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Today on the great VFT site.
21-02-20-Millennials.jpg
 
Here in Topeka Ks we only have 2 real stocking dealerships left. A Yamaha/KTM dealer and Topeka HD. Honda, CanAm and Kawasaki are just barely hanging on with only a few bikes in stock. No Triumph, Suzuki or Indian dealers either.
 
Who was it that raised the Millennial's?:whistle: For the life of me I can't recall ever having seen children handing out "participation trophy's" to other children... What was it the Greatest Generation said about the Baby Boomers in the 60's? Something about dirty hippies?
 
Who was it that raised the Millennial's?:whistle: For the life of me I can't recall ever having seen children handing out "participation trophy's" to other children... What was it the Greatest Generation said about the Baby Boomers in the 60's? Something about dirty hippies?

I grew up at my fathers side, he was always working on something and I was right there looking over his shoulder and handing him wrenches, he taught me a lot. When I was a teenager I bought an old worn out pickup and he helped me fix it up, taught me how to do my own work.
Fast forward to my own two boys ( Now 36 and 39 ) , no interest whatsoever in anything mechanical. They work in offices, nothing wrong with that, they are their own persons. But I think they are a snapshot of their generation that grew up with computers and video games.
My childhood was spent playing ball in the neighborhood park with all the other kids on my street, television had five channels and was in black and white. When I was a teen, working on cars with your pals was hugely entertaining.......ah, but I digress.:thumbsdown:
 
I grew up at my fathers side, he was always working on something and I was right there looking over his shoulder and handing him wrenches, he taught me a lot. When I was a teenager I bought an old worn out pickup and he helped me fix it up, taught me how to do my own work.
Fast forward to my own two boys ( Now 36 and 39 ) , no interest whatsoever in anything mechanical. They work in offices, nothing wrong with that, they are their own persons. But I think they are a snapshot of their generation that grew up with computers and video games.
My childhood was spent playing ball in the neighborhood park with all the other kids on my street, television had five channels and was in black and white. When I was a teen, working on cars with your pals was hugely entertaining.......ah, but I digress.:thumbsdown:
Children are a product of the times they grow up in, but to blame Millennials' for Millennials' is to imply that they were raised in a vacuum by each other. Millennials' did not raise Millennials'. Baby boomers and to a lesser extent Gen Xers raised Millennials, Boomers and Xers handed out participation trophies. Boomers and Xers bought Millennials the video games system. Boomers and Xers created the environment that Millennials' grew up in. Boomers and Xers created the TV content and Music that Millennials' grew up with. Boomers and Xers created and marketed ALL the tech that shaped the Millennial generation. Don't blame Frankenstein's monster for Frankenstein's monster.
 
Before I retired we were constantly bombarded with how great millennials are, how we had to treat them "differently" because they were so special, how we wanted to keep them, from leaving us, how we had to promote them at regular intervals, etc etc. Now HR has a new pet LOL...
It's broad brush but like i said, there's an element of truth to it. I've seen it in my kid's friends and the children of my friends. I am not going to be lectured to by entitled brats who want everything I have built at age 58. Nor will I be blamed for "ruining the housing market" so they can't buy a house.
Blaming parents for millennials faults is the most millennial thing ever.
 
I'm technically a millennial, and while I have seen some of the things that get made fun of all the time, with the youngest millennial being 25 now it's more the Gen Z kids that are the loudest about everything. The ones out partying for spring break in florida last year? Gen Z. So a lot of the blame for the gen z kids falls on Gen X, and maybe the earliest of millenials.

Personally, I have an associates degree, haven't made less than double minimum wage since I got out of the military. I bought a house, and sold it 4 years later for over $100K more than I paid and left WA to go back to OK. Bought a bigger nicer house for less than half what the house in WA sold for, and it took about a year but now I'm a machinist for the FAA. It's not always easy, but I didn't have a cell phone till high school, I rode bikes all summer with friends, had a job and motorcycle at 14yrs old, and honestly a kid couldn't do 3/4 of the stuff I did growing up without some adult calling CPS on the parents now.
 
now I'm a machinist for the FAA.

That’s a good trade! Jay Leno wrote an article in popular mechanics years ago, lamenting the loss of skilled tradesmen in our country, and it is so true. Jobs and educations are trending towards technology and that is understandable, given that’s where the majority of jobs are, but consequently the pool of knowledgeable machinists and mechanics is shrinking. I grew up doing my own maintenance on my cars, but has become harder and harder with everything being computer controlled and under the hood space is incredibly dense! I swear I don’t know how shop mechanics get to parts that need replacing!
I know I’m digressing, but just for example, I just installed new spark plugs in my Fiat, talk about a motor being shoe horned into a tiny space! The plugs are in the top of the head like a hemi, I had to remove three layers of parts just to see them, then they reside about 8” down in a hole just big enough to get the socket down in and every spark plug has it’s own coil. It sure ain’t like the Chevys I grew up working on!
 
Yes, Mailman. In the late 60's and 70's, hi-tech was having a dwell meter and an allen wrench to adjust the points/dwell on all GM cars. I could buy a single coil for a 350 in Kmart for under $5. Remember when a full tuneup was plugs, wires, cap and rotor and maybe a little tweak on the carb?

I know that this is gonna start sounding like a Monty Python sketch: "When I was a kid we had to lick the road clean!" Or, "Our house was in the middle of the road!"

I sub at Gainesville HS in GA and this kid got a job with a garbage company. I saw him weeks later and asked how the job was going. He said he quit. Why I asked. And you can't make this up, he said, "They wanted me to work in the rain!"
 
I know I’m digressing, but just for example, I just installed new spark plugs in my Fiat, talk about a motor being shoe horned into a tiny space! The plugs are in the top of the head like a hemi, I had to remove three layers of parts just to see them, then they reside about 8” down in a hole just big enough to get the socket down in and every spark plug has it’s own coil. It sure ain’t like the Chevys I grew up working on!
The wife's Grand Prix is a transverse 6. To change the rear plugs you have to remove the dog bone mounts on top and other odds and ends.... and roll the motor forward. What a pain.
Sorry... back on subject.
 
I grew up at my fathers side, he was always working on something and I was right there looking over his shoulder and handing him wrenches, he taught me a lot. When I was a teenager I bought an old worn out pickup and he helped me fix it up, taught me how to do my own work.
Fast forward to my own two boys ( Now 36 and 39 ) , no interest whatsoever in anything mechanical. They work in offices, nothing wrong with that, they are their own persons. But I think they are a snapshot of their generation that grew up with computers and video games.
My childhood was spent playing ball in the neighborhood park with all the other kids on my street, television had five channels and was in black and white. When I was a teen, working on cars with your pals was hugely entertaining.......ah, but I digress.:thumbsdown:

Yes, Mailman. I had a very similar childhood and teenhood. My boys are 30 and 35. When they were kids, I kinda forced them to fix their own stuff or watch me while I fixed their stuff. They are both techwise and mechanicalwise and both appreciate what they've learned from me and that makes me proud and happy! No matter what they do in life, I am mostly glad that they grew up to be good people!
 
We live on a small farm. Horses, chickens, vegetables, etc. If you don't work. You don't eat. That was the rule. They also drove old cars (1985 Ranger, 1979 CJ5) and helped me to fix them. As a result both are hard working, responsible young adults. So... not all millennials fit the stereotype.
But there are stereotypes for a reason...
 
We live on a small farm. Horses, chickens, vegetables, etc. If you don't work. You don't eat. That was the rule. They also drove old cars (1985 Ranger, 1979 CJ5) and helped me to fix them. As a result both are hard working, responsible young adults. So... not all millennials fit the stereotype.
But there are stereotypes for a reason...
For the last 100 years every generation has been mocked by previous generation's. All generation's are subject to stereotypes, all generational stereotypes are based in fact but not every person of said generation fits that stereotype. It's easy to lump all millennials' into the tight pants, self-absorbed, me first group. But lets not overlook the fact that with youngest gen Xers being 40+ this year, our military is made up of almost %100 millennials'. Our skilled trades while somewhat under staffed is now made up of roughly %50 millennials' at this point. Also remember that (many) millennials' are as disgusted by the actions of their fellow millennials' as you are.
 
Skilled labor? Here in GA there is a definite decline in skilled labor. Example: 2 years ago I longterm subbed for wood shop. I did the classroom stuff. Namely the math and safety part. These were 9th thru 12th graders and 90% of them didn't know how to add fractions and compound numbers.
You know, 1-1/2 + 1-1/2 = duh. By the end of the semester, more than 75% could do it. But here's the kicker. 99% of them could not read a ruler.. If the fractions weren't labled, they couldn't do it. Personally, I can't remember when I learned to read a ruler, but I'm sure it was way before high school.
To make matters worse, our high school was supposed to teach, hands on, carpentry, masonry, plumbing and electric. Instead, the shop teacher had a handful of kids building sheds for some charity. The remainder of the kids played with their phones. That guy was fired after about 15 years of this.

I'm sorry, I'm on a rant. I have visited other schools in my area and they are teaching all the necessary skills, but the skilled labor force is definitely down.

Oh, I wanted to say that it seems that every generation looks at the next generation always with some level of discust. This newest generation will do the same if they still have a brain! :shootme:
 
[QUOTE="I could buy a single coil for a 350 in Kmart for under $5. Remember when a full tuneup was plugs, wires, cap and rotor and maybe a little tweak on the carb?

I know that this is gonna start sounding like a Monty Python sketch: "When I was a kid we had to lick the road clean!" Or, "Our house was in the middle of the road!"

[/QUOTE]

You must be a pup! Back in my day, a full tuneup included points, condenser and spark plugs also. Didn't need no steenkin' dwell meter neither. Used a matchbook cover to set the points gap.

:popcorn:

Mike
 
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