#RecentGraduates

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Nostalgia: A Sign You're Becoming An Adult

As I've gotten older many things have changed in my life.  My interests changed slightly.  My social habits changed. Even my taste buds have made their first major shift.  And of course there's responsibility. After you graduate college everything becomes about securing your future and obtaining responsibility.  

Serious relationships all take the will or won't I marry this person approach.  Your friends start having kids, and you start saving for a down payment on a house (you know after you start paying off your student loans). 

I say there's one true sign of getting older: Nostalgia.

Here are some Nostalgia triggers that indicate you're getting older:

You hear the Backstreet Boys on the radio.  You laugh then you sigh and then you sing along.  The 18 year old in the car next to you has no idea what the song who let alone who the Backstreet Boys are.

The day you found the Nickelodeon channel with all the old cartoons and shows like All That and Kenan and Kel made your weekend if not your year.

You remember the first season of Survivor

You remember when Princess Diana died.

You see college kids out drinking and it makes you tired to think about.

You go to sleep early because you're not doing anything.

You know what class you were in when 9/11 happened.  You were in your teens

You somehow remember that Brett Favre didn't always look like an 65 year old man

You remember when the internet became a "thing"

Your best friends in elementary school all had one thing in common: they owned a Super Nintendo

You remember when every baseball player hitting 30 home runs a season was awesome and not at all suspect.

You remember rebuying movies on dvd only to start over again with Blu-Ray

You remember a time when kids with ADD were simply troublemakers or energetic

You remember a time without reality TV

You didn't wear a costume on Halloween

You remember Y2K

I'm sure there are more but these are some major triggers for me.  What are yours share them on Facebook and Twitter!

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[gen-ystories-blog]

3 Things Every Restaurant Customer Should Know

During a brief and glorious stint in the DC area I took a job in a restaurant as a host.  Though numerous friends and family members had told me about their experiences working in food service, I myself had never actually worked in a restaurant before.  

Here are three things I learned that most customers should bear in mind.

#1 Requesting A Particular Table Can Screw Over A Server

To make sure the customer distribution between the servers is even, most restaurants have a rotation system in place.  For example, the first customers will be seated in section A than B and so on and so forth.  However when the rush hits every customer seems to want a booth.  Unfortunately all the available booths may be in one section.  This leads to the dread scenario or double or even tripling seating.  

Of course you may say that you are the customer and that's not your concern.  Well it kinda is.  Thing is that overworked server is much more likely to make mistakes and is less likely to give you personalized attention because three tables all want their orders taken around the same time.  

Lesson: If the place is packed, be kind and take the next available seat.

#2 Unannounced Big Parties Are A Nightmare

Once a week, usually on a weekend, a large number of people in town for family reunion would all arrive at the same time.  Their request, a table for fifteen.  This is a nightmare for hosts, servers and managers alike.  

Problem #1: Regular seating isn't meant for such a large group.  

The highest amount of expected seating is usually around six (for a larger family). Since most groups average between 3-4 people this is usually safe.  If a large group of 14 arrives this means that tables from different sections have to be combined to make room.

Problem #2: Servers usually have to tag team the group

If a large group is expected they'll usually get their own room and their own server.  It makes things a lot simpler.  If it's not expected everyone's making it up as they go. This means servers have to decided who's going to take the giant table or how they're gonna divy it up and who's gonna cover their other tables.  It's a mess

Problem #3: They stay for forever.

Having been a member of a big group I can say that we're very social and like to talk to each other.  Unfortunately this also means that we stay much longer than other groups.  Couples, for the most part, can finish a three course meal with drinks and still be out before the first member of the big party begins to to trickle out

Lesson:  If possible call ahead to let the restaurant know you're coming

#3 Kids Create Warzones

Most people are quick to say they either like or hate kids.  Though even people that like kids hate them in restaurants.  Many kids are cute or precocious and well mannered, but half of them will do one of the following.

Dislike everything on the menu and inspire parental requests for apple juice at a brew-pub

Spill entire meals/drinks on the floor

Scream louder than a gaggle of 15 year old girls who just saw Justin Bieber

Irritate their parents enough to make them mad at the server

Destroy the bathroom with toiletpaper adventures.

The worst thing about them, as Tina Fey point out in her book, is the meals they destroy cost less than normal.  So now you've got extra questions and extra grief all for a meal that's half the cost of an adults meal.  Sure someone hitting on you is rude but at least you can increase your tip.  No such luck with kids. 

What's your food service horror story?

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[gen-ystories-blog]

Why I'm Doing This

In the spring of 2009, I entered the working world.  My graduation speakers gave us cliches about changing the country, making a difference, and what we learned. Cut to about one and a half years later.  I had lived in three cities, taken three part time jobs, applied to over a hundred full time positions and found myself living in my parents basement.  

My example may be more extreme than others but it seems that many of my friends encountered similar experiences upon graduation.  This is a place to share those experiences.  Some will rants, some will attempt to be insightful and some will try to be funny.  Feel free to share all you like

Here it goes!

[gen-ystories-blog]

3 Questions to Drive A Recent College Grad Crazy

After you graduate from college you're bound to run into someone you knew as kid.  Maybe it's one of your parents friends, a church member or even a member of your own family you live with.  Regardless they're going to have questions for you. Most of the questions they have are standard such how have you been and what you doing? However there some that will drive you around the bend without fail.  They vary from person to person but here are some to almost guarantee a deep sigh and a vague response.

Here's three such questions and what to say instead.

#1 Any Question About Their Future Career:

To give some clarity I'll use myself as an example.  Most people that knew me around high school know that I want to be a teacher.  Seems simple enough.  However, many people I haven't seen in a bit ask "Have you found a teaching job yet?"  This subsequently triggers feelings of failure, regret, anger and long winded explanation of how difficult it has been for me to find a teaching position.  The question is well meaning but it can be like bringing up an ex-gf for some.

Replacement Question: What are you up to right now?  Keeps the ball in their court  and it's generic enough that you won't offend them.

#2 Any Specific Question Related To My Major:

To many it makes sense to ask friends and family questions about their area of expertise.  My friends come to me for movie info and rightfully so considering I'm used by some as a human IMDB. However whenever I tell people I want to teach history they immediate begin spouting off information and questions about a very specific historical incident.  Same thing happens to my girlfriend.  They know she's a bio nerd so anytime they see a plant or animal they don't know they ask her for it's name and if possible the scientific name.  Here's quick things to remember

Just because we studied it doesn't mean we studied all of it

We don't remember all of what we actually studied

Your favorite subject isn't our favorite subject

Replacement Question: Ask specifics about what we studied and what we liked studying. 

#3 When Are You Guys Getting Married?

Marriage is tricky nowadays.  Student loan debt doesn't exactly make a big expensive wedding and likely a home purchase seem that appealing. Likewise our generation, probably more than others, has witnessed plenty of divorces in our own lives.  That being said I have rarely heard someone say they aren't interested in getting married and plenty of my friends have gotten engaged and married within the past couple of years.  

The problem is the presumption.  For someone who's looking forward to a life with their current girlfriend or boyfriend this is an easy question to handle that focuses on the financial constraints versus the person.  For someone who's been dating the same person awhile but isn't sure about marriage or their relationship you just brought up the elephant in the room.  And finally for the person who wants to do things their way without outside influence you will piss them off for assuming they would want to get married regardless of their personal stance.

Replacement Question: Ask them if they're still with the same person/how the relationship is/how the person they're dating is.  If engagement is in the future they'll bring it up themselves.

[gen-ystories-blog]

3 Things You Don't Realize About Leadership (Until You're Put In Charge)

What was your first leadership position? Despite being a member of numerous sports teams and attempting to run for student council, I was never IN CHARGE until college.  Then I became a manager at my local pool. The job wasn't necessarily hard, especially considering the pool could barely fill one classroom of third graders.  However there's a lot of things no one ever told me about being a leader.

Here's what I found.

#1 There's Always Someone Higher That You Answer To

Unless you're the owner, CEO, or have controlling interest in a company, you are technically beneath someone wherever you work. Many people go into some management position for the first time and think they're the king.  Kings make decisions without consulting anyone if they please.  You don't get to.  You're expect to follow procedures, report to your boss, and deal with anything in between.  Which leads up to realization number two.

#2 Everyone Judges Your Decisions

As a lifeguard I felt like the only people who judged what I did were the managers (and they're were only two of them). Once I began managing it was clear that I was being judged by three groups.  First, the lifeguards beneath me.  Next, my fellow managers. Finally, my boss.  Of course I have no reason to suspect anyone thought I was glaring incompetent or bad at my job, but it was still abundantly clear to me that my decisions actually mattered to someone besides me. For some this turns into paranoid.  Others this works as a motivator.  The paranoid ones usually end up being bad leaders.

#3 Everyone Has Bad Ideas/Is An Idiot

If you're some sort of middle manager you're going to hear a lot of bad ideas/deal with idiotic behavior from customers, and especially your employees.  No sooner do you settle in to your new shift you'll probably get one if not all of the following:

The worker who wants to go home because their favorite show is on

The customer who thinks something should be cheaper because that's how it is somewhere else

The worker who won't end the dumbest conversation you've ever heard

The customer who accuses your star employee of doing something terrible

Unless they have expertise you really shouldn't listen to them.  Most lifeguards don't wanna sit in the sun staring at the water but you can't take them all down because they're bored or send someone just because.  Truth of it is competent leaders will notice a good idea because it'll be a glimmer of hope in the trainwreck of stupidity you will typically deal with.  

What was your first leadership position?  How did it go? 

[gen-ystories-blog]

Cats The Perfect Gen-Y Pet

I am a dog person. I don't know the root cause of it.  Maybe it's because I'm a boy.  Maybe I understand how they think.  Maybe it's because my dad's cat used to pee in my diaper bag when I was young and the memory stuck.  Couldn't tell you.  So of course my first pet ended up being...a cat.  The story is simple enough, a cat arrived at my doorstep, I feed her and she kept coming back.  Since then my excessively loud cat, Amber has slept in my room and on my bed.

Though I never intended on having a cat there are a couple things about cats that make them ideal pets for recent graduates.

#1 No Walks Necessary 

Since they've got their litter box, cats don't really need walks.  Sure some need to be let outside but opening a door is no big deal. Dogs on the other hand need walks in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening.  If they didn't walked at some point, they'll probably go to the bathroom in the house or need almost a mile long walk to feel refreshed at night. 

That time adds up and I know I'm far less enthused about taking a dog for a walk in the middle of winter at 8 at night than I am on a lovely spring day I happen to be free.  With cats that's never a worry.

#2 They're Independent 

Every dog that I've had is in constant need of affection.  So much so that they will follow me around from room to room if I'm the only one in the house.  Of course companionship is a great thing to have, but this also means a fifty pound animal may be trying to lick your face or jump in your lap when you're just trying to eat pizza and enjoy the game.  

Of course cats jump in out of nowhere but not all of them will rush to great you at the door or follow your everywhere or eat everything off of your plate.  

Their independence also makes them an easy pet sitting stop.  For the most part all you need to do if you're pet sitting a cat is feed them once or twice a day and clean out the litter box.  Every dog owner I know usually wants you to stay at the house to keep the dog company.  Never the case with a cat.

#3 They Don't Bark At Noises In The Middle of the Night 

Cats are often annoying in the middle of the night but one thing they don't do so much is bark at some random noise.  In fact their reaction usually mimics my own which is startled awake then "oh ok it's nothing time to go to sleep". 

The family dog on the other hand barks even when I enter the house and will leap out of whoever's bed she's sleeping in to investigate.  Great for robbers terrible for my sleeping hours which are already low.