My 2 Second Shelf Life

So, yesterday...I met with a colleague, and over lunch we were discussing the unique problems that come with managing "The Millennium Generation" or "Generation Y", as they can be called.

"Generation Y is much less likely to respond to the traditional command-and-control type of management still popular in much of today's workforce," says Jordan Kaplan, an associate managerial science professor at Long Island University-Brooklyn in New York. "They've grown up questioning their parents, and now they're questioning their employers. They don't know how to shut up, which is great, but that's aggravating to the 50-year-old manager who says, 'Do it and do it now.' "

I find this kind of humourous, since it isn't the questioning that is infuriating to employers...GASP! To employers even younger than 50!

It's the lack of respect and commitment to the job that is the infuriating part.
Last year I fired a part-timer because she didn't show up a second time.

No call. No remorse.

She seemed genuinely shocked that I was letting her go. Even after I told her the first time that she'd be let go if she did it again.
Even after the lecture on why other people were depending on her to show up.
The excuse?
She had to buy shoes for some special occasion.

When I told my colleague the story, her eyes widened and she said; "SHOES! I LOVE SHOES! Why didn't she say that right away! You were being an unreasonable bitch."

Which gets me to the real point of this entry.

Sarcasm can be seen as a survival skill.

"Sarcasm, then, is a verbal hammer that connects people in both a negative and positive way. We know that sense of humor is important to relationships; if someone doesn't get your jokes, they aren't likely to be your friend (or at least that's my bottom line about friendship). Sarcasm is simply humor's dark side, and it would be just as disconcerting if a friend didn’t get your snide remarks."

I know that without sarcasm, I wouldn't be able to get through a day.

P.S.: Another article on The Science of Sarcasm.