This is a response from our daughter Jane (age 28, working at Whole Foods for 8 years now, I think–while finishing her BFA degree and working as an artist as well); she said it was fine to share it after I forwarded the link to her:

How true. I think these folks are just slightly younger than Jonah and I- but I’m not sure how the issues can be solved. If it weren’t for their incredibly self-centered nature there might be a possibility of helping kids learn to think and reason for themselves, but the narcissism makes them
believe everything should be constantly laid out for them, re-explained, and any problems with results are then the fault of the supervisor.

And although the education system is at fault, I can’t help but place a good amount of blame on this generation’s parents. If these kids weren’t raised by television, video games, and the internet, they would have developed interpersonal skills, the ability to read body language, and better etiquette. It is also the parents’ responsibility to ensure that the education their children are receiving is the kind that will help them survive in the “real world”- and uninvolved/uninterested adults are at fault for not zoning in on this issue sooner.

These kids need discipline. Talking/texting on the clock is not acceptable, and if they don’t know that, they need to be told- in no uncertain terms. Many work ethic/efficiency issues are no longer common sense to the masses; I deal with this at my job daily. Although it is frustrating to have to describe seemingly obvious and basic techniques and expectations of labor, they will never learn or develop the skills without someone explaining why their methods are not sub par.

I think we’re all screwed, of course.

[She takes after her father in some ways.]