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Young Kids Just Don't Wanna Work These Days - Episode 58
23 Plays5 months ago
We've all heard that phrase at one point or another, and every generation probably says is about the generation below them, but have you noticed a severe change in work ethic in the last few years? Whether you're an employer trying to hire the best people possible, or you're in the workforce and struggling with a younger generation, we argue that you're not alone.
We're two Gen Z girls who have not only noticed a huge shift in work ethic, we also share what we think is the source of it. We dive into what we have been seeing in the workforce the past few years, what we think is causing it, and practical ways to combat it, and we also encourage our generation, and the generation to follow, that they are capable of AMAZING things if they're willing to put in the work.
Xo - Beth and Ayla
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Transcript
In-Person Podcast Excitement
00:00:00
Speaker
oh i guess i should look there i know oh my gosh whoa whoa okay hello art of intention family we hope you're having a great tuesday it's really exciting week because we're in person yeah we are together yes hello
00:00:17
Speaker
We are so used to hiding behind our computer screens, apparently, that this feels new. But yeah, we're here in person. I feel like it's weird. Like, are we really recording? Because I'm like, why are we in person? Let me just casually double check. There we are. We are amazing. Yeah. So this one might be a little interesting because we're definitely figuring out the in-person recording. We've never done it before, actually. We've never.
00:00:43
Speaker
Not once. We recorded our intro in person, and that wasn't true. One time. We had one time about 10 minutes of recording in person, and we were still figuring out our gear, I feel like. So we were like, yeah, you know all that. Yeah. And it wasn't like, we have like a little bit of a camera set up just for some things. So anyway, getting used to lots of things. Yeah. And while in person, there are so many things we could have talked about, but we decided,
Do Young People Avoid Work?
00:01:05
Speaker
you know what? We're going to kick it off with something that can be kind of fun to vent about together. Yeah.
00:01:09
Speaker
you know, so it's a little bit something fun for in person. So we think it is a real problem. So we kicked it off with something that could be a cool discussion and also just feels good to chat about. Have you ever heard young people just don't want to work these days? Do you feel like that's you or do you feel like you're saying that about other young people? That's what we're talking about today. So hang tight, come right back. Cause we're going to talk about young people just don't want to work these days. It's a problem.
00:01:35
Speaker
Welcome to the Art of Intention podcast with Beth and Ayla. Two best friends turn creative entrepreneurs. This is a place for us to discuss everything business friendships and faith and occasionally more. We're so excited for today's episode. We think you're going to love it. Stay tuned.
Generational Work Ethic Comparison
00:01:55
Speaker
So why do we want to talk about this? What led us to going, we want to chat about why young kids just don't want to work. Like we're two old ladies complaining about the young whippersnappers. That's true anyway. Because we do. That's how it is. But in general, we've noticed some, every once in a while we've chatted and we've noticed an actual pattern in some of the younger generation, whether it be some people who are our age, but also specifically, I think we'd agree the slightly younger generation, right? Like our age.
00:02:25
Speaker
I think we're technically Gen Z, like eldest Gen Z, so we are a part of that. And this conversation could apply to a lot of millennials, so millennial Gen Z and then we think definitely younger is where we're noticing a lot of this.
00:02:40
Speaker
Maybe there's the odd boomer in there who also just doesn't want to work, but generally there's always exceptions, right? As you like to say, no, but in general, we've noticed some things. So we're going to run through kind of like what has motivated us to talk about this, like what we see that's been really bothering us and making us be like, oh my gosh, people just don't want to work.
00:02:57
Speaker
Yeah, because I think it's easy. Since we're still young and stuff like we were, I guess somewhat recently raised by our parents and stuff and probably heard our parents and adults around us saying like the young generation is just so lazy, especially to Gen Z and probably like starting with millennials but like they're just so lazy they're so entitled this like lazy generation and I always remember being like hey,
00:03:18
Speaker
you watch it but then I look around and I think a lot of things have shifted in the last decade or so as far as like work and wanting to work and work ethic and Beth and I both as like small business owners and people who have worked and value hard work a lot I think it is becoming clear for me not just because the older generations told me that but in my own experience I think I'm noticing that more with people my age and younger and I'd say specifically
00:03:44
Speaker
17 to like 21 people in that age right now is is where I'm seeing a lot of that and I'm really nervous to see where this keeps going with like the younger generation who's just starting to work for the first time agreed and I think for me too like I would say that same age range and actually I'd bring it a little bit lower I'd say I've been observing it even with like starting like 15 at that age kind of like I'm noticing that in that age range too
00:04:08
Speaker
So like for me some examples like I guess I'll just start with I know we've talked like you and I both have seen these examples so like one of the most common things in social media makes this so obvious and I kind of almost summarizes all the examples we have I feel like but one of them is so many people demanding like raises and pay you know pay raises stuff like that and bonuses when they don't want to work for them
00:04:32
Speaker
They just come out the gate being like, why don't I get a raise? But yet they refuse to do their actual best and work hard, go the extra mile. At least from my understanding my whole life, was it like you really work before you get the raise? Oh, that was something I was going to say. Another thing kind of prefacing this, we also started working pretty young in my opinion, like you and I. I don't know.
00:04:55
Speaker
I got my first job, allegedly, when I was 12, child labor. No, but I started working in a certain way when I was younger, and just kind of like, it was built into me so much, and I know you're the same way, about what hard work was, and it was just an assumption, and I don't see a lot of that younger age range. The reason I said 15 is because I don't see 15-year-olds. There were so many 15, 16, 17-year-olds, and beyond, of course, who just haven't had a job and don't want to get one.
00:05:25
Speaker
And it's just like, I don't know. I wanted one always, but also just, I just, I don't know. It's just crazy. But yeah, I was similar. I actually, I didn't start officially working until after I graduated high school. Like I never worked in high school, which was a little strange because a lot of my friends did. I remember I always really wanted to, like when my sister got her first job, she worked at a coffee shop and I like,
00:05:46
Speaker
swung by there when she was closing and something about her being in her apron and like sweeping. I was just like, that looks so cool. Like I want to do that so bad. It just looked so fun. And I actually like tried to haggle my mom when I turned 14 to like get me a work permit and like let me start working. But I'm kind of glad she didn't because this is like a separate thing. But I just got to focus on high school. Like a lot of kids were working and trying to do school and that was really stressful. So like whenever I have a family, I don't expect them to start working till after high school. They can if they want to, but it's completely fair if they want to just like
00:06:16
Speaker
do school. But I got a job directly after like, yeah, high school ended. I got my first job. Yeah, because I really wanted to and, and learned a lot.
Influence of Social Media and Entitlement
00:06:24
Speaker
And my parents, and I'll mention this in a minute here, but right away gave me talk about work ethic. And I kind of already knew that also from doing like church events, you know, set up,
00:06:33
Speaker
take down, clean up, like volunteering. Like we still both probably did a lot of things where we're like, we couldn't just sit around and that's hilarious because that was unpaid. And we were like, we got to work hard or we got like a pizza party after or something. That's actually such a good point. Thinking back to like, when you volunteered for like VBS for different, like whatever the event was, I even at those places, cause like you said, your parents gave you like the work ethic talk right before your first job. I think I got that too, actually,
00:07:02
Speaker
I got a lecture during my first job, which I can share in a minute about work ethic. But yeah, I remember helping like volunteering for BBS. It was kind of like, yeah, if you're not doing anything, look around, see what you can do to help, like always be doing something. Yeah. But can you do, do you need to sweep? Like here's basically the list of things you can do. If you're ever standing around, do them. So it wasn't like our parents putting us to work. It was like other adults being like, what are you doing? Exactly. Not working. Like you're just like older kids kind of being like, oh, you can help me out with this.
00:07:31
Speaker
So on my first job, totally random side note, uh, I remember I was just like, I was a cashier and at like a little thrift store. And then I remember one time I was just like standing around and the, one of the old ladies who like worked in the back, she came out and she was like, so if you're ever standing around, you don't have anything to do. Let me show you what you can do. And she brought me to the back.
00:07:49
Speaker
And she showed me like the clothing racks. I could go and take out and put those away. The boxes, the bins of toys. I could go and organize. There was like a, there was always like a bookshelf that got in disarray cause it was like in a kid's section. And she's like, you can be organizing this. She's like, there's, and she was so unbelievably sweet about it. I'm not going to lie. I think she gave me the best talk anyone could. Like I would have taken it better from her than anyone, but
00:08:09
Speaker
I don't think kids are even getting that talk of like, let's say you're at a job, you're volunteering, you're doing some kind of work paid or unpaid. They are not getting the talk of like, there's no need to ever sit around. You either have a list of stuff you need to do or you can figure out something to do. Yeah. And like, so some other things I've kind of been noticing, like in my work experience, what, like how long have we been out of high school? Gosh, nine years or nine for me. So
00:08:34
Speaker
So probably more like, yeah, eight years from then? Yeah, well eight like this spring. So yeah, like roughly around nine. A decade, basically. A bit of a decade. Yeah, almost. Yeah. Yeah. And so, and we've been working the, that entire time. So seen a bit. And another thing I'm noticing just with like younger generation, and it's not always true. Like I don't want to say every kid. In fact, there's actually been some really remarkable kids at like 17, 18, 19, who I've worked with, who are just like amazing. And I love
00:09:02
Speaker
when that happens in my work. I've worked in food service and coffee for eight out of the nine years I've been in high school. So there's been some really just kids that I love so much. And I call them kids. I'm only a few years older than them. I get that. But anyway, there's been some really great. But what I've seen a lot in what we're talking about, young kids don't want to work these days.
00:09:23
Speaker
is they truly, they genuinely seem to not understand hard work, or even mediocre work. And they complain about the littlest things like so much complaining, and it's like pulling teeth to get them to do things. And I'm not talking about somebody not just getting the hang of it first day, I'm saying like they do not want to be there.
00:09:40
Speaker
that you don't want to listen to you like really weird attitudes that like I would have gotten fired with if I had them when I started working and yeah and it's just a fight to get them to do things and we'll talk about phones more specifically but like you ask for a task to be done and over the years I've started like getting real real
00:09:58
Speaker
polite with my tasks like really kind like it's one thing like there's one thing I need for you to do right now can you do this one thing go back and check and the tasks have done and whoever asked to do it is sitting on their phone oh and like we'll say like Beth and I just had like a huge work ethic talk when we were younger there's no way that would have flown like I there's not really a bone in my body
00:10:19
Speaker
that could let that happen and i'm not saying i'm like better than everyone else like i physically could not be given a task have to do it and then be on my phone and then expect to not like be in trouble for it and i've gone back and said like hey like what's going on why isn't this done and they're like oh okay like sorry and
00:10:34
Speaker
just no remorse for not listening and and it's not hard stuff that I'm like asking to do so anyway like that's just a lot I've seen like mid-task getting just like a lot of getting distracted and not being able to finish one thing and it's stuff that like I'm not trying to be rude by saying like no you need to be able to finish this it's just like any other job is gonna expect this of you so usually if a job is challenging you to actually be better they're setting you up for better but anyway that's like
00:11:02
Speaker
broad scope of one of the things I've
Dedication and Focus in the Workplace
00:11:04
Speaker
noticed. I fully have noticed that too and like what you said too about like yeah I'm not trying to be rude by saying you have to be able to finish this but like there are so many people I want to look at them and just shake and be like you have to be able to complete a task yes like you have to be able to start a task and finish it and we're not talking like you said about these long projects like if you're you know if you've got some job and like and it's a project that's gonna take you multiple days but you're working on the whole day that's different these are literally smaller tasks that can be rinsing dishes or
00:11:32
Speaker
I don't know what about you, what I've seen, but maybe listing some things I've seen, cleaning up after yourself in a workspace or rinsing some dishes, or there's a basket of stuff and putting the whole thing away before walking off. That drives me nuts. I think also my personal life, on a personal level, but in the workplace, I think that's just, there's no excuse. Because you're not at home where you can leave your stuff out, maybe and it doesn't really matter, or it's not in your way, or you're trying to relax. This is a workspace. It's a work space. The rules and boundaries are so different.
00:12:02
Speaker
And when you were telling that story, it reminded me of, I saw a TikTok, so it's not something I saw in my personal life, but I saw a TikTok, and it went viral, so maybe everyone else has heard of this too. But there was this girl who was crying, saying that her job, she's so mad, because her job is so unfair, and she went in for an interview, and she asked them if they allow accommodations for time blindness. And the boss, do you remember? I do now know, yes, okay, yes, yes, yes. So essentially, yeah, essentially, they basically said, no, we don't, you need to be on time. And she said, well, sometimes I just like,
00:12:31
Speaker
I have a real thing it's called timeline is and I can't I just sometimes I just can't be there all the time on time like I you know I may just try but it just doesn't work and it was just so of course if you had the video it would make so much more sense yeah
00:12:46
Speaker
but the way she was just so entitled thinking that there need to be accommodations for her and her time blindness so she could come in late whenever she wants, she could miss half days and there'd be absolutely no punishment and no responsibility at all. That again, it's just such a clear example of like that's wild to me. It is wild and I know previous generations have said we have trouble with work or like
00:13:07
Speaker
you know, every older generation, like you said, says that about the next, but that's unreal. I don't feel like there's a generation before that was like, we need accommodations for if we just don't show up. Yeah, I still get paid. She wants to still be paid. No, it sounds like we're like scraping.
00:13:22
Speaker
the bottom of the barrel for like for why not to work and one of the other points i had is entitled attitudes for working in general and let me tell you i do you know i understand when you've got your job for the sixth day in the row and you're waking up at five am for the sixth day in a row and i've been like this is like
00:13:42
Speaker
I know we all used to just live in forests and we didn't have to pay taxes and I get it. But I've also seen, again, TikTok, and we might get to that, but TikTok is just a huge culprit for so much of that. But kids super seriously sitting in their rooms and saying, we shouldn't have to work for basic human needs.
00:14:00
Speaker
that's a big one I've heard is like human basic human needs should not have to like be bought and I totally understand fine like a plastic water bottle full of water makes me like a little sick because it's literally water like I totally get that but it's this attitude of like we should know like
00:14:16
Speaker
trying to find ways in life to not work at all. Yes. And not only survive, but still have your iPhone and still have your laptop and still have all this stuff. And then like, and it's usually these kids who are getting university paid by, paid for by their parents. They're wearing name brand clothes. They're filming on their iPhone and maybe they've got a laptop in their room and a TV in their room saying like, it's a joke that we have to work for basic human rights and humans should have to work for basic human rights. Yeah.
00:14:42
Speaker
I think they're also forgetting we've always had to work for our basic human rights and it actually used to be a lot harder because you had to hunt for your food. Yes, I was going to say. You had to gather your food and you had to find clean water. Rain or shine. Rain or shine, tired or not. If you didn't work, you didn't eat. There was such a big understanding of this when the truth was if you don't work, you don't eat.
00:15:04
Speaker
Because if you didn't go out and find your food, if you didn't go out and hunt your food, if you didn't go out and take care of your crops every day, your animals every day, the right way, you didn't eat, you didn't have a warm place to stay. Like that really put it into perspective. And I like what you said about we still have to work. Yeah, we've always had to work. It just might be a different form. And as soon as that concept of you need to work to have your needs kind of starts to dwindle, just we're in such a bad place.
00:15:31
Speaker
And yeah, I think humans just for years and years, we've had to struggle a lot less because yeah, your entire job was surviving, whether that was in the form of hunting, gathering, farming, you know, building homes, keeping yourself warm, gathering firewood. Like we've always had to work. There wasn't lazy weekends back in the day. And I think switching that out with things over time that are more and more convenient has changed so much. Now we live in such a life of convenience that if something's inconvenient,
00:15:58
Speaker
It's not worth doing and that can sometimes be worth. Oh, you know what? Well, you just totally inspired me. If something's inconvenient, it must be there for wrong. It's like what we're seeing, like not just inconvenient, not just hard, but the definition shift of inconvenient equals wrong or unfair or hard equals wrong or unfair. Generally, I would say there's an overall like
00:16:20
Speaker
more awareness in this younger generation of what they deserve than an awareness of their shortcomings. That's another big thing that I feel like I've noticed too. It's like they're so good at being aware of what they deserve, of their good qualities, but there's such a lack of awareness in this problem that we're talking about of what their shortcomings are because you don't ask for a raise and you don't say, I deserve this much money unless you really think you are so worth it.
00:16:44
Speaker
And it's like, I'm sorry, I sometimes, I mean, even I struggle to raise my prices, I feel like. And I always thought I was, I mean, I wanted more money. I was never like, I deserve more money when I was a cashier, when I was a waitress or whatever. I was never sitting there going, I deserve more money. I maybe wanted it, but if I wanted more, I could work for tips.
00:17:04
Speaker
It's just crazy. I think I asked I did ask for a raise once and I think doing that applies in a more corporate setting again after you've proven yourself and or maybe sort of take on more work that's above your pay and I'm not saying a few things here and there but like your position has really changed.
00:17:19
Speaker
since you started there but I did work somewhere for like three years and I think after the second year and I started picking up more stuff and more hours I did actually go to the person and was just like because I knew different people in the company made different wages in a fair way like because they did more and I started doing more of what the people who got paid more were doing so I was like hey it seems like I'm matching
00:17:38
Speaker
their skill set I know they make around this much like would you be willing and I did get the raise it wasn't very much but I still did get it that's so great and that's the right way to do it the only reason I didn't ever ask for raises because I genuinely like I said I wasn't doing jobs that deserved it like I didn't need it I wasn't I didn't need a raise it was fine yeah um but yeah I I mean obviously I raised my prices now
00:17:58
Speaker
Yeah, right. We have to hear folks. Yeah. And that kind of goes with another point I had about what I've heard all the time, like two fellow employees and like kids I've managed and stuff is saying like, Oh, well, I don't make enough for that. That's above my pay grade. And it's something like cleaning the bathrooms. And maybe one of the bathroom like, by the way, if you work in food, you probably have to clean the bathrooms like no waitress or barista or cook or anyone.
00:18:20
Speaker
Maybe top-line cooks and like five-star restaurants I don't know what their job is but most people you party drops cleaning the bathrooms I still clean bathrooms like most days in my job and I've been told like that's that's about my pay grade Oh my gosh the way I cannot and also along with that by the way clean up after yourself is done actually
00:18:40
Speaker
we can find out right now by the way. So that's also a problem because that reminds me of that. I've seen people like make messes at certain types of jobs, especially usually minimum wage jobs sometimes too. And they're just like, they'll do whatever they need for their task. And it's just a full on mess. And then it's like, are you going to clean this up? And they're like, Oh, that's like, that's not, what do you mean? That's not part of the task. Like, yes, it is.
00:19:01
Speaker
Yeah, no, I've worked for a lady before. She was super awesome. And she actually started telling people in interviews, because it was for coffee. So a lot of kids came in expecting to be like baristas, and they think you just like pour lattes all day. And so and there, this place also did like food and there was dishes and there's bathrooms to be cleaned. And she started saying in interviews, and it was so funny, because she said this to me in an interview, and I knew this, but I like broke my heart that she even had to clarify this. But she was like, just so you know,
00:19:27
Speaker
this job does come with a lot of other work that's not coffee. It comes with like, there's going to be dishes to do, like usually our braces are doing a lot of dishes. There are bathrooms to be cleaned. We help the kitchen staff a lot. Like, you know, that's part of your job expectation is that like there's cleaning that has to be done. There's like basic
00:19:46
Speaker
Yeah. That you have to like clean and do dishes and do bathrooms. And then not this job, but another, I've worked like a billion jobs by the way. So don't feel like you have to keep track of this. It's just, I'm just jumping around here, but like, you don't have to know it's just general different places. Anyway. Um, there was like a bit of a mess in one of the bathrooms, which happens all the time. And it wasn't even that bad. And I wasn't trying to make somebody else do this because I didn't want to do it. It was like, I was busy. Like I was running register or something like that. And a customer brought it to my attention.
00:20:14
Speaker
that there was a bit of a mess in the bathroom, and there was another employee doing dishes. And I was like, I can switch him out, whatever. And he was like, well, I don't make enough for that. That's above my pay grade. And I was like, I'm telling you right now, no, it's not. I have cleaned up after a tweaker was in a bathroom once, which I probably shouldn't have done. But I've done it. No questions asked. And then it was simple tasks. One time a customer asked if we could turn the heat up. But it was summer, so we didn't want to turn the heat up. We had it on AC.
00:20:43
Speaker
And different kid was like, it's about my pay grade. It was turning customer service is never above your pay grade customer service is never. And again, that comes with cleaning, having a clean space, doing little tasks that are little, just little requests that.
00:20:56
Speaker
Yeah. I think almost the point of customer service is doing a bunch of little things that aren't in your job description. Like if someone says, Oh, can I borrow a pen? Yes. And you're not, it's not going to be listed in your job description. That's customer service. Yes. That's also such a, such a basic part of work ethic. Are you kidding me? I don't know. That's so wild. Oh my gosh. That, I don't know if you already mentioned a little bit about the needing breaks.
Unrealistic Expectations and Job Realism
00:21:21
Speaker
I think when you were first talking about your first example,
00:21:24
Speaker
You said something about needing breaks. When you said they can't finish a task, they need a break. But that's just one of the biggest ones too. I am flabbergasted at how much younger people need breaks for the simplest things. Like we said, not being able to complete a task and just needing a break for the smallest things. You don't need a break every five minutes. The reason you think you do is because of your phone.
00:21:46
Speaker
which like Ayla said, we'll get more into in a little bit, but there is not a need for breaks all the time. Like you need to be able to finish a task, but I see people like within, like everything's, oh, cause I need a break. I need a break. I need a break for like a mental health break or just a rest cause this was harder, but it's usually like need a break for your brain. And it's like, you don't, you know, back in the day, people got scheduled breaks and you only got one or two and you worked the entire time in between them. Yeah.
00:22:11
Speaker
Yeah, anyways, that's just over. That's just like on its own. I wanted to clarify the meeting constant breaks.
00:22:17
Speaker
No, isn't like your normal paid one or, you know, paid or unpaid ones of the day. We do believe in proper, you know, uh, what's it called? Like work, not workers comp, but you know, like workers safety and the right amount of breaks, like fine with that. But yeah, like without your break time stopping and, and doing things outside of that and breaks are pretty generous these days. But I think with like how I work now, I get one for like half an hour, which is like insane. That's such, that's kind of like a long time for me to sit, but I take it.
00:22:43
Speaker
But then it's like outside of that. You can't go three hours without, and I'm not saying like stopping and sipping water. That's fine. But you can't go three hours with like leaning, getting on your phone, completely stopping what you're supposed to be doing is crazy to me. Yes. And okay, here's a question though. So do you feel, because obviously I'm all for good, safe, healthy work environments. We need breaks. We need them scheduled. They need to be enforced by law, all that. But what I've been noticing is people are literally going to know I need a break. Like if there is a task,
00:23:12
Speaker
that's 90% complete and they're literally like, I need a break. And I'm just like, okay, do you need a break? Or, I'm sorry, this gets me actually so angry. Or do you just want to break or you addicted to your phone or what is it? Like in my opinion, tell me what you think. I feel like we could go a whole work day without a break. Like I, no, we shouldn't. We'd be exhausted by the end of the day. But like, I feel like
00:23:39
Speaker
your body should be able to yes yes so again if you are like i need a break more than the schedule breaks like that is something to so maybe reevaluate because again even breaks they're nice and they're necessary there may be a necessity to not be exhausted maybe especially depending on your type of job you do need breaks for like being able to go back and think and have a clear head or physically resting but in general i would say most jobs not every day of the week but you could technically not have breaks
00:24:06
Speaker
maybe it depends like so well like I did like I did work somewhere that very not legally I'm not gonna out who they were but like we got a break skip often we actually only got one 15 minute one in an eight-hour shift which isn't which isn't workers safety like it's not what you're supposed to have but we kind of all like agreed on it because we still got paid so we got paid for the full eight hours instead of like an unpaid half an hour so everyone was fine but it was very easy for those breaks to get skipped and
00:24:35
Speaker
If it was busy, it was super normal for the management to be like, well, we're too busy. You can't take your break. And I will say sometimes those conditions were summer, no AC. For food safety, you couldn't have water right there by you. And then they were telling you, you can't stop and have a break. So I don't like that because I think that's super unhealthy when you're dealing with heat and no hydration.
00:24:59
Speaker
and being on your feet like eight hours like i can do it but i do i wouldn't want that to be the norm i guess but yeah i said i said not the norm we're not saying it's the norm we're not saying it should be we're not saying on really intense jobs i said do you think don't you agree that technically
00:25:14
Speaker
People should be able to do one work day. Let's say in theory without a single break. Yeah So in that scenario that certain like trades I guess is like maybe but like you said like a general job the jobs that the young people that we're talking about have Definitely. Yeah, I think Like I genuinely appreciated all the breaks I've had in my jobs like to be completely honest, I really think that
00:25:37
Speaker
I could have totally been fine not having breaks most of the time during those jobs. Again, would I have enjoyed it? No, but I'm trying to be very aware. I think part of work ethic is to be aware what you can do. So therefore being appreciative of the breaks you have and then respecting that you don't need more. Or also I think back to, to be honest, the times when I was a kid and I worked outside doing yard work for five hours straight and there wasn't breaks. That's not a thing. You get a break when you're walking on the way down the hill to get your next load.
00:26:03
Speaker
I tried to negotiate some more breaks out of that but but also even like my husband talks about he does trades and it's not kind of funny because I just said like trades might need breaks and again like I don't want to tell the trades what they have to do because I don't work trades but he does and he doesn't take a break at work because then they finish an hour earlier
00:26:20
Speaker
And I love that concept. Like Lord forbid, if breaks are preventing the workday ending, like I would rather have no breaks and end two hours earlier than have all the breaks and then be like later. So that's how he operates really well is like he just gets through and then he's done work earlier. Then if you stop and like take a full lunch break, then you're like sleepy the second half of the day, or at least like I am. But yeah, so anyway, yeah, no, I see what you're saying with that. So yeah, that was kind of a long tangent, I feel like, but just kind of like,
00:26:47
Speaker
Really do you really need a break because no you don't because technically you could go all day without anything yeah, but yeah, just being able to like focus and Trust for your body to be in good enough shape and like your mental state to be in good enough shape to get you through that No, I would I would say so like a lot a lot of people. Sorry. Yeah, no go for it I think a lot of this is almost a separate issue, but young people are
00:27:12
Speaker
so many of them are not aware of what they physically can do. The amount of people I interacted, and there's like, how do you do that? Like, is that possible? But what that's like, I couldn't do that. I can't do that. It's like, yes, you can. Because the thing you're saying is holding you back is something so minor, like being tired. That is not something holding you back. That's not a physical impossibility to get past. Like, it's just, I hear that aware what they can do. I hear that pretty common. I do like people in my life who
00:27:38
Speaker
are concerned at the fact that I work two jobs and I have for like three years ever since I started my business. And the fact that sometimes my days are like going to my day job for I'm usually there for like seven hours, something like that, coming home and then working. And I do take my own breaks like in between that, like I do take them, but it's not a normal for me to wake up at like 5am.
00:27:59
Speaker
go to my first job, come home around like two, maybe like 15 minute, you know, little scrolling break something and then jump right back into my other one till nine. That's been my life for a lot of busy season. And that's like, I just, I do it because, because I, I don't mind it. And it makes me the money. So I'm like good with doing it. And then there's people in my life who are like, Oh, it seemed to be like I could never,
00:28:19
Speaker
Could never do that. That sounds like a little work like that sounds hard and sometimes it is I'm not pretending I'm invincible But like the outcome is so worth it and I actually like am a slight workaholic So I'm like chillin sometimes when it happens and this is a whole like I'm getting off track But you know my works also seasonal so it's not always like that so I just like take it for what it is Yeah, anyway, it's like it's super hard to explain because I do get it is a full day and
00:28:43
Speaker
but when I hear like I could never do that like you work so hard that must be so hard and it doesn't feel that hard because also my second job is completely on our computer so I don't have to be moving so I'm like it's not that hard but yeah that might just be me I don't know no it's not just you and again I there's so much of it to say about that but just also a lot of young people I think if you're a younger person and you're kind of like oh I could not do that how do you do that it's so crazy
00:29:05
Speaker
There's also, remember, there's endpoints. You may work really hard for 10 hours in a day, but you have weekends, you have the evening after that, or maybe it's just for a season during your busy season. It's wild for you, but it's not the rest of the time. Just also being able to be realistic about when the hard work takes place. I think so many people, it's like, are you afraid to work hard?
00:29:26
Speaker
and not take excessive breaks because you think that's just going to be what the rest of your life all of a sudden now nonstop is going to look like. You know, you, you have the work day and then you have the evening after most of weekends. Hopefully, you know, it's just going to be maybe for a season in your life, but you need to be able to do that for this season and when it's time to do that.
00:29:43
Speaker
One more, one more thing I'll mention that I noticed that kind of came to light, like just again, what I'm noticing in the workforce is like lack of respect for management and like bosses. And again, we will jump into this because we do want to talk about finding good work environments that you do like working. So I'm not saying to submit to just a terrible boss, like definitely get out of there if, if you need to, but I'm saying like generally.
00:30:05
Speaker
good bosses and even your parents and stuff like lack of respect in the ways like I've been talked to I generally think I'm a pretty kind person to work with I try very hard to be at least especially like even if someone's doing something super wrong my first reaction is always as much as I can't take like help and encourage so I can safely pretty much say I'm not like mean unless people are like really it's like it takes a long way for me to get there but anyway
00:30:28
Speaker
like the ways I've been like looked at and talked to sometimes was like, Hey, can you do this and being like, and having the response of like, Oh, okay. Or explaining, you know, when, when employees would come in to take over my shift, I would give them like a rundown of the day, just being like, Hey, I'm noticing it's really busy here. We need this to be done. Before the end of the day, this is selling really well, just telling them about the day. And I've had kids noses being their phones while I'm talking to them. And like, that is just so impossible, because
00:30:54
Speaker
of me and my family, I cannot do that. I hate when I'm talking to people and they're looking at their phone. It makes me feel super unlistened to, unless they've said, sorry, I need to respond to something. And I've had to say, I'm sorry. Are you busy? I can wait for you to be done on your phone. And the kids are like, oh, no, sorry. I'm just like Snapchatting that I got to work.
00:31:13
Speaker
Have I never told you this? I've literally been talking to a kid. He was probably like 19 or something and just being like, oh, like, how's your day going? It's been pretty busy, but you guys should have a good clothes. And he was on his phone and going like, uh-huh, uh-huh. And I was like, sorry, is there something you need to finish up? I can wait for you to be done. And he was like, oh, no, like, my friend just snapchatted me and I was just telling him and I was like, okay, great. When you're done with that, I'll talk to you.
00:31:37
Speaker
Even giving them time to be like, you can be done. And he just like slowly kind of put the phone away and I was like, good. Okay, let's keep going. And the way I could never do that for anybody I worked for and like that attitude and like lack of respect to customers, lack of respect to employers and like back talking and just stuff like that. I've delegated a task before. Hey, I'm sorry. We've got a mountain of dishes. Can you please like help us get through some of those before you do another task or before you want to stop and talk?
00:32:06
Speaker
because I'm also okay for workplace talking and chatting. I think it's healthy. I think it's a good thing. But hey, before you come, like have a conversation, can you please like do some of that? And then I walked by and that task still isn't done. I have like gone to the person and been like, I'm sorry, was there something unclear? Like, please, this is desperate. Like we need to get this done. And being like, yeah, I got it mom. And stuff like that. No way. Oh yeah, straight up. No way that would just not fly in any other generation.
00:32:31
Speaker
If it was my business, you'd be fired on the spot. Honestly. Yeah. That's my last point on here, but yeah. Which yeah, by the way, that's a good point. So, you know, you're speaking, if you're younger and listening to this, you are listening to that generation. Like these are people, we're the age of, we're going to be your bosses, you know, and like obviously some older people too, but like that doesn't, do you want to get fired? I'll say it like you're going to get fired.
00:32:56
Speaker
Like that's so, and by the way, not just for the attitude, not just for the laziness, but also the things. Having an expectation of having a raise before working for it. You're going to get fired. Yeah. Maybe not on the spot. You wanted a raise, but you're going to lose your job. If you want to flat out tell them you don't want to work harder, but you think you deserve a raise, or you'll work harder once you get it right, that one. Are you kidding? Sorry, that's not how the world works. You're going to get fired.
00:33:19
Speaker
Like, maybe not right away, maybe not, and maybe you'll be lucky and you won't be, but holy cow, we will fire those people. The older generation certainly will, and we're sure we're not the only ones in our generation who will do that. By the way, if you ever are the boss, you'll see why. But until then, respect the people who say this work ethic is important, and
00:33:43
Speaker
Just don't do that. Yeah, for sure. Don't call your boss a mom. Not like I was his boss, but still. Just don't call a fellow employee's mom when they're telling you what to do. Just the value for work ethic, I think, has died or is very much dying. It's hard to bring back.
Impact of Smartphones and Social Media
00:34:01
Speaker
Yeah, so like, what do we think cause this? Like, what do we think cause this? Why is it getting worse? Like, what's making it worse? Because it's definitely here. And I think getting worse. So like, what can obviously root issues, you know? Yeah, I think there's a few things. I think you have the first good point. Okay, yes.
00:34:17
Speaker
I think what you're going to share stems so much of it. Right. Yeah. And I've already said it a few times. Yeah, it is our phones and technology. And it's not hard to track that. Like our parents were on to something when we started having smartphones in our hands and they were like the kids in their damn phones.
00:34:32
Speaker
They started to have a point because sometimes it do be the phones. But yeah, I just I don't think it helps. It's constantly pulling them away from what they need to be doing. I talked about this on the podcast the other day for me and my own job. It pulls me from my own job sometimes like I get it. It's so it's an absolute thief of productivity and good work ethic.
00:34:51
Speaker
And I think phones, even like not talking about social media yet, but phones in our pockets have given this illusion that we can always be accessible. Yeah. And it's given, it's set up this precedent that we always need to be accessible, like as even like kids to parents and things like that. And I'm not saying if you were to work for me and you were like, Hey, I have an important call today.
00:35:13
Speaker
of course I'd be like yeah you just whenever it comes in let me know like do what you got to do but your friends don't always need to be accessing you your friend going through something doesn't always need to be texting you or calling you or your boyfriend doesn't always need to be texting you at work or your girlfriend always doesn't always have to know whether you're at work or here like when you're at work
00:35:31
Speaker
your phone should be away and I'm super lenient on phones if kids check it real quick if there's not much to do like I'm super lenient like I'm not against the random one minute scroll during your job believe it or not like I'm actually really lenient on that and a lot of bosses I think have to be in this day and age but yeah anyway they're a huge distraction and they set up the illusion that people always have to
00:35:51
Speaker
have you right there in their hand. And they don't. When you're at work, you're at work, you're not dealing with your breakup or dealing with your friend's drama or whatever. Like you leave that stuff at the door. And if you can't tell your employer, Hey, I'm going through something. Like I'm sorry, I might be kind of half here today. And they could decide if you need to be there or not. Exactly. Yeah. And so stemming from that, because like you said, that's just like the physical phones and the access to that.
00:36:14
Speaker
But stemming from that, I will talk about social media. So I think social media does play a big role in also the comparison game. Yes. So in my opinion, people, young people are seeing other people who, you know, maybe they they're their age, but they're richer, they're more successful, they have certain things they don't have, but they're not able to comprehend the work it takes to get there. Maybe those people that they're comparing themselves to, you know, the rich kids or whatever, who have a lot of stuff, maybe they didn't have to work very hard for it.
00:36:41
Speaker
them if they want that you if you want that you're gonna have to work hard for that so that not able to comprehend when you are on social media and saying seeing people with a lot of you know money a lot of things you know a certain job maybe their job is really easy and pays a lot you know maybe they're your influencers you know so much of nothing influencers is an easy job necessarily but there are some influencing jobs that are easy and have affected that generation to be like I want to be able to barely work and be paid a crap ton of money
00:37:07
Speaker
You know what? If you want that, I don't think you understand the work ethic it's going to take. Even if it didn't take that influence or that work ethic, it's going to take you a crazy one. And again, I think in my opinion, so that's a problem that like in social media, that's kind of ongoing. And I think the reason people aren't able to comprehend that is from a lack of like when they're younger,
00:37:27
Speaker
I feel like a lack of like chores and like this seems so silly like oh yeah you know anything you do to of course grew up doing like daily chores so like picking up after ourselves traveling snow in the winter burn piles chopping wood gathering things like there was just always something really intensive to do yes I was growing up if I wanted something and again with this like if you want some if you want a lifestyle if you want a job that pays a lot but you don't work hard again what it's gonna take to get that like I had pretty this is a random example but I had pretty free reign with like
00:37:55
Speaker
If I wanted to redo my room or something, if I wanted to do something with my bedroom that was different, I could do that, but I had to do it all myself. So if I wanted to paint it, I had to remove the furniture myself, sand the walls myself, do all of the painting, all the heavy lifting, everything by myself.
00:38:10
Speaker
you know, my parents were always like, sure, go ahead, but you have to, it's gonna be really hard to achieve that. And I just didn't have, it wasn't like, you know, I had some friends who, if they wanted something different in their room, their parents would just go out and buy them a whole new bedroom. Right. You know? Yeah. Like all the new furniture, they'd go and like order, but everything else online or whatever. And not that I was ever complaining, because I liked doing it, because I'm kind of a control freak sometimes. But yeah, so just that, that social media comparison game,
00:38:35
Speaker
but not the realistic connection there that somehow I think from childhood. I don't know if that makes sense. Oh, yeah, 100%. And like, we, something with that with chores, too, was like, we had to do them like, and believe me, I'm not trying to sound like an angel, like we tried to negotiate our way out of doing certain stuff and like trading chores and whatever, like we did not always
00:38:56
Speaker
I remember that, oh my god. Did not, or like paying a sibling to do your chores or something if you ever had like, we didn't even get an allowance, but if you ever had like your spare change or whatever, did you get an allowance? No. Yeah, did you have friends who got allowances? Oh yes. Did they get it for just like existing? Yes.
00:39:11
Speaker
crazy. I think I think Chris got like a tiny one too. And it wasn't like a huge amount. But still, we were lucky if we got paid to do a chore. I think sometimes if my mom was like, trying to get us because like, yeah, the expectation was lots of stuff daily, we all helped clean up dinner, you know, beds made in the morning.
00:39:27
Speaker
cleaning up after meals. Like we all had daily stuff that had to be done. And then along with like cleaning days, like yard work days. And there was the odd time, my mom was like, okay, we're all working in the yard. And we were like, uh-uh, if she really wanted to get us there, then we got like $5 if we helped her in the yard. And then we worked our butts off if we got five bucks at the end of the day. That's a five bucks rich, love it. No, just kidding. Back then that was really, that was a lot. But for us, if we got paid, it was like occasionally for like, oh, we really want to buy a certain toy or something.
00:39:56
Speaker
We'd come to our parents and be like, oh, I, you know, this toy is $20. Like, okay, well, you can start doing some things. We could wash cars, I think, to earn money. We could help pull weeds, stuff like that. Right. It was kind of extra stuff. Yeah, it was extra stuff. Because we had our, obviously, yeah, daily stuff to give after yourself, dishes, all that kind of thing. But we all had, each of us kids had chores. So there was trash.
00:40:13
Speaker
feeding the animals um dishes and then I don't know sweeping with something else maybe dusting or something and it was we each had that chore for a month and it was like every day you had to do those chores for a month and then you switch and the next thing we were always doing chores we all did all the chores it was like for it was either a week or a month but I think it was a month like it you know you had that chore every day and like yeah it didn't get paid for that but I had kids or I had friends that did get paid for their chores right so it's just like
00:40:41
Speaker
Yeah. And then you had ones that got paid for just like existing. And I'm sure they did chores, but you know, they still like got a monthly allowance. I don't know. But you're right. You're right. That's yeah. But yeah. And bouncing off of like chores and parents. I think that's the big one is parenting has played a big role and the way parents talk to their kids about working. I think we've really gone a direction where parents just want their kids to feel safe all the time. And it's great to love your kids. It is great to want.
00:41:11
Speaker
no harm to come to them and for them to just be in a good work environment all the time and for everything to be great. Unfortunately, that's not realistic. And it pains me for the day that I'm a parent and I can't just like protect them from everything in the world. I wish I could set kids up with just a mansion and be like, don't you worry about it. Like, and I think every parent does, but I think we've gone so much into when kids start working. Parents aren't really
00:41:34
Speaker
in my opinion people correct me if i'm wrong but i don't know if they're getting a talk about work ethic and how to keep how to keep busy when you think there's nothing to do and how you should be as an employee it's kind of like are you
00:41:46
Speaker
I want you to feel safe at your job. I want everyone to be nice to you. I want everyone to like you. I want your boss to be nice to you. I want you to be comfortable. I want you to be happy. And that is not the talk that I got when I started working and I actually, I wanted to like tell this story, but when I got my first job, I bagged ice in groceries at like this tiny little market. It was like the most unglamorous job and I wanted it so bad. I was so excited to start it. By the end of the summer, I was like bored out of my mind of it, but you know, it was, yeah, it was like a,
00:42:15
Speaker
summer job so it was chill and my dad drove me to my very first day it was kind of a while away from our house so he's talking and he was like all right you're entering the workforce now and i was like whoa and he just said he was like listen to what the boss tells you you don't have to argue on if you think you can do it better like listen to what he tells you and like listen really well don't be on your phone because i you know had a phone by then
00:42:37
Speaker
he was like don't ever have headphones in and it was funny because that job could have been very headphone worthy like I worked in a warehouse so I was like alone a lot but never ever had headphones in like don't have headphones in and if if he says even if your boss says there's nothing to do find a broom and pick it up there's gonna always be a broom somewhere there there might always be dust somewhere like even if your boss says there's nothing to be done there is like find something
00:43:00
Speaker
and just do it and like listen well don't be leaning you go on breaks when you say and other than that like he was like you need to be a good worker and both my parents combined also just taught me about the whole every day for the glory of god thing and my mom explained like sometimes you're not you know you are sweeping or you're scrubbing floors on your hands and knees or you do have to listen to a boss who's mean to you and you do kind of have to like persevere through some stuff but every day is for god's glory you're and every oh
00:43:26
Speaker
And every workplace is like a place to be Jesus to people. Every single workplace is a place for you to be a light and for you to be like somebody good and like a good reflection of Jesus. Like working is a gift because you have a place where you can go and be Jesus to people through hard work and through ethic. But they never promised me that every work was going to be perfect or every job was going to be great or that I was going to love all the work. It was kind of like you might have to persevere.
00:43:50
Speaker
and do some things you're not really going to like, but like it's important to be a good worker. And I just, I really hope that's still being told to kids these days, but I feel like a lot of kids aren't being told that entering work is going to be hard. They're being told like, you should get paid a lot and you should be safe and all this stuff. I don't know if you'd agree with that, but. I do agree. Or they're just skipping over any kind of conversation about it because like you were saying, like, I just don't know if people are giving this conversation,
Parenting Trends and Work Preparation
00:44:16
Speaker
you can correct me if you're wrong. But what I am seeing, like Ayla said,
00:44:19
Speaker
is absolutely a pattern of wanting kids to be and feel safe and comfortable just in general life over teaching them the hard skills. And I believe part of the hard skills or yeah, you have chores, even when you don't want to do them, you have things you need to do. You need to learn how to pick up after yourself. And yeah, that's a daily thing and it sucks and it gets annoying and it takes like more time, but you do it. Like that is just so if you're not, and like you were saying, Ayla, it's because every parent wishes they could just set up their kid in a mansion and just be great.
00:44:48
Speaker
you know, their kid never has to work hard or whatever. That'd be so awesome, and we wish, but that's not reality. And if you think that you're protecting your kid and making them more safe in the long run by not teaching them the hard work is by not forcing them to have chores even when they don't want to do it, by not forcing them to work hard and help you out and do things around the house or the yard, even when they don't want to do it, even when it's more annoying for you to force them kicking and screaming. You just let them go play in their room. You are setting them up for more hardships and more failure in the future.
00:45:18
Speaker
And that's kind of a big thing. I think the biggest thing about like parents here that is also not connecting just like in general.
00:45:27
Speaker
We don't have to keep promising that things are never going to be hard and life never guarantees that things aren't going to be hard. Even landing your dream job can be hard. It can be a job you absolutely always wanted and worked for. Again, both Beth and I own our own businesses and that's been a perk in a lot of ways. There's definitely some stuff that's so hard. There's definitely some times I'm like, wow, why did I pick this? What was this for?
00:45:50
Speaker
And I think that could be a whole other conversation, but I think a lot of people get so focused on maybe their dream job and then land it and then they find out it's still hard. Yes. Or there's hard aspects to it. Yes. Yeah. And then it's like, well, now what do I do? Now I don't want to do anything. So that's a big thing of actually, Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you brought that up. That's a big thing I've seen in people. I would actually even say that middle age range you mentioned where it's more like the 17 to 25 year olds, the 17 to 25 year olds who are
00:46:16
Speaker
you know, landing these jobs that are great and they honestly pay well, whatever, but they're like, oh, but it's not as fun as I thought. It's not more paperwork. So now I don't want to do anything. It's like, oh my word. No, no, no. You stick with that. Like it's, that's any free job, every job, even the influencers, again, even those easy influencer jobs that we are sometimes so jealous of, I'm telling you, they work really long hours too. Maybe not all of them. Some of them may be, again, there's exceptions.
00:46:38
Speaker
some of the influencer jobs really are people just sitting around and yeah, it's a really cushy life, but that's not going to be most people. And they're even, I would say a large section of influencers are working really long hours. You know, they're having to think up stuff that they think is very hard. There's a lot of back end work. I'm sure taxes are a nightmare. You know, just, they have to figure out how to make this lifestyle work because again, like maybe the, it's hard to find a partner with that lifestyle. Like there's so many things that are difficult in any job, even your dream jobs. That's what I'm really glad you brought that up. Um, again, with the, uh,
00:47:08
Speaker
unrealisticness, but one thing I wanted to say, I think work ethic comes hand in hand also with patience because you have to have the patience to stick with tasks. I know we kind of already talked about that, but I think TikTok brain has actually ruined this for people. Another reason people can't follow through with a simple task nowadays is because of that legitimate disease of TikTok brain right now. Like the way they cannot finish putting away a basket of stuff or finish, you know, rinsing dishes at a cafe or whatever it may be.
00:47:37
Speaker
Just like actually tick-tock brain is such a real thing. I don't know if you've noticed that like super sure but yes, so I think it also Patience having the patience to sit through a boring a tedious a difficult or a tiring task You can't have work ethic without that patience and patience has taken a big hit with tick-tock and also actually should I just like yeah mention that too?
00:48:01
Speaker
So kind of switching gears a little bit, but again, just kind of rattling off what we think may be causing this, keeping it worse. Social media telling everybody that they're enough. Like you're perfect as you are. Like again, to an extent, I think that is a good message so that people aren't hating themselves. Cause I, we grew up, I think, especially around like maybe middle school and high school where there was a lot of like, you're not good enough. You need makeup. You need this. You need the right style. Like there was a lot of self hatred.
00:48:23
Speaker
in order to be better, but now it kind of flips too much to where everyone's always told, you're enough, you're perfect. And these are the people who are asking for like time blindness accommodations. And it's like, no, you're not. Like I, you're not. You might want to self-improve that a little bit. Just give it a go. Just give it a try. See how it goes for you. Just a wee bit of self-improvement.
00:48:44
Speaker
But seriously, you do have somewhere to improve. Everyone does. If you think you're perfect and you deserve more, you won't think you need to work more for it. Like if you already think you're perfect. So that leads again to a lack of self-awareness, which is going to come with not realizing you're working for someone else. There's so many ways this could snowball, but I'll just kind of like, yeah.
00:49:03
Speaker
you know, if you're working for somebody, you know, you're working for them, you're not perfect, you need to always be improving. I don't know, this is kind of taking a weird turn. But yeah, you just need to always be improving. And yeah, like in some ways, from this goes from a more like biblical standpoint, you are worthy of a lot of things and you're seen and you're known and you're worthy. And you should be comfortable in your own skin and accepting of who you are a lot. But it's so powerful to be able to look and be like, oh, man, I
00:49:33
Speaker
I get angry, you know, I'll get angry at my job, like being told what to do stirs up anger in my heart. If I'm going to make it in this world, I'm going to have to be able to like deal with that. And that doesn't mean you're saying that you're like just the worst or you're flawed or something. It's just, yeah, you're not, you're, to the world, you're actually not automatically enough. Like the world will happily call you not enough and like chew you up and spit you right back out. So it's just again, harmful.
00:49:57
Speaker
to say like, oh, no self-improvement there. You're perfect. You don't have to do anything. And every job will just give you exactly what you want. And I totally get that. Yeah. And like you're saying, everyone is equally worthy of making more money. You deserve to have a million. Well, deserve worthy. I don't know. But you're worthy enough to have a million dollars.
00:50:18
Speaker
but that doesn't mean you don't have to work for it. And that's kind of that line. You may be worthy. There's nothing in you that's making you not worthy of being a millionaire or worthy of having a nice work environment or whatever, but it doesn't mean you don't have to work for it.
00:50:34
Speaker
They're not mutually exclusive. Yes. Yeah. Anyways. Yeah. No, I
Balancing Work Ethic and Economic Challenges
00:50:38
Speaker
love that. Okay. So kind of transitioning here, to be honest, I have kind of a hard time respecting people with these specific low worth work ethic issues or people with low work ethic in general. Um, but because we have empathy and we're not just here to complain, believe it or not,
00:50:54
Speaker
so we're gonna talk a little bit more about some positive solutions for a minute and I'll preface it by saying two things number one we understand that every generation thinks that the next generation is you know so they're heading down the wrong hill they're lazy they have they don't know how to work hard all that we understand that and yet to be fair our grandparents did build a
00:51:13
Speaker
all their homes with like their bare hands and our parents didn't do that and neither did we um you know there's some things that genuinely like yeah they worked harder in some ways um so there is some truth to that as they try to say you know oh your generation doesn't know how to work okay we get that
00:51:29
Speaker
But number two, we also know everything is so expensive now, and our salaries and wages have not matched the rise in costs. They don't match home prices, they don't match groceries, they don't match the cost of living. So we're going to address that too. So these two things are true. We understand that everyone says the new generation doesn't work hard, but there's some uniqueness to what's going on.
00:51:52
Speaker
Yeah, like when I was kind of just telling Beth about like my vision for this and addressing lowering, lowering work ethic, I was like, but I do also want to address that I think a lot of it is in result to the economy, the dollar, and maybe your work not going as far as it once did. Like I also believe
00:52:08
Speaker
We talk about this a lot that Beth and I, because we both value hard work and work ethic so much, we've both been a part of work environments that don't appreciate that and don't value that. So then it's frustrating when you feel like you're not getting paid what your work is worth. It's frustrating when you work hard, work hard, work hard, and then you're still struggling with your rent or you're still struggling with
00:52:29
Speaker
your basic needs and stuff like that. So I totally understand that frustration and it does sometimes feel like the world is not rewarding that hard work and doesn't care if you're a hard worker. I totally get that. I'm still of the stance, which I'll round out with. I'm still of the stance that you do that. It is still better to be a hard worker in a world that doesn't appreciate it rather than just giving up and throwing in the towel and being like, well, I just won't do it anyway. I still believe
00:52:55
Speaker
good work ethic will get you farther than that attitude. But overall, like I was saying, my vision for this episode was covering that there is a difference with the younger generation and their work ethic, but also acknowledging there's reasons for it, like the economy.
00:53:11
Speaker
and what we're going to mention. So how do we approach this with empathy and reason? First, we acknowledge what Beth acknowledged and then our best advice moving forward. If you're someone who's in the younger generation and you don't want to be trapped into the same lower work ethic as your peers, you want to stand out at your job. You want to do a good job and be the best business owner employee, whatever it is you're going to be. Then here's a couple of things to remember. Just work hard. Like I said, work hard and work hard before you can expect a raise.
00:53:41
Speaker
Don't be on your phone at work. Make sure you can complete tasks without needing a break and you might have to practice this and build it up. That's okay. Learning a new job or a new skill takes time, but make sure you can go as hard as you can without your phone without a break. Work smart, but don't constantly look for ways to cut corners, but stuff like that's just going to be the basis of improving moving forward.
00:54:03
Speaker
Yeah, I like that. I think you said that all really, really well. And then so if you're doing that and you still feel like your work environment is toxic or there are better opportunities elsewhere, then don't stay in a bad work environment. This is what some of the older generations I personally think weren't the best at. They stayed at really, really crappy jobs a lot of times when they could have honestly just job hopped a little bit.
00:54:27
Speaker
Like, at least just a little. It's wild to say because I think that most people call this generation like a lost cause, but I actually think we have some of the most potential for balance. If people can understand what hard work looks like, want to work hard, but still stand up for themselves and not stay in a toxic work environment,
00:54:48
Speaker
understand how many opportunities they have out there, especially in this modern day with social media and stuff, and not become workaholics. That will be a balance that's not really been seen before. So that's maybe a little bit of encouragement if you're either on the end of saying this generation is a lost cause, or if you're part of this generation that's struggling. Listen, we have a huge opportunity here. Oh, I love that. I love what you mentioned about older generations maybe staying at places,
00:55:13
Speaker
all the way up into the beginning of factories when people were just straight inhaling smoke and children were working and they didn't eat crazy environments like that. Luckily, in a very good way, we've hard straight away from that. But then I like what you said, how we have the opportunity to bring about a healthy work environment, but is still valuing of those older values of hard work.
00:55:37
Speaker
I really love that. And yeah, I like that you mentioned that it might be worth job hopping a little bit. And one thing that kind of sparks with that is Beth and I are super not for toxic work environments. I am very much just like, get out, get out of there, get away, it will not get better. But with that, I want to completely acknowledge that with this whole broken work ethic, the younger generations, I do think
00:56:02
Speaker
A lot of places are getting called toxic that are not. True. And people are quitting jobs because they're toxic or mad at their jobs because they're toxic, but they're not. They're just demanding hard work of you. And that's a really tricky balance. It's truly case by case. I'm sure Beth and I could share plenty of our own stories. I've shared them on the podcast before about toxic work environments that are going to look different than other people. And some people have probably been in way worse ones than me. But if it's okay, Beth, to close out, I wanted to just wrap the fire.
Navigating Work Environment Challenges
00:56:31
Speaker
a couple instances that distinguishes a good business. That's just demanding your hard work rather. And I say demanding as in like expecting, you know, not like shouting at you or anything versus an environment that may actually be toxic. Because again, I think this trouble with work ethic has stemmed from toxic work environments and I wouldn't want to work for them either. So here's some things to look out for some ways you can protect yourself. Um, or actually, I guess I'll start out with what's not toxic. Okay. If you walk into a job and this is what you see,
00:56:59
Speaker
Again, take this with a grain of salt. You're going to have to be a good judge of your own experience. You can't be mad at your boss telling you what to do. They're going to boss you around a little bit. That's literally their job. If they're doing it in
00:57:18
Speaker
how do i say a regular voice like obviously not shouting but if they sound a little stern and i can only do this with like verbal examples but you know if you if you're off swings through there busy they're dropping off you know the groceries they've gone and picked up or whatever and they notice you know a spill on the floor and are not a spell they notice something that's maybe constantly a problem like an area that's constantly
00:57:40
Speaker
dusty every day, I don't know. And they go, you know, Oh, Hey, do you mind just like cleaning up that spot before your shift ends today? I've noticed kind of all week, it's been dirty and no one really seems to be cleaning it. Can you please take the time to do that today? And they can even throw in a, I don't want to see that dust there tomorrow. That's not toxic. That is absolutely not your boss and business owner has so many balls up in the air, so many things they're juggling. If they don't have the minute to say,
00:58:09
Speaker
Um, please, if you're comfortable with it, I don't mean to impede approach on your time, but whenever is convenient for you, if you could please pretty please for me, clean that dust spa. And if you don't, that's okay. You're still valid. No, they're going to say, Hey, this has been messy all week. Can you please clean it up? I don't want to see this here tomorrow. That is not toxic, not a toxic sentence. Thank you. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. No, I was just going to say, I love this. Like, thank you for clarifying that. If they come in and it's like, Ayla, what's wrong in the kitchen right now?
00:58:39
Speaker
wrong in the kitchen oh well there's some dishes sorry i didn't get to it nope that's not wrong what's the problem uh well well there's dust in this corner why is there dust in this corner there's just yesterday
00:58:51
Speaker
What do you need to do to make sure there's no dust there tomorrow? Toxic. Oh, yeah. So it's tricky line, but the minute it gets targetty and personal and just so upset at your failure, because we're all humans. If you're with someone who accepts a little bit of human error, then they shouldn't be hiring humans. Wow. Oh, that's so funny.
00:59:14
Speaker
Wait, facts. No, that is so good. And I know you probably have more to talk about, but real quick, I also think a great, I like the verbal examples so you can hear them because something else I noticed is like in that second example, the toxic one was just that like not just coming out and saying it, it was like the making you guess. And then, and then you're in trouble again, if you guess wrong, it's like, yeah, that's so toxic.
00:59:35
Speaker
Yeah, right. And it gets so personal, so weird. Or picking favorites among workers. A good boss really won't pick favorites. They'll notice who's doing their best and who's working harder. But you know, if
00:59:48
Speaker
If their favorite person, say you've got two people closing the store, or you're their less favorite, and the other one's their favorite, and the other one doesn't mop the floor, leaves crumbs on the customer's tables, doesn't take out the trash, but you do the jobs you had to do. And then the next day, you've got your boss saying, hey, come on, the tables had crumbs all over them. The trash wasn't taken out. And you say, hey, I'm sorry. So and so.
01:00:14
Speaker
That was their responsibility. It looks like those didn't get done. I'm sorry. I didn't see it. And then they're still mad at you. Toxic. It's just eventually toxic. Workplace is really just defy basic logic and they get really personal, really tacky. There's outbursts for no reason. A really, really good solid controlled boss should be able to take all of those mistakes.
01:00:36
Speaker
and approach it against stern in like a loving stern way and say, Hey guys, yesterday's clothes didn't quite cut it. Here's the things I noticed. I don't care whose fault it is, but these are the problems. Please sort this out. I trust you guys to sort this out among yourselves. I trust that this isn't going to be the same case tomorrow, you know, something like that. And notice I'm not even sprinkling in on a lot of pleas and thank yous and a lot of bosses probably will actually use their pleas and thank yous.
01:01:02
Speaker
I've been in the place where, so anyway, sorry, not to make this a super long point, but those are just some of the ways to tell. Talk to an adult you trust, talk to other friends who were working about what's going on in your workplace, and hopefully they can give you
01:01:15
Speaker
some advice on if that's something toxic or not, but basically show up ready to work and ready to be directed. But until it gets personal and really just gross, sick feeling, it just might be an environment that it's time for you to rise up and to get used to, especially if you're working somewhere fast paced. There's not going to be a lot of like, well, if you're comfortable, can you please help me with this? It's going to be like, hey, do you have time to do this?
01:01:39
Speaker
You know, that's not wrong. That's just the workplace and the way things have to be. So if you're listening to this podcast, I trust that you guys are smart and can make good judgment on that. But just know that a stressful work environment doesn't necessarily always mean
01:01:57
Speaker
toxic if your job calls for a little bit of healthy stress that kind of, you know, if that makes sense. Anyway, good. Yeah. Love it. Thank you so much. I think that's a perfect way to wrap up. I love all that that you said, and I also really love and want to highlight again, what you said about checking with a friend and family member that you trust. If you're trying to decide if your work environment is toxic, especially if it's your first job, check in with somebody who maybe has experience and maybe there's something to say to like being prepared for them to maybe say, no, that's not toxic. You just gotta
01:02:27
Speaker
work a little harder or maybe go to or switch jobs if you can't handle that fast pace. Yeah, and be willing to persevere a bit. I would definitely give it at least two weeks of your time and just to settle into things, especially if you're learning something new, it can feel stressful. I've stayed somewhere for way too long, way too toxic because I'm too much of a persevere. I'm like, it's going to get better. Then I talked to people after that whole thing had exploded and everyone I talked to was like, oh, I could have told you that wasn't good.
01:02:54
Speaker
If you are going through something that you feel like isn't right, definitely bring it up to friends. Bring it up because they might be the people you need to tell you, you're done persevering. Definitely give it a shot, persevere, and be prepared to work hard. That'll get you really far than just wanting to give up.
01:03:13
Speaker
All right. Amazing. That's amazing. That's a wrap folks. That's a wrap. We hope you got to either vent with us today or perhaps do some self-reflection. We say all this in love and hope that you know we are all learning and growing together. Catch us next week on Tuesday on Spotify, Apple podcasts, or Zencaster. And as always, you can find us on Instagram at art of intention podcast. See you next week. Bye.