More on the Generations Buzz

Last week I had my final customer program with The Soderquist Center. I coordinated the Spring Milestone at Greystone Estate. It was a neat group of participants that spurred on rich conversation. I had the opportunity to talk with them about my generation. It seems Gen Y is causing quite a commotion as we enter the workforce. I thought I would share a few of my insights here.

Where I've been:

• I was born in 1984 to loving, Christian parents who are still married today.
• Until I got married, they were the most important people in my life. They gave me a solid foundation of faith, family, & finances.
• I did not have to work for my first car, but I did have a 1984 clunker...
• I got my first email address in the 6th grade. I don't remember life without the Internet.
• I am 23 and debt-free and do not own a credit card. Not all of us grew up with the "entitlement epidemic." My parents biggest pet peeve was the "ribbon for just participating."
• I attended Oklahoma State University, got married, went to John Brown University for my MBA through a fellowship at The Soderquist Center and have landed here.

Where I'm going:

• I don't know. It's that simple. I don't have a 5-year plan. I don't believe in planning your personal life that far out. Don't mis-understand me. I do believe in preparing for 5 years out, but not planning.
• I am less concerned with what I will be do as I am about who I will be.

What's important to me in a job:

• Relationships. They are the foundation to any great team. I have to like the people I work with, report to, and interact with on a daily basis.
• Flexibility. Who said 8-5 are the only productive hours in the day? In a world of endless connectivity, why does an office have to be the only place where work gets done? Simple answer, its not.
• Growth. I want to be developed and grow in skills and knowledge. I don't mind putting in the extra hours, as long as I'm developing. I want to know where I'm headed.
• Meaning. I want to know that what I am doing is important. I need to be able to see how my role fits into the bigger picture & success of the company - don't we all?
• Feedback. This goes back to growth. I can't grow if I don't know what to work on. It's a simple question of "how am I doing?"

Yes, Gen Y is unique - just as every new generation who enters the workforce. We are faced with the same questions and challenges as a new wave of thought & expectations enter corporate America. Instead of constantly grumbling about our differences, though, why not embrace the positive? Why not take advantage of the experience and wisdom of the Baby Boomers while coupling it with the tenacity and creativity of my generation? Seems like win-win to me!

Life Update

The Internet. It's something I use daily, hourly, minutely (is that a word?). Yet I've never quite taken the time to really try to wrap my head around how it actually works. It's kind of like those deep, theological questions that you just can't bring yourself to think about because it just makes your head hurt. Or de ja vu. That one definitely makes my head hurt. After years of using but not quite understanding the World Wide Web, I have found myself immersed in it. I recently accepted a position with a local web development company named Rockfish Interactive. I will be an Interactive Producer for them starting on May 12th, which is a fancy and impressive way of saying Project Manager. So I am spending my free time reading up on Wikipedia about a variety of terms I've heard for years but never quite understood. The very Internet that allows me to publish this blog is a very complex conglomerate of a lot of things I do not understand. There is so much more to it than this pretty interface that I see. It's amazing to think about the minds that saw this, that knew what it could mean for global communications. Fascinating. 

I'm looking forward to joining the team. I've been working with them on the Soderquist website for the past few months and know that I am in for a wild and rewarding ride. Before landing at Rockfish, though, it was a long journey of soul-searching. I interviewed for a variety of positions around NWA - most of which were not culture or lifestyle fits for me. I had my last interview at one company last week that solidified my choice to go to work for Rockfish. During my interview, one of the interviewers brought up a "hot button" - Generational stereotypes. She mentioned that my generation didn't seem to want to work, feel like we are entitled to much more than we're ready for, and won't commit to any company. She then asked me my view of those things. Wow - there is nothing like being blatantly stereotyped to your face. You know what they say when you assume things... I rebuffed her comments by pointing out that some of those issues are age related - not generational - and that there is a greater case for personality differences and individualized management than for generation-wide shifts. I am a Gen Y'er, but I am committed to working hard, don't feel like I've earned anything yet, and will show the same amount of commitment to my employer as they show me. I want to gain experience in a variety of things so I can do the best possible job at whatever I am doing. I was quite offended by her comments to me. Needless to say, I did not take that job. 

In other, brief, news:

• I officially graduate May 10. My final day at The Soderquist Center will be April 30. It's hard to believe I have been in NWA for 2 whole years!
• Nathan & I are landscaping our side yard - we are super excited and promise to post pictures of the final results when it's more than just a pile of rocks. 
• Nathan & I are quickly approaching the 2-year mark. Marriage is best thing this side of heaven.

So that's a brief overview of what's up in my life now, for all my "avid" readers. :) Just keeping up with my blog title - Meanderings!

Blame it on Mr. Rogers...

So I was driving home yesterday from Tulsa, two hands on the wheel at 10 & 2, eyes straight ahead when I got a hankerin' for some of that Cheesecake Factory cheesecake that we had ordered to go. Nathan gets it out and prepares me a bite. As he fed it to me, he missed all of my mouth and got some on my chin. Of course he did not want it to fall into my lap so he rushed the container over to catch the dangling crumb - only to shove the big glob of whip cream all over my chin. We were in fine form on that drive home!

Now Nathan and I were not originally supposed to be in Oklahoma yesterday. We had plans to go to Hot Springs for the holiday weekend. We had reservations at the old hotel there - The Arlington - and were going to visit a spa for some pampering. Unfortunately, the spa we wanted to go to was booked up. So we decided to cancel our hotel and go another time. When I called to cancel the reservation, I was informed that they had a 48-hour cancellation policy and I was out of luck. Needless to say I was not happy with their response. I asked to speak with Customer Service. I said that I did not recall anyone mentioning the 48-hour policy. She asked if I had received my confirmation letter, which I did not. Of course, their records showed that they had sent it. Long story short, I expressed my dissatisfaction with this policy and they still only refunded half of our money. By this point we had no desire to ever visit this hotel or anything having to do with it. There was no way we were going to reschedule.

As I reflect on my poor experience with The Arlington, I am reminded of my undergrad classes where we talked about negative WOM. For every negative experience someone has with your brand, they will tell something like 5 people. As the old saying goes, "The Customer is Always Right", even when they're wrong. I was amazed that The Arlington would accept the word of their employee over my own so blatantly. But then I wondered how many customers lie or are plagued by the entitlement epidemic that has spread throughout my generation. I read a recent article in the Wall Street Journal that blames Mr. Rogers for the narcissism of the new generations. Now, Mr. Rogers is not specifically to blame - but the ideas of Mr. Rogers, the "you're special" mantra that so many parents chanted for their children. In recent years, children no longer win ribbons for actually winning but for just participating in order to not hurt their self-esteem. Everyone is special. Everyone deserves to win. But that's not reality. The truth is that we are not entitled to an easy life, to having things your way. This will be a struggle for customer service professionals to remain loyal to their customers yet do what is best for their business. In my case, I still do not believe that canceling my reservation would actually have hurt this massive hotel and I know that I never received my letter; however, there are many people who would lie in order to get what they want.

Brief Conclusion: We would have gone to The Arlington some other time, but now we will never visit them, nor will our friends and possibly any of my readers. But this policy-loyal customer service could become the trend as entitlement-plagued generations grow up and demand a new, possibly unjustified level of customer service. Just a thought!