So I heard a new one today...Generation X ruined the world with "grind culture" at work. Any thoughts?
Posted by Change_Request@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 700 comments
So this came from one of my younger employees. I'm not sure that I completely understand. Everyone our age that I know wanted to succeed at a high level. Get more done. improve your skills. Advance. He just wants to work three days and make music in his room on his computer.
bemenaker@reddit
This is such bullshit. We saw our parents working insane hours, that's why we were the neglected generation. We were the one who rebelled against that BS. That is why they called us slackers, we refused to play that game.
crashin70@reddit
Everybody I know has been working since they were 14... 15 if they were lucky. I was born in 1970.
bemenaker@reddit
I did as well. I had a paper route at 12. But, we still were the ones who fought back against the long gruelling hours. We rejected the narrative that you owe your soul to the company. We did what we needed to do to survive, not what the company wanted us to do.
JasminJaded@reddit
My parents worked 87 hours a day, 19 days a week. Late silent generation and early boomer. We did not create this! Lol
ParticularCrow8313@reddit
AND they WALKED to work in 29 inches of snow.... UPHILL!
themissq@reddit
BOTH WAYS!
International-Ant174@reddit
Don't forget that they had to share shoes with their 9 other siblings, so most of the time they just had bread bags on their feet while walking in the snow uphill both ways. With polio to boot!
small-gestures@reddit
Coming to say this. The boomers gave us the 73 hour work week then decided lay offs were the best way to make sure we didn’t get the same payoff.
SemperflorensGrandis@reddit
Ha! Everyone older than us thinks we're slackers... and apparently people younger than us think we work too hard. Gen X is not beloved, but we did have the best bands.
eatencrow@reddit
I was called 'not a team player' because I left 5min after the end of my work day. I asked if I would have been paid for my time over 8h, and when the answer was 'no' I said "It's the other way around, you're failing to get on my team." FY;PM.
If you want my time, pony up. It's truly just that simple.
Our time is the only thing that truly own in this world, don't give it to just anyone.
deleted_by_reddit@reddit
[removed]
GenX-ModTeam@reddit
{community rule 7}
Fit-Reality-2872@reddit
Ive found 90% of people under 35 are worthless, lazy, self-pitying, zero-skilled boobs who want things handed to them and jump from job to job when more is expected of them. I’ve got a great pension retirement coming up and a really good Social Security income on top of that and I earned every damn penny of it by working in a government job for 30+ years……sticking to it. And, I’ve also traveled all over the world collecting for a museum in my “free time“. All self funded. I don’t make a huge salary, so it can all be done. Tired of millennials and the younger generations than them complaining about how the older generation “worked too hard and ruined it for them“! Ridiculous crybabies.
bukktown@reddit
Nice!
How much did you pay in student loans?
ScapeyourownGoat@reddit
None, went to community college then part time college while I worked. Was broke and lonely through my 20’s. Taught me to live within my means and avoid lifestyle creep. Bought my first home at 39.
Fit-Reality-2872@reddit
Had them paid off in 2 years after graduation.
No_Willingness_6542@reddit
I thought we were slackers
RockysDetail@reddit
Pooshaw. I was in the Army (of all places) fighting back against its culture of bullshit and doing things the stupid way when gen Z was in diapers.
gatorman98@reddit
Nonsense. The military is peak red tape bureaucracy
PseudacrisCrucifer@reddit
I mean, how can we be blamed for having a good work ethic? How can we be blamed for thinking that the Boomers would go away and open up seats for us at the table? The boomers are still fucking there! Sorry the toilet is clogged kids.
CriscoWithLime@reddit
I've (55) have been told by ~30 year old that I dont have to do all the work. I swear they try to drag any task out as long as they can, broken up by frequent looks through their tiktok feed. Or they will do something in the most inefficient way. Im being paid for my time, and I can't half ass something. "Incentives" dont work on me.
tarmgabbymommy79@reddit
I agree. Working 80 hours a week, ignoring your personal life, obtaining various mental health issues is not living. Unfortunately, our generation did this and now nobody is succeeding. The present generations are simply rebelling to a disgusting work culture.
Forschungsamt@reddit
That’s a Gen X thing? When I started working, all the boomers worked long hours and on weekends. Gen X worked hard but during working hours only for the most part.
Rough_Condition75@reddit
That’s funny because the Boomers called us the Slacker generation.
Boo-Boo97@reddit
We have a new intern in my office and she was telling a coworker that one of her professors told her there were "A" team people and "B" team people. B team went home on time, didn't stay to get things done the same day, didn't volunteer for extra's. A team people worked 10-12 hours a day, were constantly taking on additional responsibilities, (I should have asked if these people were getting paid for the extra time). I work on the admin side of law enforcement, which is mostly a lot of paperwork. But when shit hits the fan, it can turn into a 20 hour day. Colleague tried explaining this to the intern but intern seemed to have internalized the A team/B team bs. I just sat there listening, thinking, and that is how you wind up burned out and often times a drinking problem. It baffles me that anyone is still teaching that crap.
Quaranj@reddit
I've accidentally taken a job from an exclusive group of these.
"Why are you not working upon things from home on the weekends?"
I wasn't aware that I was being paid for working on the weekends.
Yeah, I don't think we're a good fit, here.
UnderstandingRight39@reddit
Team B here, and proud of it!
Boo-Boo97@reddit
Yeah, I did that A team crap for several years and have nothing to show for it. Traded it in for a 8-4 job (that actually pays better), and go home and relax.
More_Law6245@reddit
So if the Gen X culture was the grind culture then the latter generations must be the entitled generations. Baby boomers said if you want something you work for it, as where the younger generations blame everyone else that they don't have everything for nothing.
Matt01060@reddit
Just some of the younger gen painting with their broad brush strokes again. We tens of millions of Gen X conspiring with the “Boomers” to hold them back from making $60K as a part time barista. As for grind culture they must not know any millennials working in the tech startup world.
Ok_ListenXD@reddit
Yeah, I don’t think grind culture would have originated with the “slacker” generation (Gen-X).
xUltimaPoohx@reddit
Did you succeed at a high level?
1leftbehind19@reddit
I just never wanted to be dependent on anybody. But, on the flip side, if you could make it on 3 days a week that wouldn’t be too bad either. There probably wouldn’t be much extra to save though. I worked 5 8’s for a long time, and went to 4 10’s a couple years ago. Having 3 days off instead of 2 is fucking fantastic.
PushyTom@reddit
I'd do 4 10s in a heartbeat.
Free_Range_Lobster@reddit
I succeeded by being better and more efficient at my job than anyone else, not being a little salaryman bitch.
Sad_Percentage_4503@reddit
With an attitude and work ethic like that it's no wonder your generation is struggling.
You deserve it.
Free_Range_Lobster@reddit
Neither me nor anyone I know part of my generation is struggling. Nice try, go cry somewhere else.
Sad_Percentage_4503@reddit
Ya. Sure.
Too funny.
Free_Range_Lobster@reddit
So how many sob sessions in a stall salaryman?
UnderstandingRight39@reddit
Not me. This Gen Xer set serious boundaries even at my first professional job. I would leave on time, every time. I would get called into my bosses office at least once a month asking why I wouldn't put the extra effort in. I would get compared to this grinder named Ryan who would work until 6:30-7 every night. I used to just say: no, I do a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, nothing more.
TransitionalAngst@reddit
Yeah, so many of them seem to feel like we should throw them a freebie or two after the transactional portion of the day is done. There’s only so much of my life I’m willing to sell them, and none I’m willing to GIVE them for the “privilege” of working there or being their golden boy.
Bottlecrate@reddit
Blaming others for laziness is peak dumb
Amidormi@reddit
That's kind of wild. I had a coworker tell me she was working 60 hours a week and thought it would make the company realize she needs help. I replied no, it just makes them see you'll do 60 hours a week for the same amount of money as 40. I log 40 hours a week, every week. There are exceptions for some weekend work I have to do occasionally but I get paid extra for that.
I also know people who go on 'vacation' but are still mostly working like replying to emails and the chat system. I completely shut off work like I was fired on vacation. Laptop off, notifications turned off, not checking shit.
sits_with_cats@reddit
This is why I refused to go on salary at my last job. Boss offered a $10k raise, plus the "benefit" of being able to take work home if I wanted, & no more worrying about getting dinged by our attendance policy for coming in late. I pulled out a 3 year spreadsheet which showed the raise would actually be a $3-5k pay cut. Also said that I maintained clear delineation between work & home, never to be mixed. It was also obvious I didn't give their attendance policy any consideration. If I come in 5 minutes late after working 12 hours the day before (which was common) I don't care about your demerits. Pay was based in 15 min increments, so they weren't losing anything. I'd hoped to rack up enough for the disciplinary suspension, but my boss would retroactively change my start time so I could never get it.
TransitionalAngst@reddit
“Bosses hate this one hack…” HR can SUCK IT! Not my fault they didn’t consider “creative interpretation” that still technically follows the policies they made. Had the same issues with a manufacturing job in the mid-nineties.
croissant_and_cafe@reddit
Do you remember how hard they pushed multitasking on us? Now we all have ADHD.
Tarmacsurfer@reddit
Human nature seems to revolve around assigning blame. The advent of mass media just allowed us to stop blaming mythical entities and start blaming each other 😑
ParticularCrow8313@reddit
Hence the division between every generation, race, political party, etc. in the USA. One team, one dream
cowgrly@reddit
We don’t grind, we hustle.
Hummingbird11-11@reddit
We sure do .
fatrockstar@reddit
Your younger employee doesn't like his job. Plus, a lot of new-to-real-work 20somethings are experiencing culture shock from the sheer amount of time having a full time job sucks out of a day. He'll figure it out. Work ethic hasn't been strong in white collar work for a while now.
_Losing_Generation_@reddit
No, I didn't want to do any of that stuff. I did it though because I realized pretty early on that I didn't want to end up living paycheck to paycheck my whole life. The easiest way to do that was getting a corporate job and kissing ass and selling a piece of my soul.
It worked. I retired early, but it wasn't fun.
IcyCryptographer5919@reddit
No. Gen X (in general) knew we would get shafted eventually, so grinding was only adaptation if / when required. We trusted no organizations. Succeed at a high level? Nah. That sounds like a confused Millennial, projecting. Boomers didn’t “grind” unless there was a huge payoff. They pretended they worked hard, mostly. Hours at the office doesn’t necessarily mean working hard. Grinding is something made up by founders and venture capital bros to make everyone chase the carrot.
notmyredditacct@reddit
yeah after seeing our parents getting dumped by companies they worked for for 30 years when we were just entering the workforce definitely led to a bit of “make money while you can cause you are just a number to the overlords” attitude with a lot of people i know
at least they still ended up with pensions.
neepster44@reddit
My father’s pension was stolen by his company (they underfunded it and went under) and he was given $18,000 as a one time payment in recompense.
notmyredditacct@reddit
yeah, but think of the shareholders!
CyberJaxWabbit-1312@reddit
☝🏻THIS🎯💯🔥🖤
DagnyLeia@reddit
My first thought was how did we have Grind culture, when Grindr didn't even exist. Took me a sec to understand what they meant.
I didn't grind, I worked and loved it. Still do..my partner still does. We've raised kids successfully, have been available when it was needed but also works hard and lots of hours when it was needed. You know what? I learned so much about my industry...it's like continuing your education. Do we can people doing their masters or phds as grinding? Nah, they are working hard...so were/ are we.
I respect the other generations who get fulfilment from their hobbies or social activities...we just got our fulfillment from somewhere else.
peligroso@reddit
Good little worker bee.
succored_word@reddit
Wrong. Everyone knows it was the boomers who ruined everything.
busterwbrown@reddit
Every generation is weaker than the last….
luluislulu2520@reddit
When shit hits the fan, you have to hustle. Yes, we learned to work hard and many of us work to the grind. Capitalism makes many of us look like fools because it’s set up to treat people like expendable slaves. But when push comes to shove, you have to work hard in life to be able to survive and thrive. I appreciate the young people recognizing the flaws of capitalism but I also worry about them wanting things to be easy. Life can run you over if you sit back too much. And if you are clocking out on time and just doing bare minimum, good for you but there is always someone else willing to fill your shoes and ready to out do you. We weren’t born by kicking back and floating to the finish line
Impossible_Storm_427@reddit
Preach
I’m particularly bothered by Gen Z mentality of telling me they’re taking time off instead of asking, and telling me that when my minimum requirements aren’t met, they can iterate on it to improve. Wtf? First you meet minimum requirements and then you iterate. You don’t do a half assed job and then be like yeah I’m gonna improve on that.
There’s a weird like blase attitude about it. I have one employee like this but I have had others in the past.
I’m not asking for nights and weekends but like put the effort in to meet the requirements. You don’t make your own work.
Beneficial_Cicada573@reddit
Bullshit. We inherited some of the from our parents, but that’s not us. Our catch phrase could’ve been “Don’t bet on anything.”
Strong_Molasses_6679@reddit
AHHAAHAHAHAAAHAAAAHHA!
no.
ziperhead944@reddit
We ground our teeth to dust waiting for the boomers to retire.
Film_Focus@reddit
We also had to go through the fing GFC at a particularly difficult and formative period of our careers. Millennials/Gen Z haven’t had to deal with that… yet!
One_Laugh3051@reddit
Generational demographic categories are a fake idea invented by a marketing department. They want to leverage history and the human longing to belong to sell shit.
caddyncells@reddit
It's more devious than that. It's being done to brainwash younger generations so that a larger political revolution will eventually take place, specifically in the US.
One_Laugh3051@reddit
What do you see as the revolutionary aim behind demographic grouping? This idea scratches my “the conspiracy is much dumber than that” itch.
TraductorPerdido@reddit
GRIND?!? Hell, I didn't even grind my teeth. (Yeah, that's right. Even my jaw was a slacker!)
draaz_melon@reddit
They're to young to know we're slackers.
Shotgun_Mosquito@reddit
No shit.
I do the BARE MINIMUM to keep my job. No need to attempt to excel when we have no guarantee that we will be here after the next purge.
"Comfortably in the middle"
Designer_End5408@reddit
This is how I feel and want to coast until I’m ready to retire or are am retired by AI.
Shotgun_Mosquito@reddit
Yes, the best "coast"
SamWhittemore75@reddit
Obviously posted by someone who never saw the movies Office Space or Clerks.
NearbyShape180@reddit
Your comment didn't have the right TPS Report cover on it and I'M NOT EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE HERE TODAY!
SamWhittemore75@reddit
😂
zoot_boy@reddit
We were just wild with new tech, so our ADD heads just kept at it. Never saw the dividends, but yeah we had a part in it.
wormee@reddit
Show them the movie “Slacker”
SweetsMurphy@reddit
The ultimate movie of my generation. Not “Reality Bites”
rainbikr@reddit
Ruined the world by having to grind because all the stuff that prior generations did for work disappeared. And our employers knew that and used it against us to make us work even more.
Not sure we got the better of that deal.
Certain-Ad-5298@reddit
I never really thought of it as grind culture. I just knew 1) I wanted a really nice lifestyle for my family of four & 2) the opportunity to do what we want in retirement. Whatever it’s called by the younger generations, it works. It might not be the only path but it’s the only one I knew and trusted in. Sure, there’s way better work/life balance to be had but it’s doubtful we’d be in the spot we’re in had we done it differently. The promotions and better jobs with better pay came from work ethic and execution. I’m not smart enough to have been able to do that in three day work weeks.
ErinFiqsette@reddit
"Grind culture"? That was a Boomer thing...my experience as a GenXer, has been chronic under-employment, with un-predictable layoffs, businesses closing due to recessions, etc...
I never had a full-time job with the same employer hat lasted longer than 18 months, where I could actually grind at, to develop skills, network, or work for promotions and career advancement, etc.
Found other things to do out of necessity, because I had plenty of free time for pursuing hobbies, side-hustles, web-browsing, video games, etc.
Gamma-713@reddit
GenX here. I think we, and my fellow X’ers should look in the mirror and admit that we might have let corporate America grind us pretty hard in the 90’s.
We didn’t do anything about it. See the movie Office Space to see what we had to go through for reference..
I work with a ton of younger people and I admire how old this generation has relay stood its ground when it comes to working from home and being treated better.
Significant-Bridge73@reddit
Agree. We took the load and owned. Let asshole bosses grind us, even looked the other way when seeing bad behavior. Think it’s just how we were raised.
Never even heard the term work/life balance!
I did well, got to retire but def took its toll.
sirli00@reddit
Ahh let him fail
Barcelona_McKay@reddit
Generation X was the victim of grind culture. We were raised to believe hard work wouldpay off in spades. An unspoken promise that we were working toward a time when we didn't need to work as hard, and ratio of fun and work would shift. But it was a lie that consumed our lives more and more. Some of us got reprogrammed and took the reigns.
Worth-Pear6484@reddit
The people working 60+ hrs per week were the ones getting promoted back in my early consulting days. It was considered normal to just work until your work was done. It was the boomers that programmed that into our brains (at least for me)!
Original_Ack@reddit
This exactly! I learned in my 30's that there is more to life than money and a job I hate. My parents (boomers obviously) still don't understand that and always hassle me about not working as much as possible and save for retirement (that will likely never come). I have a very casual outlook on jobs. If I'm not happy, I move on. I'm past caring about what others think of me based on the work I do. As long as I'm happy or content, I really don't care what job I do or even how much money I make. 🫤
vistaculo@reddit
Exactly,
Our boomer bosses kept telling us that we were almost there, we just needed to work a little harder while they were away on vacation.
OTF98121@reddit
I see many people in the younger generation job hopping too frequently and expecting a pay raise with every new job. But being the new person on the totem pole also means they’re the first to go with lay offs. Perhaps if they stay and grow with one employer, they might not be as expendable.
neepster44@reddit
As someone who has worked for the same company for over 30 years, I could be much higher paid if I had skipped around so I don’t blame them one bit. I’ve seen people I know who weren’t as skilled or knowledgeable as I get promoted in other companies way past their competence level and it’s sometimes hard not to be bitter about that. That said I am well paid and hopefully can retire in 8 years or so…
elammcknight@reddit
I believe in work as hard as you need to during working hours, leave that stuff there, and it willbe there when you return the next day. Life is way too short. I have 2 friends who worked end stage hospice and said you never hear anyone on their deathbed saying things like "I wish I had worked more overtime for no compensation."
Over_Sand7935@reddit
"...and make music in his room on his computer"
How old is this person??? Because it sounds like they still live at their parents house.
Socalwarrior485@reddit
For young kids today, living at home is the only option. I don't think anyone should cast aspersions on anyone working a full time job that has to live at home. That sucks, and the world sucks that it has to be so common in many 1st world economies.
As for the "Grind Culture" coming from GenX, my experience is that this terminology came from younger than ours - Millenials were the first place I heard it from. We just called it working ourselves to death, and was already required when I started working in the late 90s.
jdewith@reddit
I hear this a lot, but both of my children are out on they’re own, and I have very few friends whose 20-something children still live at home.
Socalwarrior485@reddit
Rent in my area for a 1 bedroom is about 2900-3000 per month. That’s pretty steep. By conventional measures, you’d need to make about $120k per year to afford that, and there aren’t many entry level jobs that pay that.
To me that seems like it would be difficult to survive.
Fearless_Cucumber404@reddit
Gonna depend a lot on where you're located. In my city/state, rent is the equivalent of my mortgage payment, gas is going up (as everywhere right now), food cost is high, etc. It's not that way everywhere and kudos to the early 20-somethings who have the option to move out.
Over_Sand7935@reddit
Did you write this post, you didn't.... Shush 🤫
Zen_Hydra@reddit
Not me. I've always been in the camp that work is just something I do to pay the bills. If they want more of me, they have to pay a premium. I've loved some of my jobs, but none of them are how I would choose to spend my time if I didn't need a paycheck. My mind is very compartmentalized. There is the work version of me and the unmasked version of me, and all that real me wants to do is learn new stuff and make a ridiculous variety of art.
PositiveStress8888@reddit
If grind culture is working 1 full time job and 3 part time jobs, sonIncould afford my first house I'll own whatever label you put on me
Otto0027@reddit
We HAD to grind because the Boomers dismantled the pension system and got rid of the idea of life tenure at a company with the M&A culture. Don’t get angry at us because we tried to make lemonade from lemons. We had to fund our 401k funds somehow.
ProtozoaPatriot@reddit
Sounds like ageism: doesn't like the world so it must be a previous generation's fault. I'm surprised they didn't blame Boomers first.
Grind culture is just late-state toxic capitalism.
Aggressive-Bath-1906@reddit
I worked 60+ hours a week, while going to college, then grad school, full-time. I didn’t do this because if some “grind culture,” I did this because I didn’t want to starve. I think this person has it wrong, we weren’t “grinding,” we were just doing what needed to be done.
Novel-Truant@reddit
Lol same. Did 72 hour weeks for years to pay off some debt I'd accumulated, then knocked it down to 60 for a couple years before dropping it to 48. Now for the past 15 years I'm doing 36. Took some sacrifice but it worked out.
wifewantscake@reddit
Whatever
nursetanya2@reddit
Or just plain Whatev
Exciting_Pass_6344@reddit
This is the proper response
VanDenBroeck@reddit
If you say so.
Dmpender@reddit
This is the way
Least_Tower_5447@reddit
Nope. We worked as much as we had to and had a ton of fun, too. Still do. I don’t know a single Gen-x er who wants to work more than they have to. Most are already thinking of retirement and we were the first gen to be about remote work and work-life balance m — something that was discussed in the 90s and has been on people’s minds since.
rokdabells@reddit
Bartlomiej48@reddit
This!
mari815@reddit
That is ludicrous, but seems like every generation ends up blamed for stuff once they reach a certain threshold age.
We work hard for sure and mainly understand there are no shortcuts to success. Someday the gen z’ers will catch up to this and understand (some do work extremely hard)
Entiox@reddit
But there are plenty of shortcuts to success, we just weren't born rich enough to have access to them.
mari815@reddit
Yes, to a small minority of people success is guaranteed.
Amateur_TimeTraveler@reddit
Uh no. The problem is late stage capitalism
the_natis@reddit
I mean.... he's kinda not wrong. I've worked 120 hour weeks, had clients all pay their invoices on the same day and my bank wouldn't allow me to deposit all the checks via the mobile app because I hit the deposit cap for the day at the time. Sure, it got me to where I am today but what if I learned to be more content when I was younger?
LangokiAgain@reddit
I work so much my (younger) boss told me I need to take more time off so I don't burnout.
MissDiketon@reddit
Don’t blame me. I actually like my job and want to do it well.
danksince98@reddit
hard work for some bs company is an outdated concept...noone wants to work hard to work for some corporate bullshit...what dont u boomers and gen x boomer juniors get? theres way more to do in life than work up some shitty corporate ladder
No-Writer3733@reddit
Unfortunately, we're the last gen with a real work ethic! You tube and others destined the younger gens to inherent laziness and expectations beyond their comprehension...... I'm a parent of pre teens and I see this every day!
jitterfish@reddit
I disagree. Millenials have work ethic equal to X and boomers. The younger millennials may take longer to get there (at least based on my experience/industry) but there are plenty of early 40s working harder than me. They're the ones I see grinding.
teddysetgo@reddit
I see wanting to work three days as a positive.
EmployerUpstairs8044@reddit
😬 why? because they are willing to work 3 days?
teddysetgo@reddit
Working more days of your life than not isn’t the flex people think it is.
Plastic_Difference54@reddit
We all grew up in the era of getting yelled at and treated like shit from our miserable bosses in the 80’s. The youth don’t even know.
catgirl320@reddit
Good on the kids for being smarter than I was. I was in my 30s when I realized boomer bullshit like "give it a 110%" was exploitive and a way for them to wring every last drop of blood out of you.. At the end of the day, the job doesn't give a flying fuck if you get wrecked body and mind. They'll just toss you in the garbage once you're used up.
Having learned from assholes, I make sure the people I manage are able to have work life balance. They still get their shit done and I don't have an endless hamster wheel of newbies I need to train.
Ill_Community_9575@reddit
It's easy not to care about the grind when you live with your parents into your 30s
Furdinand@reddit
I think there is just a divide between people who were in the workforce for the Great Recession and people under 30. If/When there is another economic downturn where the unemployment rate stays high (over 5%) for multiple years, I think younger people will relate to us better.
fourthelifeofme@reddit
Ruined, I don't know about that BUT I do work in a high stress and long hour job. It's also because I came from nothing. I have two children and want more for them than I had. I have the opportunity to give it to them (or at least the opportunity). BUT it is a fucking grind. I didn't go to college but still earn over 100k a year. I plan to do something with it, and that is my kids (and retirement).
cozycorner@reddit
They can all fuck off.
Dmpender@reddit
This is the way
SmokinZBT@reddit
I'm an old enough Gen Xer to remember when we were considered lazy and would never amount to anything. People told me this while I was interning in a newsroom 27 hours/wk (for free) and working in a restaurant ~35 hours/wk for minimum wage. At most I would get one day off a week. I remember a stretch where I think I worked 26 days in a row between the two.
HazyDavey68@reddit
We’re not the ones who will never retire. I have a great job but will retire whenever I can make it work.
PrehistoricSquirrel@reddit
Whatever.
DubiousPinkUnicorn@reddit
Grind culture to some is a work ethic to me. There’s nothing wrong with being fully present at work and having critical thinking skills that allows us to get shit done.
NearbyShape180@reddit
Years ago, a customer asked me if I was Mexican (I am 50% raza) because "only a Mexican works as hard as you do." It was the first ever backhanded compliment I ever received.
MillenniumTitmouse@reddit
Birth of the, “no one wants to work anymore”
Lucky__Flamingo@reddit
The "slacker generation" did all that?
M52_MA@reddit
Umm, No. 🤣
Hefty_Principle700@reddit
Such an ironic statement. Gen Xer’s when they were his age, wanted exactly what he wants. But as you age you realize that in order to get that, you have to climb into the hamster wheel and grind to make money so you don’t have to work.
crazymagnetoff@reddit
I’m fully for not giving 110% at work. I wish I hadn’t been so brainwashed into thinking I needed to carve a piece of myself off for “the man” all the live long day. Jealous really. Good for your coworker tbh, just seeking contentment rather than trying to rule the world
DSBS18@reddit
No
Legitimate_Biscuits@reddit
I feel grind culture is the antithesis of GenX mind set.... we don't want to work hard, we just want to get by, complain about it, do what we love when we can.
cowboygwe@reddit
Boomers started it
Fearless_Cucumber404@reddit
Wonder if he will be able to afford an apartment with a roommate, his car, and other basics in ten years. Mom can't offer the basement forever....I hope. It's not about grinding at this point, but about affording to live daily. I work over 40 hours a week because my boss makes it worth my time and that money goes straight to retirement. My husband has a pension but it will only pay part living expenses once we get to that point. There is so much Gen Z isn't thinking of when they complain about "the grind."
mltrout715@reddit
Whatever
freebenvita@reddit
Dapper_Size_5921@reddit
My Gen Z and has managed to get three jobs since she was 21 paying over $50,000 per year. She now earns close to $80,000 at age 25 and has barely seen the inside of a college classroom (not an exaggeration, her stint in college was about a week before she quit).
I don't feel pity for anyone from her generation that says silly shit like that.
KarmaChameleon306@reddit
What does she do?
Beautiful-Ear6964@reddit
Says more about your employee than about GenX.
freebenvita@reddit
When we were young adults and before our generation had a formal name, they called us Slackers.. I feel like our generation was very polarized. Either we were full on grindset-diary-of-a-CEO or we were foundational Gen Z rave culture party monsters.
As a middle aged person with absolutely no savings who perpetually rents tiny places, I might have chosen wrong...
But honestly I wouldn't trade my 1990s for anything...
Except home ownership
ElectricRing@reddit
lol, most of my fiends are certainly not grinding. Most of us have figured out the perception of grind while putting in the minimum you can is the sweet spot.
kelly1mm@reddit
fiends be like that .......
SuspiciousMeat6696@reddit
The Slacker generation is responsible for grind culture at work.
Either they ignore us or they try to stereotype us.
EmployerUpstairs8044@reddit
Amen to that.
RL203@reddit
I think there's not much difference between boomers and Gen X in terms of work ethic and initiative. Id even say that the early cohort of millennial generation is the same. Generally speaking. Where you started to see a difference was the later millennials. They dont have the same work ethic as their older piers. And they will even cry when you criticize them at work.
And bear in mind that this is reddit and it tends to attract those who tend to think that everyone should get a ribbon and hard work is for chumps.
DougChristiansen@reddit
I work with many Millennials -early to mid 30 somethings - and they all have great work ethic. I think it just comes down to how each person was raised.
EmployerUpstairs8044@reddit
Absolutely. I've worked with both kinds. There's a distinct difference and it does depend on how they're raised.
HeyHo__LetsGo@reddit
Wait, weren't we labeled slackers just a little while ago?
Mock_Frog@reddit
Yeah, but we put a put of time and effort into it.
aKIMIthing@reddit
😂
doandroidsdreamx@reddit
😂
Jolly-Guard3741@reddit
If by awhile you mean thirty years… then yes.
MindYoSelfB@reddit
How are we slackers? I think I started working at 15.
krebstorm@reddit
Boomers thought we were slacking. We were just quietly grinding without giving a fuck.
Frigidspinner@reddit
I feel the gig economy and the hustle culture were created when millenials came into the workplace (2000s) - Maybe we are responsible because we were the managers offering shitty jobs which forced people to have a "side gig"?
ravenx99@reddit
When the millennials entered the workforce, all the managers I knew were boomers.
Havacookiewhydontcha@reddit
They. Never. Fucking. Left.
Ramona_Lola@reddit
This. They are still there a lot of them.
WonderIll5845@reddit
This.
JSA607@reddit
I think we were handed the grind culture from Boomer bosses. I’m an older GenX and it was always sink or swim, grind or die, look to your left and look to your right only one of you will be left standing in three years. Or, as one of my bosses once said, you are only as good as your last win. What would younger workers say to my younger self who worked every weekend, worked during company retreats, etc. etc.
StinkypieTicklebum@reddit
True. I’ve had coworkers brag that they never used vacation or PTO time. Jerks. (Gen Jones)
DarwinGhoti@reddit
I can’t begin to care what they think. Didn’t care what boomers thought, don’t care what they think.
Whatever.
Difficult_Cheek_3817@reddit
This thread isn't about what Genx or Boomers think
UrbanGimli@reddit
I reject all attempts to pit one age group against another.
Havacookiewhydontcha@reddit
I don’t, boomers suck. Everyone else has to do what they have to do to make it, whatever that means to them.
torodonn@reddit
As a Gen X'er who started his career late, you just have to look at what kids are going to go through now. Even I'm a little bitter as a Gen X'er.
When I was a kid, I modeled myself after my parents. My dad worked 30 years for the same company. After 10 years, he was very comfortable financially, single income, owned a home, saved money, we never hurt for money. At the end of his career, he was high up and he retired to a substantial pension and retirement nest egg.
I work my ass off. I put 100% into my work. I still have the Gen X work ethic. I'm good at what I do. I was laid off twice last year. I own a two bedroom condo. I am a single income in middle management and I save nothing. I will work until I keel over and die essentially because I have no pension, no retirement savings and no realistic way to achieve it now.
But the expectation is for me to still embody the Gen X grind and for me to instill it into my juniors at work, the next generation, my own kids?
Today's kids are struggling to find work, getting laid off when they do, can't afford a home, can't afford kids, save next to nothing, even on double incomes. It has nothing to do with whether they grind or not. Grinding is now the foundation of the culture and you grind, just to scrape by. We broke the economy, built in this capitalism or bust mentality and this is the result.
My friends who established themselves early in lucrative careers are fine but I argue even Millennials are having a tough time and Gen Alpha is looking rough. Grind culture to the kids will probably feel like it benefits only the people who already made it and I totally see why they think that way.
verdant11@reddit
Your employee forgot the part where he’s working a second and third job.
JediKrys@reddit
We are guilty of toeing the line and that’s all. It was our parents generation who pushed this nonsense as a way to convince us the rising costs and lack of wage and cost of living paralleling is somehow us not working hard enough.
Ramona_Lola@reddit
Some of the GenXers are now so invested in that mindset they are actually imposing it on the younger generations. Some of us aren’t though. We get it.
lar67@reddit
It's because we were called bums by our parents the Boomers who were at the same time screwing us over so we had no choice but to figure out a way which was just working hard. The issue is that the entitled generations who came after us don't know how we did it and don't want to because they are the real bums.
JediKrys@reddit
I see the new working generation to be more idealistic than we were. Where we jumped into the same pool as our parents and then also started making excuses for poor pay, long hours, worsening work life balance. These kids may embody basic learned helpless, but they are also not going to put up with working over time for free or giving up their holiday time for a boss who failed to plan. They are slowly doing what needed to be done long ago in my opinion. They are trying to take back some semblance of a real life beyond work. Shifting social value from making others money to asking what about my life. We are still in the fetal stages of the shift but I for one welcome four day work weeks and more flexibility in work life for more than just people with kids or lucky financial situations.
Skeptikell1@reddit
There’s a mom buying the pizza pockets in this scenario / every. Time.
ieatsilicagel@reddit
Wait. Weren't we slackers?
ofthrees@reddit
that was my immediate thought! (and comment) weren't we oft-lamented for having no drive or ambition? weren't there entire movies made about it?
Remarkable-Finish-88@reddit
We all mostly relatively grew up with less and determined to get at least a little more mostly
ofthrees@reddit
well, that's definitely true of me and most i know, as well, so yeah, i get you there. i was never a 'grinder,' but i was compelled to have more as an adult than i did as a kid, which i managed to do.
big65@reddit
It was a boomer idea we were to stupid to fight at the time.
Havacookiewhydontcha@reddit
Not stupid. Resistance is Futile.
ideapit@reddit
I remember fighting all of that shit. Corporations were a joke, working an office job or at a bank was a reprehensible idea for me.
Mandyvlp@reddit
*too stupid 😬
l0st1nP4r4d1ce@reddit
Laugh, whatever.
Don't blame him, the kids are seeing the benefits of the grind and hustle culture. Meaning, they aren't.
Yuppies were the same folks to us.
SnooFloofs9998@reddit
I didn’t grind shit..Life is still good.
CornTreeRoad@reddit
Goddam right.
code_monkey_wrench@reddit
Lol
Powerful-Advance3014@reddit
So the grifter generation says the grinder generation ruined the graft culture set up by the boom generation?
Sounds on par.
chrissymae_i@reddit
I wouldn't take this to heart because kids just don't know us. Everyone older than them is a Boomer...
We're THE Office Space generation, not the "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" generation. They're so wrong!!! We taught them apathy, and this is how they repay us?!?! Mixing us up with Boomers?!?!!!!
Designer_End5408@reddit
All day every day. Especially us late 60s babies.
WildTomato51@reddit
Gen Z looks lazy, comes across as lazy… that comment makes them sound lazy.
Designer_End5408@reddit
They would say They shouldn’t have to work so hard and get a fair living wage and the majority of them have this fantasy socialism lifestyle in their head that makes me glad I’m old and hope that someday they realize to be careful what they wish for.
ofthrees@reddit
wait, i thought we were the slacker generation?
BasilPlumley@reddit
I look at the evolution of Gen X from 'Slacker' to 'Grinder' as simple necessity. We followed the Boomers into the workplace, and while they worked hard, they also hung around forever slurping up the gravy in the higher-paying jobs. If we ever wanted those jobs, as a pathway to something resembling a real retirement, we had to take on the responsibility of making their processes work in environments that were changing rapidly until they finally retired. Thus, Slacker Winona Ryder had to grow the fuck up and make shit work, in hopes of eventually getting the cush gig.
That paradigm turned off Millennials (and I don't blame them one bit) and left us holding the Boomer's metaphorical baggage with nobody to pass it off to.
JMO
DrebinofPoliceSquad@reddit
I've never adopted the grind mentality and never will.
Except Hawiian grinds I like that kind.
Low_Notice4665@reddit
lol, I immediately thought green flower but apparently that phrase refers to a type of food💚
obedient53214@reddit
So,.. you're saying that generation that watched our parents work themselves to death at companies, who then discarded them early so they wouldn't have to pay them their retirement, and replace them with younger workers at a lower rate of pay... has any loyalty to the job/bosses? The first generation in the United States to be worse off than their parents were? The first generation to come home as latchkey kids with no parents at home at all? Sorry, we just learned that nobody was ever going to be there for us.
Ok_Two_2604@reddit
Our parents ground. Their parents did, too. Ford’s 40 hour day was a reduction. The meme about medieval peasants having 200 holidays a year that they are probably thinking was life before X is misleading bc they still had to work their own farms to survive and the church’s farms on their days off from the duke’s land. At least in the western world life keeps getting easier. The kids is just a spoiled brat.
Grafakos@reddit
If I recall correctly, the standard work week before the 1930s was 6 days per week, or even 6 1/2 (you got to take off half a day on Sunday to go to church).
StereotypicallBarbie@reddit
I’ve never adopted grind culture.. I do my job efficiently but don’t over do it.
And when I leave work.. that’s it I don’t bring it home or think about it until the next work day.. fuck that! They are lucky I still go in at all during my menopausal era..
Maybe your younger friend is just part of the generation that want to do fuck all and still be paid…
missisabelarcher@reddit
“I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that.” — Lloyd Dobler, “Say Anything”
We were the “slacker generation” forever, called that by the boomers; I think we knew deep down that capitalism was a scam and just did our best to get through it. So, no, grind culture didn’t start with us.
Havacookiewhydontcha@reddit
It was pointless to do that. Boomers took everything and then told us we didn’t do enough earn it. They were our parents, teachers, coaches, bosses and role models so you went along with them whether you agreed or not.
They didn’t retire and make room for the next generation, they weren’t mentors, they stayed and continued to take it all until it was time to skip over us and promote the millennials while purging the country of union jobs that might have mitigated some of this crap. A lot of hardworking GenX got shafted by the judgement and shitty economics of boomers. Why not be a slacker? Futility does that to people.
HairRaid@reddit
Hahaha, I never saw the movie, but I realize now that avoiding buying or selling to enrich The Man was my guiding principle at work. No surprise that I became a public librarian.
I wasn't a slacker, but I didn't have any illusions about the intangible rewards of hard work - I saw my parents struggle with lack of appreciation and fulfillment alongside low wages. Like a squirrel, I kept my head down and stashed away what I could glean until we had enough to retire.
FamiliarAd6145@reddit
I thought we were slackers?
BallisticLex@reddit
I was told we were satanist couch potatoes suffering from learning disabilities brought on by playing with lead miniatures.
kat2211@reddit
This seems bizarre to me. As far as I recall, we were the slackers. We were the ones who rebelled against "selling out" and getting day jobs.
And personally, working has always been hell for me. I have no work ethic. The routine of a job makes me feel like I'm dying every single day. I was made for a world far different than the one we actually have.
OceanParkNo16@reddit
Hahahahahah don’t we all remember the books and articles when we were young that claimed Gen X was lazy, shiftless, lacked ambition! Very amusing to now be called hard working.
just_a_knowbody@reddit
Slack culture still exists for some of us Gen-Xers
atx78701@reddit
Boomers were the grinders. Gen x was mixed
I have a ton of friends that have retired at 50
Solid-Wish-1724@reddit
I concur. Smart Gen X knew to get a degree (gpa, who cared?), find a job that paid well, grind early and climb the ranks fast, and save save save. Then get laid off and retire, or simply retire. Disclaimer: That was not me, since I fucked off in my 20s and 30s thinking my gravy train would last forever. Now I make barely over minimum wage and will never retire.
Normal-Philosopher-8@reddit
We worked long hours, moving from company to company for raises. We knew there would be no pension or even a gold watch. But we worked, they paid us well. That was as loyal as it got.
Retired at 55, completing a plan decades in the making.
SalmonJordan@reddit
I think most of us had to. We paid our own tuition (and/or had to repay loans), bought our own homes and cars... we've been working since we were legally able in addition to paper routes and babysitting. There's no way my parents would have given me money to do things with - I had to earn it as did everyone I knew.
Didn't get a new car until 30, able to buy a house at 38, and worked more than 1 job to do it. I think our generation just grew up with the knowledge that nothing was going to be handed to us. We had to work. We weren't looking to change a culture. If you want it, it's up to you to do the necessary work.
We could have worked 3 days and made music (on physical instruments), but unless that music became successful, we'd still be living in an apartment with roommates and eating off-brand Top Ramen.
hooperman71@reddit
This was/is the only tangible, computable "hard proof" way.
With a twist depending of a country.
It is not a fashion or trend it is just standard existence within some "norms".
Younger generations sadly are somehow convinced that too many things have to be "given" to them by default. And that progress and gains come by social media speed.
Helorugger@reddit
We also bought into the narrative that our boomer parents pushed about getting ahead. Looking back, they got us to work way harder for cheaper than they should have.
SalmonJordan@reddit
You're correct. College was expected, not optional.
TheGrinchWrench@reddit
So basically save yourself because no one is coming to save you.
Buckeyebornandbred@reddit
That's Gen X for ya. We're on our own. Always have been.
thisoldguy74@reddit
My grandfather considered manual labor farm work to be his retirement. We did what was required to make ends and try to make room in a space dominated by actual baby boomers, but didn't invent grind culture by any stretch.
My other grandparents had side hustles as my Oma baked treats that my Opa had to sell during breaks and lunches at his steel foundry job. But somebody somewhere thinks gigs and side hustles are a new concept.
wrkhrs@reddit
BigDamBeavers@reddit
I mean fair.
A lot of accusations against our generation are comedy. But we went crazy with this work loyalty nonsense, even bigger than Boomers. And it fucked up employment in America by creating this stupid expectation employers have of workers. Granted the blame really belongs on the shoulders of employers and if our generation hadn't done it Millennials would have. Wages just keep getting less while cost of living increased. It was inevitable someone would have worked a second job or 40 hours of overtime.
Reasonable_Bat_3178@reddit
Work used to be fun until the 90's when kpi's came in. KPI's were sold to us as a way of improving our performance and seeing where we were in relation to our team mates. No the were brought in to justify unrealistic standards and to weed out the weak and to make businesses look like caring, inclusive workplaces. We were sold a lie.
shackspirit@reddit
We came into the workforce in the 90s when there was a recession and high unemployment so we had no choice. Cry me a river, Zees.
HorseyDung@reddit
Whatever..
denvergardener@reddit
No that was the Boomers.
needssomefun@reddit
Well, those of us born without a trust fund adopted "grind culture" so we could get "food and rent."
Grafakos@reddit
I did in fact grind a fair amount, but I also socked away enough to retire at age 52, thereby freeing up a job or two for Gen Z, so I don't know what they're bitching about.
wawa2022@reddit
Did I write this? It’s me exactly!
gameraturtle@reddit
The most famous grinder being Prince’s Darling Nikki!
Responsible-Bet-8361@reddit
Yep. This r/gameraturtle is one of us. That is a Gen X reference if I ever saw one. Speaking of which, I never once met a woman in a hotel lobby masturbating with a magazine. Prince let me down big time on that one.
gameraturtle@reddit
For some reason, no one seems to appreciate when I, an older gentleman, do that in a hotel lobby.
mydoghank@reddit
It started before us. Probably started with the generation who lived through the depression and were scared to be poor…so it was work to survive or work over happiness. My dad was of that generation and I got mixed messages—Do what you love but make sure you make good money doing it or maybe not!
Actually I believe our generation paved the way for your little pipsqueak employee for an easier and more satisfying work life. I finally figured it out after working horrible jobs in my early 20s.
beccabebe@reddit
My FIL (silent gen depress era) looks at us like we’re crazy if we want to sit down after work. Gives us side eye if we wanna game on the weekend. I don’t think it was us.
Quick_Parking_6464@reddit
Grind culture from Gen-x?
Psssssh, please.
Grind this...
AcceptableSuit9328@reddit
Gen X?
shaved-yeti@reddit
Eh. I work in the upper tiers of the corporate tech world and am no stranger to 70 hour weeks. But as I've gotten older, my tolerance of 15 hr days has greatly diminished.
My main ambition these days mostly involves sitting in my room making music on my modular synth rig 👌
DownloadUphillinSnow@reddit
Gen X or the Gen X billionaires? Several tech billionaires publicly claim that a person should be working every waking minute. Of course, that's cuz they want you making money for them 24/7, not because they spent their lives working that much.
Those Gen X folks are rich and have microphones in front of their faces, but they don't necessarily speak for the rest of us with smaller bank accounts.
Havacookiewhydontcha@reddit
Those are the Greed is Good assholes who absorbed those lessons in the Reagan 80s. That was the attitude modeled for us by pop culture then, you either bought into it or you didn’t.
uberchelle_CA@reddit
I know we were the slacker generation, but I spent my 20’s working in startups consistently working over 70 hours a week.
Seeing as I grew up in San Francisco & Silicon Valley, this might have been anecdotal. Everyone my age that I knew working in a startup lived the same life.
We lived our work. Went to work, had lunch catered in. We worked though lunch. We broke for dinner. Came back to the office and left between 11 pm-2 am. Went home to sleep and woke up to repeat. Worked weekends, too.
aethelberga@reddit
Douglas Coupland who wrote Generation X also wrote Microserfs, one of my favourite books, which describes this lifestyle to a T.
uberchelle_CA@reddit
Word. I almost forgot to add that the dating pool was also kind of incestuous, where work was the only place to date if you had the bandwidth to date at all.
crashin70@reddit
I never understood why they called us slackers and we started working at ridiculously young ages at actual tax paying jobs, for the most part.
Havacookiewhydontcha@reddit
It’s because boomers suck. They invented that term for us, we just didn’t care.
chamrockblarneystone@reddit
I think some of those early John Grisham novels made me decide not to be a lawyer. What he described sounded horrible. Think Tom Cruise in The Firm.
Bug_Calm@reddit
I sure as Hell did not.
The_Wookalar@reddit
I know this is a "generation" Reddit, and so probably the wrong place for this gripe, but I've found that 99% of generalizations about any generation are typically stupendously, mind-crushingly stupid and obviously incorrect. This colleague's gripe is in that 99%.
I really wish our culture and media hadn't decided to go all-in on this dumb, dumb way to understand the world, its history, and its people.
onosson@reddit
All the thumbs up to this.
johninfla52@reddit
Sorry that I had to work three jobs to support my family......and we aren't living the highlife!!! Wow!!!
hazelquarrier_couch@reddit
Jesus. I've never wanted to work at any job unless I needed money. I hate working any job. Whoever said that needs to be educated. Whatever. Fuck off younger person.
Sudden_Office8710@reddit
🤣 what the actual f’ …Umm Gen-X is the slacker generation. Do less but make more. Caring more about fine dinning than saving that nut.
Critical_Purple_8600@reddit
You lost me at fine dining. That’s more of a boomer thing. We’re looking for the local micro brew and Indy music.
Weak_Employment_5260@reddit
Sounds more like GenZ
Tiny-Balance-3533@reddit
Because we came through at a time when on-call became a thing not just for medical professionals and plumbers, because wages stagnated, because work got less personal (computers, automation, etc.), because the job market was fiercely competitive in many if not all lines of work for a variety of reasons (depending on when exactly your snapshot was taken), we had to grind to survive. To stay afloat. We didn’t start the fire, but we didn’t do anything to stop it because we were too busy trying to keep it under control
stvie0073@reddit
Bingo also how many layoffs and outsourcing have we gone through. I've probably survived 10 layoffs at several employers. Never been laid off myself so somehow survived.
Tiny-Balance-3533@reddit
I feel like the car and steel industries saw more layoffs before we got into the job market, but yeah… I got laid off once thanks to internet company acquisitions. I actually benefited from my layoff because I was in the first round of several, so i got a good severance but my friends who lasted longer got worse and worse severance packages. (Mine paid my tax bill that year, my first non-refund tax year!)
Change_Request@reddit (OP)
By making yourself indispensable to your employer. Congrats on never getting the corporate heave ho.
stvie0073@reddit
Thanks probably more luck than anything. Lol
JunkyardReverb@reddit
When nobody is coming to save you life hits a little different. My depression era granny drilled it into us, “Root little hog, or die.”
somanybluebonnets@reddit
I’ve been chastised for this, too. Like, ok, sure, but also, you taking a whole day off because of extra pollen in the air so you can take a Claritin and play games isn’t cool, either, right? Don’t you like getting paid?
Left_Guess@reddit
I don’t think that’s us..?🤷♂️
SparksWood71@reddit
We inherited that bad habit from our parents and grandparents. Younger people today have a better relationship toward work.
eventhorizon3140@reddit
"Grind culture?" From the slackers and reality bites generation? LOL.
SuicidalApendices@reddit
Grind culture is performative bullshit and anyone that claims to be a part of it is probably not accomplishing much. I was born in 73, I’ve worked hard at every job I’ve had, been rewarded pretty well for that and can probably count on 2 hands the number of times I’ve worked more than 40 hours in a week without taking some Flex Time to recoup it.
Waesrdtfyg0987@reddit
Not everyone is an industry that works like that.
SuicidalApendices@reddit
They can be if they want to be.
fjvgamer@reddit
Impossible there are not enough positions for everyone you mean to say everyone is free to compete for these positions?
SuicidalApendices@reddit
No. I’m saying people get what they accept or settle for. If your current industry/job isn’t providing you the kind of life you want it’s up to you to try to change that. Sometimes that’s hard, but I don’t think it’s ever impossible. There are always trade offs. Maybe you won’t make as much, maybe you aren’t as engaged in the work, maybe you have to apply for hundreds of positions until you get your chance. I’ve made all of those tradeoffs over the 36 years I’ve been working across a few different careers. It’s not easy. But it can be done unless someone gives up.
Waesrdtfyg0987@reddit
40 isn't some magical number. You can have a great life working 50 or 60 hours. I usually work 45-50 each week and am happy to pass people who want to only work a strict 40. It's so easy to be the first one in the office. Usually work 8 to 5 or 6. I live 20 minutes from my office, enjoy my short commute each day. My partner hasn't work full time for most of the last 20 years and raised our 3 kids.
A little extra effort has made my career so much better and our lives very comfortable (IMO).
SuicidalApendices@reddit
Totally agree. The number is defined by the individual. And I think quantity of work and quality of work can figure into career progression. I’ve made a point of working at companies that emphasize quality. Then I started a company that does the same thing and have been able to give dozens of people the same opportunity.
Naive-Garlic2021@reddit
Same. My first job we actually had to clock in and clock out like Fred Flintstone. I felt it was insulting to treat salaried workers that way so I would make absolutely sure to work my 40 hours each week and not even 15 minutes more. And I continued that approach at all my jobs.
worstnameIeverheard@reddit
Reading this activated a core memory of me punching my time card at McDonalds. I had completely forgotten that.
Hungry-Treacle8493@reddit
Wait until people learn about the work culture of Boomers, Silents, Greatest, etc….
Hamburgr_Don74@reddit
I’m gonna slack my way to the top
Critical_Purple_8600@reddit
We slackers are not for our “grind culture.” Boomers worked hours and hours but had stable jobs and paychecks. It’s the poor millennials trying to piece it all together from multiple income streams.
bobbichocolatthe2nd@reddit
They obviously haven't hung around farmers.
ApprehensiveRead6577@reddit
They’re partly right and partly lazy. Spending a third of our day at work five days a week until we’re 65 is ridiculous but so is wanting to have it all and not work. Everyone trying to be an influencer, also ridiculous. Thinking we have to prove ourselves by missing family events, working more than 40hrs a week, ridiculous
UrsaMajor7th@reddit
He’s not wrong in wanting to do that, but he has to earn that level of autonomy.
If he can survive on 3 shifts/week and live the life he wants, I’d encourage that. As long as he knows that he needs an emergency fund and a solid action plan if it all goes sideways.
oldfarmjoy@reddit
I enjoy working hard. I enjoy getting things done, and I feel good about my productivity. Younger generations don't have this desire or motivation.
I don't judge them. It's just a very different time and they are coping as best they can. I feel bad for them, and all the shit in the world right now. Labor is far more exploitative now. Working hard doesn't get you ahead anymore. People don't get rewarded for working harder, they get rewarded for being good at playing "the game"? Get monetized on YouTube, make an App, work multiple jobs remotely, silent quitting. I've burned out and checked out, so I'm beginning to understand and feel their apathy...
acreekofsoap@reddit
The generation that loved “Office Space”?
cdlauro@reddit
Americans overwork culturally and each generation renames it. It’s nothing new.
Educational-Ad608@reddit
We didn’t try to turn it into a flex by calling it “grinding”, as sometimes seems to be the case now. It was just “working hard” because that’s what it took to stay afloat.
ComprehensiveShip720@reddit
Yep agreed. LinkedIn is full-on grind flex culture.
ideapit@reddit
^ This.
Tahoesuz@reddit
We had to work our asses off because no one was helping us and we were left on our own, not because we bought into any corporate culture.
21plankton@reddit
Ask coal miners of the past gilded age about the “grind culture”. People need a college education to post on Reddit, high school no longer teaches them properly.
Nahuel-Huapi@reddit
Also, flour mill operators and baristas are known for their grind culture.
21plankton@reddit
😇
Zombietomatillo@reddit
We are not the boomers, we just had to survive their work culture.
Mindes13@reddit
Shit, I just want to work 3 days and fuck right off the other 4 but unless some rich person wants to spot my wife and me, no kinky stuff you pervs, I got to work
Piccoroz@reddit
They confuse grind with knowledge, our generation made everything possible to ease our work an the work of others.
aharryh@reddit
So, after 10 minutes TIL: Grind culture, also known as hustle culture, was primarily developed and popularized by Millennials in the 2010s, often inheriting a "work hard" ethic from Generation X while accelerating it through social media and technology. Gen X laid the foundation through a results-oriented approach to work, focusing on grit and pragmatism. Some perspectives suggest Gen X’s emphasis on "working hard to succeed" was adapted by later generations into the modern hustle.
So a bunch of Millennials missed the "grit and pragmatism" part and just focussed on the "work hard" part. Sucks to be them.
ExaminationFancy@reddit
I think some members of every generation are people who grind.
I definitely don’t categorize myself that way. Sure, I work 5 days a week and have a nice retirement account, but I don’t live to work.
I’m 52 and I couldn’t care less about AI or hustling. Life is short, enjoy it while you can.
Peak_Alternative@reddit
I’m pretty sure all my employees hated me bc of how hard I would “grind.”
ComprehensiveShip720@reddit
I have a different take: I did grind it out in two separate careers (type A personality) and succeeded in both due to a mix of grinding, creative problem solving, and being good to work with/for. But Gen X didn’t originate the grind culture. Those of us who wanted to break out and succeed/were career focused learned to grind from watching our boomer parents, who at least from what I witnessed in my parents white-collar profession had to grind since they experienced the first wave of rank and yank downsizing/layoffs in the 80’s (plus the 80’s yuppie culture to work and grind in general).
SnowblindAlbino@reddit
We've worked quite hard, but that's relative; we're academics so put in 50+ hour weeks but get lots of vacation/breaks. But we've been at it non-stop since graduate school so we could afford to put our own kids through school while saving for retirement. So we didn't quit jobs or take time to "find ourselves" (or make music in our rooms) along the way. Hoping to retire by 62 and then do that stuff.
The big issue is that older Gen X didn't get pensions or any of the benefits that Boomers got in their careers. We also got slammed with four major recessions, every ten years, since we graduated from college: the Bush recession in the early 90s, the second Bush recession after 9/11, the Great Recession, and the COVID recession. So it's been two steps forward, one step back our entire adult lives.
No time to just sit around and take time for whatever if we want our kids to have options and if we don't want to work to age 70.
ImaSource@reddit
What even is this? Not a single one of my GenX friends ever did anything remotely like grind culture. I think that's totally antithetical to how most GenXers are.
Sudden_Office8710@reddit
Yeah right uhhh they must have never watched cornholio get TP for his bunghole
txgsync@reddit
Four kids, three jobs, wife ran a home daycare then a preschool. Bought our first house at 25 for $110k (about $220k in today’s dollars) on a combined income of $55k.
Home ownership in my twenties was brutal but achievable.
My kids tell me I seemed cold and distant growing up. I was running on four hours of sleep for years. I wasn’t building character. I was just exhausted.
But a quarter-century ago, hustling and working multiple jobs worked to get ahead.
That house in the suburbs of Tooele, Utah — an hour from Salt Lake because that’s what we could afford — is nearly $400,000 today.
Inflation-adjusted income has roughly doubled. But the housing cost has quadrupled.
I’m not proud of the grind. I missed… things. Lots of things. But I ground because the math worked. I am sleeping in that asset appreciation today in my fifties; as I have no intention to sell, it just means I am subsidizing my kids and their friends who live with or temporarily stay with us from time to time.
Millennials are not lazy. Failure of supply incentives to meet demand means the math of the grind is broken.
gamestar10@reddit
I feel this.
CharismaticAlbino@reddit
🤌
MissDisplaced@reddit
I only work my ass off because I have a fear of being homeless. But I also think us GenX had no fallback and many of us were on our own at 18 and it was sink or swim.
Long-Trade-9164@reddit
All these young'ins have zero to very little work ethic. They think they can just show up and collect a paycheck while doing little to nothing while holding a fucking cell phone in hand.
ImSMHattheWorld@reddit
A true litany of evils the mobile phones are.
terry1381@reddit
We didnt invent the grind we just worked.
ImSMHattheWorld@reddit
"His room" there's the problem.
suzyturnovers@reddit
I looked at is a millennial thing out of the tech bubble, start-up culture in Silicon Valley...
VioletaBlueberry@reddit
Sounds like someone never heard we were slackers.
viskoviskovisko@reddit
Seriously!
silverwolf1978@reddit
Exactly what I came to say! Weren't we the slacker generation?
Jupitor66@reddit
Very important point
Much-Chef6275@reddit
My spouse and I worked hard so our only kid had a cushion.
I'd do it again.
heldaway@reddit
I gone out of my way not to grind.
Jolly-Guard3741@reddit
FFS… if these people think that Gen X is responsible for “Grind Culture” they need to see and understand how WE came up.
RidiculousFeline@reddit
We used to be accused of being unmotivated slackers, now we are to blame for grind culture? Lame!
Ckc1972@reddit
I think they actually mean we have "work ethic" culture.
NoiseNecessary4737@reddit
Pretty much. We worked hard and got paid good for it, with half decent promotions. Now? Even our generation is screwed over regardless of how hard you work.
Short-Personality398@reddit
Grinding didn’t feel the same when you saw the opportunities ahead. Now it feels like drudgery
NoiseNecessary4737@reddit
Correction - now it is drudgery
Electric-Sheepskin@reddit
Every generation thinks that the older ones ruined everything.
I hope I live long enough to see what subsequent generations say that millennials and Gen Z ruined.
PizzaDoughandCheese@reddit
I think millennials already ruined so much
TreefingerX@reddit
True...
TreefingerX@reddit
I don't grind
DryFoundation2323@reddit
That's funny because we were considered slackers by older folks when we first started getting our real jobs.
TickingTheMoments@reddit
And I’m doing my best to continue living as a man of leisure.
DryFoundation2323@reddit
I retired at age 54. I do whatever the hell I want to do now.
YellowBeaverFever@reddit
Huh.. I worked 3 days a week and made music on gear back in the 90s. You can always find a way. I didn’t feel the need to work full time until I got older and wanted to actually impress a potential partner. “Hungry musician” appeals to very few.
Revolutionary_Bee700@reddit
IDK some of us did. All my 1990’s/2000 IT startup tech bro, never leave work because they have a ping-pong table and a beer fridge folks.
Intelligent-Monk-426@reddit
it hits different when the ping pong table and beer fridge are the employees’ idea versus management’s idea. that’s what changed.
heathers1@reddit
Glad you could make it!
Far-Wallaby-5033@reddit
I have a thought. You're a lazy slacker
Smells4240@reddit
Senior GenX here: WTF is "Grind Culture"?
Stefferdiddle@reddit
I think he’s talking about skateboarding. 😜
NerdfestZyx@reddit
Requesting overtime, working two jobs, night school.
W0gg0@reddit
Aka “getting by”
Mguidr1@reddit
Also senior Gen X. I’m a participant of grind culture. For the last 32 years I’ve gone into a refinery on shift work rarely missing a day of work. I’d go in sick and tired relentlessly grinding my life away sacrificing my marriage and family life. Grind culture sucks and it has destroyed my quality of life for money.
blondydog@reddit
Its amazing how we went from lazy and worthless in the 90s to ruining things with our strong work ethic today..
Rumblebully@reddit
With the least amount of population, comparatively.
Intelligent-Monk-426@reddit
lol only that that wasn’t Gen X
Pypsy143@reddit
Like a lot of Gen Xers, I left home as soon as I turned 18, so I’ve known nothing but hard work because I had to support myself.
I also have a lot of pride, so if I’m doing a job, I’m going to do it better than anyone else has ever done it before. I’m not afraid of hard work.
In fact, the quote under my email signature is, “There is no traffic jam along the extra mile.” -Roger Staubach
I never thought of it as “grind” though. It was just regular old “doing a good job.”
ideapit@reddit
Solid quote.
silent_ovation@reddit
Ironic that the "slackers" are being accused of grinding...I think that's a millennial thing if anything.
W0gg0@reddit
PJWanderer@reddit
That is completely antithetical to the actual plot of Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture.
ideapit@reddit
For sure! OP should gift that book to his coworker.
Honestly, I think we share a lot with the current younger humans.
NVJAC@reddit
Nah, "grind culture" is something pushed at you by "influencers" who tend to be younger millennials.
Gen X was "rewarded" for its competence and ability to work without direction by getting more work dumped on it.
This guy is a millennial, but I think his "different generations at work" skits really have Gen X spot on: Champagnecruz - YouTube
OhSusannah@reddit
I have watched several champagnecruz skits. In every one I've seen, the only character who comes across as grounded and reliable is the GenX character. The Boomer character is out of touch, the Millennial is quick to get overwhelmed and the GenZ character is truly phoning it in. But he looks too young to be GenX.
Rand_74@reddit
Fuck em. That generation can’t find their way out the bathroom without a phone or their parents. We showed up . We worked the job, and then we actually did some “living” That a broad stroke comment, but we definitely didn’t just want to be at home with our parents. We sleep less, and live more.
Advanced_Nose_7738@reddit
You forgot to tell us you walked to school barefoot in the winter and mowed grass for a quarter.
Rand_74@reddit
Ok, Zoomer
ideapit@reddit
Really? We were 100% the opposite. Boomers and corporations told us we should value things and being a company man or woman. And they said that at the same time they told us that we would be the first generation to have a worse standard of living than our parents while also telling us they had poisoned the planet and that was our problem.
I learned to grind but I learned it to survive. I had a shitty family and moved out at 16.
If that dude can make money with a chill schedule and having fun, he's living the Gen X fantasy that I could never realize.
I think grind culture is bullshit.
keg98@reddit
I’m a teacher. As a young teacher, I worked my ass off, but among my age-group peers, I was uncommon.
nonotburton@reddit
So, I hate to say this, but the younger generation has been largely sold a false bill of goods. They seem to believe:
Success at a high level just arrived with little or no experience.
Or
That you can live the life of a well off European by working less than the Europeans.
IAm5toned@reddit
🤔
You have a pretty good point and I'd also like to add it's damn difficult to work less than Europeans and still experience success lol
Confetti-Everywhere@reddit
It’s like buying into the magic of a movie montage without any of the actual work or time
Known_Ratio5478@reddit
Gen X didn’t grind. You guys had these jobs that you didn’t care about and thoroughly enjoyed time out of work.
Sad-Umpire6000@reddit
Working hard and working extra to pay the bills or buy toys is one thing. Working more than required because it makes you feel better about yourself is crazy. A job is there to pay for the things that really matter.
Missmbb@reddit
Maybe? When I was young, I and lots of my friends worked full time, but also had part time or weekend jobs so we could afford things. Once I got married and had kids, we didn’t do much of that, but if we were saving for something extra, overtime was usually our answer.
shakey11717@reddit
We were the slacker gen according to most early in our careers. There was literally a genre of movies based on it (Slackers, Singles, Clerks, Empire Records, etc).
This Z gen has a lot of potential but their expectations and desires are misaligned to what has traditionally delivered comfortable life results.
Muddring@reddit
They are the first generation in history that thinks they don’t have to make a contribution to society. Living in the Stone Age? You hunted for your family. Subsistence farming? You grinded it from dawn to dusk and maybe had enough to share with the village. Early industrialization? You went to where there was a demand for your services because people needed trains and clothes and electricity. What created that demand? Society’s wants and needs. Same as today. Yeah, banging on a keyboard and going to Team meetings gets dull. But you’re doing your small part to give back, whatever industry you are in, because society needs enough of what you are doing to trade its hard earned money for it.
These folks who think they should just be able to stay home and make music all day. SMH. Someone is out there putting in long days to build their iPhones, keep their YouTube infrastructure running, and delivering their DoorDash. But of course, they shouldn’t have to do it.
Last-Surprise4262@reddit
We were the original slackers tho
Impressive_Clothes11@reddit
We are kinda an oxymoron. The Beasties captured it well in Sure Shot
"Well, you say I'm twenty-something, then I should be slacking But I'm working harder than ever, and you could call it macking So I'm supposed to sit upon my couch just watching my TV I'm still listening to wax, I'm not using the CD
Well, I'm that kid in the corner All fucked up, and I wanna, so I'm gonna Take a piece of the pie, why not, I'm not quittin' Think I'm-a change up my style just to fit in"
TheGrinchWrench@reddit
Apparently not slack enough.
Minimum_Painter_3687@reddit
I definitely know some people that fit that description. I’m not one of them.
I just never bought into that mindset. Speaking strictly for myself, I just want to do an honest day’s work and go home.
The benefits of grinding are outweighed by the cons. At least that’s how it looks to me. The people I know that live that way aren’t really that much better off than me. Their stress levels seem to be through the roof too.
ActionCalhoun@reddit
“Everyone our age that I know wanted to succeed at a high level. Get more done. improve your skills. Advance.”
What? Hell no. Your job won’t love you back.
Change_Request@reddit (OP)
I made myself valuable enough to not get laid off and then went to work for myself.
Nearby_Ad5200@reddit
Many didn't learn that right away. Hehe.
MishmoshMishmosh@reddit
I’m Gen X and working 3 days a week sounds good to me lol
Ramona_Lola@reddit
Same!!!
zwiazekrowerzystow@reddit
PeanutButterToast4me@reddit
Grind? Nah.I single handedly changed the office dress code for men from ties and slacks to t-shirts and jeans. If there is an important meeting maybe I put on a polo but that's it.
sunshinelively@reddit
I’m 61 and been working since age 12. Almost 50 years. Retiring in 3 years give or take. Feel like I worked hard all my life so I have no idea what this person is talking about. The only thing I can say is most of us took slacker jobs when young because Boomers took all the territory. And never freaking left. But we still worked hard.
Ramona_Lola@reddit
💯
ShutYourDumbUglyFace@reddit
OK, baby pop. The reason work-life balance even exists is because of us and our wholesale rejection of the notion that "greed is good."
ThatDog_ThisDog@reddit
Guilty, but it’s because only one of my parents actually liked their job and I focused on getting desirable job and to do that I had to go pretty hard. But also I’m a xennial. We somewhat have hope.
PoorGovtDoctor@reddit
I thought we were too small and slacked off to make any impact. Also, whatever man.
Mistermxylplyx@reddit
That’s what I remember, we were slackers. It was all a lie of course, but Boomers thought we were lazy and unmotivated because we wouldn’t put on the show they did at work.
Full circle now the kids think we work too hard, which is also a lie. We work as hard as we need to in order to accomplish our goals and get home.
Change_Request@reddit (OP)
That's how I approached school for sure. A C is passing. Good enough. Work was a different story.
PeterPunksNip@reddit
And they are right, except that it's our Silent Gen and Boomer parents who brainwashed us into grind culture.
My mum worked herself to death, and that's what snapped me out of it. I am glad that current generations are less numerous to fall for it.
Ramona_Lola@reddit
This. We were told to work hard, go to university or college, do this and do that. I still can’t afford today at 50 what my parents could at 35.
Artistic_Chapter_355@reddit
I’m old enough to remember Boomers complaining about young GenX being lazy.
RandomCoffeeThoughts@reddit
Same. Although I worry about Gen Z. My friends daughter says her mental health matters more than anything and she'd rather work 20 hours a week than trash her mental health. On the same side of that coin, she's constantly griping about how she can't afford anything and that her mental health is trash.
Artistic_Chapter_355@reddit
Maybe GenZ actually is lazy. Or brilliant.
EFDan@reddit
There is an entire generation of jellyfish out there like that. 😬
PeterPunksNip@reddit
Yes !
GRider22@reddit
I remember when I first entered the work place, in 96. This company hired a lot of graduates in a short period of time. We were all enthusiastic, asking for any additional work that would get us more experience or more opportunities. Many of us went to night school which was paid for by the company. Even the boomer managers were impressed by us.
Advanced_Nose_7738@reddit
Did you offer him full time with benefits?
Change_Request@reddit (OP)
He wanted 3 days and is still on his parents insurance...at 25.
NerdfestZyx@reddit
Certainly wasn’t me. I have never worked a job that I actually gave a shit about, in any way shape or form. I have absolutely zero interest in being a model employee, ever. I honestly don’t GAF about the company one bit. I could show up and the place burned to the ground overnight, and it would not phase me at all. I will have no hesitation taking a day off for shits and giggles, and not care at all about them being shorthanded. If they are expecting a two week notice, they can shit in one hand and wish in the other and see which one fills up first.
I’m currently 2 months from my last job. I texted them 5 minutes after I was supposed to clock in. 🖕
Ok-Shelter-35@reddit
Shit. The only grind culture GenX has ever been a part of is grinding joints: knees, hips, shoulders, etc. We’ve been through way too much to want to grind anymore.
Puppy_Breath@reddit
GenXer here. I feel responsible to get my work done. If there is a need, I’ll work late and weekends. If there isn’t a need, I’ll screw off with the best of them. I won’t work nights and weekends for more than a couple months without escalating. I don’t think this is “grinding”, but also appreciate younger people have stronger boundaries for work/life.
MindYoSelfB@reddit
It was burned into my brain that you stayed until the work was done. I had a hard time leaving work sometimes. I also don’t think it was grinding but I don’t think the reward was there. I used to think younger people were lazy but now I think they’re doing it right. Prioritizing family first.
FKpasswords@reddit
WhateeeeeeveA…..WTFevea !!!!
DieHardAmerican95@reddit
It’s very popular right now to blame the generation before you. “They’re the ones who ruined it for me!” In reality it has been an ongoing progression for several generations, fueled mostly by greed at the higher levels, but people want someone else to blame and those in power have always insisted it’s the workers who are at fault.
IlliniOrange1@reddit
Also fueled by social media which uses generational stereotype comparisons to drive engagement. People can’t help but respond to posts saying “when I was a kid … both ways in the snow barefoot”
DieHardAmerican95@reddit
I fully agree. The focus on who’s from which generation and all that is a relatively new phenomenon, and it’s definitely fueled by social media. The generations have had names for quite a while, but from what I’ve seen people weren’t really that concerned about who belonged to which one until recently
RemyJe@reddit
Same as it ever was.
user0987234@reddit
It wasn’t us GenX. The Boomers kept wanting more and more. Told us that hard work, long hours, near total commitment (a patriotic military mindset) was mandatory. And because we didn’t stand up as a generational group and call BS, we are stuck between Boomers who won’t quit leadership and boards and ownership and their offspring called Millennials.
It will take some catastrophic events to ditch the chains of corporate employee ownership (aka serfs). People in power do not typically give it up willing.
fogSandman@reddit
That’s because we’re the first generation to have to grow up in broken families as the norm.
Grinding is what you have to do with little to no support system.
One of my parents ditched out by choice when I was 2, and the other one had to exit life mandatorily when I hit 16.
Grinding is how I broke out of the fucking indentured slavery. Anyone who has a problem with it can go fuck themselves.
Or as Kanye put it;
🎵”You’re looking at who made me rich!”🎵
AbsolutesDealer@reddit
Yeah… the Slackers are responsible for Grind Culture. Doooooyyyyyyyyyy
here_in_seattle@reddit
Gen X rarely calls out sick at my job, but millenials and gen Z do all the time. We learned this from boomers, just to show up and go to work I mean, not to “excell” like the boomers wanted us to
apresledepart@reddit
All the workaholics I know/knew are boomers
UpbeatPhilosophySJ@reddit
I'd argue we hardly invented it. The country was built on people making almost no money and working their ass off. Even my parent's peers in my industrial town, they had Union jobs at our local plants, all the guys, despite "having" a 40 hours week, worked overtime for the double pay so they could buy boats and and rv's.
(of course those jobs dried up, but that's an argument for another sub)
If you want to eat and live in a house, you have to get a trade, be it Accounting, Plumbing, Electrician, Health Care, etc. That pretty much is the rule globally.
If you live in some remote tribe in the jungle, they'll take your ass when your 13 and scar you and say you work how we tell you to work and it's good and if you don't, we can do a lot worse than cutting or burning you.
GeistMD@reddit
We had hussle culture, not grind. Fuck work.
Antique-Salad-9249@reddit
What’s the difference? Asking genuinely.
AardvarkFantastic360@reddit
If the grind is so bad and can be changed in a capitalistic country then do it and quit being such whiny cry babies
Admirable-Sector-705@reddit
Exactly what do they think getting one’s job done entails? I’d love a three day work week which wasn’t twelve hours long so I could work on my music, but that doesn’t happen without some compromise.
BrilliantPiccolo5220@reddit
I did until my body gave out on me about a year ago. Now I’m 50 and I’m temporarily off work. All I want to do is go back.
JanaT2@reddit
I don’t know if it’s grinding or we just get the job done without a lot of fanfare
trUth_b0mbs@reddit
This is how I feel about it.... We just did the work that needed to be done with minimal complaints 🤷🏻♀️
goonwild18@reddit
I don't think everyone in Gen X is a grinder at all. I am... and it's made for a tired, miserable guy that just wonders how much longer he can hang in the age of AI. I've done well... but not well enough to hang it up a decade before I planned to. If I could do it again, I'd have had a more relaxed life and valued things less.
godchauxprime@reddit
Too busy being a slacker to comment on this
MindYoSelfB@reddit
🤣☠️
smalltowngirlisgreen@reddit
I didn't really have a choice when I had to rely on just me
xDznutzx@reddit
So this, first apartment at 16. Went back home 1x for 2 weeks waiting on my next check.
SwollenGoat68@reddit
All I know is I worked my ass off from the age of 18 and made it my goal to retire by 55, which I did. There were years that were a “grind” but I never took my eyes off the prize and just fuckin did it.
Dechibrator@reddit
Good for you mate, well deserved
TooOld4ThisSh1t-966@reddit
But I thought we were slackers.
Schickie@reddit
Generation X did not invent grind culture. Grind culture is a product of Millennials trying to meet their parents' energy; with none of the perspective.
MelodyRaine@reddit
I don't know what your friend is going on about. Every x'er I know wanted an honest day's pay for a honest day's work. Overachievement was not really on the radar, and if it was it was typically eclipsed by the idea of fair compensation.
MindYoSelfB@reddit
Wtf is grind culture?
Whirlwind_AK@reddit
Bust your ass till the work is done
MindYoSelfB@reddit
So, working? Got it.
Fun_Independent_7529@reddit
Long hours, think 60 hour weeks, always hustling, focused on work and getting wealthy.
Defines success as working hard without taking downtime for mental health.
Sneers at those who want "work/life balance"
Elugelab_is_missing@reddit
I think it means actually working for a living.
FallenValkyrja@reddit
Meh. I busted my ass to get my job done. I was hired to do it and I did my best. When it was worth working extra, I did it. When it was not, I tried to avoid it as much as possible. My bosses loved me because I could do 8 hours of work in a few. I had one boss that would even let me leave early because of it and it was on me to ensure I worked enough to get my 40 hours for the week.
The best thing any of us can do is to exit the rat race when we can. The boomers are trying to hold onto sand, maybe thinking they will not fade away like all the previous generations have. Their failure to step aside and our failure to push the issue has led to what we are dealing with now. Go work. Do politics. Teach. Lead. Learn. But when the time has come, step aside. The future generations have to decide what comes next for them, not us.
badcgi@reddit
Thats what this new generation doesn't seem to understand. Work hard at work, get stuff done, get what you are owed, then live your life. And that means each day. I don't bring my work home with me.
RedditWidow@reddit
In my experience, it wasn't that GenX-ers wanted to succeed, improve or advance, it was that we had to take care of ourselves because no one else would. Any younger generations who work 3 days a week and fart around the rest of the time don't realize what a privilege it is to be able to do that and still eat.
NegScenePts@reddit
I never wanted to 'achieve', I just wanted a paycheque. I'd have preferred to not work, but that wasn't an option. I had zero 'grind culture' in me, because I knew that my time should not be spent enriching someone else's bank account at the expense of my own.
Working-Active@reddit
My father didn't name me "Johnny Half-Ass" was the saying that I always heard when hard work was involved.
Automatic_Sleep_4723@reddit
Blame Henry Ford. Jerk
dth1717@reddit
Boomers were our managers...
monkey_monkey_monkey@reddit
Whatever
gomper@reddit
Peter from office space is all gen x slacker vibes. "I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work." -Peter Gibbons (Office Space)
GasmaskTed@reddit
Betraying his office mates by letting the bosses know they can cut a bunch of positions
ActionCalhoun@reddit
He’s kind of the GenX ideal. Do what you have to do to get by but only just and try not to get noticed by the higher-ups.
temerairevm@reddit
Please thank them for the laugh this gave me.
The_K_in_Klass@reddit
We were called "slackers" by everyone!! Your employee sounds like an ignorant asshole.
GasmaskTed@reddit
Sounds like maybe the employee’s experience is a bunch of keener Xer assholes pushing their offices to do more with less to boost managerial bonuses …
TopRevenue2@reddit
💯
XxSemanticsxX@reddit
I have a sign on my desk, "Nobody Cares, Work Harder," and the younger employees always ask me who doesn't care.
DJDeadParrot@reddit
We were the apathy/slacker generation. We showed up, did the work asked of us, didn’t make a production of it, didn’t get very personally invested, then went home.
InfernalTest@reddit
Yeh we were definitely called the slacker / apathetic and not serious about anything generation
We supposedly just wanted to sit around and smoke weed and sit on a couch and watch TV all day ....
We were the farthest from "grind" you could get ...
Maybe he used the wrong letters and used grind instead of grunge
ExternalOk4293@reddit
As a Gex X I could really give a flying rat fuck what the think.
I was at a conference the other day, a man in his 50s stood up and said, why are all you hanging on and letting the younger generation step up. The minute I’m retirement age I’m gone and some of will still be hanging on.
It got real silent except for a couple of us looking at the clock so we could get the fudge out of there
AccomplishedOlive117@reddit
Seriously. We got kids in college and parents sliding into assisted living. We aren't going anywhere.
Fishy1911@reddit
GenX hasn't hit retirement (65) yet.. those are boomers hanging on past their expiration date.
AccomplishedOlive117@reddit
Seriously. We got kids in college and parents sliding into assisted living. We aren't going anywhere.
Genny415@reddit
Was his comment directed at other 50-year-olds who have another 15 or so years to work and are hoping for a promotion, if only that boomer would retire and GTFO?
OR was it directed at the boomers who are still hanging on and are the ones who really needed to hear it, and were silent because they know they're guilty?
1_Urban_Achiever@reddit
It’s not the boomers or gen X emailing me at 1am on a weekend. It’s subsequent generations that are tearing down the boundaries between work time and personal time.
GasmaskTed@reddit
They were ordered to take on the tasks of their fired/retired coworkers who won’t be replaced!(in addition to their own work) ; they don’t have time between 9 and 5 to do that. This is a top down problem.
Short-Personality398@reddit
Technology has helped that along.
Temporary_View_3303@reddit
I’m Gen and grind culture is the exact opposite of my philosophy. Trying to do the least possible is the way.
ActionCalhoun@reddit
“Try not to get noticed” is my philosophy
gomper@reddit
That was my career philosophy lol. Gen x slacker 100%
_Happy_Camper@reddit
He’s got the wrong generation there. It’s the next generation and the one after that which embraced that - but to be fair it was Gen X CEOs who pitched and pushed it
FBS351@reddit
Nah, we were slackers compared to the pre-boomer generations. My dad was just grateful to have a job. He put in crazy hours and got tiny little promotions/raises for 2 decades before he finally made the jump to managment, all in the same company. I tried to follow his example and advice but quickly realized modern employers aren't looking to promote from within. Scott Adams may have been a tool but he was right about that at least, employers will always favor outsiders over their own people.
SlyFrog@reddit
Who gives a shit about idiots who buy made up "this generation did this" bullshit?
willzskillz818@reddit
I thought we were slackers.
Puzzled-Atmosphere-1@reddit
We inherited that mindset from our silent generation or boomer parents. Head down, suck it up and show up, and sexual harassment is just something you’re going to have to find a way to work around.
StrawberryKiss2559@reddit
Grind culture was the millennials.
We were about doing one job really well.
JettaLove@reddit
This comment should be pinned! I’m an elder GenX and remember clearly when the first wave of Millennials hit the workplace. They were raised by Boomers and took on their worst characteristics. They were arrogant, bossy, and wanted to outshine everyone by grinding away eventually making it worse for everyone. You had entry level employees with Masters degrees who thought of their own success rather than culture. Millennials actually ruined corporate America for everyone.
ahutapoo@reddit
"Fuck you, we broke the cycle."
happycj@reddit
(Raises hand.)
Sorry. Yeah. That was me.
Graduated high school on Friday (1987) and went to work for a Silicon Valley computer company on Monday. Burned through a marriage and my physical and mental health until 1998, when I left the country and … escaped the techie California rat race.
But not before normalizing sleeping under my desk while waiting for the next build candidate to be ready for testing. Or working support lines all night when a new release had “issues”. And not socializing outside of work … and losing your entire social circle when changing jobs.
It wasn’t until after another 15 years of poor life choices that I realized that I needed to work on me first - setting appropriate priorities and boundaries and life choices - before I could be fully engaged with the world in a healthy way.
Upset-Motor-2602@reddit
It's the boomers who glorified grinding away. I'm doing the bare minimum and still delivering good results. I wasn't always this way, but after being denied promotion after promotion while boomers promote their favored pets, I decided to screw it.
GasmaskTed@reddit
It was the boomers who implemented hiring freezes and outsourcing and everything else they did to maximize short term profits and share price; Gen X got hired by silent Gen and had to live with the consequences of what the boomers did once they took over.
Toomuchhulkjuice@reddit
We didn’t do that.
OtakuTacos@reddit
Ignore him. Let him decide his own fate. Focus on you and yours. Don’t waste energy on other people’s decisions unless they directly impact yours.
57duck@reddit
A better candidate: “Neutron Jack” Welch.
puddlepunk@reddit
I remember when they called us "slackers."
I'd say we were responsible for the "grunge culture," not "grind culture."
JettaLove@reddit
Yeah remember that was the whole meaning behind “X” bc they didn’t understand us, couldn’t control us, thought we were slackers, uninspired, and rebellious. Turns out they were partially right which is why we were the original “cool girls” when it wasn’t cool sadly. Ultimately we defined late bloomers and endless adolescence. I am 60 now, single, child free and had a crazy life. Now I live a quiet life but there’s still the rebellious teenager inside of me. So yeah Generation X ruined nothing. We mostly just wanted to be left alone to live life on our own terms.
nickooze@reddit
Grind Culture ruined me! b.1977
JacksNTag@reddit
Grind culture was a millennial thing not Gen X.
Short-Personality398@reddit
Millennials had the struggle culture. They’ve been through a lot in my estimation.
MediumAd3331@reddit
Latchkey keys with jobs at 8 yeas old now raising families, taking care of both parents, likely who divorced and dealing with whiny younger generations. Stay in you safe spaces
SteevoHatezGoogle@reddit
This.
Taodragons@reddit
I think they are confusing "rise and grind" with work ethic. Is 40 hours a week a grind? Sure, but......not the same as the featured contributions on r/ linkedinlunatics
hesathomes@reddit
And that’s a millennial thing, not Gen X.
CitizenChatt@reddit
It's a @GaryVee thing
WonderfulVariation93@reddit
Eh. They always have to find someone to blame and it is usually those older than them. Wait until Gen Alpha is our age and see how they take being blamed for everything 🤣🤣
Mr-Snarky@reddit
Not me. I pride myself on being ing a lazy motherfucker who does just enough to get by.
LittleEdithBeale@reddit
GenX is the OG slacker generation. I've always been all about doing the least amount of work for the most money possible.
tk-093@reddit
Work smarter, not harder has always been my theme.
ChinaCat2023_reprise@reddit
I'm here for the income, not the outcome
DetectiveBlackCat@reddit
No, we did it more with apathy and letting other people make all the consequential decisions for our society and the most corrupt people moved right in glad to do so
CrumblinEmpire@reddit
We just did whatever had to do to survive. I had the worst counselor ever in high school. I had no idea what my options were in the working world and was completely directionless. I finally found my way by age 30, but that was a lot of wasted time.
SciFi_Wasabi999@reddit
Everyone our age that I know didn't want to "sell out" and "work for the man". Wasn't that the alternate term for Gen X? slackers? Millenials grind because they were trying to survive in a crumbling middle class. Younger generations are disenfranchised because there's literally no benefit to trying. They're locked in poverty so why break their back to make a billionaire another buck?
the_little_way@reddit
Is this about skateboarding?
EagleSaw@reddit
It’s the video games. They’ve overdone it. Too fun. I’m not touching a video game until I retire. I know it will be like heroin for me.
TwinsiesBlue@reddit
Doesn’t shit need to get done.
Short-Personality398@reddit
I remember maybe 20 years ago my millennial co worker saying “I just want to be average”. We had office jobs and nothing crazy—we weren’t “high paid”, but it was comfortable pay. I was shocked and it made me laugh a little. Now? I’m older and more irritated and I get it and I’m trying to just be average but I’m not sure it will work in this job market. I have 10-15 years left and I’m slowing down. Being allowed to be average would be nice.
iotakbc@reddit
Boomers were the masters of it. Whatever work ‘effort’ they gave was through the best economic times overall than any other generation. So they were encouraged to keep going and define themselves by their job. By the time we got there, we were trained to do the same… but not the same economic time benefit they had which is why we question the choices that generation made to benefit them and no one else. And each generation after them it gets worse economically and all they can say is ‘work harder’. Screw the boomers.
TopRevenue2@reddit
And they had cocaine and a lack of scruples
mclazerlou@reddit
The race to the bottom in terms of personal sacrifice to attain bourgeois social status was intense, but it had more to do with fiscal policy starting with Ronald Reagan than it does with our generation, who were children when the guardrails were taken off wealth hoarding.
mclazerlou@reddit
And still is intense. And getting worse.
TowerOfSisyphus@reddit
Haha nice try, Boomers.
MeowMeowCollyer@reddit
Someone is confusing GenX with capitalism and this slacker WILL NOT HAVE IT!
whipla5her@reddit
I have the same issue in my business. Most younger people want to work "just enough", even if more hours are available. As far as for blaming GenX for their woes... that's online "influencer" B.S. everyone's growing up with now. Boomer's were the scapegoat for the last few years, I guess it's our turn now.
cholaw@reddit
These younger generations know better than to talk sh*t to our faces....
TeaMugPatina@reddit
Didn't we just want to try and play music in our garages or in our basements?
moccasinsfan@reddit
As gen X, meh, whatever.
Remember the biggest losers are those chronically online who bitch about what others have because they would rather be victims than improve themselves
HornetParticular6625@reddit
Nah. Wasn't us
hesathomes@reddit
What? No.
Difficult_Ad_2881@reddit
I think Boomers called us slackers. I don’t think we’re slackers at all. All my friends worked from a young age. I remember getting “working papers” at 14 to work in a corporate environment after school. We weren’t going to be “lifers” and sticking with one job though.
Gracie1two3@reddit
I started my government job when I was 24 and retired when I was 54. My kids change companies every few years and always for more money. Sometimes a little money and sometimes quite a bit more. I could have made more money had I changed jobs (I was a software engineer, program manager, and (at the time) Exchange 'expert' ( it changed so often that I was never an expert but that's what they called me)). But it would have delayed my retirement. I don't think 30 year career jobs are truly available anymore unless you're military or connected to the government.
WereFlyingOverTrout@reddit
lol xennial here who started getting paid under the table at age 12 working at a restaurant.
Jason_TheMagnificent@reddit
I miss the days when genx millennials and genz blamed the boomers, sigh
BassGuy10@reddit
Boomers created it. Gen X is the first victimized generation of it.
Girl_with_no_Swag@reddit
Absolute truth. Boomers & Silent often grinded with no/little PTO, Sick, Vacation time. Why do you think we were left unsupervised so much in our youth.
It’s why I had to stay home alone from school with pneumonia for 3 weeks at the age of 8 years old because my dad had no sick time and my mom only had 6 days and still had to pay for her own substitute teacher out of her own sick pay.
We as Gen X…we grind because we have work ethic. But we also have more sick/vacation days and we actually take them. We saw our parent not get paid time off, so we appreciate the time we get. You get gens grew up seeing their parents use that PTO to do stuff for them, and don’t appreciate it as a benefit and see it as an entitlement. Which devalues it in their eyes.
1043b@reddit
This right here, we were the first to work just as hard and get less for it!
Huge-Willow-4027@reddit
Your employee is just a whiney bitch. If they don’t want to grind, they don’t have to.
Unclebuck129@reddit
As a member of Gen X I can honestly say, I don’t care.
BokBokBagock@reddit
Whatever
Wolf444555666777@reddit
No no no no...we did it because we thought that was the way things work. I say DID because genx doesn't want to grind. We want to have fun and laugh. Once we were given facts outside of our boomer parents, we stopped that grinding shit, as much as possible with all the bills, ect. Social media wasn't around when we first started in the workforce and there wasn't the access to news outside of family and community and even countries.
PomegranateReal3620@reddit
As young adults, Gen X looked at a future where nothing was guaranteed. Where our success or failure or ability to survive, let alone retire, was squarely on our shoulders. We looked at the previous two generations and realized that by the time they were done, there was nothing left for us. It was a combination of our lifelong habit of self-reliance and a need to cultivate the kind of security we had never been given.
In short, passive neglect and a bone-deep nihilism made us work hard because no one else was going to do it.
CrumblinEmpire@reddit
100% agree with this.
1043b@reddit
Or take cate of us if we didn't
Rum_Running_Sailor@reddit
Grind culture in not a Gen X thing. That's a millennial thing. We were among the first to learn to separate work from personal life.
ComprehensivePeanut5@reddit
My take: I think our parents (Baby Boomers) wanted their children (GenX) to "have a better life than they had," so we were driven to get into college, get a high-paying job, have more money, etc. Our parents gave us the mindset, and at least in my experience, many of us DID achieve what we were taught to be "success." I think we just accepted that life was our parents' vision of success. Nowadays, I think GenZ realizes how stupid and harmful the 40-hour work week is to our overall health, plus, a lot of them know or know of successful YouTubers and influencers, and know they can use AI to create a novel product idea and turn it into passive income. Honestly, NO ONE wants to work a 40-hour work week; we were just taught it was the only way, so most of us are still doing it.
godchauxprime@reddit
Baby boomers had millennials. Silent gen gave us Gen X
radar0323@reddit
Really? Because my folks were born in 1950 and I was born in 1971. Those born in the eight years after me only had increasing odds of being born to Boomers, so …
bowlgar@reddit
It’s both. My parents are early boomers and I’m squarely Gen X.
Terrible-Mind-5414@reddit
It's funny because 40 doesn't sound like so many hours out of 168 in a week. But in practice it definitely sucks up all your time and energy.
Critical_Seat_1907@reddit
There was a moment in time where both parents working was a cheat code for getting wealthy.
Now, everyone must work just to survive, and often it's still not enough. A few decades ago, extra hustle could get you ahead. Now we hustle just to stay off the street.
mthenry54@reddit
We’re both grinders & slackers. At work we get shit done while older generations are bitching about the good old days and younger generations are whining about hurt feelings and what disorder they have. When we leave, that shit stays in the office. We are off the clock and loving it.
We’re the first generation to strive for a work-life balance. Boomers want corporate dedication and to hear how good they are. Millennials want to play and hear how good they are. We do our job and don’t want to hear a goddamned thing.
BrainSqueezins@reddit
Totally. Just let me do my damned job. You give me an 'award' and I'll be pissed.
Beneficial_Pickle322@reddit
Just give me honest pay for the work I do and I’m good. I’ll told my team employee appreciation day is every other Friday
Imverystupidgenx@reddit
MistressDamned@reddit
We didn't create the grind, we inherited it.
Rob71322@reddit
Gen-Xer here. Maybe give the younger generation a chance? They have a point. I mean, what did "grind culture" get us but chronic overwork that affected our health, our hobbies and probably our relationships? Meanwhile, the country and world are going to shit right? We're watching the billionaires (who many of us "grinded" for) look down at democracy and insist that you keep grinding away until we're all six feet under. If us "grinding" made the world a better place then maybe you could argue it was worth it but has it really? We helped spawn big tech but has that made things into the world of greater knowledge and communications we all thought/hoped it would be or did we just create more tools for authoritarians to control us all with greater ease?
I turned 55 a couple weeks ago and am retiring in a week. Happy to get off the capitalist merry-go-round and never look back. Maybe the next generations will be part a solution that we weren't able to be. I hope so and wish them luck.
Sa7aSa7a@reddit
Yeah, grind culture where you kill yourself for a corporation is stupid. I always took the grind culture as working hard for yourself. Promoting yourself as an artist or entrepreneur with your own business.
LuckyAd2714@reddit
While the person who said that will never own their own home because they won’t ‘grind’. Sooo many people have zero idea of how to get a job done. Correctly
prayingforrain2525@reddit
Grinding hasn't been enough in years. People can only "grind" so much. I don't blame people for being sick of it.
LuckyAd2714@reddit
I think it’s a lot harder to be successful today for a lot of reasons. But the work ethics of millennials in my office is lack luster. Nothing extraordinary is being asked - just the basics.
ShockedNChagrinned@reddit
I think this may have been the gen after X or late X if anything
capt-yossarius@reddit
"Whatever."
I might muster the energy to shrug my shoulders as I answer.
Narrow-Scientist9178@reddit
I was quiet quitting my one job before Millennials and Gen Z had a name for it. Whatever.
Diocletion-Jones@reddit
Gen X did not start grind culture. They walked into a system that was already running it.
The Industrial Revolution built the idea that long hours equal moral worth. The 1980s and 1990s corporate world turned that into a lifestyle brand and sold it as ambition. Gen X just happened to be the first group fully trained inside that mindset. There is decent evidence that Gen X were the first to pull back from grindculture but not the first to reject it outright.
You can see it in three places. Surveys from the 2000s show Gen X reporting burnout earlier and in higher numbers than boomers at the same age. Long term workforce studies show Gen X shifting toward work life balance preferences before millennials entered the job market. Cultural commentary from the late 90s and early 2000s is full of Gen X writers calling out the emptiness of hustle culture after living through the layoffs and broken promises of that era.
goldbouillon@reddit
You need to go back further than the Industrial Revolution to tie moral worth to work. The Puritans/Pilgrims brought that shit over with them from Europe.
It’s worth noting, that Puritans/Pilgrims landed in the US/colonies for lack of anywhere else to go because Europe was tired of their weird religious view of just about everything.
crab_races@reddit
Solid point of view.
I remember my boss telling me about 7 years into my tenure that I looked at my job as a job, not a career. He paid me as little as he could, I generally worked from 8am to 8pm m-f and a few hours on Saturday, and he gave me no mentoring or guidance. There were no promotions and I remember getting upset with him when he gave me a 3% raise and a mediocre performance review, when I was literally doing the work of 3 people. Seriously. After I left they had to hire two more people to help my replacement, he couldn't do it.
And he criticized me for wanting to go home at all. There was a culture of martyrdom there.
One woman I worked with worked 105 hours one week. I am not exaggerating. She was praised. We. Were. Salaried. It was so immoral. But the expectation was set... and I needed the job. And honestly, I was working through --or not working through-- massive childhood trauma, depression, and anxiety, and barely had enough to live.
I know i wasn't alone. But I realized afterwards that many companies are sociopathic and will squeeze you dry, throw away your empty husk, and yell, "Next!"
If the kids today can avoid that, more power to them. And i've always tried to set my kids up to not be in the situation I was.
cascadianpatriot@reddit
I feel like our generation helped create more casual business wear. A lot of us made a big deal about wearing ties.
Imaginary_Office1749@reddit
Can confirm. Retiring early, leaving good paying job, because I’m sick of the grind and the pressure.
DocCEN007@reddit
Yeah, that definitely wasn't us. The "Me" generation now known as Boomers did all that in the go go 80s.
shortmumof2@reddit
Sure, sure we're to blame. An entire generation vs the 1%, come on that's bs
Rikkitikkitabby@reddit
The, "generation-bad" narrative is a very effective distraction from the 1%.
CharleyDawg@reddit
This.
OreoSpeedwaggon@reddit
Remind them that we didn't invent "grind culture." We had it drilled into us by the work ethics of the past, just like how some people criticize Gen X and Millennials for receiving "participation trophies" that we didn't demand or even want. Most of us in Gen X would love to only work 3 days a week and make music or do whatever other hobby we enjoy, but we also knew from an early age that it wasn't realistic. Your coworker will have that epiphany too. It just may come later.
Informal-Gene-8777@reddit
WHERE IS MY PARTICIPATION TROPHY? I didn't get one!
OreoSpeedwaggon@reddit
🏆
Informal-Gene-8777@reddit
Only had to wait 57 years
OreoSpeedwaggon@reddit
1funnyguy4fun@reddit
We were also sold the lie of the meritocracy. Hey! Just work really hard and produce results and your work will be reflected by an increase in your wage. Also, hard workers who are competent and reliable will be promoted into positions with increased responsibility and even higher wages!
We were lied to and we believed it. Worked out great for corporations that got a nose-to-the-grindstone workforce who were also taught not to complain because that might hurt “promotion opportunities.”
Wind_Responsible@reddit
You remind this person if was the Boomers who forced us and they’re still doing it
Practical-Owl-9358@reddit
Grind culture was a symptom of the shift away from guaranteed pensions to 401ks. We went from guaranteed income after a set number of years (which Boomers benefited from) to our retirement being dictated 60% by the whims of our employer and our own ability to set money aside. That ability was affected by the dot com burst, the Enron scandal, the Great Recession, the housing bubble, multiple generational wars in the MidEast, 9/11….and I’m sure I’m leaving stuff out. I say 60% because SS was only ever intended to cover 40% of wages in retirement.
Point is , we engaged in grind culture because our future after our working years is much less certain. And I’m sorry that the generations that came after (I’m the eldest of the Xennials) inherited a system that is even less so.
Regular_or_BQ@reddit
We re-watched St Elsewhere last year and laughed when a couple flipped out at a $300 bill for an overnight hospital stay. Times have for sure changed.
bluealien78@reddit
It’s because our boomer parents were all telling us we had to “work harder” to be able to afford to live in the lopsided economy they created. I am absolutely a workaholic, have been since my first job at 16, and I can confidently say that it’s because my parents made me that way.
Perle1234@reddit
No generation “ruined” anything. The US is being destroyed by poor government, period. We are bottom of the barrel for a first world country. Our taxes do not benefit us in meaningful ways, there are no worker protections in most states. Most of our money goes to fund our military. The people exist to fund the wealth of a few people and benefit shareholders. I refuse to be employed and am an independent contractor. Fuck them all. It didn’t take that long for unfettered capitalism to destroy the country either. It’s a failed experiment.
Pristine_Frame_2066@reddit
Poor policy.
Terrible-Mind-5414@reddit
This is stupid. GenX was both known and widely denigrated for its "slacker culture". See, for example, the defining GenX movie, "Slacker". Plenty of GenX obviously were not slackers but we definitely didn't introduce anything new in the direction of overwork. Not voluntarily anyway; larger economic trends were at work.
Barneidor@reddit
It's more that we just get on with whatever task needs to be done. Not the same as grind culture IMO I think it comes from being expected to solve all kinds of problems by ourselves at a young age. Something needs to be repaired, a chore needs to be done, we just do it instead of sitting on our hands.
cajunjoel@reddit
Whatever. If anyone is to blame, it's capitalism. We worked to put food on the table, but ended up getting ground down by a deeply unfair system meant to extract ever ounce of labor from us.
National-Stock6282@reddit
Yes, i luckily realized the scam in my 40's . I jumped off the hamster wheel 15 years ago. Just do enough to exist, not trying to keep up with anyone.
Pristine_Frame_2066@reddit
Um.
Slacker.
Work smarter, not harder. How I got through grad school and survived shitty jobs until now.
NaDarach@reddit
Tell that to my grandfather, who was always going on about how my generation didn't know the meaning of hard work. According to him, Gen X ruined the world by not honoring the grind culture!
mladyhawke@reddit
I'm gen X and I've always done the bare minimum to get by. I've never tried to achieve my maximum whatever
Green-Minimum-2401@reddit
Same. Anyone who thinks I'm going to put once more % of effort than I have to cancel get bent.
Equivalent-Shine5742@reddit
Us as grind culture?!
Us?!?
Artisan_Gardener@reddit
OP is seriously misled or did not understand what tf they're talking about.
Equivalent-Shine5742@reddit
I'm honestly surprised at myself for being motivated enough to respond let alone use a "?!?". Going to need a nap now
Weird-Ninja8827@reddit
Previously we ruined it by slacking all the time.
spinninggoth@reddit
Yep. There it is.
whats1more7@reddit
I didn’t ‘grind’ to get ahead. I did it to get the bills paid. I still work 50 hours a week (self-employed) because it’s how I support my family.
PeriwinkleWonder@reddit
What??? No. We were called slackers for a reason--we want/wanted work life balance.
Mr_Mumbercycle@reddit
Yeah, i think how one views this is dependent upon which end of the GenX age distribution you are on. The early GenXers are more likely to be "go, go Reaganomics, Gordon Gecko is a role model not a villain" types. While late GenX like myself remember that we were called the "Slacker" Generation before being GenX.
SageObserver@reddit
Huh, the one thing they didn’t learn from us Gen X is that we are no one’s victims.
Tlt1010@reddit
I ground myself into the dirt. Had back fusion in 2021 and had both hips replaced a few months ago. I'm 50. Fuck the grind.
Green-Minimum-2401@reddit
I'm as Gen X as Gen X can be and not once have I ever "grinded" at work. But I'm also French raised and I'll never mold into the American work "ethics". I show up, I do my job, I clock out and fuck right off with any talk of overtime of eating at my desk or some such nonsense.
Regular_or_BQ@reddit
They have the wrong number. Tell them to please hang up and dial again.
Anthropic_me@reddit
Never heard that expression before. That said, I want to succeed for me and my family.
I work because doing my best while helping others, means something to me.
OmniOdyssey@reddit
I have to wonder what stake in the company did your company offer this employee? What about their 401k? Pension? How are they being compensated? What reason do they have for giving a fuck beyond putting in the bare minimum?
Making music is great BTW.
kookdang@reddit
I think boomers worked hard and Gen X carried on with that. However, in my personal experience, Gen X had fun doing it. Also, as workplaces became more inclusive, they became much better places to work. A lot of abusive behaviour became unacceptable. Not saying there weren’t still huge problems that still exist today, but I think the workplace got a little better for everyone because of Gen X.
CharleyDawg@reddit
It is deteriorating now though for the younger ones. PTO that they are expected not to use. Sick time that they can only use if they schedule it in advance. Bosses that expect employees to be available 24/7 whether they are scheduled or not. And to answer calls, texts and messages on their personal time. Timed bathroom breaks. Who the fuck times how long it takes their employee to take a dump.
Automatic-Nature6025@reddit
One of my younger coworkers mentioned how he wondered why everything couldn't just be free. As badly as I wanted to be a real smartass about it, I explained it like this: When it comes down to it, the only thing in our society with any true value is work. Everything we need or want is the result of work, and every different kind of work has a different value. Plain and simple. Sure, some people get everything they want without working, and that's what decreases the value of everything else. Unless you can figure out how to be one of those people, you gotta work to have stuff.
Informal-Gene-8777@reddit
If everything is free, what will exist? Who will make these free things? If nobody worked, everything would eventually stop.
IslandIndependent333@reddit
I hate stuff like this, this is just personal preference, there’s a huge trend in the tech bro world rn called 996. It means you work from 9am to 9pm 6 days a week, so 72 hours. “Back in my day” blah blah blah nonsense. Same was said of Gen x aka Realty Bites
Taminella_Grinderfal@reddit
There is a difference between having a work ethic and “grinding”. I go to work and …..work. I don’t funk around on my phone or browse the internet, I show up on time, I take initiative, I do my tasks to 100% of my abilities, and go home. I am willing to occasionally go above and beyond because I am lucky enough to have worked at places where my boss & coworkers are good and put in equal effort. But I also don’t let myself get taken advantage of.
I feel like the millennials were all about the “hustle culture”. And even younger people…oof, I work with a bunch of them now and have recently been hiring. They are showing up to interviews in a hoodie and jeans, not showing up at all, and for a group that does all communication electronically…..they are technologically illiterate.
Bubbly_Following7930@reddit
Who wouldn't rather work just 3 days and then do something else they enjoy?
I work hard but I'm kinda done with it these days.
Texy@reddit
Me too. Ready to retire but I still have 8 years
Pandy_45@reddit
Oh, the irony
HoosierLarry@reddit
Coming from a generation that waited forever to get their driver’s license and move out? So what?
Artisan_Gardener@reddit
Seriously. My Millennial daughter didn't get her driver's license until she was 19. Because she didn't want to be seen driving my car.
NoeTellusom@reddit
Have they never met a boomer? WTF?
lottaballix@reddit
Used to smoke up in the pool hall during lunch break at govt job and the place was packed with genxrs doing the same. Grind culture please
DantesGame@reddit
Choose not to buy into the fabricated culture wars. We're stronger together than bickering over stupid shit that nobody can empirically prove.
sleepytjme@reddit
No kidding, every generation had ambitious workers and slackers.
Hedonistic_Yinzer@reddit
When did a computer become a musical instrument?
OreoSpeedwaggon@reddit
1961 or even earlier.
whineybubbles@reddit
Everyone points fingers at everyone else
one_bean_hahahaha@reddit
I'm the only GenXer on my team and probably the biggest slacker.
valsalva_manoeuvre@reddit
It's called "having a work ethic" and it's what my Silent Generation parents gave me instead of generational wealth, which is what my Millennial and Gen Z kids got from me.
jollytoes@reddit
Gen X saw their fathers put in hard work and reap the rewards so they did the same hoping for the same ending. The job scene has changed though. It's no longer about getting recognition and reward for working hard. Instead, the company expects the employee to retire on a pizza party at age 70 or get laid off much earlier so a cheaper, younger employee can be hired. The whole system is different than it was even 20yrs ago and it's easy to see why the younger ones don't care to put in the extra work for nothing.
ShookMyHeadAndSmiled@reddit
When these youngsters start talking shit about GenX, I just remind them that mine is the cohort lovingly nestled between THE TWO BIGGEST GENERATIONS IN HISTORY. We're the baloney between two giant slices of Texas toast. We've never had the ability to affect the culture at large.
Informal-Gene-8777@reddit
Amen
ErnestBatchelder@reddit
I thought that was more part of early Millennial culture with the advent of tech jobs that acted like cults?
From my understanding, most Gen Xers were either labeled as slackers who would go nowhere, or following the past formula for success: college, job, house. Once those on that track got to the career part, they found out that most of the security systems (paid leave, insurance, retirement or pension plans) that were in place for baby boomers were already being eroded. People stopped equating their identities with their corporate jobs, but tended to endure them.
Then, with Millennials, early on there was a big push to join companies based on "cultural fit" and encouraged to overwork for minimal free perks that looked good (free food, game rooms in company offices, corporate parties, t shirts and hats) but still lacked the needed things like good health insurance, decent hours, vacation, or pensions.
SlippySausageSlapper@reddit
I can’t fucking stand lazy people. There is not, has never been, and never will be a world where people don’t need to earn their way. This is the way of the world. People who want everyone else to carry them are parasites.
Dangerous-Art-Me@reddit
lol.
Sure, I did some of that when younger.
Now I’m smart enough to know how to look like I’m grinding when I’m really not doing a damn thing.
I’ll leave all that ambitious shit to these young pups who seem to think they’ll be a CEO next Tuesday, just for showing up to work on time twice.
chinstrap@reddit
I thought we were "slackers".
FancyAtmosphere2252@reddit
My first thought.
chrisproglf@reddit
Be the change you want to see, join a movement, go to council meetings, get involved. Real change is bottom up!
Ratatoskr_The_Wise@reddit
I don’t think GenX ruined this at all. I think what ruined it was the corporations themselves. When my industry sent a lot of work overseas, the timelines changed because overseas workers were meeting accelerated deadlines under very toxic work conditions. We went from having to wait a day or two days for something into wanting things overnight because the overseas teams were running 24 hour shifts six days a week. And now those folks that are here now are changing the work culture and expectation of work volume, because they’re used to abuse, and also they don’t want to lose their jobs and get sent back. GenX had -nothing- to do with this.
aKIMIthing@reddit
Grind culture for 25yrs. Cruise control for the next 12?!? Acceptable?
Radiant-Target5758@reddit
We were in the workforce with the boomers. We were always replaceable at any time because there were so many people competing.
I don't think that simple demographics gets enough attention when it comes to wage stagnation and grind culture. There were so many more young people competing.
NotEasilyConfused@reddit
It amazes me that since the dawn of time, humans have had to work very hard to survive. Grind culture is not new within the last few decades, or even centuries.
If you weren't working, you weren't eating. Even the women at home were busting their assess.
I'll be so amused to see how working 21 hours/week keeps any of the time generation fed, houses, healthy, or entertained. Pick one ... they won't have the money for more than that.
mnguy12000@reddit
Yep that's what's frustrating, seeing younger gens do bare minimum and get promoted.
QuirkyForever@reddit
Um, no. You can't just blame an entire generation because the world isn't the way you want it. Fix things if you don't like them.
chillarry@reddit
When I started work, I had two people counsel me.
One took a newspaper to the bathroom every morning and spent 30 minutes in there. He told me “Never do on your own time something you can do on company time.”
The other said, “Never turn down an opportunity to volunteer when someone needs to step up. Take the extra assignment if it’s available. Work your butt off.”
I followed the second guy’s advice and retired before I was 60. Worked my ass off for years. Saw the kid’s coming in and putting in half a days work and knew it was time to leave. I wasn’t going to pick up some kid’s slack.
Malice_N_1derland@reddit
We definitely inherited it. The way to stand out at work was to give extra. More than what you were being compensated for. It was a massive scam and we had no other choice but to wear extra pieces of flair.
Zoinks222@reddit
Do not accuse the slacker generation of being the grind generation.
shortmumof2@reddit
😂
gbr1976@reddit
I this says it all about my thoughts on "grind culture":
Scruffy_Nerf_Hoarder@reddit
Shit, I've mastered doing the opposite of grinding at my career. I do the bare minimum my contract requires, and I couldn't be happier.
OliverClothesOff70@reddit
I'm in my mid 50s now, but I was full in on the grind culture in my 20s. I worked months in a row without a break (on salary, no overtime) only to be rewarded with what eventually amounted to scraps from the table of the rich guy I was making a lot richer.
For me, the event that finally penetrated my false view of my life was what happened to me after I worked a full 30-hours straight shift to meet a huge company deadline. Came in to work Monday morning. Worked all day Monday, all night Monday, and most of Tuesday. Went home Tuesday at 3pm, nearly falling asleep at the wheel during the drive. But I succeeded. I got the project done and it shipped on time.
Wednesday morning, I called in telling them I was just too tired and needed more sleep. See you guys tomorrow.
I get to work Thursday morning and my boss calls me in to inform me that he MUST charge me a sick day (again, I'm on salary) for missing work on Wednesday. Seriously, WTF?? And he did it.
The good news is, that was the moment I realized I NEEDED to go back and finish my engineering degree. Which I did. I was out of there within a few months once I had my plans together.
OminOus_PancakeS@reddit
I'm gen x and I've never wanted to work at all, let alone 'grind.'
Consequently, my favourite job involved me sitting at a desk waiting for the phone to ring. I was in a specialist tech support department that no customers ever called. We were available just in case.
I spent the time surfing the web, reading books and watching videos. And got paid. It was ace.
Outstanding_Neon@reddit
I don’t know that we are responsible for it, but grind culture definitely sucks.
Practical_Wind_1917@reddit
We grew up being told you work hard. Go to school. Get an education. You will succeed.
Once we did that, we realized it was all a lie.
We still work hard. We still value education and know how to relax more than most generations.
Millennials and Gen Z think they have relaxing down. But being on your phone 24/7 worrying about what the next stupid trend is. Is not relaxing.
BreezyBill@reddit
We do the work because most of the time we know no one else will do it unless we do it. And it needs to get done.
ilikecats415@reddit
This. We were parenting ourselves as kids. Of course we can see what needs to be done and just do it.
crab_races@reddit
Personally I've always worked incredibly hard because I had no backdrop or family support. If I didn't earn, I didn't eat or have a place to live. And while I went to college, I made a poor major decision that did not put me on any kind of career track and I had student loans. So I definitely grinded, working at low -paying jobs for terrible people in terrible industries. But I did what I needed to do to survive.
Combine that with CPTSD and being in survival mode since my dad split when I was 5 and a PTSD-added rage-filled Vietnam combat vet moved in and could be triggered just by me chewing loudly... I just wanted to survive to see the next day.
Then we got to the workforce, and all the boomers ahead of us were extremely competitive and protective of their positions. There was little advancement to be had. I worked hard to try to stay above the line they drew for each round of layoffs.
It sucks. I did not want to work or live like that. But life ain't fair. And sorry kids now are coming into the workforce and finding hard work is required. But that's kinda how life works: you launch into the big bad world and have your naieve ideas shattered. But if they can make it work and not have grind culture and have work-life balance, well good for them. And I almost hope they figure it out. I don't wish my last 40 years of working like an asshole on anyone. But I do reserve the right to be pissy about it if they make it work. :D
Rickest_Rik@reddit
I am a 1967 Gen-X. I hate grind culture, I hate all that climbing bull shit. I tolerated it as long as it took to build a vank account that will support me till I die and retired as fast as I could. (56).
blindside1@reddit
Wait, I thought we were supposed to be slackers?
TheKungfuJesus@reddit
The only thing I grind on is my lady friend.
1Steelghost1@reddit
Especially after a fresh wax.
Erazzphoto@reddit
All I wanted to do is work 40 hours and get the fuck back to my life. I work to live, not live to work. This wanting to grind is not some gen x trait
Val-E-Girl@reddit
Oh wow. Damn us all and our ambition making the next generations look bad.
Fight_Tyrnny@reddit
We lived THROUGH the grind culture but we sure as heck didnt create it, that would be the boomers.
78Anonymous@reddit
indeed; post war gen .. ie our parents
DeFiClark@reddit
Probably more like Greatest Generation …
88secret@reddit
That was the boomers. I am older Gen X and I learned about long hours and grind culture from reading business publications in high school and college. I was primed to be taken advantage of in my first job out of school.
whatsthis1901@reddit
Lol, what happened to the OG slacker generation? I wasn't into work when I first started in the workforce, and while I got better and did my job exceedingly well, I wasn't into the whole moving up success thing. I got to a point where I was happy where I was at and stayed there. I turned down promotions because the extra money just wasn't worth the extra headaches for me. My life is about doing things I enjoy and being able to be comfortable, not my job.
JJQuantum@reddit
If that’s what he wants to do then he can. He can also figure out a way to pay his bills.
1Steelghost1@reddit
Never worked a union job huh? 9-5 is the same pay for an hour doing of work or 10 hours of doing work.
Look unions are great but they have flaws.
78Anonymous@reddit
Grind culture is the responsibility of the post war generation, not GenX.
Justthefacts6969@reddit
Princess syndrome
Doogie90@reddit
Your younger co-worker possesses a massive sense of entitlement.....brought to them by social media blaming everyone else for their problems. (I too work with younger adult co-workers the same age as my kids. Heck, my kids see it in their peers....)
madogvelkor@reddit
Weren't we the slacker generation?
unlimited_miscreant@reddit
Gen Jones here. Get used to it. As the Boomers age out and die off, younger people will be needing a new villain, and the oldest generation will be the one they pick. Just don’t pay attention. You know if you’re one of the bad guys or not.
ted_anderson@reddit
I couldn't even take that seriously enough to give the kid a response other than, "What did you think going to work every day meant?" If they think we started this grind culture, take a look at how people worked in the 1930's. After working long hours if you got sick, hurt, or tired, they would just replace you.
dburst_@reddit
Coming from a Zillenial with Gen X parents who lurks here I truly feel like you’re the generation that got fucked the most that’s alive at the moment. I look at the boomers who got so many of the perks of WWII and then when they were supposed to turn around and help their children they kicked the ladder out from underneath and laughed. Millennials and up have had eth internet. While Some of my cohorts will complain it’s ruined us, I feel like we had a leg up at having unlimited knowledge to get us where we need to go and it’s been apart of our lives so long that it’s just normal to have anything at our fingertips. IMHO you are the most hardworking generation that didn’t see the benefits others get to.
d4sbwitu@reddit
If I could have worked 8 hours / 3 days a week in my prime, I would have. Unfortunately, I had to pay bills ans plan for retirement. Same situation the current Generation is in. They're just looking for someone to blame for having to live the same life we did. Yeah, it would be nice to get more life for less output.
Conscious-Secret-775@reddit
I thought we were supposed to be the slackers.
DeepGreenThumbs@reddit
For decades we were the Slacker generation, and now we somehow invented grind culture? LOL no.
SensitivePotato44@reddit
The notorious generation of slackers invented grind culture, yeah sure we did.
iamthepickleweasel@reddit
I can’t stop grinding. I see these sweet curbs and hand rails. I grind them and it it’s tasty. It’s rad.
Tokogogoloshe@reddit
That's so true if you skateboarded. Everything like curve and rails you look at for a grind. Every dried out water tunnel thingy is a ride. Swimming pools are the same.
Nutella_Zamboni@reddit
Filthy, the word that best defines me I'm just grinding man, y'all never mind me
thunderwarm@reddit
Grind culture was definitely pushed onto us. We were either slackers that are doing what we had to do or ended up in charge because all of the “adults” left and we remained standing there with all the responsibilities. And now we work hard to get just enough to scrape together enough to retire because we are wise enough to know the government benefits aren’t going to go very far and because we are old enough to have to care about this crap now.
18ekko@reddit
So, showing up for all five days of work, every week, is now "grind culture"?
I thought grind culture was all those hilarious posts on LinkedIn about working 20 hr days for a few years to "build something together", so the founder can sell it off and retire, and the employees can move on to the next shit job doing the same thing.
Base_Ancient@reddit
What has changed for some is the work ethic. Don't blame that on us.
Informal-Gene-8777@reddit
He is welcome to work 3 days and make music. But he will only get paid for 3 days.
I dunno--maybe it's because we always had to work for what we have? And nobody took our emotional temperature every time they asked us to do something, so we never bothered to have strong feelings or think it was negotiable?
I once had a manager assign me a project and then ask how I felt about it. I literally had no idea what to say because I had NO feelings about it.
Minimum_Republic_600@reddit
They want us to feel bad for our effort and ignore their lack of it.
CityCabCat@reddit
Lol that’s funny. I agree with a previous comment.. We work hard, play hard. And in general just get shit done. But I don’t put in unnecessary extra work and take every PTO day I get.
59apache01@reddit
Funny how we were the slackers when we entered the workforce with the Silent Generation and the Boomers.
FoleyV@reddit
This is an interesting take and an excellent commentary on generations.
I learned to work hard, play hard from my silent generation grandparents. I think many boomers expected more because they happenstanced upon opportunities that just did not happen for Gen X and Millennials (by design of course).
Senior-Cantaloupe-69@reddit
Typical young people not understanding the context. We’re survivors, not instigators, of grind culture. We didn’t create grind culture. It was forced upon us. We inherited a changing work force where the boomers downsized everything. They enjoyed their secretaries and long martini lunches. We were told to do more with less. And, if we didn’t like it, there were a stack of applications of people who will. We were also constantly told by the boomers that if we didn’t work hard we’d literally be homeless living down by the river.
Just_a_girl_in_NJ@reddit
GenX here. Well said👍🏻
zenchow@reddit
And here I am without a river view
weepandread@reddit
From your van or corner office?
TheGreatRao@reddit
Yeah, those slackers from 1625 to 1964, really took it easy.
GTFOH
Cyrus_Imperative@reddit
HAHAHAHAHAHAH no.
argognat@reddit
Whatever…
Zzeellddaa@reddit
Best answer
seattlemh@reddit
I thought we were slackers.
TXtogo@reddit
I’m a capitalist, I believe in competing to get ahead. If they can’t hang with an old man at the office, pfft I hate it for em.
Better step up their game.
old_motters@reddit
Nope. That was boomers.
Most of the world's ills are down to boomers.
Change_Request@reddit (OP)
I think they are coming for us next.
Kitchen_Page9991@reddit
Generations always blame the ones that came before them. Pretty sure we’re next up. They don’t want a piece of this. They have no idea how it’s gonna go.
old_motters@reddit
Gotta blame someone.
Fortunately genX doesn't give a rats patootie. We're too busy trying to avoid being in retirement poverty.
geodebug@reddit
I mean, I did work my butt off early in my career to get good. But that’s a career vs a job.
some_one_234@reddit
More like fighting for survival rather than grinding. How many recessions has GenX been through? I worked my ass off so I have a chance to retire and enjoy life
zenchow@reddit
And here I am without a river view
youngwilliam23@reddit
Sounds like they are content sponging off someone else.
the_answer_is_RUSH@reddit
No we didn’t.
Our motto was work hard play hard. We went to work and worked. We don’t spend half the day looking at our phones.
Millennials and Gen Z are the ones who decided everything needed to be monetized. Millennials don’t even have hobbies for the love of hobbies.
Obviously a generalization but fair play if you’re gonna blame X for grind culture.
O
Smurfybabe@reddit
I've been at my job for 18 years and my boss knew I didn't want her job. She offered when she retired, but I declined. I like what I do, I'm good at it, I don't want more stress. I'm also not a competitive person and never understood all this wanting to get ahead in corporate culture.
Throw8976m@reddit
Hustle culture was a millennial thing promoted on social media.
MedPhys90@reddit
Gig culture, maybe
Philosopher_Same@reddit
We have been through so much that we have learned that just getting by means that you will eventually get screwed
savedbytheblood72@reddit
Not accurate
Yet,
I grind because of deadlines. I'm always moving.
I work out Alot cause I eat Alot.
STEP IT UP KID
staplesgowhere@reddit
The slacker generation invented grind culture? Interesting take…
DustyBottomsRidesOn@reddit
Yet another data point about Gen X not being a monolith.
I thought we were the slackers?
geese_moe_howard@reddit
Nothing to do with me. I'm lazy as fuck.
Ceorl_Lounge@reddit
Not by me gang!
redcoltken_pc@reddit
It's a long and dark story