The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Have you ever come across such a bunch of lazy, entitled, spoiled, clueless, selfish, vain, greedy, impolite, disrespectful brats in your life?

When I look at the youth of today, I think, fuck it, they are proving Darwin was wrong.

Look after yourselves, because these little shits certainly aren't going to.

Happens every generation.  Your parents thought the same about you.  Your grandparents thought the same of your parents.  Gen Z will think the same of their children.

“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”

― Socrates

Yeah I know... but I am Gen X from the Robin Williams era. So two generations.

He did a stand up where he said one day your kid is going to say to your face: "God Dad, you're fucked!", and your father will be behind you going "Yes!"

It's more than that though. I really think these kids growing up now are more clueless, selfish, rude and entitled than ever - because their parents never grew out of it.

No manners, no respect, for anyone, not even themselves. You can be young and dumb for so long... but this generation is something else. It literally wants to be young and dumb forever.

With respect, you're just old.

Every generation has this realization about the youth that comes up after them.

I was going to post an old quote from Socrates complaining about "kids these days", but instead, I found a page with 2500 years of quotes of people complaining.  People get old and they don't understand the social norms coming behind them.  It's a tale as old as time.

https://historyhustle.com/2500-years-of-people-complaining-about-the-younger-generation/

Get off my lawn.

I've lived long enough to admit both the Baby Boomers and Greatest Generation worked much harder than Gen X ever did. It's also easy to see how the generations after me came with more entitlements and less dedication than I could have even dreamed of. Society continues to get soft and the youngest generation has just completely given in to being soft both mentally and when it comes to hard work. It's why our country used to lead but is now falling behind in so many areas. History has proven this is inevitable I guess.

Broken Record Time!!!

The "good old days" of the booming 50s and 60s demonstrated what strong unions and 90+% top tax rates can do to a middle class. Ever since Reagan, we've been on the downslope in terms of quality of life, purchasing power and income inequality. So we have what we have now. 40 years after the fact, i'm fairly confident in saying Regan was one of the bottom 10 presidents in our history.

You forgot a liveable minimum wage and affordable college.

LOL ... you guys are forgetting it was also before the competition of women working outside of the home. Prior to that each man could earn enough to support a family of 4 or more if the work force is half of what it is now.

That's not how economics works.  We would not have the same GDP if half the adults in the country just stopped working.  Productivity would rapidly fall and companies would start collapsing.

If you want to know why a man in the '60s could provide a comfortable life for his family on one income, there are two answers:

1.  America had a much larger portion of global manufacturing immediately after WW2, when Europe and Japan were rebuilding.

2.
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You have it backwards. It is because someone can't earn enough to support a family of 4 or more on a single salary therefore it means that 2 income households have become a requirement.

It absolutely did not start that way. The whole burn the bra movement that started in the 60s put women in the workplace long before we needed two incomes to survive. It also meant we saw a lot of nipples in the 70s but that was a whole different story.  hahaha

You made me curious so I looked it up. This was on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

The percentage of dual-income households with children under age 18 has been on the rise since the 1960s, surpassing the percentage of father-only-employed households in the 1970s.1 This rise most likely reflects a cultural shift involving women in the workforce. The female labor force participation rate increased from 1960 onward, peaking at 60 percent in 1999.2 Monitoring and analyzing this trend is important, because the expenditure patterns of dual-income households could differ from those of single-income households, affecting the U.S. economy.

There definitely a bit of a feedback loop.  Lower wages increases the need for dual income, an increase in available labor depresses wages.  Repeat.   However trying to blame women for the depressed wages is ridiculous

I mean, if we're going to blame depressed wages on increased labor supply, the 1964 Civil Rights Act and its prohibition on discrimination on the basis of race or sex during hiring probably factored in, too.

There are all sorts of factors that created an ample supply of well-paying jobs for white American men in the 1960s.  And ironically, I do agree that the Civil Rights Act had a lot to do with why those conditions no longer exist.

Good to see Sharon Stone agrees with me on this one... and put the little brats in their place.

https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/1qe87pw/sharon_stones_comedy_special_would_be/

Yes, 67 year-old Sharon Stone.

Baby Boomer Sharon Stone?

Have several seats, please.

I've read through this thread and I have to agree with DownUnder.  Generation Z is entitled and lazy.   Here's a story I've seen posted on Facebook.  Sadly, I'm getting close to Grandpa Frank's age:



I make $55,000 a year and I’m broker than my 75-year-old grandpa. To save myself from my $1,800-a-month studio apartment, I had to move into his basement.

This wasn't the plan.

The plan was a downtown loft, happy hours, and a vibrant social life funded by my new marketing degree. Instead, I’m in suburban Ohio, sleeping on a 1980s sofa bed in a room that smells like cedar wood and mothballs.

"It's just temporary," I told myself, clutching my artisan iced coffee as I hauled in the last box.

"That stuff costs five bucks?" Grandpa Frank asked from the doorway. He was holding a steaming mug of black instant coffee that looked thick enough to pave a driveway.

"It's $7.50, Gramps," I corrected him. "And it's a small luxury. I worked hard for this job. I deserve a treat."

Frank just grunted. "You 'deserve' to pay off that $40,000 school debt you keep complaining about. I just drink coffee. You drink a car payment."

Living with Frank was like living with a ghost from a history book. A very judgmental history book.

His house was a museum of thrift. There was one television—a small, buzzing box he’d owned since my dad was in high school. He got three channels with an antenna. I had subscriptions to four different streaming services on my laptop, which I paid for by "browsing" more than actually watching.

"Why you paying for all those shows?" he asked one night, squinting at my screen.

"It's choice, Gramps. Options."

"Looks like a waste of time," he said, turning his attention back to the local news.

The real flashpoint was food. On Friday, after a brutal week of spreadsheets, I was exhausted. I didn’t want to cook.  I wanted convenience. I opened my favorite food delivery app and ordered a $28 artisan burger.

When the delivery driver pulled up, Frank was on the porch. He watched me take the bag like I had just committed a felony.

That night, he was eating what he called "Whatever's-Left-Casserole," which appeared to be cut up hot dogs, some barbecue beans, and half an onion, baked. It looked awful. It probably cost $2.

"Must be nice," he muttered, spooning the brown sludge onto his plate. "Eating like royalty."

"It's just one burger, Frank!" I snapped, the stress of my loan payments boiling over. "The economy is terrible! Inflation is insane. I can't even afford rent. You guys had it easy! You bought this whole house on one salary!"

Frank put his fork down. It was the first time I'd seen him look genuinely angry.

"Easy?" he said, his voice dangerously quiet. "I started at the steel mill at 18. I worked 12-hour shifts, six days a week. When inflation was 10% in the 80s, my mortgage rate was 14%. I didn't eat 'artisan' anything. I ate a bologna or a peanut butter sandwich...  those were my choices, EVERY SINGLE DAY."

He pointed at my laptop and smartphone. "You have a $1,500 laptop and a $1100 smartphone.  My phone," he gestured to an ancient flip phone in a cradle by the wall, "makes calls. You got a tattoo sleeve that cost more than my first car. My tattoo?" He rolled up his sleeve to show a faded eagle, globe and anchor. "Got this in the Marines. It came with nightmares, not a payment plan."

I felt my face flush. "So what, I'm just supposed to be miserable?"

"You're not miserable!" he barked. "You're just soft. You kids want the reward without the hard work and discipline. You want a nice house, but you won't give up the $7 coffees. You want financial freedom, but you pay $28 for a burger because you're too 'tired' to open a can of soup or spaghetti o's."

He walked over to his old roll-top desk and pulled out a small, vinyl-bound bank book. He tossed it on the table. It was a old style passbook for his savings account.

I opened it.

The balance made my stomach drop. From his factory pension and social security, this man who lived on canned soup and instant coffee had saved over $280,000.

I looked at the balance. I looked at my phone, still open to the delivery app. I looked at the $9 remaining on my $28 burger.

Frank picked up his plate of leftovers.

"You're right, about one thing Alex," he said, heading to the kitchen. "I did buy this house on one salary.  But I also didn't have 27 subscriptions, leased cars, thousand dollar electronic gadgets, artisian food, or 'emotional support' coffees."

He stopped at the doorway and looked back, his eyes drilling into me.

"You don't have an income problem. You have an expense problem. You’re not poor. You’re just paying a subscription to act rich."

That story is so obviously fake and written by a get-off-my-lawn boomer that I find it hilarious anyone would read it and take it seriously.
The only thing missing is the avocado toast that all young people devour voraciously.

People from a generation where a single income from a high school graduate was enough to comfortably buy a home, raise multiple kids, go on vacation, afford healthcare, pay for those kids to graduate college with zero debt, and have a decent pension awaiting you at retirement should not really be giving lectures to others about frugal spending.  That house that "75-year-old Grandpa Frank" bought in 1970 for $18,000 is probably worth $700k today.

"Grandpa Frank" probably never had any vacations other than going to his local pub for a few beers with friends from time to time.   And he probably didn't buy new cars right off the lot either.   And as for his kids going to college, that's never mentioned.   You do see his grandson having over $40k in student loan debt so who knows if his kids had any student debt.

Not to mention that while his house cost maybe $38,000, minimum wage was $2.10 per hour back in the mid 70s.   And like the story said, he didn't have laptops or smartphones.   You wanted to make a phone call, you picked up the phone on the wall, untangled the cord and dialed a number.   And if mom needed to use the phone, you got off the phone.   If everyone wanted burgers for dinner, dad slapped mystery meat on a blackened grill and made burgers.  And we ate them and enjoyed them.     

 

Yessir, as someone who has written for a living, that really does seem like a work of fiction...and I hate avocado toast.

Grandpa Frank, who got hired at the steel mill at age 18 (but somehow also spent enough time in the Marines to get nightmares? unclear), has never worked a non-union job in his life.  He's never been paid minimum wage, has known a pension was coming to him for his entire career, and doesn't even know what a 401k is.  The 23" color TV he bought in 1969 was a bigger percentage of his yearly salary than his grandson's iPhone 17 and MacBook Air, combined.  Grandpa Frank could be eating boiled cabbage with stovetop rice and drinking tap water, but he prefers hot dog casseroles, PB&J, and instant coffee... not because they're cheap, but because those were the fancy modern foods his mom made when he was a kid, and he still eats them now because he likes them.

Mmmmmm hot dog casserole.

Whether that story is fake or not isn't really the point, I've seen and had the same type conversations with people for the past 15-20 years. The point is that when I grew up in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, most people spent their money differently. There were no iPhones, $8 coffees, subscriptions, etc. Not to mention, these days companies have become very adept at extracting money from people in exchange for convenience. Then add in the fact that the education system teaches things of very little practical use to an adult in the real world instead of basic money management and finance.

An $8 coffee five days a week is $40. If you invest that into an S&P 500 or Total Market etf or index fund with an average return of 8-10% you'll have $31K in 10 years. And that's only the coffee, now think of all the other wasteful spending people do these days that didn't exist 30-40 years ago that they could apply that to. Most people could have 6 figures saved up in a decade or so. They choose not to

The real issue is people who can't distinguish between wants vs needs. It's about the emotional weekness of not being able to delay gratification to reach a certain goal, but instead just tell themselves 'I want it and I want it now". Not too unlike a toddler that wants somthing and justifies it by any means available. No, people who complain about their finances while simultaneously spending their money on "wants" only have themselves to blame.

Personally in my lifetime I've noticed that the people that have the nicest things are usually the ones the most in debt and/or living paycheck to paycheck. Around 30 years ago I was friends with a multi millionare for a few years, he told me one thing that I'll never forget. He said, "It's not as much about what you make, it's more about what you spend." And I think Ving Rhames said it best in the movie Baby Boy, it's about guns and butter.

Instead, there were color televisions, microwave ovens, drip coffee makers, pay phones, Walkmans, pagers, newspaper subscriptions, food processors, cable TV, VCRs, and charges for long distance calls.

Acting like this is the first generation to have new technology is absurd.

What are you talking about? It has nothing to do with technology, it's has to do with simple math. If you allocating too much on consumables rather than assets, then your finances will suffer. And if you choose to do that, that's your own fault. It's incredible to think that this needs in depth explaining.

You keep implying with no evidence that previous generations abstained from petty wants more than The Youth Of Today, even after I provided you a handy list of petty wants that were commonplace in the '70s, '80s, and '90s.

Every generation can point at something that exists today that didn't exist when they were younger, and blame the younger generations for wasting their money on trivial bullshit they don't NEED.  I'm sure your great-great-grandparents looked at your grandparents' generation and were disgusted that they were wasting money on nonsense like potato chips, soda pop, and vacuum cleaners when previous generations got by just fine without them.

I think we're discussing two different things. I can agree that emotionally weak people have always existed and wasted money to soothe their fragile egos. However, currently there is a widespread trend of people wasting their money and then complaining and blaming others because they can't afford things they need. It's has gotten much worse in the past 20-25 years.

Fully functioning intelligent adults understand that you cannot waste money on a daily basis and come out ahead. Do you want to spend your money freely and have all your daily comforts and convieniences? Or would you rather save most of that money and make it grow over time?  It really just comes down to choices. And choices lead to outcomes. Either way is fine as long as you realize that it's a choice that you're making and that's on you.

It really boils down to lack of disipline and consistency. You can't eat donuts all day and lose weight. You can't get better at playing guitar if you choose to drink and nap instead of practicing. And you can't achieve finacial goals if you choose to waste your money. Anyhow, we'll just agree to disagree. Have a great afternoon

There are more people complaining about things they can't afford because things are far more unaffordable now.  And I'm not talking about frivolous cravings; I mean basic fundamentals like housing, education, healthcare, and retirement.  50 years ago, a family with a single income from a high school graduate could comfortably afford all those things and more.  Now, that thought is almost laughable.

So I have very little patience for the Grandpa Franks of the world lecturing their grandchildren about wasting money on a Netflix subscription, when Grandpa Frank hasn't gone a week without watching ESPN (on his cable TV service) since Reagan was in office.

Read the story again.   Grandpa Frank didn't have cable TV, nor did he go out to eat very often, let alone have food delivered.   And while a Netflix subscription is one thing, it can add up when combined with subscriptions to Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Peacock, Discovery, shall I go on?

No, please don't.

Well it's not 50 years ago, it's 2026. We can't control the price of things. However, we can control what we spend our money on. You either handle your money or your money handles you.

You're spot on. Everytime I have this conversation in person I get nothing but eye rolls and sighs. Then I get the "quitting starbucks/netflix isn't going to help me buy a house". The thing they miss is the totality of their spending. The eating out multiple times a week, $8 coffee every morning, multiple subscription services that probably aren't being used, trading up everytime a new iPhone comes out, etc, etc, etc.

Then when you chalenge them about their spending, they play the entitlement card and throw out the "I deserve happiness/enjoyment/reward for existing" nonsense. After that I don't even really listen to it anymore. If someone as an adult, is too ignorant to be able to support themselves and/or handle money. AND won't take any advice from a person that doesn't have those problems. That's fine, stay living with Papa Frank, Aunt Becky, or in a cardboard box under the bridge. You can't fix people, that's their job

Let's talk about real costs.

"$8 coffee" every morning = $2,922/year
Disney+ & Hulu ($240), YouTube Premium ($168), Amazon Prime Video ($108), Paramount Plus ($90), Peacock ($80), Discovery ($120) = $806/year
With an annual phone upgrade plan (https://www.hollyland.com/blog/tips/how-does-verizon-upgrade-work) like Verizon offers, you pay 50% of the phone's cost and get a new phone every year - we'll call that $500/year

Total between daily Starbucks, all the streaming services, and every new iPhone = $4,228/year = $353/month

So if you cut out all those things, you'd have $350 extra dollars in your pocket each month.  Is that enough to let you qualify for a mortgage?  Fuck no!  But at least you'd be properly miserable, which is the only point of this sort of "Today's youth are pampered and selfish" whining.  If someone who makes $55,000/year is living with their grandparents, it's not because they're $350 short of affording a mortgage.

What's weird is that I am all about not spending excessively.

But if you take out "$8 coffee" and just think about it as coffee, boomers had a house and still went out and had coffee at restaurants.  The idea that this generation doesn't have houses because they have coffee is absurd.  ...or streaming.  Or avocado toast...or whatever.

You can cut out all the gymnastics about spending and just look at what a house, or medical care, or a car, or college -- as a percentage of the average income.  That's the story.



All that said, I am a generally frugal person and I hate excess spending.

I mean, I'm a homeowner, I haven't subscribed to cable TV in almost 20 years, I buy a cup of coffee less than 3 times a month, and the only streaming service I pay for is YouTube Premium Lite.  But I'm not delusional enough to think the reason I can afford A is because of B.  I was just lucky enough to be ready to buy a home in 2008 when the market was crashing.

Criticizing zoomers for $40/month in streaming services when they have a $500 monthly student loan payment is missing the point.  It's "If you're supposedly 'poor,' why do you have a DVD player?"-level discourse.

(https://preview.redd.it/nxhhmhdca6m51.jpg?auto=webp&s=afb3a00b29a36977053f8d9a2809ece09cd7c34f)

I remember that this discourse was around cell-phone a decade or so back.

Being a grumpy old person must be a miserable fucking existence.

Well to be fair, I think you have it backwards. Listening to grumpy younger people complain about their miserable existence is exhausting. Maybe they should keep their personal problems to themselves if they don't want advice. Go get an emotional support coffee and a cat or something.

This comment would be better suited to a thread titled "Selfish boomers have ruined our society" or "Why is everything so unaffordable for younger generations?"

But instead, it's posted to a thread created for the purpose of whining about Gen Z.

Not really. I didn't create this thread and was responding specifically to the quote:

Also, let's keep in mind that this whole discussion would largely not exist if a certain percentage of grumpy young adults didn't feel the need to offload their failures at life onto another group of people that have nothing to do with their life choices. I'm not a boomer, I'm not miserable, and my life is just fine. I just don't buy into the victim mentality so prevalent in todays society. Most of the US citizens complaining and blaming other people live a far better life than the majority of people in human history and a large portion of the current global population. They just don't have what they "think" they deserve. So I guess keep crying if a miserable fucking existence is your thing.

Again, this thread wasn't created by a zoomer complaining about their lot in life.  So your displeasure with whiners seems misdirected.

No, it was created about zoomers complaining by someone that's not me. And I'm here discussing it, just like you are. So what's your issue? Seems like deflection to me LOL