For all the dizzyingly rapid changes currently happening in the world, some things might always stay the same. Older generations complaining about the ways of the young is one of them.
It used to be boomers blaming millennials‘ passion for avocado toast for all of society’s problems, but as the hunted become the hunters, ’70s and ’80s babies are now mocking Gen Z and going viral for it. A manager going by Simply Jamie on TikTok posts hilarious daily clips of her conversations with Zoomer clients, who all come off as pretty useless employees with whiny hindrances that keep them from doing their jobs.
While Jamie’s reactions are entertaining in their own right, the people on the other side of the calls are the real stars of the channel. Everyone loves Reverie’s problematic boyfriend and Lenora’s neurotic anxieties.
Comments under the videos are all a variation of the same two sentiments: how do you keep your patience and how do you not fire them all? Meanwhile, others with similarly exasperating Gen Z experiences feel painfully seen. “I felt this. As a GenX managing Gen Z’s there is a lot of head shaking on my part,” one viewer sympathized, with another adding “I have a Boomer and a Gen Z at work that I have conversations like this with. It’s so weird that they’re so similar and so different lol.” By the way, Jamie also has videos talking to Boomer employees and they’re equally incredible.
The posts have earned millions of views and while some manage to be very convincing despite the ridiculousness of the situation, people are wondering whether they might be scripted. It takes one visit to the content creator’s linkt.ree page to discover she’s actually a comedian which more or less proves the absurd conversations were scripted all along. Still, that doesn’t make them any less genius.
According to one comment left on one of the videos, Jamie’s job at a real estate media company that hires photographers to do property shoots is real, but the conversations with the high-maintenance Gen Z hires are apparently mostly made up. “These are scripted, one of the guys works at Lowe’s and the girl is her niece. But her job is real.”
Regardless, we’re too invested in these characters now to stop watching the videos, even if they’re tarnishing the reputation of the Gen Z workforce (I’m a little hurt, I’ll admit it). At this point, though, we just hope Reverie finds the guts to finally ditch her lousy boyfriend.