gen z

Gen Z has arrived at work—and apparently some bosses are reaching for the termination paperwork remarkably fast. The strange part is what they say is causing it. Because they are things that past generations would never have considered doing in the first place.

There was a time when back-to-school shopping meant more than grabbing a tablet, a charger, and whatever notebook was cheapest online. It meant strange smells, weird machines, oddly specific classroom tools, and supplies that felt completely normal then—but would probably look like museum pieces to anyone born after 2000.

Baby Boomers will tell you they survived the workplace by toughening up. And sure, some of those habits might have built character. But they would also have Gen Z updating LinkedIn before the morning coffee finished brewing.

Good help is hard to find, especially when they don't stick around for more than a couple of months.

Spend five minutes scrolling through TikTok, Reddit, or X and it’s everywhere. Younger workers saying wages are rigged. Twenty-somethings insisting homeownership is impossible. Every career setback framed as systemic. The villain is always the system. Boomers are starting to wonder when it became the only suspect—and whether personal responsibility quietly left the room.

Something is quietly shifting in the American workforce. Professionals who spent years in offices are trading keyboards for tool belts, and the numbers behind that decision are more serious than most people realize.