rant

Baby Boomers are the Best and Millennials are the Worst

Mary2 Comments

I am a millennial. Now before you try and fight me on it, just let me have it. I have done papers. I fall in the years of millennials so please don’t even go there. I’m not Gen Z. I am the “problem” generation.

I am constantly pulling HR articles for social media posting at work and so many I come across are about millennials in the workplace and essentially what a PIA we are. SHUT UP. PLEASE. SHUT UP.

Fact. I don’t care if a company gives me a t-shirt, lets me wear whatever I want, or has pets in the office. All of those are perks, but not the most prevalent ones. We still want retirement plans we still want benefits.

I don’t know why every person who is not a millennial knows what we want and I’m also very curious how you can generalize a whole generation. You simply can’t. We have Google, Facebook, Amazon, BuzzFeed, and all of the media giants of today influencing people’s opinions of millennials, but in all honesty, they’re just adding icing on the cake. Companies are taking their avant-garde ideas that they add as pluses to their other benefits, but are forgetting to give people the OG benefits that are expected with a salaried job.

Let’s take BuzzFeed for example, ask anyone interested in digital media between the ages of 15 and 25, I would say 80% of them would be willing to work for BuzzFeed and 90% would at least be willing to make an appearance in a video or have a Tweet quoted in an article. Yet, their turnover rate for a lot of their “successful” employees is extremely high. Search “Why I Left BuzzFeed” on YouTube and you will find a million and one reasons. However, most of these are either centered around not having enough money to scrape by, or not having enough control over their personal brand. Their casual dress code, puppies in the office, popular videos, and overall portrayed energy promotes an idea of ideal work/life balance and displays people who seem like they generally want to go to work. This is what people think of millennials

So take away the “millennial wants” from BuzzFeed, you would see the reality of the situation there. Less than thrilled employees, not making enough money, and you would see the reality of a high turnover rate. It’s the idea of the perks that appeal to millennials, but it’s not what keeps them. 

So just a question: Why are millennials treated like we are the glutens, goldfish, and idiots of the workplace? All we’re looking for is someone to leech off of until someone new comes along. We don’t have the focus or attention span to stay with a company very long. And last but not least, we don’t really know anything (on top of literally everything we have ruined like department stores and fancy napkins).

Social media, as much as I love and cherish it, has given baby boomer and gen x to become afraid of the power they do not understand and attack us verbally. Naturally, the hashtags they try to dominate with why we’re the worst are quickly taken over by millennial “trolls.” We are not the snowflake generation, we are just not afraid to stand up for what we believe in. We are not cry babies and whiners, we’re just saying what we think to a larger audience. I’m sure gen x and baby boomer did just as much complaining back in their day, they just didn’t have a platform that would allow it to be so widespread. Back in their day, it was 15 minutes of fame, not the kind of fame we see today and they’re scared.

Back off, let me live tweet your breakdown and go viral because of it. While you continue to complain about how millennials suck (on the internet when we use it too much apparently) you’re going to be missing a lot of success. Stop being a precious snowflake and realize that millennials are starting to dominate the workforce and there’s not much you can do to stop it at this rate. We aren’t taking your jobs, killing industries, or whatever else you want to blame us for. Next time, don’t ruin the housing market and maybe I’ll buy a house as soon as I have a stable job, but too bad you did. If you want something fixed, go shop at more department stores and fix it. 

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Feminist Mary on Being a Woman.

Mary3 Comments

womanhood

When I was driving back to school on Monday, my driver side windshield wiper started coming off so I had to pull over on the side of the turnpike to try to fix it in the rain. When I went outside, my first thought was, well this is how half the girls die on Criminal Minds, at least it wasn’t night-time.

Last year, I had a wallet with a strap that I would bring with me if I went somewhere. Yes, this was in my heyday of binge watching Criminal Minds and I was quite paranoid, but I would swing it around if anyone got too close to me so I could hit them if they got too close.

My boyfriend and I met on Tinder. This is news that I’ll address another time, however, this is something very curious to me. He never tried to find my Facebook, never had a back up plan in case I was crazy, and that’s when I realized guys don’t have to do that. I had three different plans in case something happened and I had to leave because he was crazy.

Men don’t really have to worry about a woman being a serial killer, they don’t have to worry that she will attack them. They don’t have to worry about having to jump into their car at night because someone could be waiting to grab them to harm them in some way. They don’t walk with their keys in between their fingers, knowing that it’s not going to do much good, even if someone was to attack them.

We live in a world that it’s dangerous to be a woman. The number of rapes in the US range from 300,000 (Department of Justice) to 1.3 million (CDC). These statistics could go on an on, again according to the CDC, 1 in 5 women will be raped in some capacity. According to the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, 1 in 3 girls will be sexually assaulted in their college career.  Women don’t choose these statistics, they are an unfortunate reality when you are a woman.

Because I’m a feminist I like to believe that these will change. I like to think that this generation will talk to their sons about not raping women rather than telling their daughters to be careful to not get too drunk when they go out. I like to think that more people are talking about consent and that yes is the only word that means yes. I like to think that we are changing, but why are the numbers staying the same?

It’s sad that we live in a world that I’m afraid to get out of my car on the highway, because who knows when a serial killer is going to drive by? It’s sad that we live in a world that women have to be afraid to walk alone at night. It’s just sad. I don’t understand how people can hurt each other so much.

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Late Night Blogging with Mary: Part 22

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late night blogging with mary

Oh I know I just did one of these but I have a lot to say. Kind of.

Bloggers block has become my chronic condition. I have a severe lack of ideas recently. I just don’t know what to say but at the same time, I feel like I have a lot to say. I just don’t know. I’m stuck.

Today I participated in my first blogger chat on twitter and it was very inspiring. Tomorrow I’m going to clean my room and get my life together as tonight’s #theStumbleisReal chat was about  organization. Now I want to be organized. Like this is definitely something that I’m going to do because talking to like-minded people is something that really inspires me.

I want to be inspired to be a better blogger. I just wish I had ideas. Like I have my little calendar of ideas but by the time it gets to that date, I just don’t want to do it. Hopefully this week, I can plan some stuff out because I don’t have much due, but I’m just at a loss for ideas. Is there anything anyone wants to read?

I want to be a better blogger but I don’t want to be a different blogger and I think that’s where a lot of my struggles lie. I was a daily blogger and I think a lot of my identity as a blogger still goes back to that and the fact that I’m not anymore is still a struggle for me a lot of the time.  Like I don’t want to go back to that, because it’s hard. Like I give huge kudos to daily bloggers who produce actual content. I might try a month or so soon just to force myself to get in the habit of it again.

I’m having a blogger existential crisis. Help. Tips, please!

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The Internet Tells You Everything You Need to Do Before You Die/Get Married/Do Anything

Mary6 Comments

The internet is constantly telling me what to do. Do you know what I mean? Like I can’t get on Facebook without seeing five or six articles on the “100 Things Every College Girl Needs to Know” or “50 Places You Need to See Before You Die” or “10 Things You Must Do Before You Marry Him” and my question is: How did anyone survive without the internet?

Now, everyone knows that I’m obsessed with the Internet and how it causes people to interact with one another. However, what I cannot stand is all of those articles that every girl from your high school shares on Facebook. I think my issue is that I don’t like it when people tell me what to do.

Here’s the thing life is a personal thing. There are not 100 things you need to know, those 100 things are up to you. Sure take a look at the 50 places to see before you die to see if there’s anything that you can add to your bucket list, but if you have no desire to go to see Mt. Rushmore, don’t do it. Also, I feel like you should know if you’re ready to marry someone and maybe, if you’re looking at articles about it you aren’t really ready.

Like yes these articles are sometimes fun to read, but that doesn’t mean they need to define your relationship. I’ve read a lot recently that are about friendship, and it’s like you haven’t reached best friend status until they hold your hair while you puke after a night of drinking, and I just want to say, well I don’t want to get so drunk that my friends feel that it’s necessary to hold my hair, that doesn’t make our friendship any less because they haven’t had to do that.

While yes, some of them are inspiring or provide a good message or even are good for a laugh, sometimes I just feel like some them are intrusive. Maybe it’s because I have anxiety and I feel like a failure if I don’t see then 50 things to see before you die. They’re an easy article to write and people know they’re going to be popular. I’m sure I’ve written some in the past, shared some on Facebook, however, I think everyone needs to remember that those aren’t the end all be all to life. You’ll be fine.

Sorry about the rant.

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Lush Rant

Mary4 Comments

Now don’t get me wrong, I love Lush. I could easily spend all of my money there, very very easily. When I go into the store I love their customer service and friendliness. However, online it is not the same.

We all know how excited I was for the online sale yesterday, well, the website was essentially a piece of crap and didn’t work. At all. It took me over two hours just to buy six things. I would add something to the cart, it would crash, I would go to checkout, it would crash. It was a piece of crap. What I have gathered from twitter is that this happens ever year, which that should probably be thought about every year then, in my opinion.

So anyway, after two hours, I put my computer away, cleaned my room and went to work, thinking my order was on it’s way. Well, today I’m on the phone with Eric and he’s looking at the sale to see if he wants anything, and I realized that I  never got an email confirming my order. So I go to my account, nothings there, so my next instinct is to check my bank account. I was charged twice, one of the times was when it crashed during check out, I didn’t confirm the order, the order was never presented as confirmed to me, so I assumed it didn’t go through, so the second order was just a repeat of my second order. Nope, I got charged twice. So of course, I hung up the phone with Eric and called.

So of course I caught this too late, that’s my fault for not checking sooner, so of course they already of tracking numbers so if they’re on the truck, I can’t get a refund until I get the package, I can call for a shipment label because for some ridiculous reason they can’t send that until I have the package in my hands, get the shipping label, call UPS, send it back, and once they get it back I can get my $50 refund. Ask me how happy I am about it, not at all. And it all comes back to it wouldn’t have happened if they would have had a properly working website. I wouldn’t be out 50 bucks for approximately the next three to four weeks.

Lush- SEND EMAIL CONFIRMATIONS OF ORDERS. Honestly, the conversation needs to be better when ordering. My order didn’t even show up in my account until I was on the phone with customer support person which is actually ridiculous. Work on your website orders, there’s obviously some major issues with it. I won’t be using it again, I’ll suck it up and go to a store. Luckily you have good products otherwise I would be long gone, as soon as some other cruelty free, more affordable shop comes along you might have some major competition, at least in my eyes.

Did anyone else have problems with the sale? Or was it smooth sailing? If you’re following me on twitter you probably saw my extreme frustration. Was I the only one in this boat? Let me know.

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Late Night Blogging with Mary: Part 18

Mary4 Comments

late night blogging with mary

Well it’s been awhile since I’ve done some late night blogging, and really that’s all I have time for right now it seems. I go home in 12 days by the time I hit publish on this post, which is crazy, this semester has gone so quickly. However, I have 8 assignments due before them, I crossed off two today (thank goodness) but it’s stressful and I’m ready to be done with them all.

It’s weird getting ready to go home, it has gone by really fast, but I’m also ready to go home. I’ll miss the people and the city but I really miss my family friend back home, so I’m pretty ready to get home.

A lot’s going on and a lot is about to happen. I was away for a week, saw Molly, and now I’ve been back in Dublin ever since and I’m just trying to make the best out of my last few weeks here. I’m also getting ready to start 12 Days of Christmas on my blog! 12 days of daily blogging!  I do miss that sometimes, so this will either feed the fuel or leave me hungry for more, we shall see.

I’m also very excited for Christmas, I’m almost done my shopping. I love Christmas, I can’t wait to get home to wrap the presets. The things I’m most excited about going home are as followed: IHOP, wrapping Christmas presents, and having an oven. That’s obviously not including seeing everyone. I really miss IHOP, it will be breakfast on Sunday. Well maybe dinner because it’s so crowded Sunday morning and afternoon, you just have to time out the meal times. Also, I’m excited for American Netflix, some options are better here, but there are a lot fewer.

Let me rant about housing back home for a second. They won’t tell me who I can live with, they are literally just going to stick me with some random person in some random building which is absolutely absurd if you ask me. I’m so annoyed. It doesn’t make sense for them, and it doesn’t make sense for me. I can’t even fill out a form to see who I would be most compatible with. It’s just ridiculous. They wouldn’t let me save a spot, their recommendation for study abroad students is to live in language housing, providing no recommendations for people who are studying in an English speaking country. It’s really helpful. I’m annoyed.

Anyway, I’m beyond ready for bed. What’s going on in your life?

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I Will BE Successful

Mary5 Comments

success

Yesterday someone had the nerve to imply that communications majors should be concerned about their futures, that we should be worried that there aren’t enough jobs for us. This came out of the mouth of a Marketing major, and I dare her to see this and question me about it.

I am a Communication Arts major, I am learning how to communicate. And while I worry day in and day out about what I want to be when I grow up, I am not worried about what I will become when I grow up. There are options. I’ve applied for internships in FIVE different fields because my degree is that versatile. I’ve applied in HR, Marketing, sales, PR, and just general communications, I could also apply for internships in newspapers, editorial offices, magazines, publishing companies, and websites like BuzzFeed, so don’t you dare tell me that I should be concerned about my future.

I am worried because I don’t know what I want to be, but I know I have options. I am not limiting myself to a concentration because of that reason. I will not choose marketing because that is so limiting. I can still take marketing classes and put that on my resume if I want, but I really don’t need to since I already had an internship in marketing and that looks better than any class I could take on the subject. I don’t want to limit myself to the digital realm, even though that does happen to be what I like, because what if I fall in love with print. Being a Communications major means I’m giving myself options. Choosing to be a Communications major without limitations allows me to explore even more options. If I was certain on something, then yes, I’m sure I would have a concentration, but I don’t need one, I will be successful in a plethora of ways without one.

I’m sick and tired of people verbalizing or implying that I will be a failure simply because of my major. I’m sorry, but every company needs to know how to communicate. I refuse to worry about my ability to find a job when I could walk into any office and say “I can help your office communicate better, look at my degree to prove it!” I won’t say they would give it to me, but my degree is useful. Don’t doubt me on this because I will fight to defend my decision.

I will not be the richest person in the world from this degree, but I can almost guarantee that any company could use me or someone like me.

So please rub your marketing, math, engineering, or any other degree in my face. Don’t worry, I won’t criticize it, but just know that I have a wider variety of options so stop criticizing me and implying that I’m going to be a failure. No matter where you go, someone like myself will be there communicating with the rest of the world what you are doing – we are a needed breed. Communications majors will never not be needed, a company will always need to communicate outside its doors with the rest of the world no matter what they do. For the public to know they need a service it must be communicated, whether that’s through print, online, marketing (which you can do with just a communications degree), or even just within departments we are a commodity. I am not worthless like you like to imply. I do not have a joke of a major, my classes might be a little easier than bio and chem, but I still work for my grades. You need a communications major in your professional world, never doubt it. Do you see engineers working in HR? Nope, communications. Believe it or not, we’re needed, I’m going to succeed so don’t imply that I will fail.

I refuse to fail, so say it all you want, but when you go out of your way to criticize everyone else’s decisions it shows your own insecurities. Evaluate your own life and choices, not mine.

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30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 4

Mary4 Comments

blog challenge day 4

I’m the kind of person that has a lot of pet peeves because I get annoyed easily. However, I always find choosing the top five rather difficult. Yet I will try on this snowy, disgusting day.

  1. Tardiness. I hate when people are consistently late. It’s rude and it drives me crazy. If I can show up on time, so can you. I understand that there are some circumstances where it’s fine and excuses are acceptable but if you just forget to leave or intentionally leave late, that’s just rude and I don’t understand it. It wastes my time and I hate when people waste my time.
  2. Lying. I don’t understand why people lie just for the sake of lying. If I catch someone lying I lose all respect for them and I can no longer trust them. It can really ruin a friendship or any type of relationship if someone lies. By lying you’re discrediting yourself and any type of information you have shared with a person. It’s a terrible thing to consciously do.
  3. Fake people. This is up with lying. I don’t get how you can just pretend to like someone you really don’t like at all. It’s common to talk about a friend when they’re frustrating you but it’s another to talk about how much you hate someone and still pretend to be their friend. It’s stupid. I don’t understand why people think it’s an okay thing to do just to spare someone’s feelings. How do you think they would feel if they found out?
  4. Static. I hate when things get staticy. It makes so anxious when my clothes or sheets get staticy. It drives me crazy and I don’t know why. It’s one of the grossest feelings ever to me and it makes me want to get rid of anything that can contract static. Static guard is my best friend.
  5. People who pretend to be dumb. I don’t know why girls usually pretend to be dumb. I don’t know if they think it’s cute or something but it drives me crazy. If you’re smart why hide it? Be yourself and embrace who you are, don’t try and hide the things that make you the person you are. I will never understand people who do this. I wish I was smarter than I am and I’m jealous of people who are really smart so don’t try and hide it!

I know I have a lot of pet peeves and they’re kind of weird. What are your top five pet peeves?

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I’m Figuring it Out.

Mary11 Comments

Yesterday I went to my college’s career center, they told me that I should reconsider my major. That was helpful considering I’m practically done the requirements for it. Then I took their version of a career aptitude test and each section told me to that I would be good at something different so that’s interesting. I’m at the crossroads of life yet again and I’m sure next week after my meeting with them it will be worse. I don’t know, sometimes I just feel like I should know what I want to do by now and adults should respect my decisions considering I’m kind of an adult.

I’m tired of being questioned about who I am and what I’m doing. I think people think they’re helping when they ask me questions like “are you sure” or “what are you going to do with that?” as if I’m not asking myself those same questions every day. It’s not helpful to push someone against something they just made their minds up about.

I am a thorough thinker in about everything I do. I don’t really make a decision without considering and weighing all of my options. I have considered every single major my school offers and I have come to the conclusion that Communications is really the only thing that interests me besides photography which really isn’t an option with the way my school does it, plus that’s not a career for me. Communications is something that I can see myself doing and it also happens to be the only thing I like, which is apparently a problem for other people. I’m very sorry that I don’t like anything but I don’t know how that’s anyone else’s problem but my own.

I hope no one thinks I’m a waste of potential or anything. I feel like way too many people besides myself are concerned about where I’m going to end up. Honestly I’m not that worried. I’m not really worried that I won’t find a job because I think if you’re actively trying to find something especially in the communications field someone’s always going to need you. Since I would be fine living almost anywhere I’m not worried about it. I’m more concerned that I’m going to end up unhappy but I will actively find somewhere to work that I can be happy in.

So in conclusion: Firstly,  yes I have a career that I would like to go into, actually two that I’m really looking into. Second, please stop questioning every decision I make because I can promise that I’ve questioned it a lot more than you and it took me way too long to come to that conclusion. Lastly, I’m not worried, I’m comfortable enough with where I am, I have a type of plan and I am confident that I will be able to find a job. Stop stressing me out because you think I’m making rash decision. I don’t know what I’m doing but everyone figures this sort of thing out on their own, just keep that in mind.

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My Life, Just Mine.

Mary2 Comments

I knowingly put a lot of information about my life on the internet, personal details that most people would be less willing to share, however this does not mean that I am subjecting myself to pointless questions and being told what to do via people I know in real life simply because of what they would do in my shoes. Sure, sometimes I ask for advice, but when I don’t, I don’t need the comments like “well why wouldn’t you do *insert something I don’t want to do*” “If you do that then you have to do this” or my favorite “I just don’t  understand why you can’t/won’t do *something I can’t or won’t do*”. I am very well aware that people have their opinions but I don’t know why they need to be shared if I’m not asking and it doesn’t affect you.

My choice not to drink has seemed to bother people in the past, which I don’t understand. The fact that I don’t see the need to not remember my night for some reason really gets to people as if me getting drunk provides some sort of good deed to them. The pressure that friends have put on me in the past has only further hindered any desire I’ve had to drink underage, or ever for that matter. I don’t understand how this is anyone’s business but my own, however everyone likes to put in their two cents on the matter anyway.

Again, I willingly put mostly every detail about my personal life on the internet for all to see, I mean for some odd reason over 300 people have decided to follow this blog and anywhere from 40-100 people read it a day which gives a lot of people a lot of information about my life and that really doesn’t bother me. However, unless I am asking directly for advice or what I should do in a situation I don’t know why people give so much input on my life, does this happen to everyone or just me?

I hear this happens a lot as you get older, especially when you’re pregnant/parenting/having kids while I don’t expect that to happen for a while I cannot believe how many people, strangers that I just randomly meet, even have input on my life decisions. Last year during my first week of classes a guy asked me my major and I said “Communications and maybe political science or something like that, I really like his—” before I could even finish my sentence out of his mouth came “Why would you want to do anything like that? The best majors are the sciences and math, I’m Computer Science, you should really look into it, it’s so great!” He went on and on about how great his major was before I could even finish the question he asked and I had just met him that day! It’s my life, I didn’t know him, and I don’t know how my decision to go into the humanities affects him so much that he had to go on a rant about how great his major was. Just because he was happy and content with his field of study it doesn’t mean that’s how I would feel there, especially with what I started telling him this. It happened again recently when a friend had to go to the hospital and the man taking her blood was asking about our majors since the hospital is right next to the school, and he said “Communications?! What on earth can you do with that?” and I don’t know how to respond to questions that I get like this (all the time, usually not from complete strangers) because I don’t know what exactly I want to do. However, why does it matter to him what I’m going to do with my degree? It doesn’t affect him whether I go onto great things at a newspaper or God forbid I end up at Starbucks, it doesn’t change his life at all.

What I’m trying to get across here, is unless someone asks for your opinion or advice there’s really no point in giving it. If I’m answering your question, why tell me how wrong I am? What’s the point? I can do my life and you can do yours and we can live in harmony, but my choice to not do drugs, not have sex until I’m married, to be a communications major, and doing my life the way I want to, doesn’t affect anyone else but me and the people it directly relates to and the unneeded commentary about my personal decisions can stop at anytime please and thank you.

Does anyone else have this problem or just me?

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