Ducks at work!

My last post was a little bland and I apologize for that, but I'm learning as I go along and this will get better (or your money back!). I was thinking about how that last post was too much "article" (without incorporating a lot of facts, etc.) and not enough "column" for my taste. Expect future posts to be more like this...

At the ripe old age of 31, I fear I am becoming a curmudgeon. Kids today, as a whole, frustrate me and I fear the future of our society. And I thought it would take another twenty years before I reached this point!

Now, I don't mind kids. I mean, I coach middle school and high school students and wouldn't do so if I didn't like them. The athletes on my teams can be entertaining, interesting, funny, (sometimes) obedient, etc. Generally, they are a good group of kids, which begs the question - where is the frustration?

Well, some of the frustration comes when I go to the store and have eyes rolled at me by the employees because this mean, old guy is making them actually do work.

Not too long ago, I was at the local mall and wanted a smoothie. The high school-aged employee at Surf City Squeeze was sitting on the counter, text messaging away, and not appearing to be particularly concerned about anything else. Heck, the blenders could have been exploding on the spot and she probably would have continued finding out "wasup" with her peeps. When she finally noticed there was a customer waiting for service, the valued employee sighed loudly, rolled her eyes, and tossed the phone on the counter in a sign of obvious frustration. (Much like Jane Goodall, I'm a pro at reading the language of these strange creatures...)

The Surf City employee may not have come outright and actually said it, but she clearly felt that I owed her an apology for wasting her time... The nerve of me!

Naturally, that wasn't the only occurrence I've ever had with today's youth being upset because they were expected to work at their place of employment, but I just don't have the time to write the novel it would entail to document all those instances.

So part of my frustration with the youth of America (and I can't imagine this won't be an ongoing theme, unfortunately) is the attitude they give when someone actually expects them to perform the duties they are being paid. They need to understand that having a job is more than just getting money... it's also doing the work to earn the money.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get behind the counter and blend my own smoothie so this employee can get back to texting about how much her job sucks.