Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 180: Last Seen…Talking about Millennials

Everywhere you turn, lazy Millennials are taking their parents to job interviews, watching their YouTubes, mainlining text messages like junkies, and using slang the rest of us don't understand.

How could such a self-centered, good-for-nothing generation come into existence when their Baby Boomer grandparents and Gen-X parents are so damn flawless?

Or...is that all bullshit? Could Millennials be doing well, all things considered, with what they're being handed? Could it be they are more likely to not care if a black guy is dating a white girl or -- GASP -- if two guys want to marry? Could it be that much of their negative press isn't wholly true; that maybe they write articles about themselves in defense of Gramps in a Crosby, Stills, and Nash t-shirt shaking his cane on his front lawn while his Nirvana-wearing T-shirt son (Bleach t-shirt, at that; you know, to prove they were fans before Nevermind, even though they weren't) throws Pabst Blue Ribbon cans of irony at a 24-year-old passer-by just wanting to pay off her student loans?

Or...could it be something somewhere in between (but probably skewed toward bitter Boomers and jealous Gen-Xers just being grumpy before their time)?

Step into your safe place and listen to this week's episode of Men in Gorilla Suits!

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We cut right to it at the start and talk about how many Baby Boomers (and Gen Xers to a degree), say Millennials are lazy and financially irresponsible. But is there truth to that? After that we discuss our personal experiences -- good and bad -- with Millennials at work.

We devote some time to the traits we believe Millennials have over those before them...and also where they may be a bit lacking than previous generations.

But one thing is certain: Millennials are cowards compared to Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers, right? We destroy that bit of stupid before jumping to why we think Boomers and Gen-Xers have such an issue with Millennials.

Some evidence points to Millennials not being as entrepreneurial as the generations before them. Find out if we think that's true and, if we do, why we think that might be. (And maybe point out that many Boomers and Gen-Xers don't quite get that ways of making money on one's own no longer relies solely on starting a traditional company.)

Next, we get a bit specific, talking about our generation (Gen-X). Are we just jealous that Millennials got more attention and opportunities in their early 20s, while we were handed nothing much at all? (And, if so, doesn't that make us the whinier generation complaining about the generation we spawned?)

You can probably guess by reading this far that we don't have issues with Millennials...you might even say we like them. But...would we want to be a Millennial -- or continue clutching our Dinosaur Jr. CDs and remain Gen-X? (Somewhere in a dark bar outside of Seattle, two 45-year olds are drinking Rainier Beer while arguing about who's better: Mudhoney or Tad! They leave when an old guy drinking a Busch shouts, "I'm sleeping with the ghost of Janis Joplin!" and poops his Depends.)

As positive as we are about Millennials, we do wonder how they will react when Generation Z comes into their own and gets the limelight. We talk about that a bit before moving on to whether or not the so-called "Millennial [distracted] Mind" is real or not. (Hint: Christopher knows 70-year-olds who can't get through an in-person conversation without playing Words With Friends.)

And we close it all out with this: will there be a day a Millennial in a Lorde t-shirt shakes her fist at a GenZer while shouting, "Get off my lawn, ya punk!" (i.e. that Millennials will one day become critical and bitter)?

(If so, we'd still call that progress over sad old men getting riled up about things that really don't matter...)

Be like an old person and leave a comment, 'cause we're afraid of the Snapchats and the Bemes.