Manager exposes Gen Z employees’ entitlement: ‘The older folks I manage, at least, know how to act right even if they might be annoyed with me deep down, and at least perform basic compassion’

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Olivia Arocena • Writer and Editor
Sep 26, 2026 6:00 PM EDT

Gen Z's strong entitlement is nothing new, but it's time we do something about it

Let's face it, this is partially our fault. An entire generation failed them at the most basic level: education and common sense. For somebody to develop an acceptable attitude in the world, many people have to be involved. Parents have to be around and tell kids what's appropriate and what isn't; and a school system has to teach kids how to function in society and follow rules. Things do not just happen.

I think we still have time to involve them in the real world, and it can only be done through boundaries and consequences- things they might not have known before.

If you're in a leadership position, like the manager in this story, you have an excellent chance to show how things really work. It's like the ridiculous online debate going around a few weeks ago about the Gen Zer who took an iced coffee to a job interview.

Some things are what they are, and by subscribing to them, we are not saying they're not absurd; we're saying not everything can or has to be adjusted to our preferences, and some rules we have to follow.

Believe it or not, that's a very valuable life lesson. If we only stick to what we want and expect the world to cater to us, we will have a terrible future. We can't keep venting about Gen Z on the internet; we should be part of change.

If we don't integrate them, we will end up with a much more divided society, and we have to work together to make civilization work. We can't keep accusing them of being socially stunted when we're debating this behind a screen with a bunch of strangers.

If we can't handle it in the real world, we're part of the problem.

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  • Cheezburger Image 10666675712
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    Is this what you do for work?

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  • Do you feel like your younger employees want all the compassion possible but then dehumanize you?

    I have so many examples of employees who expect so much understanding from me, but who don't have the capacity to see me as a human as well that it has become something I actually discuss in therapy. I'm
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  • curious to know if it's just me and my work or if other people have come across these kind of hypocritical direct reports. Example 1: An employee who has called in sick for not sleeping a full 8 hours.
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  • (true story, had a 26 year old call in and their reason was that they had only gotten 6 hours of sleep and were tired.) They called out with that excuse on a day that they had to give a presentation to higher ups. This same
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  • employee literally bombarded me with texts one day about something that was absolutely unimportant while I was recovering from sur ry. Example 2: I had someone express frustration when I've had to reschedule a 1:1
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  • to attend my uncle's funeral. 2 years ago I gave this person the day off no questions asked when they came in crying due to a personal issue. Example 3: I've had someone try to block a
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  • meeting over my protected. lunch time and when I've explained to them that I needed to pick up a lunch order and that if I took the meeting, I'd have 8 hours of back to back meetings with no chance to eat, they've responded with
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  • "I'd really like to get this done today" and then literally threw it back in my face at a team meeting the next week essentially blaming me for their deliverable being late because I pushed back on protecting my time to eat.
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  • This is someone who had months to work on this project (yes, I followed up with them about this after the meeting.) We have an open and transparent culture from top down where I work, but
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  • I've honestly thought it would be emotionally healthier for me to stop sharing anything at all about my own personal life despite it being the culture. Mainly because it really bums me out when I treat people with so much
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  • compassion, more compassion than any of my early career managers ever gave me, yet I'm treated like I belong to some evil group by younger gens who just seem to automatically dehumanize anyone who is a manager.
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  • It's like I fall into this category in their brains of Boomer, cops, landlords and managers and they don't have to treat me like a human being because of it.
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  • The older folks I manage, at least, know how to act right even if they might be annoyed with me deep down and at least perform basic compassion.
    via FunQuestion
  • Crazy_Cat_Dude2 I've given up with this younger generation. I'm a millennial and it's wild how these 20-28 act. I don't hold back anymore.
    via Crazy_Cat_Dude2
  • Cheezburger Image 10666675968
    via Vitaly Gariev

    Entitlement is through the roof

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  • Cheezburger Image 10666676224
    via tommao wang

    Manners should make a comeback

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Tags

workplace-stories elder millennial toxic-workplace work millennials entitled people karma gen z workplace entitled r-entitled entitled people toxic-work-environment
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