<p>Well, actually, Future…some of us are, in fact, defending your generation here. ;)</p>
<p>futurenyustudent…I don’t see this as a “back in the day rant” at all.</p>
<p>When I was a 20 something (back in the day)…I also had less financial obligations, no kids…heck…I wasn’t married either. My life was a bit more carefree than it has been of late. For the last seven years, I’ve been paying hefty college bills for two kids. You know…I work like a worker bee…but so do my kids and my husband. WE HAVE TO. When all I had was a cheap car payment and low rent, my life was much simpler and less entangled with my finances. </p>
<p>Come back here when you are in your 50’s…and let us know how your life has changed since your 20’s. It will.</p>
<p>I know, the article just comes off that way. Either that or every time I hear the words millenial and work ethic in the same sentence I just assume it is.</p>
<p>It’s a pretty constant that the older generation “despairs” of the younger. Now THAT would be a fantastic sociology disertation, really.</p>
<p>In 10,000,000 years, when the Earth is ruled by Mosquito Men, the full-grown Mosquitoes will be ranting to the younger maggots about how life was so much simpler in their childhood (two weeks ago, actually) when all children respected their elders, no one ever had sex until they were married, young men and young ladies wore tuxedos and ballgowns everywhere (respectively) and everyone went to Church every day ending with “y” right after work.</p>
<p>Gardna! Your hypothesis is ridiculous! Mosquito Men don’t marry. LOL…:D</p>
<p>The article’s right. I don’t want to be chained to my desk 80 hours a week when I’m 35. I’d rather be efficient and get things done. But in law firms where the billable hour is king, that will never happen.</p>
<p>Besides, this is the bed that the corporations made themselves. We’ve watched our parents get laid off after working 70 hours a week for 20+ years, get their pensions wiped out, and relegated to lesser jobs. So we feel no duty of loyalty to the employer. They will get exactly what they pay for. Duty of loyalty is a two way street you know. Employers I think have a duty to reward loyal employees, regardless of the economy. If the employer won’t stand by you just because the going gets tough (I’m looking at you, Latham & Watkins-lays off 400+ associates then reports higher profits per partner numbers-***), why should the employee stand by the employer when the employer next door offers a 20% pay raise?</p>
<p>Nah, not in “back in my day” rant whatsoever. Each generation grows up in the circumstances of that generation. When my h and I were young we both started working at 13, now kids cannot work until they are 16 as the laws are different. We drove younger because we didn’t have cell phones, social networking and all the ways that kids stay in touch with each other that doesn’t require going to a person’s house. You spent hours in the library because you didn’t have the ability to get information at the touch of a keyboard in your dorm room or home. I think we had to “work harder” to connect socially, to get information, and those sorts of things. However, I don’t think that necessarily means we had a stronger work ethic.</p>
<p>From hearing the stories my parents told of high school and college, the only way I could rebel would be to swear of sex, drugs, and alcohol, and join the clergy.</p>
<p>I agree with most people that working 80 hours a week should not be a life goal. Hopefully after residency I can be done with that kind of silliness. I mean, it’s great to be making the big bucks for working long hours, but what’s the point if half of it goes to alimony and you never see your kids?</p>