Is Gen Y a Dud?

“They’re not all yours are they?”

The first six words the real estate agent bumbles out, referring to my children, as she arrives for a home inspection, 45 minutes late. No, not an inspection of my home, an inspection of a home she’s trying to sell to me. Great start love.

Then there’s the classic phone salesman disaster;

“Hello there – is Mummy home?” the all too plastic voice rasps over the phone.

“She is here,” I say. “You’re speaking to her.”

By the way, don’t bother, pal. You’ve lost the sale, I’m tempted to sneer back.

I’m young. There’s no point denying it. I’m lumped in with the already infamous Gen Y-er’s and have a phone voice that de-ages me another 10-15 years (depending on the perceptiveness of whoever’s on the other end).

Is being young a disadvantage? It certainly comes across that way. In the professional world, I’d say yes. I was once greeted by a well meaning person saying, “Oh, you’re a Gen Y-er. Don’t worry, we’ll work something out.”

Let’s hear it for the Gen Y-ers. Is the berating we attract normal for any up-and-coming generation, or are we especially inept?

There’s certainly no shortage of talent emerging from Generation Y. Tania Major, Young Australian of the Year 2007, has had a profound influence on debates regarding aboriginal culture and society. Roger Federer, arguably the best tennis player the world has ever seen, is also a member of Generation Y. The list goes on and includes Lleyton Hewitt (Former World number one tennis player) and Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook).

We do have our fair share of duds. Paris Hilton generally tops that list.

Honestly. Generation Y has already achieved great things, and we’ve made our imprint on society at large. We’ve changed the face of communication (no pun intended), with social networking becoming a whole new way of life and we’re in the process of proving that we can and will ride out these difficult times and come out better for it.

On the surface we may appear shallow, selfish and spoilt. Really, what generation doesn’t look that way during their teens and early 20’s? It certainly won’t help the maturing process if our colleagues expect the worst from us, simply because we’re a part of Generation Y.

How silly. To lump a whole section of society into a category because of the year they were born in and to make assumptions on that premise. That seems a little shallow to me.