No doubt some employers hope that when the economic balloon finally comes down, so will the new kids' attitude. As long skirts follow short and recessions follow booms, the day when the employer has the edge will come again. When the labor market tightens, there will be no more tolerance for torn T-shirts in the hall and dogs asleep under the desk. The guy who signs the check will be back in charge. And the tune they call is the consequence of their growing up in abundance.
Conventional wisdom is that the new employees are just spoiled.
No doubt some employers hope that when the economic balloon finally comes down, so will the new kids' attitude. I think not. The description that begins this article was not culled from employer complaints about the new generation. Kung San of Botswana, the Ache of Paraguay, the Inuit of the Arctic, who live by hunting and gathering. This is the kind of life, most anthropologists believe, that the human race lived for some two million years as it came into being, until the last few minutes of geological time.