There are times that I think that some of the younger generation thinks that they are very entitled and that the simple words like please, thank you and the like are missing from their vocabulary.
I have had the opportunity to work with two different younger people and have had two entirely different experiences with them. It can be an interesting time when you can sit back after the experiences and compare what the two young people were like. Now, to give you a bit of background about these experiences, I had one individual who was a female university student and the other individual was a male college student. Yes, both of them were going to post secondary school when I had the dealings with them so they were very similar in one way but different in other ways.
The female university student was someone that I felt would be very appreciative of having the help in the various challenges that she was facing. The communication was quite simple as she would ask for some help and I would try and give her the guidance that she was asking for. This is where the problems started and I should have been able to walk away from helping once I saw some behaviour that I didn’t agree with. The female student, of course I think, really appreciated the help that was given to her but the words “thank you” were something that wasn’t said by her. Maybe she figured I would know that she appreciated the help but not hearing the words “thank you” got to me. Of course, this same student when faced with a number of assignments at a given time got extremely moody and was difficult to talk with. I tried a number of times to show that the challenges she was facing in university was just a sampling of what she was going to face in the real world once she graduated.
The male college student again was also someone that I felt would be very appreciative of having the help in the various challenges that he was facing. The communication again was quite simple as he asked for some help and I was able to provide it. Now, here is the big difference between the two individuals as the male student repeatedly said “thank you” for the help that was given to him. I know the words “thank you” aren’t huge but it does show that the person appreciates the time that was given to them and the knowledge that was passed onto them. The male student was even in a bit of a panic trying to get an assignment completed when he asked for the help but did remember that the words “thanks and thank you” do help. It didn’t matter when I was speaking with the male student, I always heard “thanks” when I was giving him even the slightest bit of help.
I have seen it more and more that some of the younger generation feels that they are entitled to everything and things are just handed to them. The younger generation should have to earn what they get like we did. In schools now, students aren’t failed like they were so that shows the students that they don’t have to do the work to advance anymore. These two students are just a couple of examples that I have seen as I have seen tons of examples. Some employees in stores don’t use the words “thank you” either and of course if they demonstrate that they feel they are entitled to the job and aren’t willing to work then that is a store that I won’t shop at very often.
Making sure that the words “please”, “thank you” and the like are used in communication can make a big difference in how you are treated. These words don’t have to be over used but hearing them sometimes in a number of interactions can make a big difference as to how you will be treated in the future.