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Personal stories about toxic jobs and workplace woes.


November 11, 2012

being young in an old workplace

Marina has a lot of sympathy for young people entering the workforce because most workplaces are overloaded with the Baby Boom generation – born 1945 to 1965 – which, because of its incredible size, generated a fiercely competitive spirit and, having been booted out of her job by younger Boomers at 60, earlier than she had expected, she expects workplace ageism to get worse before it gets better.

“What young people don’t realize is that throughout the working lives of the Boomers, up until about 10 years ago, workplaces were lorded over by the Golden Generation,” says Marina. “Now 80+, the Golden Generation enjoyed an unprecedented period of opportunity, lack of competition, wealth and freedom that they milked for all its worth after the war ended in 1945 and nobody dared to boot them out of jobs that most of them were incompetent to hold in the first place.”

“It was the war, you see,” explains Marina. “They were all ‘heroes’ even though most never saw combat and we owed them their jobs.”

“If you’re mourning the loss of a loved one in Iraq or Afghanistan; if you’re stuck in a lousy job or can’t find a job, if you can’t afford a home of your own, if you’re worried about pollution, if you can’t afford to start a family, if you’re fed up paying exorbitant taxes and if you’re terrified about the future or growing old without a pension and without proper health care then don’t spit at a Boomer, blaming us for your misery.”

“You’re looking at the wrong generation,” says Marina. “Most Boomers are experiencing worse fears than you are and have had harder lives, too.”

“The real villains for all the world’s ills right now are the Golden Generation – the people who spawned the Boomers – who are now stockholders awarding CEOs obscene bonuses; wealthy guys pulling political strings behind impotent Boomer puppets who they’ve exploited all of their lives with emotional blackmail about WWII; and they are the old guys who are still sending young people to yet another horrific war in some god-forsaken place.”

“Unlike the Boomers, Gen X and Y have good prospects of outliving the Golden Generation and shaping the world to their ideals,” says Marina. “Be patient!”


Read more by Marina on this issue:



  • golden generation v boomers



  • generational shadows



  • goodbye WWII



  • our 1960s or their mid-life crisis?



  • the spoils of war vs survival



  • we’re ruled by dangerous old men?






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