Has any generation gotten a worse rap than millennials?
According to my sources, they’ve killed bar soap, would rather rent than buy and don’t even think about going out until the rest of us are in bed. But my experience with this demographic hasn’t been so bad. I have two millennial sons who are both gainfully employed. One recently married and has bought a home; the other holds down a full-time job while earning his MBA in the evenings.
I’m thinking about this because our office seems to be crawling with them these days. Even if you don’t count executive editor Brian Jewell, who is a tweener and claims to be a Gen Xer when he’s feeling old and a millennial when he’s not, we currently have four of these notoriously entitled types in our office every day.
We have two new salespeople, Kyle Anderson and Daniel Jean Louis, who are among the first to show up every day. So much for not being able to get out of the bed. Sales can be a head-banging career choice, and these guys come in bright and early and haven’t spit the bit yet. Our staff writer, Savannah Osbourn, opened the place up a lot in the mornings before she decided to commute to our office in Lexington, Kentucky, from nearby Winchester.
Ashley Ricks is our IT person and also handles our circulation and social media, and she recently trained to become our second graphic artist. Yes, she is as busy as she sounds. For a millennial, she’s a bracket buster. But Ashley’s secret is out — she constantly claims to be an “old soul,” so, it’s like she doesn’t count.
I’d think we were special except that Charlie and Joe, who run the Select Traveler Conference from their office in Ohio, hired a videographer, Alex, right out of high school. Alex is doing a great job. Maybe there’s hope for all of us yet.
Email me anytime with your thoughts at maclacy@grouptravelleader.com.