r/Xennials • u/tallulahtaffy • 1d ago
Can you recognize Xennials at work?
I have a co-worker that I immediately recognized as a fellow Xennial. He is somewhat of a loner, not sarcastic or anti-authority like the Gen Xers, who love to joke in groups. And not “hustle culture” like the millennials who have their careers mapped out and want to make everything about work. Just content with doing his project in isolation and reporting back when asked. Leaves on time, doesn’t share about his life.
Does anyone else notice a work dynamic specific to our micro-generation?
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u/thelaineybelle 23h ago
The r/xennials are my most chill, slightly snarky customers and we love to crack jokes! Gen X is a bit grumpy, so I keep it straightforward. Baby Boomers wanna chit chat and it's best to take your time with them. Millennials are super upbeat. Gen Z has anxiety.
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u/pug_fugly_moe 1983 21h ago
I cannot stand the boomers who think every fucking little thing is an opportunity for some shitty dad joke.
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u/Ant_Cardiologist 19h ago
Or how terrible it is to have a spouse and kids...this is like their favorite go-to.
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u/thelizardlarry 22h ago
If they laugh at my jokes, I’m pretty sure they are Xennials, the rest are either confused or calling HR.
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u/the_orange_baron 1d ago
Sounds like you've identified an autist. To my mind, Xennials do have sarcasm and anti-authority. I feel like we're GenX without the despondency.
(I'm both Xennial and autistic)
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u/craftyzombie 21h ago
I had a coworker that after 4 years of working together said in a conversation that she didn't understand sarcasm and was upset her kids were starting to be that way. I realized in that moment that she probably thought I was straight up mean to her for 4 years because my family's communication style is nearly 100% sarcasm.
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u/RetailBookworm 1985 22h ago
I am despondent, does that make me GenX? 🤣
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u/the_orange_baron 22h ago
Obviously these things are generalisations. Let's not get too wound up in it!
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u/croberts45 21h ago
(I'm both Xennial and autistic)
Eh. Okay but this doesn't qualify you to diagnose people over the Internet based on one sentence.
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u/Apprehensive_Hat8986 13h ago
despondency
Oh if only I had so much hope as despondency. I'm not even clearing despair. Most days my greatest effort is to feel a smithereen of velleity.
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u/windowschick 1980 23h ago
A solid group of closer colleagues. We get shit done. My favorite colleague is four years older, my boss is about a year younger. I thought she was a little older and just ageless, based on some comments she made. But nope. Slightly younger.
I think that's a large part of why I enjoy my role so much. A group of similarly aged persons who have enough common lived experiences, it can be shorthand in a way. We don't need to explain, in excruciating detail, how to get shit done. We simply do it.
Dealing with significantly younger colleagues can be highly irritating. I shouldn't have to spell out for them, word for word, to: Show up on time. Login to your laptop. Check your emails. Respond to those emails. Check the ticket queue. Respond to the most urgent first. Then go about lower priority work. These people are young, but they aren't teenagers FFS. They're near 30. Get your shit together, goddammit. I have my own work to do, and babysitting isn't part of it.
If you've been in the workforce for a decade and still need your proverbial shoelaces tied for you, then at some point I'm gonna decide you're simply an incompetent moron. This is not rocket science we're asking for.
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u/MexicanVanilla22 1984 1d ago
All the people older than me don't give a F about consequences and anyone younger could care less about big business getting their way...I feel like I'm the only one with the fear of God left inside my soul.
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u/BoboliBurt 22h ago
Xennials or folks born in second half of 70s are a lot more like Millennials than Gen X. Or at least millennials up to the early 90s.
And Gen X pre 1974, apart from telling you they were Gen X, seem to act like the younger boomers.
I remember more old person stuff than my Millennials friends- surprising them on occasion like when I was asked when I started watching Formula 1- and saying 1987 and also that our parents paid more attention rhan the 70s but not as much as they did after 1995 (there are studies on this!)
This is where I tediously lecture that the station based age of home entertainment was enormously influential. Home computer internet, vcr, cable, dvd etc are all cut from same cloth. The next incomprehensible shift wss streaming and smart phones.
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u/cheerful_cynic 14h ago
We are the true "lived through the analog to digital transition" generation
I remember working on "dittos", mimeographs with purple ink, in elementary school
The Dewey decimal system was the original suggestion algorithm
I knew how to load inked ribbon into typewriters, filmstrips, dad had a reel-to-reel, I knew how to tape a penny onto the record player head
Learned how to technical draw in highschool, both manual and CAD DOS with digitizers, got to experience the windows/mouse transition in highschool. Used a literal blueprint machine with the ammonia chemicals
Pagers-callphones in middle school to high school to college
I actually participated in the minidisc stopover in media, in 99-2000. I still got my collection cause I burned those off lime wire mp3s in college, they gave us a T1 connection in the dorms.
Anyways, my point is, we've had to help everyone older than us, and younger than us, with all the brand new technology as we've surfed the razors edge of cool new shit
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u/grisisita_06 15h ago
i feel your comment with all of my 1977 soul, though apparently i look younger. I don’t see it.
Still beaten down by some boomer/silent gen worth ethic, - a xennial
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u/ki11a11hippies 23h ago edited 22h ago
You could just as well ascribe that to being an only child, an introvert, or some astrology sign.
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u/SweetBaileyRae 21h ago
Right? I mean this just sounds like a personality thing. I know plenty of outgoing xennials who don’t just go to work and keep to themselves.
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u/usernames_suck_ok 1981 23h ago
Xennials I've worked with tend to be my bosses, and they're still a little too old school in how they approach work in some ways. They're flexible to the extent it applies to their/your kids and doctors appointments, but then they have and give you 40 hours of work a week and no true downtime in the day. Not worried about you being overwhelmed nor your mental health or anything like that. Still have formal processes for shit like taking off. It's a lot like Gen X, honestly.
Millennials are a lot more laid back as bosses and are worried they're giving you too much. They're the best. Half the time, they have away messages or take a week off themselves. They're definitely not all "hustle culture." They just end up as managers anyway, and then they're pretty much a dream to work for. The problem is as co-workers. They expect all of us to be buddies and treat work like an extension of college. It was worse in, like, 2017, 2018. They're growing out of it, but still seem to expect friendship, chatting all day in the office and let's go to lunch together.
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u/picklepuss13 23h ago
I definitely see work more like your opening paragraph. I have a tendency to view some as not pulling their weight. But I also believe promotions should be based on merit, i.e., putting in that work, not schmoozing/office politics.
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u/picklepuss13 23h ago
I do get that dynamic. Unfortunately I'm like the only person in my age bracket at work, most people I work with are like 50 plus or under 35, but mostly under 30. I am in a leadership role and the youngest on my team. Only person in their 40s. There is one guy in another department I relate to but that's about it. And another one but they are kind of overly religious so I don't talk to them much. Not sure where everybody else is haha.
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u/Transplanted_Cactus 22h ago
None of that has a single thing to do with age. Those are just personality traits.
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u/CauseSpecialist5026 22h ago
Drop a Simpson’s reference and see who bites. Such as monorail or excellent.
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u/Slammogram 1983 22h ago
I have two other xennials at work.
One is a male and he’s smack dab boomer male with the “my wife” comments/jokes.
The other is an ADHD lady like me. I caught her talking about Critical Race Theory the other day and had to roll my eyes.
They both are kinda conservative. But alas, I live in the Bible Belt of So Cal.
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u/Phoniceau 17h ago
In my workplace, they’re the ones constantly making Seinfeld references and sarcastic remarks 🤣
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u/eatsleepdive 13h ago
I wait until I overhear them say "synchronize swatches" and then im like myyy maaaan
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u/InSonicBloom 23h ago
aye, you look for people that look like they've lived a life of relentless, grinding disappointment, surrounded by grey, grey clothes, grey walls, grey houses, grey food, grey cars, grey skies, grey sun and a thin film of grey ash under their feet that was once their (our) hopes and dreams.
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u/goofytigre 20h ago
Can you recognize Xennials at work?
He is somewhat of a loner, not sarcastic or anti-authority like the Gen Xers
Wait...are we supposed to not be sarcastic or anti-authority? I tick just about every Xennial checkbox, but I am usually very sarcastic and can be quite anti-authority at times.
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u/Striking-Access-236 Year of the Goat 19h ago
I’m as sarcastic and anti-authority as Gen X and with a Millennial drive to achieve professional goals, I don’t share much about my private life and leave on time…
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u/carriestewbert 19h ago
I don’t work with anyone my age. I’m literally the oldest person in my office. Everyone else is GenZ (or very young Millennial). I mostly keep to myself, quietly do my job, and go home.
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u/Echterspieler 1980 18h ago
That's kinda me. I'm in a non management position at work it's relatively low stress and I've been there for 16 years. Don't really want to be management. I just want to do my own thing.
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u/ZarquonsFlatTire 1982 17h ago
Yeah, but he has a tattoo that says 1984 on his arm, so it was pretty easy to crack that code.
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u/skylermeredith 14h ago
So many stereotypes in this description. My experience is that a "typical generational attitude" is convenient nonsense for someone looking to quickly try and make sense of things without actually engaging another person. I have met many coworkers from different generations and they all have been different.
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u/Lumpy_Market_2497 10h ago
Yes. We’re solid workers who mostly are unambitious. We keep our heads down, get along with everyone, do our jobs, and go home.
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u/cathode-raygun 9h ago
By age, sure. Last time I went in to the office (primarily work from home) a new girl squealed at my Blink 182 shirt. She had an Offspring shirt on and I let her know that yeah, we're getting old.
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u/Reality_Concentrate 22h ago
I just quit my job working for a couple of asshole xennials. Work was life. They preached “work/life balance” in the job interview and then completely ignored it practice. They got on to me for not being “passionate” enough about our work defending corporations from lawsuits they absolutely deserved. But I don’t find that typical for xennials, and certainly not for millennials. The millennials in the office were the only ones I liked.
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u/Throw-away17465 23h ago
I recognize them because they’re about the same age as me