Many millennials have — at some point or another — been blamed for "killing" industries, being lazy, or generally ruining everything.
To prove the point, redditor u/BoiBoiMcBoiBoi asked, "Millennials of Reddit, whats the stupidest 'The problem with your generation is' you have ever heard?" There were a ton of responses, so here are some of the best ones (along with a few from other threads that asked the same question):
1. Millennials read the news on their phones instead of reading newspapers:
"An older man in the waiting area of a barbershop once complained that we millennials are always on our phones and then immediately went back to reading his newspaper."
2. Millennials don't let people invade their privacy and personal space.
"We recently got a key to the bathroom (finally), and my mom (baby boomer) complains about my brother (millennial) and I (Generation Z) locking the door when we are bathing/on the toilet, so she can't wash her hands. The kitchen is close to the bathroom, so it shouldn't be a problem to just go down the stairs. Like WTF, give us some privacy."
—u/lawita
3. Millennials are simultaneously lazy and entitled, but also don't take time off work and spend money at a salon.
"Some time back, my boss lamented to a colleague that, 'Millennials are so entitled.' That very same day, she left for a two-hour lunch break to get her eyelashes done, left work an hour early for her private yoga session, and found time to complain that the company is underpaying her despite the fact that she earns 108K annually.
Oh, and today she told me that I looked like a 'shaggy dog' because I didn't have time to go to a salon and get my hair cut. I've been working 6 days a week, 12 hours a day to pick up her slack because she doesn't even know how to set the print area on Excel."
—u/aflyingleaf
4. Millennials don't physically abuse their children.
"'The problem with the millennials is they don't spank their children. And even worse, they aren't allowed to. Back in my day, when everyone spanked their kids, we didn't have school shootings. It's all because millennials don't spank their kids.'
This was a Facebook post. OK, so I get that back in his day they didn't have TV or internet to look up and report every little detail of every gun shooting ever. I didn't even live back then and could think of one terrorist attack then and there without googling it: the Bath school bombing. And that was back when everyone and a teacher could spank a child for misbehaving. The nerve. Ohh, the nerve."
—u/MECCEM101
5. Millennials...uh...lean back in their chairs.
"That we 'lean back in our chairs.'
I wasn't even leaning back when he said it. He sat in my office chair, and because he weighs 80-plus pounds more than me, the chair leaned back for him. Granted there is another young lad in the office who sits with his back parallel to the ground that he was comparing it to, but still. Silly thing to generalize, especially when everyone's got desk foot hammocks now."
6. Millennials can't live without the internet (even though we already did):
"Most people don't know the actual age range of millennials. They complain about these 'kids who couldn't survive without the internet.' Millennials are the generation born between 1980 and 1994. That makes the youngest ones 24 years old today. We are not kids. A ton of us also grew up without depending on the internet for everything. I can do 99% of the things I need to do daily without it if needed. I do use the internet to make my life easier in a lot of ways, but is that really a bad thing?
My biggest complaint by far about how people view millennials is that we are not talked about as ADULTS. We are all adults now. There are members of every generation who are immature, but we are most definitely a group of adults."
—u/cinymin
7. Millennials don't smoke unfiltered cigarettes:
"My friend's dad that was in 'Nam said we were all 'a bunch of pussies' for smoking filtered cigarettes. Real men smoke Lucky Strikes."
—u/OpiLobster
8. Millennials...cause snowboard rental lines? Honestly, I don't even know what this guy was thinking:
"Not sure if it counts, but I was in line for two hours to get a rental snowboard, and I stood next to an older man, and he told me it’s because of all the millennials that the line is long. OK, dude, sure."
—u/doopliss69
9. Millennials try to get a good deal, and also want a place to live (how dare they):
"Someone I met mentioned she was trying to sell her house, but 'all those millennials keep giving her low offers.' She then said, 'What do they need a house for anyway?' Ugh, to live in like everyone else so we don't have to live with our parents?"
—u/TinyOosik
10. Millennials drink coffee, and therefore they can't buy houses:
"'If millennials would stop drinking their goddamn fancy coffees every day, they would be able to afford a house!' OK, grandpa, here's some maths. The average house price is £234,794 (according to [this]). My coffee from Costa is £2.65. Let's assume I drink a coffee every day to show the extreme case (I don't), so £2.65 * 365 = £967.25 per year. To get enough money for this average (probably low end) house, we'd need to skip our coffee for 234794/967.25 = 242.7 years! This isn't even counting how houses near the centre of big cities where a lot of people's jobs are can be 2–3 or even more times this price. And I don't even drink a fancy coffee every day!"
[Editor's note: Even saving up for a 20% down payment would still take nearly 50 years at this rate!]
11. Millennials don't watch The X-Files.
"Somebody once told me that the problem with my generation is that we didn't watch good TV, like The X-Files. Granted, X-Files was great, but I feel like we have bigger problems."
—u/Aperture_T
12. Millennials move too much.
"I was working at a big box office supply retailer (that may or may not have had a common office supply as their name), and I was talking to a customer, and he asked me if I am from the area and what my future is. I told him that I am indeed from the area, but I recently moved back and plan on moving again in the future, and he said, 'You millennials are always moving around, can't just stay in one place.' Like yes, the world is a big place, and I humbly apologize for wanting to see it rather than live and die in the same 20-square-mile radius I grew up in."
—u/yo1213
13. Millennials don't drink from the garden hose (???).
"'The problem with your generation is you're too afraid to drink from the garden hose.'
I did it, but I always chime in and say that's stupid. As we evolve over time you don't have to drink from the garden hose...not to mention how much more we know now from doing these things. If you don't have to, why do it?"
—u/clem82
14. Millennials don't buy napkins.
"Literally, a comment on an article I saw on LinkedIn about how millennials aren't buying napkins because our generation mostly just buys paper towels and some old fuck bitching about that. Napkins for Christ's sake. Who gives a shit about napkins? Imagine even caring about napkins that much."
15. Millennials have no job loyalty (especially to jobs that don't pay enough — how dare we!).
"'Millennials have no loyalty. They just go from one company to the next in a short amount of time to get more money.'
You dick! We're forced to go from one company to the next because you don't give us fair cost of living raises! Or any other incentive to stay! I need to pay for my medication and student loans."
"Heaven forbid we put ourselves in positions more deserving of our time and efforts, and valuing our ability to work and expecting to be paid adequately for it. How dare we respect ourselves in such a way."
—u/phantom-echo
16. Millennials don't get driver's licenses or buy polluting cars.
"I first started noticing the whole 'Millennials are ruining...' trend a few years ago when I read this article about driver's licenses. The article said that kids running out and getting their driver's license as soon as they hit 16 is starting to dwindle...that kids are getting their driver's license when they're a little older, and thus, buying their first car later in life.
Millennials interviewed in the article: 'With easy and affordable public transportation and services like Uber, I just don't feel like I need a car.'
Baby boomers commenting on the article: 'Kids today. Too lazy to take their noses out of their phones and get a job to buy their own car. They expect Mommy and Daddy to chauffeur them everywhere.'"
17. Millennials don't spend their money on extravagant things, and instead do dumb stuff like paying off loans.
"I was talking to my boss about HQ and the $50,000 prize they were giving out, and he was saying how he'd go on a grand vacation and buy a big shiny car if he won. I told him I'd pay off my school and car loans and start a savings account. He laughed and proceeded to make fun of stupid millennials for not knowing how to handle money...
Kay."
18. Millennials don't get in trouble with the law.
"'You kids don't know how to get in trouble anymore. When I was your age, we'd have someone buy us beer, and we'd sneak off to the woods or the lake and have a good time. Someone always got caught of course. Then you'd get grounded and have no TV for a week. Kids just don't do that anymore.'
Umm, OK, but I'm 30."
19. Millennials don't have enough wars, apparently.
"One I heard from a Vietnam vet was that we 'never had a mandatory military draft to weed out the weak ones and the whiners' and that 'a war would do us millennials all a little good.'"
20. Millennials don't buy (expensive, difficult to maintain) silverware.
"That we don't buy silver flatware because we're too lazy to polish it, don't want to buy the stupid knickknacks that they/their parents bought, etc. I work in the antiques field, so I hear that a lot. They always quote that statistic that we want to spend our money on experiences rather than things, and I fail to see how that is a bad thing."
21. Millennials also don't buy (expensive, difficult to maintain) china.
"My friend's grandma made a comment yesterday about how millennials don't have china because we can't put it in the dishwasher, and we don't like to handwash dishes. I made a comment under my breath about how it's because china is expensive and not worth splurging on."
22. Millennials don't work the same hours (even when they do).
"I was walking down the hallway at work and overheard, 'The thing with millennials is they come and go whenever they want. How are we supposed to schedule a meeting when they refuse to have set hours?' As a millennial, I still work 8–5 like everyone else in the office. It was oddly specific, but generally incorrect. Maybe he was talking about an intern that's still in school?"
23. Millennials want handouts.
"'Millennials think the world owes them something and are always expecting a handout!' I work in social media for a food company. The only people who message and email us asking for free samples and products are firmly aged 40-plus."
24. Millennials love participation trophies.
"The goddamn participation trophies. We didn't ask for them, that was our parents' idea, and yet somehow that makes it our fault for doing entitled, irrational things like wanting to be able to buy a home with a middle-class income."
25. Millennials have voted away everyone's rights (despite having barely any representatives their age).
"My dad has blamed me for voting away all our rights since before I could vote."
26. Millennials are killing "The customer is always right."
"I had an older customer at my restaurant tell me that millennials were ruining customer service, because we’re so laid-back [that] we don’t complain enough, and pretty soon 'The customer is always right' won’t mean anything anymore."
27. Millennials don't want houses.
"That we don't want to buy houses. Many millennials grew up during the housing crisis. Houses aren't a great investment; they mean taking more loans, and the average salary of a 30-year-old hasn't increased in 30 years, while everything else has."
28. Millennials won't just work a job to pay for college.
"Literal conversation I had with a friend once:
'I don't understand; if school is so expensive, why don't you get a job that will help you pay for it? Everyone's hiring!'
Yes, Carol. They're hiring at minimum wage 20 hours a week. That doesn't cover rent, let alone an education."
29. Millennials...use iPads.
"I am a student dentist. Had a baby boomer patient say that my generation of doctors relies too heavily on technology. This was in response to me looking up their medication on my iPad."
30. Millennials are always on their phones.
"'Millennials are too obsessed with phones!'
They're pocket devices that allow me to keep in contact with friends and access any information in the world. Fuck yeah, I'm going to use my phone."
31. And finally, millennials are clearly the first and only generation to do any of these things.
"My wife went to a generational differences seminar where they discussed basically how to co-exist with your co-workers decades older or younger than you to work effectively.
The presenter read an article, and it said, 'The current workforce fears the incoming generation will enter the workforce feeling entitled, demanding a higher wage, with a work-life balance.' The presenter then went on to ask, 'Can anyone guess which generation they were referring to?' Pretty much the entire room said 'millennials' with much disdain.
The presenter corrected them and said, 'Actually the article I just read was from 1948.'
Turns out people will always hate the incoming generation, forever, guaranteed."
Are you a millennial or Gen Z'er who overheard someone older blaming you for all the world's ills? Let us know about it in the comments!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.