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My brother’s girlfriend is an accountant for a public firm here in Atlanta. Even though she is a Millennial herself (just 27 years old), she helps manage two interns. Now I don’t know the interns, but they are giving me (and Millennials everywhere) a bad reputation!
Brother’s girlfriend told me that one of the interns was checking his Gmail at work, and when asked to stop he had the nerve to talk back to his boss. The other intern told brother’s girlfriend that he was “too busy” to do the project she assigned to him. TOO BUSY? Seriously? You are an intern, the only thing you are too busy to do is take a break!
I wonder if this poor Millennial behavior has to do with the fact that these two interns are accounting majors? As a public relations major I was constantly being told to mind my personal brand and manage the reputation of the company I work for. Maybe accounting majors are too busy learning how to use excel and organize balance sheets that they never learned the proper etiquette for work.
Regardless, these Millennials are giving me a bad rep! I say it’s time for these Millennials to step it up, big time.
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Comments
06.25.09
Wow! That behavior is completely unacceptable, and it is a shame those boys are not aware of the damage they are doing to their reputation.
I am not sure that their majors can be an excuse, but I have noticed that there is some correlation between good etiquette and what an intern studied in college. Then again, I also know some PR majors who are just as oblivious.
I hope someone can point these boys in the right direction. Perhaps an anonymous link to the Personal Branding Blog?
06.25.09
Clearly these are people in need of mentoring.
06.25.09
I have had many experiences like this when I was interning and working in general. It was the motivation behind me starting my blog. Sometimes I just want to smack these kids and tell them to straighten up! I probably shouldn't call them kids because I am younger then most of them, but it begs the question if there almost needs to be a mandatory course that teaches work ethics. Similar to what KateNonymous mentioned about mentoring.
On the positive side, the other horrible interns made me look great.
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06.25.09
Thank you all for your comments!
I'm not sure if mentoring is enough for these Millennials! Apparently brothers girlfriend's boss tried to teach one of the interns a lesson by asking him, "how would your client feel if they saw you on Gchat at work?" And he replied, "how would your client feel if he saw what you were doing at work?"
These interns realy need to straighten up before they lose their internships!
06.26.09
WOW. I'm shocked to read this! I do understand (being a Gen Y myself) how it can feel annoying when someone tells you what to do. Then again, when I was interning I was a little more OK with being told what to do. Even though I'm a (little) farther up in the chain, though, I still would never talk back. I might think twice about working somewhere where I was being micromanaged (I mean, come on, we are the generation of multi-taskers - we can do our project, eat our lunch, plan our vacation on gchat and update our facebook statuses all while reading the latest update on Perez Hilton!) Needless to say though, not all managers understand this, so you have to show you are workin' it!
06.26.09
It is the brother's girlfriend job to "manage" these two employees. Does she have the training to do so? Being 27 is she looked at as the boss? If these two kids are salvageable then take the time to point out their errors, give them an action plan and get them to work. If they aren't, then as the manager tell the one he can gchat all day and the other one has all the time he needs. Fire them, plain and simple.
07.04.09
Hi Blake,
Fantastic post abt bad Millennials giving good Millennials a bad rep. Would you be interested in being interviewed for an article? I'm a columnist for Examiner.com and often cover issues related to young workers.
Tips for managing the Millennial Generation http://bit.ly/1WHDFs
The politics of being young on the job: managing the kid boss http://bit.ly/Krvwp
Best,
Ji Hyun Lee
Examiner.com
11.24.09
Yes, but if you're the shining example of perfection (or at least, non-suckiness), then you'll be noticed more. As long as you take credit for the work.
"Oh look, James. That young 'un over there has done double the workload of everyone else. What's his name again?"
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