Here's to Gen Y

As an employee of the fabulous McDonald's, I have access to the staff website and there's a little section on there with messages from satisfied customers. I was having a little peruse to see if there was anything nice about me (lol, never) when I came across this:


"Just to say that this was the most tidy and well organised McDonald’s I have ever used. I was in there from 10.20 to 13.15, Helen and Linda kept the tables floors, and everything else in very good order at all times without fuss and intrusion. They had the right attitude and did it with a smile on their faces, better than some fine dining restaurants. Some of our youngsters could learn something from this."


Some of our youngsters could learn something from this.

Some of our youngsters could learn something from this.

Some of our youngsters could learn something from this.


My first reaction was just mate fuck off, and I don't even like to swear that much. There was a photo attached of aforementioned Helen and Linda and they're two ladies in their forties or fifties. Okay sweet, this customer took the time to compliment them on their dedication to their job whatever, bla bla, but the bit that really got me (in case you can't tell from all my bolding and underlining of text) is the TOTALLY UNNECESSARY criticism of young people.


Unless you have ever observed a young person working at McDonald's in such detail as this customer has apparently observed Helen and Linda, you definitely cannot make this comparison. I don't know if I would get so worked up about this whole thing if young people hadn't had such a bad press lately. All these middle aged reporters write things about young convicts and rising teen pregnancy rates and poor exam results, but you rarely hear anything good about anyone from this generation.


What about the fact that 90% of people of my age who I know have part time jobs to save money for university? What about students doing World Challenge to help build wells in African villages? Or what about all the local charity work that has been carried out by young people in the past year? Because, let me tell you, that's getting pretty popular. I don't mean that in a snide or critical way, but so many young people are involved in schemes like this and you hear next to nothing about it.


In my job, I've come into contact with many people over the past year. I get shouted at and complained at and made to feel like shit a lot, and I've even been driven to tears by a customer (lol), but I'm sitting here racking my brains trying to think of an occasion where a person under the age of thirty has done any of these things. And I can't. Of course, there will be "youngsters" who do treat people like crap but, in my experience, they seem to treat you indifferently. Not nice, but certainly not horrible. And similarly, of course not all older people will be nasty to you. It's just a small group of people who I've met.


So yes, the older generations can sit here and slate younger people and brand us as rude and lazy and call us parasites, but at the end of the day and, as cliche as it sounds, we are the future and YOU RAISED US. There's nothing wrong with the youth of today. We'll turn out just fine, and we don't need to be constantly criticised for that to happen. Here's to Gen Y!