we might change the signs on our sanitariums to read
"Safe Space" and invite these youngsters to join in
the fun -- kum-ba-yah in the piano and TV room! -- j
.

Yes, and the protester thing just adds to the immaturity perception and consequent diminished value of any arguments they may make.

the example which got me was the offense taken
over "Trump 2016" chalked on steps at a college.
such easily offended people should go to counseling. -- j
.

Yes, it is a sign of the impact of the "be nice" and "sensitive" methods of education and child rearing. As well as the whole "buy them off with stuff" parenting of the last 20 years. When they run into an issue, the only response they have is to scream, look at the Trump protestors, violent to others who do not subscribe to their world view, and willing to treat them as animals. A lot going on no one wants to notice or discuss for fear of "offending" someone.

we sure have a lot of spoiled kids around this country. -- j
.

Yes, that is correct, did you see the article today about the girl who went bonkers on FB and posted about "fing N@@@ers"? She really needed the class. She was a millennial, and they tend to spontaneously combust in public when they do not get their way. While she may have had a kernel of something to discuss, she blew the whole thing, and her job, because of that.

charm school course. . I went to a few of those. . the
real need is for a truth course, as you say, where the
focus is on un-debatable truth as an anchor. . moving
forward from there might be possible. -- j
.

I guess sort of. Mainly it is a lot of feel good, be nice and allow them to win even if wrong. They also don't like truth much, even if you preface it with "In my experience" or such. Totally useless in manufacturing..

The experience of "kids these days..." goes back to ancient times.

The one part of this that rings true is the use of the phone or computer during one-on-one conversations. I think they honestly think they're being efficient by handing some work issue by text in the little dead spots of time during a conversation. If I say, "let me think how we should handle it. I guess it comes down to one of two approaches..." they see that as valuable time they could have been answering texted question about whether it's okay that the mechanical drawing is a different revision from the electrical one. "Yes, Mech rev 3, PCB rev 2" they text, and figure they didn't miss anything and put that time while I was cogitating the options to good use. Maybe they're right, but there's some advantage to doing one thing at a time. Something might come to them while staring at the white board with me. If there's an urgent item and they feel like most of this meeting doesn't apply to then, they should IMHO leave, rather than handling other issues by phone and standing ready to answer if something concerning them should come up. OTOH I'm amazed at how many projects they can have going. Sometimes you have to stop them, though, and say "please stop everything, put all phones in the center of the table, and please focus on this one item."

Good Stuff!!!

is that like anger management? . find common ground
and move forward from there? -- j
.

Well, put that way..yes, I have been accused of that several dozen times. Been sentenced to "Constructive Confrontation" class three times in 20 years. However, I have made some inroads in the "hard truth telling" skill in my work area....

well, they tell any rational person that they are stupid
and ignorant and a racist, so "mean" fits right in there! -- j
.

No, but dumbocraps like to use that one.

you're mean? . no, no, No! . surely not! -- j
.

as a 67-year-old who worked for 50 years and had
problems with too many job offers, this makes me
sad. . the u.s. has lost its go-get-it-ness. . its can-do
attitude. . its gotta-be-the-best-ness. . Help! -- j
.

You do not work for a large semi conductor company HQ in Santa Clara. We have our share, and then there is a fairly large group of "can't figure out what they are but hope to not meet one again" who could be smart millennial with no common sense, and even less empathy and people skills.

Yes, horses and farms quickly seperate workers from political appointees. I have 7 and it is never time not to pick up something. Or lift bales. Or fill water. Or just hold and pet. But at least they will work for you when asked, and not tell you why you are mean.

No doubt there are. He's probably not a big Bernie Sanders guy either.

One of my work buddies daughter's is the Valedictorian, and gave a speech Gulchers would be proud of! ...the world owes you nothing...

At least you are trying ;-)

Where I live, you don't even need to go to job fairs. I'm looking for a job right now. I started by creating accounts on monster.com and careerbuilder.com, and about 100 other web sites like them. From those I get maybe 50 e-mails a day, each containing several dozen "classified ads". By clicking the links in the ads I can apply on the web for about half the jobs that fit me, phone most of the rest, and visit two or three a day. It's summer, so I'm visiting places in the morning and phoning and web-surfing once it gets too hot to be walking around.

The downside of this is that the employers themselves are so flooded with applicants that they filter most of them out, so you usually need to know someone to get the job. And I'm so flooded with ads that I run out of hours in the day before I've answered them all.

It would be funny if it weren't true.
I could tell you such stories about my millennial nieces and nephews.....

There are always exceptions (shameless brag here). My millennial son earned his PhD in neuroscience at age 25 and has been published 5 or 6 times, including while an undergrad.