GEN Z Kid Reacts To ‘WHY GEN X Is The HARDEST WORKING Generation OF ALL TIME!?’

[@valorie3157]

Gen X grew up in an era when hard work was the expectation. It was your responsibility to get up, get to school, do your homework and do chores. No one had to "remind" you. Most of the Gen X in my circle had a job at 9, I did, paper routes and baby sitting were common. Imagine leaving a 9 yo in charge of your children (including infants) and being confident of their safety. The majority of jobs were physically demanding, one of my first jobs was on a Dairy Farm. We worked hard and we played hard, taking risks was exiting, we understood the value of work but did not make it the focus of our lives at least in my little corner of Gen X

[@Destyn2b]

I'm 7 years older than my brother and I was definitely left at home alone with him. I once asked my mom what made her think that was a good idea. She seemed puzzled at first, then sincerely said, "I knew that you knew what you were doing." She was right, but still. 🤦🏽‍♀️

[@atmads]

@@valorie3157 damn straight we worked hard and played hard. That's why half of us are dead or jacked up now.

[@NerdyNanaSimulations]

As the oldest I took care of my sister and had to babysit my cousins for pocket money, started working a real job at 14 serving ice cream with a adding machine for a cash register, we had to add up the items on paper and figure tax then put the total in the machine the machine told them the total at the end of each shift. Now you ask adult workers how many dimes are in one dollar they don't know.

[@benb6535]

As a Gen-x, the workforce probably won't be missing us for a long time. Most of us will probably be working until our 80's

[@aaronb7990]

😂😢

[@bluhevenlyII]

Unfortunately, I think you're right . ugh :(

[@lmoughterson6702]

I'm a GenXer, At work, said one, all of the workers hired for our work team don't show up for work half the time, wanna talk on their cell phones during work, do a half-assed job, won't listen to training directions, and leave projects undone when the normal quitting time comes around. Two of us, who are GenX, stay to finish the job. We end up leaving hours after quitting time because they refuse to stay to finish or don't show up. Two of us are, basically, doing the work of five. We have had 5 people quit or get "let go" in the last few months. No one wants to work anymore.

[@NerdyNanaSimulations]

Yes... this

[@WillisVision]

If it's a small company like where I work only hire individuals over 40. That's how we solved the issue.

[@gdhaney136]

I'm Gen-X and I can believe this. We don't complain about small things, and we had it beaten into us that there is no safety net. You want something? Work for it. You want a good life? Work for it. It's not just the money, it's the attitude. We learned lessons the hard way, and had a different grade scale than younger kids. My HS and university was 96-100 is an A. Today, it's like 90 or 92 to 100 is an A. They have dropped the bar. If we whined in our house, we had more work to do. If we claimed we were bored, our parents found us work to do. We were wild, but somehow responsible. We had the freedom to disappear for hours in groups without CPS being called on our parents.

[@Capricornrose73]

@@gdhaney136 Truth!

[@jaelynn7575]

IF the internet disappeared, we'd survive.

[@ClaireSiconolfi]

This is the most truthful statement.

[@ibabygirli7480]

I’m a Gen x. I think part of what made a lot of us leaders is not only were we latchkey kids but we were also responsible for watching our younger siblings as well, occasionally it was also the neighbors kids too. We also did not work right out of school meaning after graduation. Most of us were babysitting at 11/12 and starting actual retail and restaurant jobs after school at 15/16.

[@sharonrinkiewicz3940]

At 7, I had to do laundry. At 10, I worked the bingo hall at the church, and I was babysitting. At 13, I had a paper route. On weekends I often worked with my mom at a pizza place. I learned how to use the register, count change, make calzones, zeppolis, pizza, ect.

[@kellylundy5115]

Boomers did all that too. And the generation before them.

[@Capricornrose73]

As a Gen-Xer, I was doing chores and started cooking on the stove at 5, came home at 7 to an empty home and started babysitting my younger cousins. I could run an an entire household by 12. We were neither seen or heard by our parents. We are the strongest generation but silently we are also the most traumatized.

[@brianhums5056]

Not the strongest at all, our parents and grandparents had it much worse!

[@Capricornrose73]

@brianhums5056 I disagree however we all have our opinions and so forth. I understand that not all Gen-xers had the same experiences. Perhaps yours was significantly different than mines. God bless.

[@brianhums5056]

@@Capricornrose73 Fair enough, experiences do differ alot. God Bless as well!

[@ThatOldTV]

@@brianhums5056 Your grandparents had stay at home moms.

[@pearlangeline]

Generations before you were the same age working on the streets selling papers for pennies, orphaned during wars, and dying in mine collapses. Gen X are hardly the hardest working generation.

[@Michellefeltzer-hd4mq]

Another gen x chiming in, I was raised to work till you die. I was mowing lawns, raking leaves and shoveling snow for elderly people in my neighborhood when I was 8, for free, because that's what was expected of me! Never heard of an allowance.

[@grimmettcleaningservices7003]

As a black kid that's gen x, we were told the white kids, and the suburbs were the ones that got allowances for doing what they were supposed to do anyway lol

[@Michellefeltzer-hd4mq]

We were rural poor! Mostly surviving off my fathers V.A. disability checks. We had to hunt for food. He was a double amputee Vietnam vet.

[@Flutterby123]

Allowance 😂 My allowance was I was allowed to eat dinner if I got all my chores and homework done and could find something to cook.

[@kellylundy5115]

White boomer here. Allowance? 😁🤣😂

[@Cocreatewithus]

I'm "lazy" NOW at 46, and only in the winter on my farm, because I worked my a$$ off from the time I was a kid. And now it's working my @$$ off late spring to autumn. We've stayed 30 ever since we were 8, only, we have more aches and pains now lol.

[@StickerGirl-b4n]

❤ FOREVER THIRTY ❤

[@dark14life]

I was 7 years old and had to come home from school to an empty house, get a snack, do my homework while starting dinner and doing chores. Mom and dad came home around 530 or 6pm to a hot dinner and a clean house. I had my homework already done so I got to go play outside if the weather was nice or just chill and play Nintendo games for a few hours. Kids these days have no clue how good they have it. You're welcome, by the way.

[@jbrehm1]

I miss those days!

[@DustinHawke]

I was left alone to babysit my baby cousin when I was 12. Seems insane to do that now.

[@Inmatesixdoublefive321]

A lot of us started working at something (babysitting, mowing laws, etc) by the time we were 8 or 9. We learned to cook and clean at early ages as well. We were forced to make adult decisions and face adult consequences by the time we were teens. Then, when we made our own decisions about our clothes, hair, jobs, friends or whatever, we were called incorrigible, lazy, confrontational, none of which were true.

[@grimmettcleaningservices7003]

Gen X here. I do not think we are the hardest working generation, but I do appreciate the compliment in a way, because we are a very hardworking generation. I was slightly unique though, because my mom was a stay at home until I was twelve. Most of my friends did have parents working, or just a single parent working, and experienced a lot of what they talk about in this video

[@bobprivate8575]

Yeah, there were certainly generations that came before us, who worked a lot harder than we did. But we're the hybrid generation- raised when working hard was still the norm, AND having been surrounded by electronics our entire life. We know how to work with our hands, and also use newer technologies.

[@jeanine6328]

I fear we may be the last hard working generation.

[@morganlefey2431]

I worked two part-time jobs with a side hustle throughout high school, then worked full time while taking a full class load during college. I wanted to not do what was done to me as a kid, so when I had my kid I decided to be a stay at home mom, but I ran a freelance business to help keep us afloat financially, then also homeschooled my kid after her schools turned out to be terrible for many reasons. And before you think I’m flexing, I still could never touch my grandparents’ generation for hard work. The men fought WWII, leaving the women to handle their role and whatever the men would’ve been doing before they left for the war, survived The Great Depression, ran a farm while also working regular jobs after the war and did most everything themselves that we would today hire others to do. They’re called The Greatest Generation for a reason. So while I know some very hard working Gen X people, I can’t agree that we’re the hardest working. I think that title goes to The Greatest Generation. Recall, too, that we were the generation that coined the phrase “work smarter, not harder.” As for when we leave the workforce - yeah, when we’re dead, maybe. Unless the economy changes in a major way we’ll have to work til we’re buried.

[@pablo81778]

There is a quote in the movie 'office space,' which is basically a gen X movie about young adults in the workplace in the 90s. When Peter has his interview with the 'Bobs' he says a great gen Xish quote, "It's not that I'm lazy, it's just that I don't care"

[@Renkk17]

If I had a day off from school it wasn't all play time, I had to make sure I had the list of chores done perfectly before my parents came home, vacuuming, dusting, cleaning my room, getting supper ready .... and I spent a lot of weekends either helping my older sister sell Avon, or I had babysitting jobs for parents in the neighbourhood that had plans to go out and party with their friends!

[@michelleponzio]

Same, except for the Avon

[@upmperthay]

We are definitely not the hardest working generation. The silent generation and many others had it far far worse.

[@LillianOglethorpe]

I was thinking something similar. I would give it to the Greatest Generation. (Not that Gen X isn't a worthy contender.) They had their own changes and updates, were very hard-working, and valued a job not just done, but well done... PLUS (if they're American) went through the Great Depression and (for the middle of the nation) the DUST BOWL (kill me now), went through the psychological blow of actually being attacked by a foreign country... AND went through the Second World War--so many boys in the family or family you knew leaving, the fear of losing them, food rations, other items rations, women stepping up to fill the Rosie the Riveter role, having to wait for information to be posted re. which soldiers didn't make it, relying on the radio for news...

[@IIICitizenSaneIII]

Correct.

[@russellbell7580]

For me as a gen x , it's like having your own world then one day you wake up and entered a different timeline, but it's a timeline we kind of understand on how your world works.

[@auburnkim1989]

We may not be the hardest working generation but I think we are the 'smartest' working generation. In many ways, GenX popularized the very idea of "work smarter, not harder". Having both the work ethic of our seniors and the technological adaptability of our juniors, we make the better employees, imo.

[@samanthafairweather9186]

Gen Xer here. I worked a full-time AND part-time job at 16. Yet I'd STILL be called lazy, and useless by certain family members! These same family members also didn't see a problem with asking me for money when they needed it. When I'd say "No", I would be called "Spiteful", "greedy" and "ungrateful". But the kicker? These were grown adults who , while calling ME lazy, good for nothing, etc., were UNEMPLOYED!! But yeah, I was the lazy one!

[@azaleataylor8031]

Something I really miss is the headbangers ball they had on MTV. I really miss the music videos.

[@KevinKaufhold]

I really enjoy your videos and appreciate your perspective. As a Gen-X I’ve never given these issues much thought. I just keep my head down and push through. I am fiercely independent and accept that I have to work hard for everything. Witnessing the transition from analog to digital allows me to make use of technology but not be completely dependent upon it. Skills that we take for granted come naturally to us. One of the most important skills is face to face communication which is lost as most people in later generations rely on texting and social media and don’t understand how to deal effectively and tactfully due to lack of consequences. Maintaining succinct and logical arguments in an instant instead of having time to form your thoughts while waiting for a digital response makes a better communicator. Looking up information in a library instead of just typing it into your phone teaches you to question sources which is severely lacking today. I can’t say Gen-X is the hardest working, but we had to figure a lot out on our own and became more independent as a result.

[@annekurz213]

Gen-Xer here. My first job was delivering papers when I was 9 or 10. I rode around on my banana seat bike delivering papers and making several trips back home to pick up more. I was working in a factory at 14. At 16 I was a supervisor telling people 3 times my age when they were to take their breaks and counting the registers and close up the restaurant. Don't forget there was babysitting from age 10. Currently, I am 56 and have 3 jobs by choice and have become a workaholic. But I love doing what I do.

[@charliemare8363]

“No one owes you anything, you owe yourself” Rocky

[@Phhhht]

At 57 I'm finding watching your videos amusing. The only people who ever called us lazy where older than us and they were called lazy by people older than them. That's the cycle. My great grandmother burned to death on a share crop in Alabama when my grandmother was 9. Her father and oldest brother had already left so she at 9 became mom to 3 younger siblings. Her older brother at 11 became dad. He worked in the coal mine she ran the farm. Am I ever going to compare my own toughness or work ethic to them? No

[@StickerGirl-b4n]

It's amazing that every gen x girl knew how to French braid THEIR OWN HAIR. Just another example of what we learned how to do WITHOUT KZbin. 😂

[@mandywalker3393]

I never figured it out. So.. not all. I wanted to, but my mom didn't know how either.

[@Cocreatewithus]

We didn't START working right out of high school; most of us had employment around or before the time we reached 16 years old...that's not including gigs and under the table pay. My first actual official employment was at the age of 14.

[@jkosh2046]

My sister and I raised each other. We had to do everything on our own. We are just used to it. I retired from the Army at 40 and spent 2 years retired. I couldn't handle it, I had been working full time since 16. I graduated high-school 2 years early so I could work full time. So I went back to work part time as a stockman in a retail job just to get out of the house. I made management in less than a year. I didn't need the money and took the position as a personal challenge. Definitely frustrating raising to gen z teens.

[@lalida6432]

I am GenX. I’m very tired. Been working forever. Started doing laundry and washing dishes, vacuuming at six. Staying home alone. Latchkey at 6. Started cash jobs at 11. First real job at 15. Went to high school and college, jobs in between all of those. First real corporate job at 24. I’m 50 and I’m very tired. I want to stop.

[@jasonmartinez4987]

Very similar scenario here (50M) but my dad taught us to work hard and use common sense. I hated feeling like a slave growing up and it motivated me to get out on my own and make things happen as soon as I was a legal adult. I've been able to live abroad since 2015 and have been working part time remotely ever since. I'm now building my dream home in the Caribbean and will be semi-retired, running an Air B&B on my property in the next few years. We are hard working but also innovative and resourceful at the same time. Thanks dad.

[@seankoonce4779]

I hear you man! I’m 56 and I can’t wait to get out of this rat race! Unfortunately no time soon!

[@EmmaBadOne]

As a gen x this disappoints me. My personal experience when I started working at age 14 was, 'This is stupid." I quickly ran out of effs for propping up millionaires. I've carved out a nice life by working hard to NOT work.

[@gdhaney136]

Gen-Xers are the OG generation sick and tired of the status quo 9-5. Ingenuity is our super power. I work a job, but it's one I love, and I learned to save, invest, and I should be able to retire by 55, although, I'll probably still work!

[@atmads]

"many of them started working right out of school" HA! We had programs to let us out of school early so we could be at work by 1 or 2. We got our first jobs at 14.

[@brianmather1996]

Born in 70 here. We will NEVER leave the workforce. Because we cant/wont be able to. Paper routes at 4:00am (Cat needs, computer games and comics werent cheap lol) and staying after school for sports. 13/14 day. Dinner. Homework and tv/computer games till midnight was my reg in school.

[@Cocreatewithus]

My adult gen z daughters are very hardworking, almost too hardworking, because we taught them you have to work for what you want. And, because the economy is so bad it takes the 3 of them working 4 jobs living in the same house to afford life. As such, they are suffering from some mental health issues, and have been for some time. While they are hardworking, they don't have the same type of resilience we have.

[@gerardcote8391]

Highly, highly recommend checking out the extended version of the Twisted Sister video Were not Gonna Take It.

[@jessicaleblanc-nh1yl]

Oh, I completely agree! Legendary history right there! Thanks for mentioning this. =)

[@NerdyNanaSimulations]

I don't know about everywhere but here more than half of retail workers are Gen X with a few boomers still going... so I think it will significantly affect many areas when the rest of the Boomers and most of Gen X retire.

[@allenruss2976]

We worked hard yes but my dad's friends from the Silent Generation could out work me all day long

[@Cocreatewithus]

My grandfather, who grew up in the Depression and served in ww2, ran a farm, was a full time rural mail carrier, which he worked until retirement, founded and ran the local fire department, was key in the running of his local village, and raised 6 Boomers with my equally hardworking grandmother. In the war He engineered the technology needed to protect the pilots who delivered the atom bombs. No way would i ever be able to outwork them.

[@mikek0135]

Gen-Xer here. We’re the hardest working generation ever? Like hell! Every generation that came before Gen-X worked harder. We had machines to do so much of the work that used to be done by your back. And, we made more machines to do more of the work. The Greatest generation definitely, indisputably worked harder than we have. We absolutely do work hard, but we have a different view on the work/life relationship. We’re not afraid to do more work, but we will make a good life/work balance.

[@charliemare8363]

No one did things for us we had to learn to do for ourselves.

[@patphatkitten]

I spent months cooking my own lunch during summer vacation. Me and my 2 siblings took turns cooking lunch and breakfast. Our single mothers relied on us to take care of things at home and not burn the house down. Today, it feels like the government is aways in your private affairs and telling you how to think, what to believe, etc. The government acts like we are all 2 years old. Where is America, the land of the free? This is a different country than the one I grew up in.

[@kennethbrown6610]

60 years old and still average 60+ hours a week, got my first farm job at 12 in 1978, always worked outside and Maintenance/construction jobs. I don't plan to retire as long as I am able to work

[@subnoizesoldier2]

The whole thing is 100% true we had to grow up early figure stuff out because we didn’t have nobody around and therefore were perfectly happy being by ourselves

[@Same_Ole_Soup_Just_Reheated]

Gen Z is the selfie, instant gratification generation. Gen X we had We Are The World, Farm Aid, We're All In The Same Gang, Self Destruction. Tore down the Berlin Wall, we were about the greater good for everyone(not individual narcissism/attention). We Are The World, is the greatest song ever written.

[@danacarter4793]

I workya full time job ,and two part time jobs in my twenties, I've always had more then one job ,but it's not the generation,I think it's the person,but also a lot of us GENX had this mentality js

[@guesswho7758]

Gen X - born to Boomers with family directly in my life from the Silent and Greatest Gens. Gen X saw the past and r living the future. We know what it used to be like and r seeing what it is becoming. I was raised NOT to ask for help and just do it myself. Can't always guarantee there will be someone there to help. I can open a foot locker and touch 500yrs of things my ancestors have held and touched or wrote in. Family bibles. Encyclopedias. Records/medals: Purple Heart, Navy Cross, WW2, Vietnam, Spanish American War, Revolutionary War. Birth records. Photos.

[@lisafarrell5996]

You should watch Fastimes at Ridgemont High if you have not. Another movie about high schoolers in the early 80s

[@solomonkane6442]

Is that the film that has Phoebe Cates coming out of the swimming pool in the red bikini 😍

[@lisafarrell5996]

​@@solomonkane6442 sure is

[@ThatOldTV]

Boomers will always have an advantage over Gen-X growing up, Boomers had a stay at home mother. As Gen-X, my parents were both gone before I got up for school. When we got home from school, they were still both at work. In my own case, my parents where poor. I couldn't dream of asking them for a Nintendo. My brothers and I put an Nintendo Entertainment System on layaway, and paid it off over the course of a year. We did yard work on the weekends to earn money. My dad died while I was young. I was the oldest in the family. I'd do all the cooking for my brothers. At the age of 14, I got a real job. I lied about my age. Gen-X was raised by Gen-X. We had to do everything ourselves. Now we are talking care of our aging parents (My mother re-married) and... My children are Gen-Z. I don't expect them to move out anytime soon.

[@jamiebeard8142]

Speaking for me as a genx we weren't lazy but we were very particular about what we efforted for. If no one gives back why should we? I decided that if people wanted respect and effort than they had better give it too. Tit for tat but I also feel we cared and were more giving when that respect was earned. I started official paid work at 13. On a lawn crew pulling weeds all day. Under the table we are the best DIY generation because no one gave us anything so if we wanted anything we better figure it out ourselves.

[@jamiebeard8142]

Cooking at age 8 shooting same age, babysitting at 10 by myself at home about age 9

[@kristasparks33]

I'm gen x and we're not the hardest working generation we are very hardworking but my parents and grandparents and so on had it alot harder than we did and worked from dawn till dusk

[@shanelowe4233]

69 model here. I started working in my great grandfather's tobacco farm at the age of 9. I had my first tax paying job at 12 years old. We were the reason they came out with child labor laws.

[@jasonmccoy6293]

You just earned this Gen Xers subscription and like for this video. Coming from a 1994 High School graduate …Thank you for your open mind.🤙🏾❤️🤙🏾

[@katrinalarsen4048]

We learnt imperial & metric we drove manual cars

[@Cheeks_Spot]

Gen x guy here from my travels we get called lazy because we don’t want to do what whoever is asking wants so they call us lazy imo

[@oliver-yg6qr]

I agree totally with this video and I like that you are an open minded unique individual that tries to understand without a biased view!

[@user-zk5rt3gb3e]

Yeah, the Silent Generation was the most hard working. Will never be beat. History will show you this. Actually, now that we think about it, the generation before the Silent Generation doesn't even have a name and they were VERY hard working

[@sharati6419]

Gen-xers sound like some of these youngest Gen-Alphas, because neither give two fucks

[@paulharrold]

The Silent Generation and Baby Boomers built everything gen x grew up with ! I've always found Boomers to be much harder workers .

[@misslora3896]

We're good in leadership roles and do better at work in general because we're used to face to face contact, communication, and working as a team.... It's totally NORMAL for us, it's what we grew up doing every day living out in the physical world. The internet alone wasn't too disruptive when it comes to people's normal development with human contact and communication, but after smartphones, apps, social media, streaming services, online shopping ,etc., the world has very quickly gone to $hit. We know 1st hand how much better the world was without it...100%

[@Cynthia-h5i]

As a Gen X, i disagree with this. Unless you've been around some of the older generations you don’t understand how much stronger they were. All generations now living are weak and soft. Men today complain about cutting a little grass, while generations before cleared vast territories of land with just an ax. Women today are not wanting the responsibility of raising kids, while previous generations had 10 kids that they birthed at home.

[@kittensugars]

1968 born Gen Xer here. I can attest to doing chores because we had to help out when both our parents worked. Our mothers had to leave and work jobs, which was a major change in family dynamics. ...Oldest daughter syndrome is a thing.

[@amyradcliff6391]

I have two big sisters. My mom worked from 3pm (when we got out of school) until 12am. She worked weekends too. My dad worked from 9am until about 10pm. It was rare we saw our parents. Lazy we were not. We had chores to get done before my parents got home. If it was not done, we were woken up in the middle of the night to do it, go back to bed and had to get up and go to school tired. We were 3 girls. We had to mow the yard, clean house. Weed the garden. Try doing that in the middle of the night. We got it done! Or else…. You did it in the middle of the night.

[@IggyStardust1967]

Jay, this is why Gen-X hates Boomers, too. They destroyed the traditional path to success, then had the nerve to call us "lazy". Did we complain? No. We found NEW ways to be successful. That meant working hard, and because we were already independent (from how we raised ourselves) we work better alone than we do in groups. That isn't to say that we CAN'T work in groups, but that we do just as well by ourselves. The company I worked for loved me for that trait. I could lead a team of younger people, teach them well and supervise them from a distance.... OR.... I could be sent to do tasks that might require 2-3 people, but they knew I could do that task faster by myself. While they did "watch from a distance", they figured out quick that I didn't need supervision. That I would simply go do whatever they told me to do, and it would be done right. I loved that job, and it broke my heart when my body broke down to the point I couldn't do it anymore. I still recommend that company to people, and I'm still friends with the owners. It was just a very physical job, and I had an undiagnosed genetic issue that caused my spine to deteriorate. Didn't learn that until it was WAY too late. Not that there was anything to do about it anyway.

[@suzdoyle4863]

I really enjoy the camaraderie and happy memories of fellow gen-xers, our childhoods and how we had it tough and still survived, and Jayflex, your willingness to be present, listen and learn is super refreshing for a gen z (coming from a mum of two of them in Australia!) Potentially many gen-xers' parents were boomers, but those older genx with silent gen parents (mine are now 93 and 90) might appreciate that the silent gen, whose adolescence spanned ww2 may have just have had it tougher, in single parent households not of their parents' choosing but because one was away at war somewhere. There's not many of the aptly-named silent gen on the internet able to speak for themselves, but I think perhaps the x apples didn't land far from the trees. Many of our parents knew we could survive home alone because that's how they grew up. We're not the original heroes.

[@NaNa.to.4boys]

As a gen-xer I started cat, dog, and babysitting (cooking& cleaning while entertaining the kids) at the age of 8, by 12 I took over my brother’s paper route. I had already learned how to clean the house, do the laundry and take care of the lawn work. At 15, I got my 1st w-2 job and sometimes I worked 2 jobs while playing sports. The reason why we always had our hustle on is because our parents would buy us the basics and if we wanted something extra we paid for it. I can remember worked for $3.35hr and saving to buy a pair of Jordash jeans lol and thought I was rich. I was taught that when you become an adult you work the same job forever and not job hop. We really were taught relevant life skills that set us up for success

[@imitalian1963]

Our lives would be alien to you. My brother had a paper route at age 8. I was selling newspaper subscriptions door to door at 13 and started working at McDonald's at 15. I worked full time (and more) from 16 to age 40 and started my own business and have worked upwards of 70 hours a week since and I'm 61... We had the greatest time in the 70s outside with friends and the 80s were great party years with awesome music. I wish the younger people of today could have experienced it!!!

[@Lysander_Spooner]

Another GenXer here. I'm 54 years old and work full time as an electrician. My wife and I also own/operate a 25 acre farm raising sheep for meat and wool, I'm also in the middle of doing a full house remodel. Working makes me feel younger and keeps me fit, mentally and physically.

[@rcampoify]

I was born in January of 1978. I grew up working on the family farm at the age of 5 . Now I know how to build a house from the ground up, do electrical and plumbing and also weld and fix cars, trucks, and tractors.

[@jaelynn7575]

Started working age 16, while in school. Studied 4 hrs a night minimum for 9 years, HS and University. Worked a part time job and a full-time job at the same time.

[@kellyboggs2200]

Parents were around for only a few hours & a lot of times i made supper for my parents. I got up, made my bed, made myself breakfast, caught a ride to school. Got home & did my homework. If i didn't have homework, i could play outside for about an hour. Otherwise, I'd try to start super so when my parents got home, something would be cooking after they're worked 12 hours. Then it was, do the dishes, maybe an hour or so if family tv then a bath & bedtime

[@dethmetalrox8492]

I worked picking produce at different farms as a migrant fieldhand starting at 7, until I got a janitorial summer job at 13. Gen X Rules!!!

[@isaaclawson3126]

I'm 54, 175 lbs, work out every other day without fail,I can still run a mile under 8 minutes without sprinting. Two years ago I had two 3 inch clots make their way to my brain. They shut down blood flow for nearly 6 hours to 75 percent of my brain. I walked out of the hospital three days later. I fixed the nerve problems with the carnivore diet and more exercise. I learned one thing from my Dad. If you CAN do something, do it. No excuses.

[@czuck76]

This video almost touched on the fact that latch-key kids didn't go roaming the streets and playing outside when they got home from school. They had to do all the things adults would be doing if they were home. We had to take care of siblings, cook meals, do chores, do homework. Today you leave kids home alone only if they are mature enough to be counted on to act responsibly. Latch-key kids were expected to be responsible and they sucked it up. I'm GenX and while I can't speak for my whole generation, I know a lot of my peers don't feel like they will be able to retire like older generations. I've always thought I would have to work until I die, and most everyone I know in my generation feels the same way. I think a lot of the 'less stress' at work is because we are pacing ourselves. We work hard, but we also manage our work. I do what has to be done to live, to survive. I carry that attitude with me in the workforce. I'm still cynical, but being cynical has served me pretty well. I do agree with what the video said about being resilient, creative, innovative, good leaders. I'm on the poor end of that scale... but when the pandemic hit I was able to live like I have always lived. My life has served me pretty well to handle everything that comes my way. I don't think that we can definitively say that GenX is tougher or harder working than the younger generations because they are younger. They don't even know what they are capable of yet. No one knows what life is going to throw at them. I can agree with what GenX is, but I won't put down the younger generations in a comparison. The times we live in are just too different to compare that easily.

[@michelleponzio]

I started working as a babysitter at age 13. I've been working ever since, except when I was on maternity leave

[@Cocreatewithus]

Gen x, I'm not a huge technology person, but one thing I love about the internet is how much better and easier I can do research, and on whatever I want to study. Because I'm a nerd first class. I don't have to use the card catalog anymore, or use outdated encyclopedias. It doesn't take very long to get to the books I want, or (now) the website or video I want, despite not knowing what they might be.

[@stormeart]

Babysat neighbor kids by 10 years old. Kept part time job age 11-end of high school, babysat neighbor kids, plus responsible for my siblings & many household chores. Full time job the Summer after college. At least part time jobs through full time college (sometimes 2 or a full time night job). Before parenthood, I might have had 2 total combined months without working some job. Often had 2 jobs. Worked full time job while raising my child, until his needs (severe ADHD) required me home with him all of the time. Still found some side work that I could do with him beside me (house painting, packaging homemade soap samples with business cards, fabric cutting & sewing, commissioned art projects, occasional night shifts while he was sleeping,…) and maintained a large garden by myself. Homeschooled him a couple of years while also working from home job 30-40 hrs a week. I work from home part time 30 hrs/wk, now; & raise my son & fiancé’s daughter (both teens) and maintain our home.

[@rodciferri9626]

We are a generation of hustlers who started working young - I got my first paycheck as a dishwasher for my middle school at the age of 12. I see some similarities with the current generation coming of age - they're really leaning into the tech foundation we built, hustling beyond traditional jobs to build self-directed digital careers - it's exciting to see!

[@kellyboggs2200]

I we working for $ by age 10 as a babysitter. I was babysitting infants and toddlers anywhere from a couple hours to an entire weekend for Couple dollars an hour. I cooked meals, changed diapers, gave baths, read bedtime stories, etc. & my "1 client had 3 kids. I was working as a carhop at 14. At 16, i had a work permit and worked in a local factory party time after school until i graduated.

[@Same_Ole_Soup_Just_Reheated]

As a Gen X'er. I was swimming @3.5 mos old, cooed my 1st meals @6, reading medical books and playing the stock market @9, and had traveled to 6+states, opened a in school store @11, Junior Life Guard @14, started a lawn sprinler business @17............................

[@neceycollins9717]

Gen x here. Busy day running my own company and taking care of mentally ill older lady and doing all the things at my church and my home. Been working hard since I was 7 or 8 years old

[@YourCatSays...]

@JayFlexREAL I really enjoy your content and appreciate your healthy sense of wonder and curiosity for the human experience. It complements your open-minded, fair, and inclusive approach to your commentary. With that said, were you by chance born in October? (I get strong libra/scorpio vibes from you why I asked, lol)

[@lynn2574]

Genx here. I don’t think we were the hardest working Gen (my parents were silent Gen, and my dad was the hardest working man I’ve ever known), but certainly a hard working group. We were a very resourceful, ingenious generation. Work was something most of us started extremely young - I was independently cooking and baking by 7-8, cooking full meals for our family by 11, as well as babysitting other people’s children independently. I’ve had a job since I was 14. So work was definitely a norm to us. But more, I think we were independent so young, that we didn’t have adults telling us HOW to do things. We looked for smarter ways to get stuff done, and that resulted in a lot of advancement as a generation. JMO.

[@Tiffany-ne9fr]

Gen X here. My mom was about her home and her social life. My dad was work and cars, so my sister and I were alone. We played in the streets, cooked for ourselves etc. I was stabbed by a neighborhood boy who would chase all the girls thinking he was funny. There wasn't going to a hospital. My mom poured liquor on the stab wound and sewed me up. Thankfully, nothing internal 😂. I busted my head open once, and my dad poured liquor on that, buzzed that part of my head, and my mom again sewed me up.

[@michellekeller5850]

my son often says he's older than google to his friends(but only by a few mos.). i as a gen X, didn't have a problem with wark is because i'd been working since i was 5yrs. on my papaws farm. feeding the animals, working the crops, papaw was even teaching me blacksmithing(i was the last generation of my area to be raised like i was in the 1800's. kentucky usa, is always 20 to 30 years behind the rest of the world.)

[@karens6424]

Every gen Xer had their own experience with growing up as part of this generation. While we shared a lot of experiences, we also had a lot we didn't share. For me and my friends, we "worked to live" rather than "lived to work" like previous generations. At family gatherings, us 3 Xers were responsible for taking care of the younger kids from as young as 5. Transitioning into a baby sitter a few years later was natural for me. On my 16th birthday i put in a ton of apps for real jobs to earn more money (had a job 2 days later). We did these things to earn money to spend on ourselves when we were running around. We didn't rely on an allowance, our parents were working hard just to put food on the table. Self-reliance was a skill we devolped early because we had to. Being "lazy" or "defiant" or whatever people call us is because our parents weren't around much. But they also instilled a good moral code in us because if they found out we misbehaved, we got spanked. Not like spankings nowadays, but ones that left you too sore to sit down for a few hours.

[@sharati6419]

Imagine dial-up internet and telephones that use the same wire, before call-waiting or dual lines.

[@nellie9018]

As a Gen X, I always had two jobs in my youth. After college one full time job. It's hard now for every generation to succeed in the work place and yes the work ethic has changed. There are hard working young persons out there as well.

[@jenniferclark8051]

My hope is the GenZers we raised will carry on. I see you like that too my UK friend

[@azaleataylor8031]

I remember my first job was picking strawberries and working in a canary to working in restaurants when I was young. To cleaning an outside mall. Also worked retail and construction. I've had several jobs through the decades. I'm part of generation X and have seen several changes from the mid eighties to today. That hasn't benefitted the workers.

[@annahanstrom521]

I have a little bit of a different viewpoint as a Gen Xer. Because I had a stay at home mom until I was 14. I was not a latchkey kid until high school. But I did end up taking care of myself and my younger brother. What I have learned is that every generation has different strengths. But we can all learn from each other. Not a single generation is better than another. We are all different. But I still love, Gen X is the best, because I understand the struggle and I am one!

[@Cocreatewithus]

Back then we did what's called "pounding the pavement" in order to get a job, especially for those who didn't drive yet or have a car. We walked or biked all over town, gathering paper applications to take home, filled them out, then walk back all over town to turn them in, and again for interviews. It might take a few miles of walking or biking all over town each time around in order to do this. Even as an adult, i have done this many times, including just a few years ago. Im able to walk several miles in a day, at my own pace, mostly because of this. My first official employment was the biggest paper route in town, at the age of 14, rolling, packing, and delivering the newspapers on my bike every afternoon and evening. Most places now have online apps, so ya'll are lucky. But there are also some places that still do only paper.

[@baimun]

As a Gen-Xer, I would say we were less "disillusioned and cynical" and instead more like the character of Pedro Cerrano in the movie Major League. "If you no help me, Jobu... I say fuck you Jobu... I do it myself!!!" so "Fuck Around and Find Out" literally started with that's how we figured the world out. 😝🤣 Also, we were dubbed "Lazy" because we didn't want to cut our hair, wear suits, and work a cookie cutter job. It's also one of the reason Gen-X parents are (typically) more accepting of Gen-Y or Gen-Z kids that dye their hair different colors and get tattoos. We're more likely to say "You do you". 🤍

[@Cocreatewithus]

But we're still cynical. We don't trust anything and say eff you to everything we possibly can.

[@samanthafairweather9186]

You forgot "realistic". We knew that if we didn't do it ourselves, it wouldn't get done. We didn't expect everything for nothing.

[@johnathansaegal3156]

11:25 ... My older brother and I (along with all our friends from high school) are early GenX. Born in the late 60s, we are already retired and out of the workforce. I know more GenX who are retired than who are still working. So, it's up to y'all to pick up where we left off.

[@williamedmonds-gx7sq]

As a gen-x I believe that I work hard, I still look up to my grandfathers work ethic.

[@IIICitizenSaneIII]

1971 here. The majority of what I see online about Gen-X is generally true. We are ONE of the harder working generations (especially since WWII) but not the hardest ever. “The Silent Generation”, “Depression era Kids”, “The Beat Generation” whatever you want to call them, they are the ones. Most everyone born in roughly the first quarter of the century has that hard as nails work ethic.

[@sideshowbob1381]

Nobody cared about our feelings, that's why we're stronger than anybody else

[@brigittebisier495]

Gen X here and definitely a latchkey kid. I had some kind of work from age 11 to thus day with 2 maternity leaves and 1 year without work while in college. We are resilient, BUT don't worry, we also teach the younger generation when they are interested. I don't think Gen X will leave the millennial and Gen Z hanging when we retire. We know all too well what that feels like. At least where I'm from, this is what I see coming

[@Jj744jjjjjjj]

Every generation says the same things about the next generation as the age up, have more responsibility, and become their own safety net.

[@du24pont70]

Gen X was the generation that bridged the gap between the old world and our current digital world.

[@vnovice]

I worry about manufacturing after we retire. Especially in the past 5 yrs, new hires care nothing about quality, and many do not even know how to read a tape measure. They are not self-starters, even if fully trained. They have to be told what to do, every day. And, most get fired due to absences or tardiness. Those of us who are 45-65 yrs old run circles around them. There is no reason why I (57f) should be able to outwork a 22 yr old male. I was working 12 hr days when I was their age, AND I went out and partied after work lol.

[@nothingtaken7878]

Truly it's only defined by time and different choices and your actions and what is learned. Good or bad

[@user-zk5rt3gb3e]

You know I just feel like I have to say here as a confession: I was a parent of a GenX. I feel absolutely horrible that this video is correct. My child was a "latch key" kid. For real. I was working 60 hours a week to try to make it as a single parent. And my child DID grow up to think that he had to just do things and make things happen. I wasn't totally absent. I went to the games, made dinner (mostly --- but he had friends he wanted to go out to eat with so often when it got to middle school that I lost him). He raised himself. I guess he had to because the reality of it was that his mother was working all the time. I feel horrible about what I missed. He's great now. He's fine. But I feel we are distant, and for good reason. But I will never forget dropping him at a daycare when I needed to go to work, and going to my car, and crying my eyes out because my boy was the most important thing in my life. I cried so hard, but then went to my receptionist job and smiled to everyone. Today, that mother would say "EFF THAT" I'll get government support or whatever. I'll be honest here: I didn't know that was an option. I just thought I had to work to eat and feed us. I didn't know about welfare or whatever. I just drove my barely working car and tried to make enough money to live. But I will also never forget the time that I didn't have enought Quarters for the washing machine --- but someone did get to work (multiple bus transfers by the way) and at work somebody said that I smelled bad. I did. I didn't have enough change to dry the clothes AND have money for the bus to get to work. So the clothes did smell. I still think about that. All this time - MY GEN X CHILD is also trying to get by. (he knows how much I love him) And he did. He's doing extremely well. More than I could have dreamed for him. However, we don't have the kind of over connecction that kids probably had with parents in next generation I am suffering from that. I miss my baby so much -- I want to go back and have a do-over. [I'm editing to add: I think my GENX child feel cheated from not having good parenting. that was the whole point of this post. I think my GENX child knows he got the short end of the stick compared to how he's raising HIS kids.]