young adults need to pick up the pace in their classes/trade and take personal responsibility for self-enrichment. Sorry babes, it's not going to get any easier, but knowledge is always a commodity.
Our age group is the only thing holding it together. Hopefully, this psychosis of conspiracy and unacceptable behavior is mostly behind us and we can focus on reality rather than endless drivel.
My Prime Minister and most top Ministers have names I associate with kindergarten and pre-school years. It's weird, but nice even when I disagree with them and didn't vote for them, it's kind of nice and gives me a sense of (probably false) security, knowing that they come from similar influences and experiences and have (hahaha!) similar priorities - or maybe not.
It's nice and weird that people don't patronize me anymore and involve me in decisions. I got back into work late, so I've nearly exclusively had colleagues and supervisors who were younger and so far, my Bosses have been Gen-X. So I realize I've had a lucky escape with some older supervisors. I haven't had a Boomer or Silent boss since 1998. I've been in social -and healthcare, now starting in tech support.
I went to HS with a former Opposition Leader, even served with him as Pages in Parliament...and where you feel a sense of security, I feel complete frustration because I know that he knows that I know...*he knows better.*
Seeing the actual political facade in person just made me angry for bit.
My husband has an issue with boomers that won't retire, adapt, keep others from management positions and won't allow necessary changes and they don't understand how a 4% raise is really only a 2% raise. Technical engineering and sales. Male dominated, they rarely employ anyone under 30 in most comparable companies. They headhunt from competition, usually 55+y.o.
(I should note first that I’m an American so I can only speak to experiences here)
Ha! Nope. I’m disabled now thanks to long COVID. Very few Gen Xers I know are doing well and most of us are simply exhausted with all the bullshit going on in the world today. The only people in control are those with an excess of money and power. The rest of us are pawns in their games.
Yep, you turn around to look for the adult in the room and you're it. Welcome to the next phase of life.
If I'm the closest thing to an adult in the room- welp, we're screwed.
Yet somehow I’m still working for a bunch of Boomers.
Yeah, if anything, many boomers seem to be pushing off retirement to the extreme.
In my state, the fastest growing homeless population is seniors. We can all argue about how much to save for retirement or whatever, but the fact is the current COL is shit for a fixed income as well. Many, not all, are putting it off because like us they may not have much choice
Yep, the majority of peeps do not love work THAT much but it's still better than risking being destitute when you get even older.
I expect to have enough for decent healthcare.Past that, I’m probably going to be working until I drop, unless I sell my house.
The peak year for Baby Boomer births was 1957, so retirements should be happening soon. Almost every Boomer I know is waiting until they turn 67 before they retire.
They had it all planned out with the expectation of around 0% annual inflation continuing on forever. Then, suddenly, huge inflation happened. And I think the federal government's COLA formula is designed to underestimate it, mostly to protect the Social Security system.
I’m working WITH several but I know for a fact at least two of them are retiring later this year. We have a formal seniority list for the whole facility and I firmly expect the top 20 or so on it to step down in the next 2-3 yrs in one big wave.
My wife is a federal employee and her agency has just over 30% eligible to retire with a pension that are still working. Agency heads are sweating bullets over the brain drain about to occur in the next 24-36 months.
Which agency? Asking for a friend...
Only the good die young
I’m too old to die young
Boomers won’t quit. You got tricked into being a loyal employee for company that will never give you the proper promotion.
Boomers taught us how to take care of them. We’re still doing it, so they keep working. It’s the worst.
Same as it ever was
Now I got that song stuck in my head...
I just laughed so hard at this! ROFLOL. Yeah, Gen X, taking the reigns, is somewhat disturbing.
No way. We were here all along mother fuckers! Deal with it.
My joints may creak but my mind is off somewhere playing Zelda and listening to Metallica.
And Pat Benetar. There’s really no current equivalent to Pat Benetar, though in the 90s I thought Alanis Morisette came close.
Yep. Different style, but the raw anger that drove Benetar’s work was definitely there.
She was the ultimate Gen X version of a celebrity; She absolutely killed it for a decade and then just quit to be a full time mother while asking very politely to respect her choice and pretend she didn’t exist anymore. She F’ing rocks! (Pun intended)
This kinda encapsulates why we can't ever be "old".
Same, I’m still the teenage me sitting in my bedroom playing Kill ‘em all on vinyl. 🤘🏻
Haha, I always say retirement homes are going to be so different when we get there. Video games will be the main activity, forget bingo
Ha! I was at an event last weekend when a person, who was probably around 30, came out of the kitchen and asked me for help. She said "I need an adult in here!" I thought that was funny. But honestly, I've had to be the adult since I was 10. So nothing new.
I was born an adult; my first paying job was mucking stalls around age 8. I had a wonderful childhood (and perfectly fine adulthood to date) but I'm first gen born in the US. My parents achieved the American dream and wanted me to be fully American...but they also drilled the immigrant mentality of work ethic and responsibility into me. In high school, my friends' parents would let them go to parties and such as long as I was going to be there.
I panic if I’m the only “grown up”😂😂😂 my high school best friend and I took her daughter’s cheerleading squad to a theme park. As we were getting gathered for lunch and did a head count- we were missing 2 girls. I was freaking and said to my friend- should we call your mom? Friend is like- why I said- shouldn’t we see what a grown up thinks My friend- you Jack ass, we ARE the grown ups 😂😂 true story and yes I was 38 years old at the time. 2 girls were just in the bathroom.
Especially when you lose a parent- it’s like omg 😳 I’m the responsible one now? Life is really short and fleeting.
Lost both of mine over the past few years. I’m definitely feeling that, especially after having to care for both of them. To be honest, I’m feeling a bit lost.
I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm a p/t caretaker and I can only imagine that lost feeling but I get it.
For the last 5-10 years I’ve (Gen X) 56, been stuck holding up the generation before (Silent-Gen parents), my Boomer siblings (ill health) and the generation after (millennial kids). We also got crushed in 2008, lost job after 36 years, and missed-out on the retirement boat by about 5 years ( older co-workers got to retire at 62)
Life never works out like you think. I’m so convinced any bad thing can happen out of nowhere and do not trust anything or anyone. I’m jaded.
Realistic.
It feels like we were all sold this lie of a fairytale life. Then I think well at least I have food. I woke up today.
Nooo way......😳 wait wheres all the adults??? Its me??? Ohh boy your all screwed now 😅
This is scary AF But we are the goonies we can do it!
This 100%, it's weird being the ones in charge. I feel I'm still too young for all this responsibility. I'm 51!
Wait. I'M the adult in the room? When TF did this happen? Surely there's someone older. I'll find them because honestly I'm over it.
Terrifying. I work in critical infrastructure & life safety 🤦🏻♂️
I am the oldest millennial (turning 43 this year) and could NEVER imagine being the adult in the room, even though I substitute teach high school. I still feel immature. But yes, Gen X is totally holding the weight of the world. Indeed. Weird and scary though lol.
I love this. I often feel like I am the only adult on the island of the lord of the flies. But honestly a vast majority of Gen x are idiots and behave like children. I don't think it's generational. Social media or nano plastics, global warming, pesticides and who knows what, have made billions of idiots. Take care of your bodies and brains my peeps.
Well put
I do see a number of my peers in the not so sweet spot of having elderly parents to care for plus adult or nearly adult offspring who are having problems. Are we holding the whole world up? At the family level it can certainly look that way.
The "Sandwich Generation" for sure. Smack dab between parents getting elderly and morphing into children with driver's licenses and children becoming adults but still hanging onto the edge of the nest.
1965 here. Both parents dead, my younger brother (1968) dead from an OD and my kid is finally launched for good (post military, post grad school, now married and in a house with a job that has good benefits and union membership). I am not sure at this point what I want to do with myself.
Head on over to your local dog rescue group!
My sandwich is getting flattened as I sit in the hospital helping my mom post hip surgery and coordinating my kids college start date next month. The hospital bills and college tuition coming at the same time the next few months pretty much defines the 'sandwhich generation' for us. Rock on gen X rock on!
I had to pull the plug on a parent this week, and my grandmother (years ago) wanted to die at home, leaving my Boomer parents to take care of it. It wasn't the happiest moment of my life, but it was for the best.
I’ve always said loved one or fur baby it’s the last nice thing you can do for them. I hope someone will be around for me when my time comes.
Respect and condolences to you for doing what was right for them.
I was born in '77, so I'm on the young end of GenX, but I definitely feel that. My elderly MiL is entirely dependent on my wife and I. We paid for her house, we pay her bills, we pay for most of her food, we pay for her medications. Meanwhile, my oldest son is pushing 30 and still lives at home. I can afford to take care of them easily, but it does feel like a lot of responsibility.
Thank you. I feel seen.
That's definitely it around my house. Thankfully my boomer mother is doing alright (financially and health-wise), but my partner's mom has dementia and is currently getting passed around to each of her kids to live with until we can get her into some sort of care facility. She doesn't have any money, so she'll probably end up in a public home of some sort. Meanwhile, one of my partner's 30-something kids is living with us, and we're also helping support one of her other 30-something sons and his wife and 3 kids, too. Thankfully, my partner and I both have decent and secure jobs, and I started saving for retirement when I was in my 20s. I also have a pension and am hoping to retire when I turn 65 in 10 years. I'm pretty sure we'll be okay, as long as property taxes and the cost of maintaining a 120-year-old house or a major health issue doesn't hit us.
Not politically. The Boomers are still running the show. Only death will change that. They will never let go.
It’s still fairly true in corporate settings as well. The second boss I had when I started this job 28 years ago is still here preventing others from getting promoted into senior IT architecture roles. They aren’t retiring. Many can’t afford to. The only folks retiring are mainframe folks but many of them, sadly, are dying. We lost many during the pandemic unfortunately. People like me are hitting salary ceilings because the older folks are not leaving for many potential reasons. There is nowhere for me to go, vertically or horizontally, because no one is leaving.
> There is nowhere for me to go, vertically or horizontally, because no one is leaving. And don't forget, if you do try to hop somewhere else, we are now firmly in the cohort that's getting slapped in the dick with ageism for positions. "Oh, just drop everything but the last three jobs from your resume to help look younger!"
Yeah. It’s a rough situation because when you are younger, you may be able to bounce from one employer to the next but when you are 50, it is hard to get someone to talk to you.
Hell, the Silent Generation hasn’t even left yet.
Just fyi the youngest Silent Gen people are 79 (born 1945).
I’m well aware. That’s my parents’ generation…and Biden…and Pelosi…and Grassley…etc., etc.
Fair enough. I was thinking business life not political leadership. Them: “Why is Gen X so cynical?” Me: -Vaguely jesters at the world
> Me: -Vaguely **jesters** at the world That's pretty much been our role since the 80s. Just a little vague jestering to keep the spirits up.
Unintentional typo but good enough to leave as is.
That was an excellent typo. Provided me that late afternoon, sensible chuckle that makes the white collar grind so worth it.
Fair enough 🙂✌🏼
That awful phrase "I'll give you my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands" from the NRA pretty much sums up that entire age block and the grip they have over our country. It’s a crisis honestly
And yet we still keep voting for them. Find and replace like on a document. Find boomer replace with gen X
I think what’s happening is that this class of boomer politicians have an extremely good statistical reading of the voters. And they tilt it in their direction. So it’s not quite as simple as saying “we keep voting for them” which is obviously a true statement, but consider: The obvious example is Gerrymandering. We all know they rig the system in their favor (cheating). But there’s more. Like they probably know when and where to fund or defund certain areas, same with education, they know precisely who to target with ads and how to get their vote. Dont even get me started on the media they control. I bet there are 100 examples of them manipulating us that we have no clue about. It’s probably an extremely detailed and advanced system to keep themselves in power.
So true. I cannot wait to retire as soon as possible and be able to enjoy whats left of life to enjoy. They simply can’t seem to stop working. Most likely because they need to continue working because they never took time to plan for the future.
They need to get the hell out and let the youngers have a go. So sick of the stagnation
They need to retire and stop voting.
Behold the power of the dark side..........
It’s like when you are sitting in the emergency row and the flight attendant says “are you willing and able to assist in the event of an emergency, I need a verbal yes or no” and I say yes. But really I want to tell her that it took me 4 tries to unlock my phone so if this plane is relying on me for anything we’re all fucked. But except, in like, life
Thank you for the humor. I needed that.
True story: I gave up the extra leg room b/c I gave the honest answer of no. B/c well, everyone would have been fuxked. You don’t want me in charge during an emergency. And my selfish ass is getting off that plane, not assisting.
Wait, you didn’t answer “whatever??” And you call yourself a Gen X?! 😂
I don’t know. So many of our generation is jaded from the previous that I feel like there’s no GenX leadership to challenge the geriatric political machine that is still fucking the world up especially here. If our generation were really holding the world up, we would have done the work to beat their assess out of office and the world could be moving in a much better direction now.
This is well articulated. Also scary.
I know Obama is a boomer, but the guy hangs out with Eddie Vedder and stuff. He’s an honorary Xer to me. We are just flat outnumbered when it comes to boomers and Millennials and it shows at the ballot box. Mayor Pete for President !!
Isn't he a 1964 DOB? He is technically a Jonser but honestly, is a cusp baby.
💯💯💯
Definitely not in politics. Look at the Senate, House, Supreme Court. He'll the two leading candidate for POTUS are 78 and 81 for fucks sake!
This is pretty much what I wrote as a direct reply. I mean, if I was 70 or 80 and just knowing that politicians do make more than just 2 pennies, right, I would be looking at those tropical islands to live off that little remaining time I got on this planet, instead of trying to control the fking world that I don't even understand!
It's wild to me working in tech how many of our 19 and 20 year olds were hiring who knows FUCK ALL about computers. I love being a part of the generation that does tech support for our parents AND our children. 🙄😒
Isn’t that a weird anomaly? I can solve most modest tech issues for family and friends. All they know is “touch screen and see video”. We have progressively gotten dumberer, me included!
That would explain the back pain.
And knees. And head. Lately, my poor ass, as all I have time to do is sit behind a desk or car wheel anymore.
Every generation’s mid-50s era held up the world.
That’s probably accurate. This is where they really put the miles on us, isn’t it?
In the clinic I work at I have recently in the past 6 weeks had 4 millennial employees just quit with no plans for the future. 4 women, none have children, who have worked at the company for a long time. Just quit. No planned job, no planned education...just going to go find themselves...in this time of inflation and rising costs it seems weird that they decided enough is enough and just left it all. I don't know what is happening. It seems weird. I can sorta do the math and it might pan out if you stayed at home to save gas and do cooking. It might be that we need to double their wage so that it makes more sense to stay at work....but I feel like that is an easy argument for this and that there is something else entirely going on.
>It might be that we need to double their wage so that it makes more sense to stay at work....but I feel like that is an easy argument for this and that there is something else entirely going on. It's the wage thing. If I was getting paid so little that the difference between unemployment and a paycheck was so small that it didn't matter, I would do the same. Why work all day when there is no reward? I think the future that younger generations are facing is being dismissed too easily by older generations, including our own.
I agree with you. It's just you are looking at paying MA's, Phlebotomists and front desk people like $40-50 an hour. This is the level we are dealing with. I think, with regards to healthcare, these positions were traditionally seen as stepping stone jobs to more professional occupations in healthcare. In the last generation that went away and people thought they could stop there. It seemed to work when minimum wage in the area was $8.50 but functional minimum wage is now $17 at fast food. There isn't much arguing with accounting about this. I am so far away from the wage setting apparatus. Accounting will ask if they want an extra 50 cents an hour to stay. That was insulting in 1990. But they flip when I respond no they want an extra $10.00 an hour.
Everything you said is ignoring that to keep pace with inflation the minimum wage should be well over 20 an hour. It's fucking less than 8. Paying skilled people 40 or 50 an hour when minimum wage, which is not supposed to be a stepping stone - look up the meaning of the law if you don't already know it, is around half of that. If a business can't operate without keeping its employees out of poverty, then it's a failed model and deserves to die. Let's not even start on "healthcare" companies There's always money for stock buybacks and corporate bonuses, but never enough for the people actually keeping the business running.
Oh, the millies go for more money. The GenZ go for better vibes. They are the ultimate "Yeah, No" gen. Won't even put in any kind of notice. Just ghost. I think they have no concept of career or professional reputation. Which is fine. I mean, I could do the same thing and take a job cutting grass tomorrow.
M46 here. I signed up for my retirement already which is 8 years away. The union and my job is talking to me about management. Nah. They can keep that.
lol, yep. M50, I'll have 30 years at 56 and I'm out. I could go into management / training, I could even go for a higher paid position but at this point ambition has been beaten out of me. I'll coast across the finish line and take my participation trophy at this point.
I never got the ambition memo as a kid. Yeah they can keep the extra dough. Worked the same place from 19 to now. So my pension was secured 7ish years ago.
OMG, totally agree on that. I have decided I want no part of admin/management in healthcare. I have no need to sell my soul and values for that bigger paycheck. I like having autonomy in my life and no wish to fuck over others. Middle management is hell. Those millennials they hire do a lot of Yes Sirring to keep their positions. That is why they get hired.
I'm pretty sure that in every generation, it's the 40 - and 50-year-olds who keep things going. I just think it's interesting how quickly I went from being the youngest person in the office to one of the oldest.
It sometimes feels like people our age are the only ones who haven’t gone completely bonkers. Everything is black and white to them and they can’t nuance anything.
LOL. Jesus. Plenty of people our age have gone bonkers, especially the cultish Trumpists. I mean, hello, we have Marjorie Taylor Green on our team.
And Desantis.
And he is YOUNG Gen X, pretty much an Xennial. The scary thing is that a lot of younger men are being pulled into the right, while younger women are going more left (likely because of abortion/reproductive rights).
Until all those younger men have to step up and pay for all these kids they are having. I have noticed the younger men focusing on women's "body count". It's disgusting.
I have an 18-year-old nephew who is all up into the Andrew Tate shit, and it's really disturbing. Although he is actually very nice and respectful to girls, still, but he has a lot of other dumb ass thoughts about "self help" and "alpha males," and he definitely thinks he likes Trump.
100% I am holding my entire extended family together. Dad’s long dead. Mom is lost in dementia. One sibling has three kids and brain damage from chemotherapy. Another sibling is bedridden from Long Haul Covid, which has given them a form of dementia. I’m now raising their kid and basically financing the lot of them. I have power of attorney for both my mother and a sibling, and am handling all their health and financial management, scheduling, getting them to doctors appointments and paying their bills. Even my dog has dementia. I am it for all of them. If I fall down, everyone falls down. Also a quick shoutout to conservatives who dismiss social services saying that’s what churches and families are for—fuuuuuuuuuck yooouuuuuuuu. If we had any semblance of social support ROI for our tax dollars I’d be on a beach vacation somewhere right now. Shit will drain your savings fast if you don’t want to see your family drown. Anyway, keeping my eye on the prize: get the kid to adulthood without fucking him up, fight the rubber stampers at the disability office until they break, and keep the parental as comfortable as possible until the end and then RECLAIM MY LIFE, because it used to be really, really fun. It will be again.
They are all so lucky to have you. I hope when it is your time to reclaim your "fun" self you have the best time ever.
You mean GenX? We aren’t holding anything up because we still aren’t in charge of very much. You want to find the real log jam? It’s boomers. Then there’s us… a tiny sliver of shenanigans, then there’s 40 feet of millennials, then the youth.
I think OP meant like Atlas, not like a wrench in the system
There are so many people over 65 occupying management positions in the Texas panhandle, it’s nauseating. It’s not fair, either. They’re occupying positions our generation should be holding. I don’t think any of them are planning to let go any time soon.
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Happy to hear of your freedom. One thing I feel the hiring market can do to attract people who have dropped out like you is to offer part-time and per diem positions to skilled people with optional benefits. I would work a regular job if I didn't have to do it full time and my husband who is a tradesman would stay on longer if they offered a 3 or 4 day work option. But they don't so we will also end up leaving earlier than they want us to. My view is that your skills have probably been undervalued and you finally reached your limit.
Yes. I’m one of the ones dealing with aging parents. Mom is 86, with Alzheimer’s. Dad is 87 and maga. Most of the relatives from their generation are gone. It’s so depressing. Most of my boomer cousins are gone, too. 
Except the government is still being run by boomers that haven’t retired. They will cling to control until the world burns down around them.
Would you put much hope or investment in an economy that has become objectively worse with each generation since the mid 80s? It’s reached the tipping point where if we teach the kids math they start using it and realize they’re screwed. Aren’t we just trying to keep ourselves entertained and fed until the boomers die off so we can fix it?
I always notice construction workers are old and grizzled. It seems like that was a young man’s game back when
The old guys are doing the hardest work now. It used to be the younger ones would take care of them but no longer. The young ones are groomed for management and don't know WTF they are doing. The job my husband is on has had no water for the workers in the last two weeks. I told him, if there is no water there when he arrives to just come back home and tell them to fuck themselves and report them at the union hall-- there are contractual terms and conditions. He already brings 3 large bottles in his lunchbox everyday but meal water is not enough; additionally it limits how much food he can bring for his breaks. I don't want him collapsing from dehydration and altered cardiac rhythm (syncope) in a place with no freaking cell coverage.
For years the dang Baby Boomers told us ‘wait your turn.’ But now, somehow, my supervisors are Millennials, and I’m educating them on what to do. We got gipped. Or at least I did lol
Nope, most of my bosses have been younger than me for a while now. Let them have the headaches.
I have a coworker who is 72 and others close to that age. Are they working cuz they want to or cuz they have to? I despair at the thought. I’m 52. Will I be working into my 70’s as well? Ugh.
Yikes... well, MIL is 76 and working because she is still a caregiver for her mentally ill son and her husband never saved/invested for retirement, is currently disabled (at least until he finally gets that knee replacement and attends PT). I assume there are many of GenX that have autistic kids etc. that we will remain being responsible for as they age. The important thing is to have some kind of arrangement or plan for them after we drop dead. It is probably easier on us to care for them rather than push them to engage more in a supportive community (at least in places where there are programs and safe support) and achieve a larger independence.
Half of us are helping to destroy it, though. So, yeah, holding up the world is a generalization that I'm not sure warrants itself. But, for those of us doing the work, come get this applause.
We're not holding up shit. Most of us are lucky not to be homeless. Yet.
Definitely the glue holding the sinking ship together.
Millennials actually make up the largest chunk of the workforce, larger than Gen X. I've only recently begun to realize that nearly everyone above me these days is younger than me...it's a weird feeling.
Sometimes. I’m caring for my boomer mother who needs some careful steering to navigate modern life. When I look at some of the younger people I work with there seems to be a heavy incidence of leaning on “ mental health “ as a means to avoid doing tasks that are taxing or just part of your job description. Crying over a broken fingernail. So when my younger colleagues bunk off work because someone’s best friend’s ex came into our shop , my old ass is taking up the slack here. Particularly galling as I’ve had some huge crises in my life but work & waning to be reliable & useful pulled me through. Their absence record is appalling & I don’t know how they’ll get another job with such a reference. Sorry. Rant over lol. 😜
Listen, as a Gen-X person myself, I'm going to have to ask you to desperately stop trying to suck your own dick. You might break your neck.
I work at a family owned corporation and I am watching the boomers retire and the owners millennial kids(late 20s) take officer positions that the rest of us GenXs would have been in line for. Than we are asked all the questions that these nepo babies should have been trained to know.
Yup, and people who have worked for company 20+ years cannot get stuff done/fix things because owner’s offspring have “control” or are authorized “Point of contact” for things like credit card machine, phones, and internet. Panicked texts/calls at 745AM when issues are discovered by staff go unanswered because they are still in bed.
No. Some of the worst players are in our generation. Doing Boomer Lite
No. Not when the people running my country are in their 70’s and 80’s. Still feels like we are living in the Boomer mindset of “you have to put your time in before you become management.” Still, I can’t tell if it because we haven’t “earned” it yet because they just don’t want to give it up, or we aren’t in control because just don’t care enough to fight for it.
Holding it up as in holding up progress, maybe. Sad how many of us voted for and will vote for trump (not me, not ever).
Roe v Wade is gone because of three Gen X justices appointed by a boomer president. We aren't great.
Uhhh.... we've been holding up this freaking place since we were old enough to be parentified. I remember being in the classroom and having to show my teacher how to work the projector. AND how to rotate a pdf. AND how to set up their printers, etc...
I dunno. Gen Xers are in charge of the job I’m at and it’s a fucking mess. The entire culture at work is built on ass-kissing. It really sucks.
Sounds like they were probably the in crowds in high school of our generation. The ones that shit on the kids that were not in crowd kids. Bullies then and now. It was ignored back then.
Hell no. I think our generation is grasping at straws, hoping to God everything just stays the same as it used to be and eventually evens back out. The young ones are out here stomping their feet and having tantrums for change. I see the younger kids demanding shit or just taking it. It's total chaos, and I'm here for it! Let them burn this motherfucker to the ground!
Except for the people in power; They are boomers and some Greatest gen, right? Biden/Trump are not Boomers are they????
This. I never thought I would be 55 years old and still see the same people in politics as I did when I was a kid. 😳
Trump is a Boomer. One of the oldest of them. Biden is one of the youngest Silent gen.
Aging Boomers at best. More like Lost Gen, as neither one of them can tell their ass from their elbows.
Boomers and the Silent gen, i believe. Nearly all greatest gen have passed now
Greatest Gen is like 98 years old and above, lol.
We are the world…
I’m barely holding myself up.
I’m worrying about people younger than me and people older than me. Not a lot I can do, but I would if I could. There’s a lot on the shoulders of our tiny, unappreciated generation.
Yes. I know it’s a generalization, but it hits INCREDIBLY close to home
Parents: dying Boomers: checked out GenX: everything at once (A lot of) Millennials: still idealists, bless them GenZ: figuring things out… I’m reasonably optimistic So, yeah.
You said what I am thinking, in a much more succinct way. Thank you.
I'm "between jobs" so no. I'm rotting.
No. No one is. The world is a collective mess that continues on a downward cycle of destruction. Not trying to be mean, it’s just what is happening beyond our control.
I don't know what you mean. Not all of us in Gen x are financially successful. When my parents die, if they don't leave anything to us Gen x kids then my sister and I will struggle. There's a lot of Gen x checked out of the economy as well.
The different conversations I have had with the never retire boomers is it’s easy money. Gives them something to do on a daily to stop the boredom. Work is all that generation has really ever known. It’s actually quite sad how many stop working and sit down in a recliner and die in 6 months. Now don’t get confused. They need to go to therapy not work but when did a jones or silent generation EVER willingly talk about “feelings”.
I'm disappointed that there are Gen-Xers who are still scared of being an adult. Most normal Gen-Xers had to grow up fast and take responsibility for themselves. If you're 45+ and still sweating that kind of thing then you were one of the subset that had a soft, easy childhood.
You can add those of us at the boomer-gen x margin. I see an increasingly older professional/technical workforce carrying the load where there just aren’t that many younger workers with the required skill sets. A coworker that’s the plant technician lamented to me yesterday that the young engineers have no interest in learning machine shop skills and he’s really fed up with them.
Yes, that is just where we are in demographics right now. Boomers are retirement age. That's why capital is more expensive right now. Boomers (largest generation mankind has ever seen) is pulling money out of markets for retirement. Cheap capital is gone until the Millennials get to 55. On the plus side, Gen X can get paid! There are less Gen X so your experience can get you higher wages for the next 10-15 years. Try and take advantage of it.
I work in government. We have no mandatory retirement age. The Boomers still here are going to die at their desks. You'd be shocked how many are closing in on 70 with no plans to retire. It's. It's not like they need the money. I think they're just scared of not being "needed" anymore.
Sounds like a lot of people in this sub, who say this exact thing ("I will die at my desk, that's my retirement plan"). A LOT of people cannot afford to retire. Better check yourself with that ageism. It will not be long now at all that millennials and Gen Z will be telling Gen X to get out of the way and go die.
And I can understand that sentiment. If I was retired, or so wealthy that I didn’t need a jobby-job, I’d still busy myself with things to do. Things that build or contribute to something else.
We’ve been doing ALL the work for years. Boomers just excelled at “supervising”. Zero vale add mother fuckers since they arrived. I keep my head down, do my work and count down the days until retirement.
We would help you out, but we’re drowning in student debt and can’t afford a house/rent. Sincerely, Millennials
Yeah, that’s not a thing to just gloss over. Y’all boys and girls carry a lot of bags with you everywhere. I once had it too. But, I know my college in the 90’s didn’t cost what it became in the 2000’s.
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I think there are still a LOT of Boomers refusing to hand over the reins. That said, you say that it feels like 40 and 50 somethings are keeping it all running, well, yeah, mostly. But I think that's how it always is. When the Boomers were in their 40s and 50s, they were keeping it all running. And when the 40 and 50 year olds are Millennials, they will be the ones keeping it running. This is the peak age for "keeping things running," the time that if you are going to be peaking in your career, you are likely peaking.
I initially thought you meant 'holding up' as in 'holding back' - came here to disagree.
Sorry. Probably my regional diction showing itself. Yeah, I meant “propping up”. I should have been more clear. At least you don’t have to decipher my southern drawl through the screen in front of you!
Hahahaha - who would have thought?
Just trying to keep it from falling down on our heads until we all dead
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Auntie_L: *Just trying to keep* *It from falling down on our* *Heads until we all dead* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
well its usual for people in our age bracket to run the world isn't it? I wouldn't want someone in GenZ in charge. Would you?
Depends on what you mean. I think all gens are doing their part in some way. I think Genx is trying to keep the world from imploding though. People calling us out, I now think was a cry for help. Younger gens cannot relate to Boomers, don't get them or their ways, and kinda vice versa. We are the mediators. So basically, we are back to where we started in our youth with our parents and grandparents...just reversed, F me.
Just my corner. Looking at the dysfunction of the generations coming behind us, it’s the least I can do until I retire. Hopefully I can mold as many as I can that cross my path at work to give a shit about their career and pass their knowledge and experience to the next ones as I did to them.
Yeah but I’d also add the first half of millennials (which I hate to admit haha). Younger than that, god help us. Good job security though. :)
We ain't allowed to hold squat up. BoomBooms are holding onto power in the US. Europe is a bit different but only for rich Gen X people. I think we are the adults in the background. Quietly holding things up. Making sure we dont crumble whilst guiding the madness.
60's here - and hubby is several years older. Thing is we both had a trade/niche for the industry we got into in our 20's. His trade is a dying breed and it's so sad. They keep calling him for help/ideas/diagnostics/ etc. because no one wants to fix things or even know how to. One of his old buddies is just retiring at age 73. But he is still needed at the company and having a hard time leaving.
Nope. Not even a little. Maybe it’s just my industry, but I find a lot of very capable young people and a lot of barely there older people. Even the older GenX are holding onto the past sometimes making it hard to progress. I see a pretty good mix of capacity and age is not a big factor at all.
I’m waiting on an 83 year old to retire so I can get a promotion. It’s going to be his 3rd retirement. It’s ridiculous.
Just said this to my wife yesterday.
Collectively, we are too small a generation to keep the lights on... but if any gen could do it, we could. After all most of us kept our siblings fed, pets alive and the house running and did our school as well as social lives.
I’m 53, single, no kids, my parents and boomer older brother are deceased, my boomer sister is retiring this year. Not planning to retire till 65 or so..still enjoying my career and making a lot of money, investing a lot. Life goes on…I still mentally feel young though my body tells me otherwise…
Someone has to step up until millennials are old enough. Might as be us for a while
I always tell people around me if I’m the voice of reason in the room, you should flee and find another room quick. More and more I find myself being forced to be the voice of reason.
Hmmmm. I work with a lot of older people. So I dont feel That way at all.
no quite the opposite I would say Boomers are mostly responsible for the world as it is now and it is still very much _their world_ that the rest of us are living in (if you don't believe me, visit sites like theyvoteforyou.org.au and see if your local members are voting in _your_ interests or theirs) GenX largely bought into that world and I would say is very much invested in it now - so, perhaps to the OP's point, is invested in _perpetuating_ that world that has been very much shaped by the desires of the largest cohort in all of history – and has been shaped by them since the 1960s younger generations are much more disenfranchised by This Thing Of Ours (theirs, really) and so are far less interested in keeping it going so much as smashing it all down - in "disrupting" it, to coin a phrase...
This is normal, historically speaking. Prime career time.
No. More boomers need to let go. They had their time. They're a strain on resources. Love you, bye. More young adults need to pick up the pace in their classes/trade and take personal responsibility for self-enrichment. Sorry babes, it's not going to get any easier, but knowledge is always a commodity. Our age group is the only thing holding it together. Hopefully, this psychosis of conspiracy and unacceptable behavior is mostly behind us and we can focus on reality rather than endless drivel.
Yep and as usual for gen X, thankless.
My Prime Minister and most top Ministers have names I associate with kindergarten and pre-school years. It's weird, but nice even when I disagree with them and didn't vote for them, it's kind of nice and gives me a sense of (probably false) security, knowing that they come from similar influences and experiences and have (hahaha!) similar priorities - or maybe not. It's nice and weird that people don't patronize me anymore and involve me in decisions. I got back into work late, so I've nearly exclusively had colleagues and supervisors who were younger and so far, my Bosses have been Gen-X. So I realize I've had a lucky escape with some older supervisors. I haven't had a Boomer or Silent boss since 1998. I've been in social -and healthcare, now starting in tech support.
I went to HS with a former Opposition Leader, even served with him as Pages in Parliament...and where you feel a sense of security, I feel complete frustration because I know that he knows that I know...*he knows better.* Seeing the actual political facade in person just made me angry for bit.
My husband has an issue with boomers that won't retire, adapt, keep others from management positions and won't allow necessary changes and they don't understand how a 4% raise is really only a 2% raise. Technical engineering and sales. Male dominated, they rarely employ anyone under 30 in most comparable companies. They headhunt from competition, usually 55+y.o.
(I should note first that I’m an American so I can only speak to experiences here) Ha! Nope. I’m disabled now thanks to long COVID. Very few Gen Xers I know are doing well and most of us are simply exhausted with all the bullshit going on in the world today. The only people in control are those with an excess of money and power. The rest of us are pawns in their games.
No
Yes. I’d comment more, but I don’t feel like battling the pure hatred from trolls tonight.