In the last 4 weeks I’ve worked with several people over 60 and I don’t like what I saw: slow giving report or describing a problem, fixation on trivialities about a client’s appearance or something funny he did instead of getting directly to the point and doing our jobs, incapable of coping with new forms of communication, feeling they are your supervisor, even though they’re not, criticizing you for ‘wasting’ paper or erasers, telling you how they dislike other coworkers, even though I just met this person 2 hours ago, acting as if only their way of doing things is the right one, then they pretend to be your friend and ask questions about your personal life which I deflect as good as I can.
I don’t like working with people like this, it’s very draining and I don’t want to become this kind of person.
How do I make sure not to become this kind of person?
Be curious and keep learning. Doesn’t matter what you study.
Don’t allow yourself to believe age or experience makes you superior to others. Seems like that might be a generational mindset, but purposely avoid it.
I worked with people at Disney World for an internship who had been in the same position I was for 30+ years. They were happy with this, but it terrified me; I did not want to be a fast food or retail worker for my whole life.