As I said in the Facebook thread... this is a societal issue. Read the 1000s of articles about the younger generations expressing attitudes of entitlement before they ever accomplish anything.I'm afraid the era of the "humble star," athletic or otherwise, passed decades ago. The well-behaved star is now the exception to the rule...
About 8 or 10 years ago, I had a job for a couple of years that required me to hire and, when neccessary, fire employees. It didn't take me long to realize that 90% of kids under 30 expected to start out at $60,000 a year, get started late, knock off early and and take off whenever their social lives required it. I ended up firing all but one person I hired under 30. I had one kid who was about 27 that was absolutely worthless. One day, he hadn't gotten a project done that he should have been finished with several days before. Only because there was nobody else to do it, at the beginning of the day, I told him that he had until the next morning at 8:00 to finish it or I was going to fire him. This was a typical assignment, similar to others he had finished in 5 or 6 hours before, when he felt like working that day. The next morning, he came in 8:30ish and told me he'd have it to me by noon. I told him not to bother and that he was fired. He started wailing like a three year old, literally tears streaming down his face. Screaming, "You're firing me?!?!?! Why are you doing this to me?!?!?!" I said, "Buddy, you did it to yourself."As I said in the Facebook thread... this is a societal issue. Read the 1000s of articles about the younger generations expressing attitudes of entitlement before they ever accomplish anything.
I'm afraid that it's just societal, as '08 says. Our kids have managed to avoid the trap, but I know lots of others in their 40s, still floundering, and not knowing really why. In the case of the late turn-in, I'd suspect that neither his parents nor his teachers ever really enforced a deadline...About 8 or 10 years ago, I had a job for a couple of years that required me to hire and, when neccessary, fire employees. It didn't take me long to realize that 90% of kids under 30 expected to start out at $60,000 a year, get started late, knock off early and and take off whenever their social lives required it. I ended up firing all but one person I hired under 30. I had one kid who was about 27 that was absolutely worthless. One day, he hadn't gotten a project done that he should have been finished with several days before. Only because there was nobody else to do it, at the beginning of the day, I told him that he had until the next morning at 8:00 to finish it or I was going to fire him. This was a typical assignment, similar to others he had finished in 5 or 6 hours before, when he felt like working that day. The next morning, he came in 8:30ish and told me he'd have it to me by noon. I told him not to bother and that he was fired. He started wailing like a three year old, literally tears streaming down his face. Screaming, "You're firing me?!?!?! Why are you doing this to me?!?!?!" I said, "Buddy, you did it to yourself."
EVERY SINGLE person I hired over 40 worked out. No exceptions. Last I heard, most of them are still with the company. One of them has my old job and another has my old boss's job. :biggrin2:
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Our school district allows students to turn in late work and it drives me crazy! It teaches them they can get by without deadlines.I'm afraid that it's just societal, as '08 says. Our kids have managed to avoid the trap, but I know lots of others in their 40s, still floundering, and not knowing really why. In the case of the late turn-in, I'd suspect that neither his parents nor his teachers ever really enforced a deadline...