Woman sparks debate with claim that Gen X and Gen Z don't get along as coworkers

Gen X and Gen Z people have very different working styles and often end up clashing with one another owing to the generation gap. A woman who goes by @thirtynotthriving on TikTok sparked debate when she shared a video in which she spoke about her experience of seeing Gen X and Gen Z work together. In the video, she stated that the older generation is not treating the younger one right. She emphasized that Gen X bosses or managers need to learn how to deal with Gen Z employees. 

She started by saying, "This has happened two times now. I’ve just witnessed such a crazy display of Gen X not working well with Gen Z. It just is like f****** not working. So I live on the sunny coast and, I don’t know, I’ve had this experience two times now in the last few months. And I don’t know whether it’s a sunny coast thing or if it’s like a generational thing. But hear me out.” She shared that she had gone to buy a baguette with ham and cheese and her order was taken by a young girl. "She didn’t seem very confident. So I was just like, you know, ‘Take your time. I’m in no rush. You do you,’" she recounted. Then the young woman took her order and fumbled a bit. 

Fifteen minutes later, the customer heard the server telling someone, "'Oh, wait, what was your order again? I forgot.' And I was like, okay she’s definitely forgotten my order. That’s fine." But then she saw the employee go inside and tell her boss that she’d already forgotten the order that she had taken. The woman recalled, "And then he starts yelling at her saying, ‘You can’t just keep forgetting orders. Like, you can’t do this.’ He’s yelling. She’s panicking, obviously. She starts crying. Oh, my God." The woman clarified that he was not being aggressive but was quite frustrated and could have handled the situation differently. 

She continued, "But both, you know, are in their right to say something. But then she starts crying and he’s like, ‘It’s okay. It’s okay, it’s okay. Like, you know, whatever, we’ll figure it out.’” The woman went on to share another instance that happened a couple of months ago at another cafe. She said, "The young kid was crying and really panicking, really, really panicking,  hyperventilating almost, because she’s f***** up the orders and then the owner, who is definitely Gen X or Boomer, is quite vocal in their outrage, not in an aggressive way like he wanted to step in, but in a way that was loud enough that everybody in the restaurant can hear."

The woman shared that the relationship between the two generations at work is intense. She then talks about what Gen X could do in such a situation. “But you need to learn how to work with younger people, especially different generations. Gen Z is more soft, they’re more fragile," the woman said. "They want to work more collaboratively, you can’t just f****** yell at them. That isn’t going to help them. You shouldn’t yell at anybody, that isn’t going to help anybody." She then said that the younger generation is feeling heartbroken. "Like, this is too much, l don’t know, I just cannot f*****g handle this," she expressed.

She concluded by saying that her sandwich took 30 minutes and it has to do more with the restaurant than the young girl. She said, "Anyway, I think just people need to learn how to work with each other better and have a great day.” The video is captioned, "Batlle of generations at work." @kookykokes commented, "Gen Xers are morphing into Boomers. Apathy is their go-to emotion followed up by rage-filled denial or a straight-up tantrum."

@timsevo said, "This is why kids need to be taught how to fail, resilience is nearly absent in Gen Z. They will need it in coming years." @mineboilydave expressed, "I agree with what you’re saying. Managers shouldn’t yell at people however you shouldn’t pander to the younger people either. There was always a different way to get your point across."

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