-
I think I’m done
I have now officially become disgusted with twenty-somethings and think I’m done giving them any consideration ever again.
1) Very talented art director wannabee whose work I was introduced to while judging a student design competition sponsored by one of my clients. Wow! I’ll bet this kid would jump at the chance to do real work and with summer vacation coming who wouldn’t want to earn about 12 times per hour what McDonalds pays. Not even through the first project and he’d rather fight about suggestions than accept them. AND he was being paid the whole time! And the work he was doing made me wonder if he’d actually submitted someone else’s stuff in the competition because it was MUCH better than what he was showing me.
2) In looking for someone to grip for a two day shoot I gave a twenty-something kid, who said he was very anxious to learn and a real “go-getter”, a chance rather than going with any of the older pros who also responded to my post. Despite detailed instructions on time and place — and phone confirmation before the shoot — a NO SHOW. Wouldn’t even answer his cell phone.
3) A “working professional” who posted here bemoaning his current work situation and how he was being taken advantage of by his first employer out of college. (Scroll down, you’ll find it.) Told him that we could use someone with his motivation and skill set but that I like to get to know people with a freelance project or two first. Called cell a few days later with job ready to go. No answer, no returned call. Called the next day with same result. Sent an email asking “WTF?” No response.
I’m done. Sorry Gen Y. I’d blame it on your age, but I (and almost everyone I know) was NOTHING like that at your age. We wanted to work, wanted to get started and would even work for free to do stuff with people doing what we wanted to do for a living. Guess things have changed.
-
40 Replies
-
Well, I’m not done, I’m just really cautious. When it comes to freelance work that involves a client, I don’t allow anyone but a trusted source to come in.
When it comes to trying out new people, I have them work on our own stuff. I have two 20 somethings in here now that are just incredible and make the office a fun place. Prior to that, I did have one guy who bailed out halfway through a contract.
Actually the worst experience I’ve had was with an experience editor whom I’ve worked with for 5 years or so. Completely bailed out on a 4 month edit after the first month. Didn’t even tell me. Told the client who called me furious.
Sorry you’ve had the bad luck, but don’t completely get rid of Gen Y. There are a few good ones out there (maybe they’re all down here in Atlanta?) so you just need to keep searching. Course I do think it’s ironic that you tried to help someone in THIS VERY FORUM with work and he blows it.
You’re a good man Nick and glad you can vent here. But sooner or later, that right “kid” will walk in the door and you’ll be set!
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” featuring Sigourney Weaver coming soon.
-
Thanks, Walt. Problem is I just listed the latest three incidents, with the last one as a last straw. (LEARN FROM THIS, CHILDREN!) I’m sure there are some good ones, I’m just growing very weary looking for them. And getting damn tired of the entitlement attitude.
-
I disagree with you Nick. Laziness has been in our society for a long time. Yes, TONS of people – IN EVERY INDUSTRY, just don’t show up. People always say “how you do stay so busy and booked all the time” – I always have the same answer – “I SHOW UP”. Most people don’t show up – roofers, plumbers, sheet rock guys, and yes “video professionals”.
I have seen this with “professional video salesman”. Back in the stone age, I wanted to buy a GVG200, and I could NOT get the Grass Valley rep in NY to simply call me back to take my money. Don’t you want the money ? I am aware of a broadcast operations job right now, and I can’t find someone who will take the job. And I see people show up with “the usual” nonsense. This company is using GVG Edius (don’t ask), and editors who NEED WORK, just walk out, instead of saying “well, I will learn this”. I don’t get it. Again, DONT YOU WANT THE MONEY ? Would you rather be working in grocery store, or a moving company ?
Bob Zelin
-
The following is a list of ambitious / character building things I did between age 18 and 21 – Gen Y-ers take note:
1. Worked at McDonald’s – since I was over 18 I was tasked with emptying the grease trap at midnight and carrying the bucket to the grease dumpster, (where I would actually pass it off to Tyler Durden.)
2. Also worked at Burger King – given my experience with grease and fat and cooking food that had dropped on the floor, I was a natural.
3. Worked at Home Depot – I got an upgrade to cashier. This was in the 1800’s, so we had to manually count change and call VISA each time a credit card was used, then use those carbon copy slidey things. And at the end of the night if your drawer was off by more than a few dollars, you had to fill out a form for the manager.
4. Worked as an intern at an ABC affiliate. While this was actually quite a valuable experience, about half of each day was spent making copies, tearing multi-page carbon feed scripts.
5. Worked as an intern at a CBS affiliate. This was pretty boring – calling the state police looking for stories, answering the phone (I talked to Oprah a few times!) and fielding calls from deranged people thinking they had stories. I did get to go in the field with reporters, which was cool – I met Jesse Jackson, Mrs. Bush and Dr Henry Lee.
6. Worked as an intern for a cable advertising office – edited 30 second spots for local supermarket each week – shooting video of steaks, milk, ice cream, etc.
7. Final internship for a corporate communications company. Learned a lot, but also got to clean bird droppings off of XLR cables, load and unload gear daily, empty garbage etc. But I did learn how to make a B-reel for online edit sessions, time decks, backfocus a camera, trick the white balance, run a teleprompter and innumerable other skills that serve me to this day.
8. Worked as an usher at the campus theater – took tickets, prevented deranged fans from getting near Suzanne Vega, Wynton Marsalis or some crazy kids calling themselves Phish.
9. Worked audiovisual at a campus auditorium – hitting play on a VCR, turning lights on and off, etc.
10. Worked as a studio assistant – logging tapes, helping teach classes. This was cool since I was the only one other than professors with a key to the studio for a while – great opportunity to LEARN.So as Nick said – young people wanting to make it in life in general and in our industry specifically, need to go out and learn, be ambitious and SHOW UP.
But then, as now, such an approach was rare.
I took the road less traveled and that has made all the difference.
Mike Cohen
-
[Nick Griffin]“You kids get out of my damn yard! With your rock-n-roll music and your confounded hula hoops!”
Kidding, Nick. I have felt your pain many times. But I’ve also has some really good twenty-somethings. Unfortunately though, the ratio of bad to good was about 20:1.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
-
Well, it is his damn yard after all. ;~)
In all seriousness, I’ve often felt the same frustration and anger with kids who clearly feel entitled to everything people twice their age have and more, but are thoroughly unwilling and unable to do anything at all to earn it … what I call the EZ-button generation (if this one is “Y”, is the next one the last one or do we go back to “A”?).
Even so, I try to remind myself that, when I was a 20-something 20 years ago, I wrote, directed, shot, logged, edited and built graphics for a college project long-form documentary with one other person only somewhat helping with writing and a few on-screen stand-ups because the other half dozen 20-something “team” members either didn’t show at all or showed only enough to say they were present, yet contributed literally zero. I later got the show aired locally, won a few minor awards, got a few small grants, and am still in the business (like the one other contributor) … within 10 years after, I encountered several of those other “team” members working in restaurants, a dry cleaners, a drug store, etc.
My point is that, my personal observation has consistently been that the “entitlement attitude” Nick refers to has indeed spread wider and deeper with more recent generations, but it has always been there and the individuals with above-average work ethic, drive, etc. have always been the exception, rather than the rule.
So, as someone already mentioned, the real problem is that the odds of finding the good ones aren’t on our side. In other words, perhaps you shouldn’t give up on an entire generation, Nick … just most of it.
Best of luck in your search for good people. Cheers.
-
Bob’s reply reminded me of a couple of classic Woody Allen quotes:
“80% of success is showing up”
and perhaps an even better one…when he was criticized for wanting to direct an opera:
“…incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm.”
It’s like the people who complain about not knowing how to do something…or about how difficult a piece of software is to learn…when they’ve actually never tried to learn the task or jumped into trying to learn the software. For me…half the battle to learning ANYTHING is simply taking that first awkward, uncomfortable leap….then floundering around for awhile as you try to NOT drown in confusion, fear or insecurity.
I don’t think this is a generational thing…because I see it with guys and girls in their 40s just as much as I see it in college age folks.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com
Read our blog http://www.videomi.com/blog -
Your not the only one to feel this way.
Not only does this parallel my experience with a large percentage of Gen Y in production, but a good friend that owns a large, well know film equipment rental biz decided to consolidate his operation. He came in one day, and let every one go and started liquidating the gear, keeping only a few of the larger high value pieces that he could keep track of by himself.
His reason? Gen Y. Not just the young employees, that can’t bother to show up for work, but the young customers that routinely damage equipment, can’t return it on time, and then have a cavalier attitude because it doesn’t belong to them, and “that’s what insurance is for”.
On the bright side, those few Gen Y types that actually have a work ethic, should do rather well.Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
1) And the work he was doing made me wonder if he’d actually submitted someone else’s stuff in the competition because it was MUCH better than what he was showing me.
This actually happened to me years ago. Producer/slash journalist freelanced for a year on a show we produced. Month afterword, the phone rings, “can you answer some questions about so-and-so, he’s applying for an avid editor position” Piqued my interest, in the year he’d worked for us, he never edited on the Avid, just did cuts-only on the linear system. So I asked what videos is he showing you on his demo? And sure enough, they were all things I had cut, his only contribution was he’d voiced them.
Not sure if he kept using my work or not(I didn’t have his phone number to ream him out), but he most definitely didn’t get that job.
Johnny Cuevas, Editor
http://www.thinkck.com -
Dave Johnson writes –
“kids who clearly feel entitled to everything ”This is what seperates past generations of lazy people, vs. todays “Gen Y”. Entitlement.
Many young people today (I see them first hand, so you can’t debate this, or say I am wrong -) have no work, yet they have nice cars, nice cel phones, their own apartments, money to go out with, and yet, they are unemployed, or almost unemployed. I used to call this “Paris Hilton syndrome”, but Paris Hilton actually works, and many of these kids don’t, and will not get dirty or inconvenienced to achieve their goals. Not to turn this into a politically charged dialog (and I apologize in advance), but when I see a “illegal immigrant” construction crew busting their behinds for minimum wage, working VERY hard, and later that day, a bunch of lazy spoiled white kids, with their cars and cel phones, and hanging out at a restaurant with no jobs, bitching and complaining – well, I just want to kill them. These kids deserve their future – nothing.
Bob Zelin
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up