Good Luck New Generation, Live Well And Be Happy
I am sat in one of my favourite coffee shops of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom, on Friday 28th June 2024. I was lucky enough to be first in through the door. Although I didn’t plan for that, it seems nice. I am not normally this early in town, but it’s my birthday so I’m up early. More importantly, my daughter had a ‘before hours interview’, at a nearby business. As I wished her luck and headed here, I thought to myself, ‘Good Luck New Generation, Live Well And Be Happy’.
Feature photo, credit to Andrea Piacquadio on pexels.com
That was confirmed by my next experience, while waiting for my fruit toast to be cooked. Although a few challenges took place first. The kind young lady who was making my coffee, asked me to go ahead and sit down as hot food will take 10 minutes. “I will bring it over for you,” she pleasantly promised. “Okay, no problem,” I thought as I have no need to head off quickly.
What struck me there and then is how chilled and relaxed this lovely new generation is. Nothing seems to phase them like, unlike my generation who seems to react to everything and anything, that comes from the generation that we are raising and the generation that we were raised by. I have something to learn from these clever younger people, I thought.
The Minority Within The Baby Boomers’ Generation, Known As ‘That Generation’.
A few moments later I was sat down, by the bay windows, which overlook, ‘The Hayes’ shopping area. I was patiently waiting and enjoying a YouTube video on a Jeep CJ7 Restomod called ‘Black Mamba’.
But my peace was soon disturbed by the familiar sound of an unamused ‘baby boomer’. I looked around and saw a tall lady with white wavy hair, towering over the kind, patient barista. Of course she was also looking down her nose at her target. I could sense her scanning for issues to complain about, despite her back being to me. Now, please don’t get me wrong, a vast majority of boomers, are really lovely people. However, this one was a bad gremlin, from a bad batch.
“Can I have a bacon bap with a white roll please?” she said sternly. “Yes of course it will be 10 minutes. I will bring it over to you, please kindly take a seat,” said the barista routinely.
Staying Ahead Of Them, Using Empathy Based Predictions
So I paused and sat for a very brief moment, predicting the response. I try to base my own predictions on reality, I start by doing my own scanning. First I mentally plug into a healthy dose of ’empathy’ as a form of preparation. Yes, I said hmm, it’s 08:05 Hrs, the staff look like they arrived at 0750, took off their jackets, and unlocked the till to load it. Then they have an ‘opening the shop routine’ to do, which includes getting equipment working and up to speed.
That means you can buy and drink a coffee right away, as the coffee equipment is the priority, and so if you want a hot meal, you’ll need to wait patiently. The opposite one size fits all coffee shop model is to leave everyone outside until everything is ready, and that takes 30 minutes to an hour.
Soooooo, I predict that our baby boomer will completely overlook this, see that she is not receiving gold standard service, and go straight to offended mode. I am not saying that all baby boomers are like this. Indeed, many are lovely people, BUT, a large proportion, seek to find a reason to complain, and show how offended they are.
A Callous Act By A Cruel Cow
‘TEN MiINUTES,’ the senior lady exclaimed! Then the scoffing and ridiculing cackle came along. …Annnd there it is, I thought. Thank fully the barista did not react other than to confirm ‘Yes ten minutes, for the machine to warm up. We’ve only just opened the shop’. Then she smiled. Class act I thought.
What followed though was really cruel. The kind Barista, rushed across the shop, just five minutes later with the bacon bap, as ordered. She called politely, “here we are. “But because the senior lady felt she had been inconvenienced, she felt the need to get even. So she completely ignored the barista as she tried to get her attention, until we all called across the shop, hey this is your order.
Photo by Kindel Media from Pexelshttps://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-blue-and-white-crew-neck-shirt-8172897/
Then just as the barista started to become ruffled by the ignorance, the senior lady scoffed back glaring, and shouted, “what’s that! No no no, I ordered a sausage bap in a brown roll.” Doubting herself and with the fear of god in her soul, the poor young barista apologized several times and retreated to the bar to start again. I couldn’t help notice the smile on the senior lady’s face. What a cruel ‘cow’, I thought. You’ve just delivered a brutal dose of self doubt, and you are enjoying it, you Narcissist!
All the while over the last 10 minutes she had been looking my way trying to strike up a conversation, to recruit me into joint moaning about this new generation as is often the case, in situations like this. But no way, I stayed way out of it. As that middle generation ‘X’, we are often recruited to obediently serve our elders by aligning with their will of the moment.
Origins Of The Baby Boomer Mode Of Operation
The baby boomer generation were raised by a war generation where everything had to be just right and on time and no excuses. Otherwise people died. Imagine if your curtains were not pulled during a black out at night? The bombers would fly over, looking for a target, see the light and then hone in. Therefore, people died in the bombing that would follow. Therefore, wardens patrolled and ‘whipped’ public attitudes and conformance into shape. No excuses get it done was the order of the day.
So now years later, their expectation on the newest generation is the same. I am in your coffee shop, waiting for my bacon bap and I expect it quickly, hot and to my exact taste. Of course no one will die if it isn’t ready quickly and really this is a false scenario, but either way the war baby generation, (boomers), has been brought up this way, and of course each generation feels that they are obligated to pass on their finest life guidance.
The Generation ‘X’ Scapegoats and Finding A Balance
So unsurprisingly, my generation, ‘X’, is caught in the middle, as the scapegoats. An expectation of ‘that generation’, is that we will apply pressure to the new generation. Particularly on subjects like mental health, timeliness, speed of action and other frustrations that are evolving around continued use of devices.
The new generation, is resisting, with feedback like ‘chill out’, ‘it’s not that deep’, ‘why does it matter’ and ‘no I’m not doing that, because I don’t want to’. I have to be fair on that last one, I have often felt obliged to take part in events and occasions that while I sometimes want to do so, more often than not, I don’t but I feel a false pressure of expectation that I must do so. Therefore without any regard for my own life path I go along with it.
Some say that the new generation is a little too far, the opposite to the boomers, and we need the next generation to come back to the middle. Either way we need to lose the attitude of ‘That Generation’, and find a happy mid way point, that satisfies life for everyone.
Endorsed By Celebrities – Good Luck New Generation, Live Well And Be Happy
So I’ll sign off today, with this lovely clip from Harrison Ford’s speech. Speaking at the UN Climate Action Summit in 2019. Here Harrison talks about how our older generations, of various countries, have tried to save and support the rain forests. However, through self interest and lack lustre efforts, it has not happened. Now we need to move aside and let the new generations through.
This is indeed that very clip, but if you want to hear the whole piece, you can skip back to the beginning. Opens in a new window of YouTube.
Namaste
Simon
