So I was labeled a baby boomer

[W8taminute]

Last night while I was playing online with friends I revealed my age to the guys in Discord that I hang out with.  I've never met them in real life but we play Heroes & Generals and Hell Let Loose on a semi-regular basis. 

We all decided to get to know each other a little better.  One of the topics was our ages.  I was surprised to learn that our ages spanned quite a lot of years.  One guy is 17, another is 34, one is 58, and the other guy is 38.  I'm 53.

The younger guys called me a boomer and I stopped myself (thankfully) from flipping out.  I've got nothing against baby boomers but I am a proud generation x'er.  Baby boomers stole all the good jobs and left us Gen X'ers with nothing.  I'm not sure if these whipper snappers understood the difference but it occurred to me that young people today label all old timers baby boomers. 

So in conclusion I realize that not only did the boomers take away the good jobs from my generation but us Gen X'ers are now getting the shaft from the millenials.  We truly are generation x.  I feel so lost. 

[jamus34]

I wouldn’t take it too personal W8.

I’m a tail end Gen X’er. In all honesty I would not be surprised if the younger generations don’t have a clue where the Boomer / Gen X changeover is.

I also find it funny that the Millenials are basically up in arms when they get compared to Gen Z.

It’s all cyclical. When you are young you think anyone over 30 as “old” when your old you think of anyone in the 20 / 30’s as young.

[Jarhead0331]

"Boomer" has taken on a more negative connotation over the last couple of years, ever since it was used by a politician in New Zealand to dismiss the comments of one of her older male colleagues. The video of the exchange went viral on tiktok and now the phrase, "OK, boomer" is used to belittle ideas that younger generations consider "old fashioned" or outdated.

As always, context is everything...

[Sir Slash]

W8, That's why as a proud Boomer, I did the responsible thing for you Gen X'ers, and retired early so you guys could have a shot at all the decent jobs. I think today, it's not so much all the good jobs are taken  but more like all the good jobs have left. But things aren't easy for us either. Not only can't I keep young people off my grass, but I can't even find decent grass to keep them off of. Bring back my John Wayne Bermuda Grass! That was some tough stuff right there. 

[W8taminute]

See I knew that term "boomer" as used by millennials is insulting, I just didn't know why.  JH I'll have to look for more information about that NZ politician. 

jamus I agree with you.  I think young people today just don't know what the difference is.  I was talking to another friend of mine who's in his 30s and he told me that the term "boomer" refers to anyone over the age of 30 and who thinks conservatively.  They are considered old fashioned and outdated echoing what JH said. 

Sir Slash, maybe in the past I didn't like baby boomers but now that in the eyes of today's youth I'm also a baby boomer us old people need to stick together.  Sorry if I came across the wrong way.

[solops]

I am a proud boomer! We kick ass and we did it right.

[Gusington]

W8 your first mistake was playing MP (in anything)!

I'm 46, btw.

[Michael Dorosh]

I am a proud generation x'er.  Baby boomers stole all the good jobs and left us Gen X'ers with nothing. 

There is definitely some truth to this. I'm an Xer as well, laboured for a few years in a recent job under a boomer office manager. She had no clue about technology and even less about people skills. Wrote me up for all kinds of things - not smiling enough in the hallway, for example.

Anyone remember that Simpsons bit where Mr. Burns tried to get Don Mattingly to trim his sideburns, only Mattingly doesn't have sideburns and has no idea what the boss is talking about? She did that to me for real, only it was "putting your feet on the desk."  She said she had gotten three complaints "from the executive director level" about it. That was her way of saying she didn't have the guts to confront me as herself, so she made up some complaint from on high. We only had one ED in the building anyway, so I knew it was BS. After a bit of soul-searching, I figured out what she meant. I had a pillar beside my desk and once in awhile to ease the tension on my back, I rested one of my feet about 12 inches up the pillar.

She didn't care if anyone got training on new processes or software, but kept a ledger to mark down anytime someone left the office 5 minutes early to go home. She justified it because "someone might need a letter typed." I figure if it is 5 minutes to quitting time and you need something typed, you should have probably planned your correspondence writing better.

There were so many complaints about her she finally got relieved, but none of the bosses had the heart to fire her. She kept the office manager title, and her salary I am sure, but lost all responsibilities, and all her direct reports started reporting directly to other people in the building. Sweet deal if you can get it, boomer.

[Gusington]

^Sounds almost exactly like my manager, except my manager was born in 1983. Guess that makes her...GenZ?

She is totally clueless about technology (can barely use Outlook), is toxic to the the point that everyone who knows her avoids her, and got her job through nepotism.

So I guess those types span the ages.

[airboy]

I've had worse bosses than all have described born in the 1940s.  Jerks and incompetents are born every year.

[MetalDog]

There's a famous meme, that I am too lazy to look up right now, that has a screencap from CNN I think that breaks down the delineations for where each generation begins and ends.  It had Greatest, Baby, Millenial, and Z.  There was a bunch of snark from X-ers about being overlooked by the generation they brought up in diapers and the one they are going to have to take care of in diapers.  Us X-ers have always been apt to throw a middle finger in the air and tell them all to go hang.  It's what we do.  So why don't we go with that?

[Gusington]

I can live with that.

[Sir Slash]

W8, You didn't come across as anything but right to me. As an old guy who's several times been replaced by younger ones, I figure it about evens out. They usually end-up getting paid less to do my job than I did.

[jejo68]

You know your old when you check Id of a girl born 2000 and think she is not old enough to go drinking (legal age is 18 here for drinking in clubs).

[Sir Slash]

You know you're old when they check your ID at the Liquor Store. Not to see if you're old enough to buy booze, but to see if you're too old to legally drive it home.