May 28, 2016 "Important statement about millennials- please have sympathy": I read this article by John Doyle in the Globe and Mail. It's a documentary about millennials in the work force. It's a TV column, but it would overlap into job articles:
“It’s so crazy to go from freelancing for Vice to cleaning hotel rooms.”
The young woman who says that is Meron, 20.
She has a degree in broadcast journalism, had some internships and works for the housekeeping department in a Toronto hotel. We see her cleaning toilets as she talks about her life and her expectations. Those expectations are large.
Watching Meron, I wanted to say something to her: “Listen, kid. I got my first full-time job in this media racket when I was 33 years old. For years before that, I freelanced, working in factories, warehouses and offices. Doing working-class jobs. To earn money. And kept on writing and writing. It’s what you have to do.”
Nobody in My Millennial Life (Saturday, TV Ontario, 9 p.m.) wants to hear that. Can’t blame them, even if the temptation to say it is just as strong as the frustration many millennials feel when they can’t find jobs, a career and success soon after graduating from college or university.
The documentary – streaming nationally on TVO.org starting Sunday – is a major work about the current twentysomething generation.
It’s made by Maureen Judge (and produced with Charlotte Engel), who has an excellent track record in documentaries (In My Parents’ Basement and Unveiled: The Mother/Daughter Relationship) and a deft hand in revealing ordinary people in emotional detail without any contrivance.
“My dream was always to be a MuchMusic VJ,” Meron says as she toils at the hotel. She’s just one those profiled with a kind of faintly removed compassion by Judge.
The others are Tim, 24, who really wants to succeed with his rock band while he pays the bills by transcribing court testimony; Emily, 24, comes across first as a slacker who lets her dad pay her rent while she parties and makes grudging attempts to find work.
There is also James, 25, who quit school to develop his own tech startup, has won accolades, but has no money and allowed his parents to take out a mortgage to fund him. They all live in and around Toronto. Most have crushing student loan debt.
The American is Hope, 25, a freelance writer who landed multiple internships at big magazines, but hasn’t landed a job in the media world. She lived with her parents at home in Philadelphia and commuted back and forth to Manhattan.
At first, it’s hard not to be angry at Hope. “I wanna be famous and I wanna be rich!” she declares and is deeply puzzled that internships at magazines didn’t make her a media celebrity/writer.
We see her working in sales and promotion for a company called USA Express Moving and Storage. She hates it. “I’ve no idea who I am right now,” she says.
“I thought I had it all figured out. I just wanna be somebody. This job is kinda like, ‘Eeww!’ It’s in a warehouse and I’m making phone calls!” She crinkles her nose in disgust to let us know how much that job is beneath her. You want to scream, “Deal with it!”
And yet, by the end, one has great sympathy for Hope. She and her boyfriend move to Tennessee and she has something approaching a reality check. And, by the way, we find out how the young subjects of the doc have been doing since they were filmed. Hope is doing just fine. Just maybe not as rich as she wants.
Emily, too, is an unappealing figure at first. “I spend my time doing nothing,” she says. “My dad gives me money.” She also says she is trying to earn money to pay for concert tickets that her friends bought for her.
Emily likes to party. She goes back to college, but gets annoyed when a course she takes doesn’t deliver what she believes is promised. There is the air of the petulant brat about Emily.
Then, as this lovely, textured documentary unfolds and we learn more about the subjects, going beneath the surface, all we can feel is sympathy.
They are all well-educated, but paying jobs in their fields are few.
Emily is working for nothing as an intern at Universal Music. It’s a dream job for her, but it eventually dawns on her that nobody cares that she’s there. She will be replaced by yet another unpaid intern. But she can get experience only by working for nothing.
She has asthma and no money for the medication she needs. When she’s talking directly to the camera, you can feel her burning frustration.
Emily is working for nothing as an intern at Universal Music. It’s a dream job for her, but it eventually dawns on her that nobody cares that she’s there. She will be replaced by yet another unpaid intern. But she can get experience only by working for nothing.
She has asthma and no money for the medication she needs. When she’s talking directly to the camera, you can feel her burning frustration.
Plenty of stereotypes arise here. And probably a few millennials watching My Millennial Life will feel insulted. But Maureen Judge does not rush to judgment.
She followed the subjects over a long period and most are revealed to be more flexible and thoughtful than they first appear.
The world they land in, looking for jobs and success, is more demanding and cruel than they expect.
Yes, some feel entitled in a way that makes your skin crawl. Most, mind you, learn to readjust and tailor themselves and their expectation to that cruel world.
The world they land in, looking for jobs and success, is more demanding and cruel than they expect.
Yes, some feel entitled in a way that makes your skin crawl. Most, mind you, learn to readjust and tailor themselves and their expectation to that cruel world.
Yes, I’d still like to remind some of them that there’s no shame in working at jobs that simply pay the bills. But, no, one cannot have contempt for them – only sympathy, in the end.
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John Doyle: Important statement about millennials – plea...
“It’s so crazy to go from freelancing for Vice to cleaning hotel rooms.” The young woman who says that is Meron, 20. Source She has a degree in broadcast journalism...
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Oct. 19, 2016 "My mom enables my older sister’s lack of responsibility. What do I do?": I found this article by David Eddie in the Globe and Mail:
The question
After graduating university, I moved in with my parents and 26-year-old sister. Two months later, I got a great job that required me to move out again. Until then, my sister and I shared my mom’s old car. When I moved, she got to keep it.
I had to buy a car and insurance. This would have been fine, except that my sister is paying for absolutely nothing. She is three years older than me. My mom has a long history of babying my sister.
Her only financial responsibility is her cellphone. I proudly became financially independent by working hard through school. My sister works a minimum-wage job about seven hours a week and spends most of her time playing computer games. I have accepted that we have different personalities, but not that my mom enables her lack of responsibility. I feel as though she is playing favourites financially. What do I do?
I had to buy a car and insurance. This would have been fine, except that my sister is paying for absolutely nothing. She is three years older than me. My mom has a long history of babying my sister.
Her only financial responsibility is her cellphone. I proudly became financially independent by working hard through school. My sister works a minimum-wage job about seven hours a week and spends most of her time playing computer games. I have accepted that we have different personalities, but not that my mom enables her lack of responsibility. I feel as though she is playing favourites financially. What do I do?
The answer
Well, it’s certainly a twist on “sibling rivalry.”
Normally, that term refers to one sibling’s envy of the other’s accomplishments, achievements and (I suppose) ability to accumulate various sought-after items.
In your case, though, it sounds like you’re envious of how little your sister has been able to achieve, accomplish and accumulate.
But let me wind back a bit. First of all, I want to congratulate you on moving out, getting a job and becoming independent, all by (sounds like) 23.
Mazel tov! I’ve read that something like 40 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 20 and 30 still live with their parents. Which is kind of a disturbing statistic. And – anecdotally, at least – a picture’s starting to form of a generation that doesn’t want to leave home or face life’s responsibilities in the same way previous generations did.
Both my parents and parents-in-law had houses, cars, jobs and pretty large families under way all before they turned 30.
My generation (so-called “Xers”) put it all off a bit, some well into their 30s, but most Xers I know wound up knuckling (or maybe it was buckling) down to all that stuff in the end.
But so many “kids” these days (now I sound like a bandy-legged old man in a ratty bathrobe and grubby slippers shaking his fist on his porch, but so be it) seem content to live with their parents, shirk duties, play video games and avoid work like your 26-year-old sis.
Why? Well, for sure it’s “tougher out there,” these days, as modern twentysomethings will tell you – tons more competition for not-necessarily-so-wonderful jobs.
(I say to my three teenage boys: “If there is even such a thing as jobs when you graduate, they will only go to the best of the best – so you better work your butts off.”)
And how are millennials ever going to be able to afford a house? But you can’t know what might happen unless you try. Or as Samuel Beckett – always a master of pithiness, here I think summing up all human existence in six words – put it: “Try. Fail. Try again. Fail better.”
Your sister has to get out and take her knocks like everyone else.
Part of me understands just wanting to curl up like a shrimp in one’s domicile and avoid everything. It’s a knife-fight out there. But turning your back on it all, playing video games and working seven hours a week is not a healthy response.
(Frankly, I’m surprised your sister can even afford a cellphone.)
Now, originally I was tempted to say to you: “Lead by example, worry about your own stuff and let your mother and sister sort out their own problems.”
But on reflection, I think you should go ahead and say something. Your mother isn’t doing your sister or herself any favours by spoiling and coddling her – and I think, if you care for both of them, you should tell them that.
Not in an aggressive or superior way. You don’t want to ruffle feathers.
Try to frame it positively. Maybe something to the effect of: “Sis, you never know what you might achieve if you try harder and Mom, you should encourage her to chase her dreams.”
Try to frame it positively. Maybe something to the effect of: “Sis, you never know what you might achieve if you try harder and Mom, you should encourage her to chase her dreams.”
Of course, it’s easy for me to say. My offspring are always welcome in my home, but it’ll be hard to know what to do if I find myself with a bunch of twentysomethings under my roof, lying around like jellyfish, playing video games.
I could see it getting tiring/tiresome kicking their butts all the time.
But kick their butts I shall – or rather: encourage them on a consistent, persistent basis to try, fail, try again, fail better. And who knows, with a little luck, maybe, one day: succeed! You and your mother should both encourage your sister in the same way.
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My opinion: This stood out to me:
“If there is even such a thing as jobs when you graduate, they will only go to the best of the best – so you better work your butts off.”)
There will be jobs in the future, but mostly technology like coding.
The younger sibling is more successful than the older one. That's a reversal.
The letter writer reminds me of my sister.
As I'm reading the description of this slacker sister, I was like: "This is so bad. She needs to get a 2nd job and work even more."
There were a couple of months in 2019 where I worked like 1 day a week. I was constantly looking for a 2nd job.
This week's theme is job articles about millennials in the workplace:
http://badcb.blogspot.com/2020/08/despite-all-doom-and-gloom-these-kids.html
“If there is even such a thing as jobs when you graduate, they will only go to the best of the best – so you better work your butts off.”)
There will be jobs in the future, but mostly technology like coding.
The younger sibling is more successful than the older one. That's a reversal.
The letter writer reminds me of my sister.
As I'm reading the description of this slacker sister, I was like: "This is so bad. She needs to get a 2nd job and work even more."
There were a couple of months in 2019 where I worked like 1 day a week. I was constantly looking for a 2nd job.
This week's theme is job articles about millennials in the workplace:
"Failed investments"/ "Millenials, a career at a start up is not like a lottery ticket"
"Despite all the doom and gloom, these kids will likely be all right"/ "Youth need more in-person contact, less time online to find work: report"
http://badcb.blogspot.com/2020/08/despite-all-doom-and-gloom-these-kids.html
My week:
Sun. Aug. 2, 2020 "Washington teen found in woods 8 days after going missing":
An 18-year-old who went missing on July 24 has been found eight days later in the heavily wooded Cascade Mountains east of Seattle in what rescuers are calling a "miracle."
Giovanna "Gia" Fuda went missing last Friday after last being seen on surveillance footage at a coffee shop in Index, Washington. Her car was found out of gas on Highway 2 the next day between Skykomish and Steven's Pass in extremely mountainous terrain. But after more than a week of searching, the authorities had turned up very little until Saturday.
"We are absolutely thrilled to know that search and rescue located her alive," Sgt. Ryan Abbott, with the King County Sheriff's Office, said at a press conference Saturday evening. "She's in stable condition. She is with her parents and being transported to a local hospital."
Swimco to cut five stores, downsize headquarters under Bankruptcy Act creditor proposal:
The company filed a notice in June that it intended to make a proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, according to legal documents posted online by Deloitte Restructuring.
Chief executive Lori Bacon says the proposal to creditors would take the company down to 20 stores, from 25, and give the company time to renegotiate leases and downsize its head office.
Aug. 5, 2020 CERB:
I get $2000/ month from CERB.
If I get a job that's like work from home that is $15/hr (min. wage) x 40 hrs/ week (FT)= $600
$600 x 4 weeks (month)= $2400/ month
This says CERB will end by Oct. 3, 2020:
Who Qualifies?
The CERB will provide $500 a week (for up to 16 weeks) to anyone who lost their job because of COVID-19 and:
- Residing in Canada, who are at least 15 years old;
- Who have stopped working because of COVID-19 or are eligible for Employment Insurance regular or sickness benefits:
- Who had an income of at least $5,000 in 2019 or in the 12 months prior to the date of their application; and
- Who are or expect to be without employment or self-employment income for at least 14 consecutive days in the initial four-week period. For subsequent benefit periods, they expect to have no employment income.
Business magazines: I was listing these to my little brother P and he adds the last one. I don't read these. I only read a few issues of Money Sense because my dad bought them.
Business Week
Forbes
Fortune
Money Sense- this is more personal finance than business.
Entrepreneur
The Economist
Aug. 6, 2020 Wearing masks and tips in restaurants: My friend Leo/ old co-worker (who works at restaurants) on Facebook posted this picture of a receipt with a 5 cent tip: "Get rid of masks and tips will be bigger."
Leo: DOOOO NOT DO THIS!! I work this industry in the places even worse. We make minimum and other places makes less and depend on this. Raise wages for no tips, vote that instead! 👌
I am careful with posting names on my blog, but this was on a public page like Facebook so I can post their names on my blog.
My old boss Adrian from my restaurant job put an angry face emoji.
My friend/ old co-worker Hilary who also works at restaurant made comments.
My old high school friend Ruscelle made a comment.
My old college friend Dan N. who has worked at a bar before made a comment.
Hilary We are literally required to wear them. Like. Legally. If a health department dude came in we would get shut down. I hate this. I don’t wanna wear just as much as they think I’m a sheeple. But if we get shut down, I’m not making any tips or money at all. This is disgusting. I hate people.
Ruscelle Hilary It's a bylaw, not a law. They do NOT have to enforce it, but you COULD be fined etc if they CHOOSE to enforce it.
Hilary When you’re working it is law. You can be 6ft away or behind the bar but when you’re serving food you are required to wear them.
Ruscelle Hilary Oh I see, then yeah, that person may not have known, it's not the servers faults then
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