The Worst Advice Millennials Have Received From Baby Boomers

People born anywhere from 1943 until the mid-1960s are considered ‘Baby Boomers.’ Millennials, on the other hand, represent people born anywhere from around 1980 right through until the mid-1990s. Considering the wide age gap between these two categories of people, there’s no surprise that they might see the world just a tad bit differently than one another.

For millennials, asking their parents for advice might seem like a shot in the dark, as the info received can seem outdated, or even irrelevant. It’s not your parents’ or grandparents’ fault that their advice might be lacking though, as they’re only pulling from their own experiences in life, and passing that knowledge on to you. Since times have changed, and so have the way things are done, you might want to steer clear of some not-so-great advice- like these people did…

Sometimes You Don’t Need 3-5 Years of Experience

I was getting my master’s degree, and we had a guest lecturer come in to speak to us. He had been CEO of a small company for many years. He basically told us that he stumbled into the job right out of college because he didn’t know what to do and gave it a shot.

They gave him the assistant CEO position because he had been the assistant manager at a movie theatre for a summer. And then two years later, he became the CEO. He was basically telling this entire class of people getting their advanced degrees in the hopes to get his position that he got his job on a whim 30 years ago. Reddit User: dreamqueen9103

Contradicting Views

My government teacher just told me it was hard for him to sympathize with people who have to work at McDonald’s (we were talking about raising the minimum wage) when he was able to put himself through college while working and studying full-time. He said it was still possible for anyone who wanted to put in the work.

I’d just gotten out of economics, where my teacher had told us it wasn’t possible and made us calculate the cost of our preferred college or trade school and write up our financial aid options. Weird getting almost word for word contradictions like that from two teachers. Reddit User: HrairHlessil

Participation Trophies

Talking to my dad recently and he was going on on on about “participation trophies.” His argument is that people have forgotten what hard work and earning something is, because millennials expect to always get something for nothing. I then pointed out that we wouldn’t have received said participation trophies had his generation not invented them.

I wanted to know why it was my generation’s fault for getting trophies from the people who are handing them out to us. His response was, “Yep, that’s another problem with your generation. Always blaming your faults on other people.” Reddit User: [redacted]

The Internet Is Useless For Job-Hunting

When I was in high school looking for a job, my grandmother told me to just go to places and fill out applications; she told me it was useless using the Internet to look for a job. This was in 2008, and every place I checked for a job had an Internet-based application….

According to my grandmother, it was totally pointless to use the Internet as a means of finding available jobs. If I were to follow her advice, I should have gone into countless places and just ask if they were hiring there. Reddit User: PM_ME_YOUR_HERO

Suck It Up

My first retail job, any time I complained about customers or coworkers I would get to my father. The response I would get from him was always, “You just have to suck it up. It builds character, and you’ll always have something you don’t like about your job or coworkers.”

A few years ago, he ended up losing his help desk job, and nobody wanted to hire him on for an IT position. The sad thing was he’s just a couple years shy of retirement age and doesn’t have a degree. He now works at a grocery store. Reddit User: shikitohno

No Money in Computer Science

I guess I’m on the older side of the millennial generation, but I would have numerous people tell me that I shouldn’t go into computer science and instead I should go into some other engineering field because computer scientists didn’t make good money.

They would say it wasn’t a good job, not a good fit, etc. Glad I didn’t listen to any of them, as I make a really good salary now. Why the heck would I take advice on entering a high tech field from people who barely know how to use a computer? Reddit User: DrMonkeyLove

Pop Out a Baby

I was once told by a baby boomer, “If you want a man to stay with you, you’ll have to pop out a baby.” After she said that, I told her straight up, “Any man who would stay for our baby, but not for just me, isn’t a man who I’d want to stay in the first place.”

Is it really that unusual for me to want to be loved for who I am as a person, and not for my abilities to procreate? Why would I ever want to stay with anyone who sees me as nothing more than a human incubator or baby machine? Reddit User: Lil-Night

Be Grateful

I love being told by older people, “Be grateful you have a job!” Then they look on in horror as I explain to them that I can’t afford to live on my own while still working over 40 hours a week. And I don’t get any vacations, and I don’t get any sick days either.

I also get absolutely no paid time off, even for holidays like Christmas. No time to pursue things I enjoy, no money to see a doctor about my deteriorating jaw. But it’s not their problem, you know? They get to walk away from the conversation. Reddit User: meinsaft

Master’s Degree Means Success

“Get at least a master’s degree so you can be successful.” Sure, a degree certainly helps your prospects, but coming out of school with a massive amount of debt is not the greatest thing to do. My parents owned a home when they were 25 and 23 years old.

They didn’t have to worry about having 40k in student loans….The kicker? I work for my parents, and they decide on my salary. They know well enough that I can barely afford rent, much less a house. Also, my degree has nothing to do with my job, but I had to have it. Reddit User: iuospds

Minimum Wage

My aunt told me to never buy a used car or have a car loan. We live in California and public transportation is a joke, so having a car is important if you want to be a full-time student and hold any sort of part-time job. I asked how I should buy a car without a loan or a used one.

She said that I should save up enough money to buy a brand new car and pay in full at the time of the purchase. I was 22 and making $10 an hour at a 20/hr per week job, and taking five classes a semester, driving a junker I hated an hour each way to school. I decided she was beyond stupid after this advice. Reddit User: ripestpeach

Start The Next Day

They still think you can put on your best suit and walk right into any company, shake the CEO’s hand and look him right in the eye, and start working there the next day. Everything is online, and entry-level positions require 3-5 years of experience.

But when you are just starting out, it’s impossible to have the experience, especially when you are fresh out of college. There’s also no hope for advancement, trash benefits (if any), and below-average salary, “but just start a business if you can’t find something!”… whatever that means. Reddit User: Rutawitz

Seeing You Face To Face Makes a Difference

My mom encouraged me to walk in and give my resume to the manager at our local grocery store because “seeing you face to face makes a difference,” thinking it would help. I was given a physical application by a cashier and basically begged to see a manager.

He showed up and I gave him my resume, shook his hand. He said thank you but honestly looked annoyed at being interrupted and went back to work. A few weeks later, they hired a new cashier. She was the cousin of one of the people that worked there. See what I mean? Reddit User: Mahoganytree

Always On Your Phone

Not exactly advice, but this feels like the perfect place to vent about it. I take out my phone to send a quick text at a family function I was at, and one of my elderly relatives picks her head up from her 3-hour Candy Crush session to loudly disapprove.

She says that millennials are always on their phones and don’t know how to live without technology. But what she’s doing is important, or just checking real quick. Basically, to them, anything we do on our phones is just playing with it, anything they do is important business. Reddit User: AvatarWaang

You’re Going Nowhere in Life

I was living in my aunt’s basement to help her pay the rent until she herself found a job. I was using my GI Bill to pay for college while working full-time and paid $500 a month to my aunt in rent to stay there. My aunt and uncle decided to sit me down one day…

They said I was going nowhere in life and needed to make changes…. During my last semester of college, my aunt ended up finding a job, and they gave me five days to leave. I had to withdraw from school and was homeless for years. Reddit User: Yourlocalcorvid

Remodel Your Bathroom

My in-laws had no chance of paying off their home, which they bought twenty years ago. So what did they do? They bought another one to rent out to pay off the first house. They also happen to live off credit cards, and go out to eat at least three times a week.

They also constantly ask why we won’t eat out, implying that it’s because we don’t want to spend time with them. I get so sick of them telling us to just remodel our bathroom and pay it off later. They also said to just buy a new lawnmower instead of spending $50 to get ours fixed. Reddit User: 13oo6555o6

Photo With Resume

This was actually kinda innocent, but my dad told me that I should include a photo with my resume. That way they could see who they were hiring and somehow make me seem more personable. Fast forward a month, and it turns out that in my industry (which has diversity issues), this is a TERRIBLE idea….

Why? Because it creates legally awkward situations if they end up not picking you. Fortunately, this was caught by a career advisor at my school, and also thankfully, this was the worst “boomer to millennial” advice I had gotten. Reddit User: Rencerle

Bull-Dozer Wedding Plans

I recently got engaged, and my mom has started bull-dozer wedding planning. We want to spend a max of $10,000 since we both have student loans and are trying to saving up for a house. She is planning a $40,000 wedding that she expects us to pay for because “it’s what you do….”

I love that she’s trying to help, but that’s a bit much for a wedding. All the weddings she has been to for people my age have been my cousins, whose very rich dad paid out $75k+, so her perception is a bit skewed, but still. Reddit User: llama_laughter

Pick Yourself Up By Your Bootstraps

The whole pick yourself up by your bootstraps spiel, and I’m over it. The “I started with nothing and now I’m successful.” Great, I wish I started with nothing. I’m starting with 40,000 dollars in student loan debt and a degree everyone in my life told me to get but no one wants….

It forced me to work at a job that in your day paid enough money to support a family of four and allow you to buy a house and a car, but for me, it can barely can cover the rent. Yeah, I wish I was lucky enough to start with nothing. Reddit User: grunt9101

No Money in Social Media

I started my own companies fueled by social media and online advertising as a 17-year-old. I just graduated college; I really wanted to drop out, but my parents pressured me, and I did not want to let them down. Ever since I graduated, I just keep getting told to get a real job and be normal….

I was also told that this entrepreneurship thing is just a phase despite earning six figures a year since I was 19 years old. Despite all of this, it’s still a hugely depressing feeling knowing that you’re going against your parents. Reddit User: elijahsolidum

You’ll Have Enough Money For a House in No Time

“Just stop going out to brunch, and you’ll have enough money for a house deposit in no time.” Sure, that will do it. Let me just pay my rent, which is at least 40% of my income. Wages have not risen for a decade, but the cost of living has actually sky-rocketed.

Then there’s the pay I don’t see due to student debt repayments, private health insurance, and groceries. Never mind that the average house price in my city is $1 million. I don’t think cutting out brunch a couple of times a month is going to make a difference, but thanks. Reddit User: phantompath

Just Have Kids, You’ll Figure It Out!

“Just have kids, you’ll figure it out!” Both of my wife’s sisters have been doing this, and it looks like it’s a total nightmare. One family is keeping it together better than the other, but both of them honestly need a ton of help. They aren’t even themselves anymore.

It has made them so painfully and insanely cautious that it makes doing anything impossible. I don’t see myself ever doing it. I’m way too selfish, and even though I might make a decent father, that doesn’t mean I need to become one. Reddit User: [redacted]

My Dad’s Advice

Back when I was still in college, my dad’s constant advice for how I should get a job once I graduated was that to “just go on down to the local hospital and ask them for a job. They’ll train you, and you can work your way up from there. It’s so easy….”

As if I could just walk into the hospital with an English degree and they’ll be like, “Yeah, let’s make you our head neurosurgeon in a few years.” I couldn’t even see openings for receptionists that didn’t require medical training. Reddit User: Adyrah

Those Poor Kids

About 2 years ago, while I was heading out from the office, I noticed an elderly man with two teenagers along with him walk into the front lobby area. I thought that it was strange, but maybe he worked there and was bringing his grandkids in or something.

Anyway, as I’m heading back, maybe 7-10 minutes later, I see him walking out along with his presumed grandchildren. This time, he seemed really upset about something, and the kids looked embarrassed. I later found out he dragged them in there to make them fill out job applications. It was an office building for a major tech support company, and the kids were both under 18. Reddit User: G3istbot

My Mom’s Last Job Hunt

My mother kept telling me that I need to be more “active” in my search for jobs, but she just didn’t get it. The last time she went job hunting was in 1996, and she got an interview on the first day of looking. It was pure luck. It would have been a waste of my time and gas to go out to stores physically….

When I tried, every single one of them, without fail, would just ask me to go to their website. I did eventually get an apology when she lost that job, had to go hunting, and experienced what I had been telling her for years firsthand. Reddit User: SymphonicStorm

The Reason Why Blackbirds Are With Blackbirds

My father had once told me when I was younger that interracial relationships would never work work out. He literally said these words to me, “There’s a reason the blackbirds are with blackbirds and the red birds are with the red birds. It’s just nature.”

I was so shocked by what he said that I could not find the words to respond to his primitive way of thinking. I’ve been with my ethnically different girlfriend for a long time now. And she’s probably the best person I’ve ever met. Reddit User: GingerHiro

Relationship Advice From My Coworker

Back when I was a teenager, I had a part-time job with a bunch of people from different age groups. Because I was the youngest among them, they often gave me advice, some of it was good, some of it was bad, and some of it was just really weird advice. 

The most memorable, by far, was from my 50-something-year-old coworker. He said, “Find a woman you can stand, and start a family with her as soon as you can. You’ll grow to love each other. That’s how me and the wife did it.” Reddit User: SpecialSauceRemix

Turn Your Favorite Hobby Into a Job

I was told that “if I turn my favorite hobby into a job, I’ll never have to work a day in my life.” I’m sure it works well for some people, but I have heard so many people say that doing this has just turned their hobby into work they now dread doing.

When you’re forced to do something to pay for your living expenses, it can end up becoming a total chore and make you no longer like it. It’s okay to have a little separation between what your passion project is and what your career is. Reddit User: big_papa_hemingway

My In-Law’s Advice

Here’s a bit of background information. A year ago, my husband and I were looking for homes in the San Francisco Bay area where we’re currently renting. Our rent is $3,300/month for a 1-bedroom apartment, and buying a condo would be upwards of $800,000.

Some of the in-laws are into real estate and got involved with our house hunt, so everyone knew when we backed away from buying a house due to insufficient funds. My father-in-law, a typical Republican, tells me for 45 minutes about how a friend of his bought houses forty years ago by “not going to the movies.” Reddit User: Wasuremon0

Taking Time Away From School

One of my college professors once had told me that he thought it was a mistake that I got a job while I was a student. His reasoning was that it would take valuable time away from school. He didn’t have a great response when I brought up the cost of getting an education…

He said to me that an education was an investment and that I should just focus on that….Umm, professor, it’s pretty hard to invest in anything at all when you don’t have any money to invest with. And that was the lesson for the day. Reddit User: T271

You ‘Only’ Have To Do It for 30 or 40 Years

While talking to my Boomer dad, he told me to “just get a job in an industry that pays well and that you can retire from.” And here’s why he said it. “Everyone hates their job. Only the truly lucky get to do something they love. You ‘only’ have to do it for 30 or 40 years.” So why not?

He told me to become a math teacher even though I’m not good with kids and I’m horrible at teaching anything, especially math. Instead, I got an office job that paid sort of well and had a pension, but I ended up getting laid off from it before I could retire.

I never explored what would really fulfill me and give me a sense of purpose because I was taught from a very early age that a job was nothing more than a paycheck and that one could only succeed in the arts if they were exceptionally gifted. Reddit User: ghostofgenerauburn

Just Ask For a Reduction

While talking to my mother about my financial struggles, this is what she said: “You’re having trouble making your rent? Just call up the owner and ask if they can reduce it for a little while or put you on a payment plan.” If it were that simple, I would have called months ago….

Maybe that works for some people, but my apartment is owned by a huge company out of state. They wouldn’t cut me a break out of the kindness of their hearts. When people are late, they charge a fee, and if they’re still late a month later, they sue. Reddit User: Sonofaresiii

Some Fresh Air

I’ve suffered from a mental illness for quite some time now, and it’s something that I struggle with every day. Most, if not all, of my family members know about this, and I have had four years of therapy to prove that what I’m going through is a very real diagnosis.

But that doesn’t prevent them from making insensitive comments every now and then…. I had one member say to me, “Go outside, get some fresh air! Your mental illness is just in your head! Laugh and smile more, you’ll be fine.” They meant well, but I couldn’t help but get annoyed. Reddit User: squisspeakerr

Pound The Pavement

Like most people, I was struggling to find a job on several occasions. My father insisted that the only way that it was going to happen is if I go out and “pound the pavement.” He then demanded that I try to do it by going to places in person; he had no doubt that it would work. I did it his way, and I never made it past the front desk because no one wants you to do that.

I then decided to scour the Internet looking for jobs and created a simple system of scheduling and following up. I landed a temp position that led to a full-time job at a good company. See, dad, I “pounded the pavement” the way my generation should! Reddit User: RaichuALoveSong22

Just Send In An Application

My mother has never really worked a day in her life even though there were several opportunities to get a job. She opted to stay home and raise her children, which is completely fine, and I love her very much for it. Because of her lack of knowledge or experience in getting a job, she shouldn’t have much to say about my struggle finding a job.

But no, not my mom…. She once told me, “Why don’t you just get a job at Merril-Lynch/Goldman-Sachs/the World Bank/some other huge financial institution or non-profit whose name I remember hearing about? So-and-so’s son/daughter got a job there, and they’re very successful. Just send an application and see what they say….”

What she didn’t really understand was that the people she’d use in her examples, their kids would have been successful anyway. Their family was extremely rich, with multiple citizenships and plenty of business connections for miles. Reddit User: [redacted]

Go Ahead and Take Out a Loan

Family members are known for giving unwanted advice, and for me, that lucky family member was one of my aunts. She often liked to give me tidbits of wisdom every time I would come home from college on vacation, despite never having an interest in my wellbeing while growing up….

My favorite was when she told me that, because I was in college and therefore stupid with credit, I really needed to take out a loan for no reason and use the money to pay back the same loan so I could “actually build some credit.” My credit score was 713 at the time. Reddit User: SuperRan

Where’s The Sense in That?

A while back, I did some construction work for approximately a month before I was let go from the job. The main crew leader gave me this gem of advice before they let me go. He said that I could easily find another job by walking into the office and demanding to see a manager….

Excuse me? I would understand if he was just ignorant, but this is coming from the guy who was the one who hired me in the first place because he needed another member and knew me from softball. I just can’t even understand the logic. Reddit User: Novashadow115

My Elderly Coworker

My elderly coworker said that he doesn’t understand why homeless people exist. Every time he brought it up, he would say, “They could always get a job washing dishes.” He completely ignored the fact that most jobs won’t hire you if you don’t have a home address and a reliable means of transportation….

Most people understand that you can’t just walk in off the street and get a job, but his advice on job hunting is just to go out and demand employment regardless of your circumstances. With some people, it’s not worth arguing about. Reddit User: MrFluffPants1349

My Father’s Expertise

My father never went to college and as such, was only able to sustain himself with odd jobs throughout the years. My mother has always been the major breadwinner of our family, but despite this, my dad insists he knows how the inner mechanisms of my field of work, which is working in a university-based research lab….

I tried to explain to him how with the new Republican presidency and Senate and House majority, my lab will have to prepare for budget cuts as our research is based on something not viewed very fondly by Republicans. But he insisted that the President will make the economy better and that will somehow increase funding to research….

It’s just very frustrating that a man who for his whole life has either been a low-positioned salesperson or a factory worker somehow thinks that he knows what is going to be what’s best for a highly funded-dependent research lab. Reddit User: Otommyboy22

My Father’s Views

My father kept lecturing me on how awful “Mary-Jane” (how he would call it) is for people while drinking a scotch on the rocks is completely fine. The whole Nancy/Ronald Reagan era really messed with the baby boomers’ perception of what drug use is, and it has caused so many issues in our current system….

The messed up thing was that my grandparents have a way more liberal view on these topics because the heavy propaganda wasn’t shoved down their throats like it was for my dad’s generation. That’s why you avoid these subjects completely. Reddit User: [redacted]

John Wayne, Her Grandfather

My girlfriend’s grandfather is a stereotypical one-eyed cowboy, basically John Wayne, and tough as nails in just about every way. He doesn’t really offer advice so much as call everything he doesn’t understand or agree with “voodoo.” There was one piece of information that he once said that stuck with me….

As we were leaving his home from a family get-together, he said, “Don’t forget to stop along your journey for anything that catches your eye. When you get to be my age, you’ll wish you had.” That’s stayed with me, and it’s led to some unforgettable memories. Reddit User: garepottamus