I agree we shouldn't generalize and there are plenty of young people who work extremely hard and will be very successful in life. Attitude has a lot to do with it and what they get fed today doesn't help those who have a hard time thinking for themselves.
Major, I admire your patience and I would probably would have felt I had to do the same thing you did. This would certainly affect my opinion of this employee however. As you said, 32 years ago WE never would have said such a thing to a boss. But this is exactly the sort of difference between generations and this is the kind of thing Maxum was pointing out. (Not that I want to speak for Maxum.)
