So sad

Just received a email from my niece. She is a girl scout and is selling cookies. She included a link for online cookie sales! We are creating the laziest people that will ever walk the earth. What happened to actual interaction with other people? What happened to the kids knocking on the doors and going through their spiel on selling cookies? Whatever happened to actually seeing the joy on their faces when they make a sale? Whatever happened to the confidence gained by actually making the sales themselves? How can I ask her to add up the number of boxes I ordered. Like everything else in the world it seems the girl scouts no longer care about anything other then selling cookies with free labor.

I’m telling you I was discouraged when at first the moms set-up tables and sold the cookies for the girls. Now this. As a old guy I’m having a hard time with this. We are raising a generation of people who won’t know how to add, won’t know how to talk to people.

In the grand scheme of things this might seem trivial but I don’t think so…………….

I thought the main purpose was to build social skills and confidence? Otherwise, no way it’s worth wasting 2+ Saturdays so my kid can earn a few bucks towards his activity. I never buy from parents, coworkers, etc, but if that turd down the street comes to my door and gives his spiel I’ll buy one of his crappy overpriced wreaths.

Very interesting post and I agree 100%. I have a son who is a college freshman majoring in finance with plans of being a financial planner. He thinks he has it all worked out with gaining clients when he gets into a position after college. He believes social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat etc etc will bring him clients. They may but face to face still has to mean something in this world, I hope. I STRONGLY encouraged him to find a part-time job learning how to sell. Whether it is at a place like Best Buy or the local hardware store he needs to learn to sell with people face-to-face. Nothing in my book beats looking a person in the eye, shaking their hand and saying thank you. Yes, I am an old guy to (just over 50.

Dutchboy wrote:

I’m telling you I was discouraged when at first the moms set-up tables and sold the cookies for the girls. Now this. As a old guy I’m having a hard time with this. We are raising a generation of people who won’t know how to add, won’t know how to talk to people.

In the grand scheme of things this might seem trivial but I don’t think so…………….

Didn’t Bob Dylan predict this? “The Times, They Are A-Changin”…?

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My grand daughter is in Girl Scouts and they have tables to sell cookies in various places, but that kid is working the tables. I hear you though Dutch.

jld wrote:

He believes social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat etc etc will bring him clients. They may but face to face still has to mean something in this world, I hope. Nothing in my book beats looking a person in the eye, shaking their hand and saying thank you. Yes, I am an old guy to (just over 50.

I am an older guy…58. Welcome to today’s world. I decided not to keep resisting, choosing to accept it for what it is.

I find it ironic if not almost hypocritical to single out those using social media platforms when in fact all posts (discussion) here on this forum that we are engaging in are “virtual”, basically no different than that which you (others’) are protesting?

Have we all fallen? Or have we risen to how the world interacts today?

A huge difference in a bunch of 40+ year old guys who should have developed personal communication skills vs some little girls who still need to learn those skills IMO.

I understand what you are getting at but it’s apples and oranges in my mind.

Yes, I do have some of the same concerns as well. Something I recently learned that shocked me is that they no longer teach writing (script) in schools anymore.

I wondered how then would they learn to sign their names on checks or other documents but then I suppose it would just be electronic transactions?

So something like this would then be relegated to their history books…except they probable don’t have history books anymore.

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My 10 year old will be entering the world with these lazy millenials running things. I myself am terrified! Everything automated has left our future handicapped. These days you can’t even come home and clean. You have a $200 robot that does it for you because when you come home, all you have time for is updating your tweets in case you are insecure. Smartphones and all this technology has rendered our youth lazy. My neighbors kid can’t even push his pop’s trash cans up the driveway because it interferes with his gaming time!

I blame our generation as much I guess. We are the ones who allow these things to happen. I don’t want to preach doom & gloom but do any of you realize what will happen if the power goes out for a extended period of time? Computers won’t work so you won’t be able to buy anything. No power equals no charging cell phones except for cars. No power means no gas stations to run those cars to charge those phones. I’m not talking about no power for months but even a couple of days will cripple the area. What happens if we can’t go to Subway or McDonalds to eat?

I guess being older has it’s upside……I’ll be gone before things get real crazy with our society.

Dutchboy wrote:

I blame our generation as much I guess.

I don’t think that. How did the generation before us allow the “hippie” culture with free love, protesting everything, not working, and such happen? Remember that was the offspring of WWII era?

But you do raise a concern greater than how a girl scout sells cookies. What if there was a massive extended power outage. If the “Great Leader” in North Korea figured out another way to cripple the US other than launching errant rockets our way, it could happen. Who expected Pearl Harbor or worse yet 9/11?

Almost all commerce would be halted. No way to purchase, no way to get cash to purchase.

Time for bed.

I am 57 years old and it seems to me that my entire life guys my age have said that the world is going to h*ll in a hand basket and the kids of this generation are lazy. Sometimes I feel that way. However The kids now will live in a world that is a lot different than the world I lived in. Just like the world I grew up in differed from my fathers. My father literally took a horse and buggy to a one room school and he stopped going to school after the 8th grade and worked on the farm till he went to the service. He is in his 80’s and until the last couple of years changed his own oil and rotated his own tires. Not because he could not afford to pay to have it done but because that’s what you do. Me I can’t remember the last time I did either. These kids will figure it out and someday they will be my age talking about how the kids these day are lazy and they are worried that they will not be able to take care of themselves.

More importantly, will they still have Samoas?

nhamm wrote:

More importantly, will they still have Samoas?

They got the knock offs at Aldis. I aint got much of a sweet tooth but they taste the same to me.

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

If the “Great Leader” in North Korea figured out another way to cripple the US other than launching errant rockets our way, it could happen.

He’s already trying.

Power went out here for a few hours about a month ago just as we were about to make dinner. Had to go to a local restaurant, with everybody else.

captaindelight wrote:

These kids will figure it out and someday they will be my age talking about how the kids these day are lazy and they are worried that they will not be able to take care of themselves.

Seems to be the common answer. I remember hearing the same about my generation as I was growing up.

I personally worry more about the effects the food we are allowed to eat, big Pharma, AI and the power big business has over us than how we think our children “should” learn to communicate. I also worry about how little our children are taught about money and how to build wealth. It’s almost as though we are being groomed to be middle or lower class. I would be surprised if most high school graduate knows the real definitions of asset and liability.

Electronic communication is pretty low on my list of worries.

Are you saying I can get Girl Scout cookies without having to talk to a Girl Scout? If there’s free shipping could you please post the link?

very interesting thread…I wonder what my grandfather born in 1900 would have thought if I would have told him “grandpa, in 2017 you won’t have to go to town or ask in church to find out where the fish are biting, all you have to do is pull out your cell phone while on the toilet and go on to an online forum. From there, you will be put in touch with fisherman from all over the country that will tell you where the hot bite is.” He would have punched me in the mouth… I find it somewhat fresh all the beaching about the “next generation” in one thread and then guys discussing the newest technology and how we can’t live w/out it in the next. relax folks, “kids these days” have been around for every generation

Stay away from the green mafia…….

I think more of the concern is the lack of skills, knowledge, and trade secrets that is being passed down. I understand it might be because of cost, but how is it we could make something in the 1960s that we can’t make today?:???:

The thread is veering off. I wasn’t ripping the up and coming generation as much as I was ripping the continued dumbing down of America. With the creation of on-line sales the Girl Scouts are taking away the skill of communication face to face. The only skill sets these kids will have will involve apps and keyboards.

Interesting topic. sales wise a lot of things have become automated. To be completely honest working in the sales industry the newer people are not the hustlers seen even 5 years ago. Interesting enough though with the automation of everything and data out there the end user the retail customer wins with better deals for everyone and more upfront pricing on items. Little bit of a sidetrack.

I agree with you on it being for the kids learning. Its amazing how many fundraisers parents do all the work without getting the kids involved at all.

I recently had to tell a Dad to be quiet and let his very nervous Cub Scout son get through Christmas wreath sales pitch and answer a few questions before I bought one. Kind of funny… I probably did the same thing with my boys in the day.

I’m not saying I disagree with you Dutch,, I am on the same wavelength with much of it… However, we need to put it into perspective because the 2 generations said the SAME stuff about us when we were 11 years old and the generations before that said the same about them!

They all too said we are screwed with your generation! We will be just fine.

slipbob_nick wrote:

I agree with you on it being for the kids learning. Its amazing how many fundraisers parents do all the work without getting the kids involved at all.

I have a rule that I will not buy any sort of kids’ fundraising or raffle ticket from the parent, and when the parents ask me if I want to buy I tell them flat out no, I only buy from the kid themselves. One co-worker brought her girl scout daughters in and I gladly bought a few boxes from them. Their smiles were great after I decided to buy their favorite flavor, per their recommendations.

Web sales will bring in more dollars than door-to-door. Of course where that revenue goes has been a source for debate since most people don’t know. They directly and indirectly support some controversial things as do many groups..

So here is a little different take on the “new Corporate America”

Daughter just graduated from College. Reality is setting in and its time for putting the big girl panties on and get a job. Car payment, school loans, household contribution,….life isn’t free!

She was recommended for a couple of jobs, and had 2 days to get her resume in. I helped her a little with the cover letter and formatting. Only to find out she can not use most fo the standard formatting in Microsoft word. ALL the resumes needed to be a cut/paste into their online HR systems. OK, we got that done.

She gets a call for a first “Interview”. Lucky kid in on top of her game and a big part of her attributes in the enthusiasm and positive attitude she brings. Told she’ll get an email with a confirmation.

1/2 hour later she gets the email – its a link to an online questionnaire. Over 120 situational type questions and its timed. She has 1 hour to whip through this????? Additionally, I read some of the questions and they were so random and open ended, it left me thinking simply WTF I told her afterwards that there was no way in hell that I would consider the place. Situational questions are for face-to-face. You may need clarification and you really need to see someone’s body language as they answer. This is what you use to have a discussion and learn about someone.

Few hours later, she gets an EMAIL form the second place she applied to. Email simply says “Congratulations. We are considering you for the position of……please follow the link below and begin your interview process” She clicks on the link——YEP, another 80 Question “test”.

She got a call on the first job and asked to come in for a “Real Time Interview”, and she must have done great on guessing. She went to the interview, and it took all of less than 10 minutes. She said she was absolutely dumbfounded and left feeling confused. The first five or six minutes was the HR Director reviewing policies/the job and NO discussion. Lindsey began to ask questions and the people sitting in on the interview were stumped. She said they all were “Like uummm, well…” Zero communication level.

I gripe about unprepared, lazy, selfish, entitle brat kids that are not willing to work. Well, look at what “we” are now doing at a corporate level. I am so freak’n shocked that a HR dept. would sink to such an automated level of a hiring practice. Especially when its a teaching position for children with disabilities. Can you really expect to hire best of class people and know your going to get the interaction level required to benefit a child from a dam test score :???::???::???:

Liability Randy, if that person tweaks out for any reason instead of looking back at the person who hired em, or the institution it gets pushed to the “they tested really well” pile of excuses. It’s got to make sense to the matrix, not you or I.

I’m honestly not sure what to think of this generation, I see alot of good, but I feel that good comes from unsustainable places.

along the same lines…. the wife and I were passing thru Monticello and stopped to get a bite to eat… Runnings was right there, so I talked her into a quick run through. At the door are 3 grown men, in Cub Scout shirts.. and 2 little boys… not in any uniforms, they had to be weebles if even that. The guys ask us if we would like to support the Boy Scouts… sure ! They pitched 87% goes right to the scouts… they had bags of carmel corn… they had salty, sweet, combo.. whatever you wanted. I got the salty sweet…. then the big one… $20 a bag !!! WTF ? I made a comment that the whole troup could go camping with the sale of a case of these things… next time I see this popcorn… I go in the other door. They were teaching them how to make major green as fast as possible, that was still legal… IMHO.

It’s Al Gore’s fault. He invented the internet.