We’ve all read the occasional clickbait article or two about millennials. Whether you are one or know someone who is one, the millennial generation is beginning to come into its own as the new top consumer in America, and it’s getting more and more difficult to avoid these infamous murderers every day.
Businesses especially struggle with this cold-blooded demographic. Dozens of long-time staples of our good American economy are falling to pieces for the first time since their conceptions under the Greatest Generation, or even earlier. Every time one of these titans shudders, it makes headlines, and the millennial consumer looks a little more ruthless.
For example, Hooters is on the decline after an iconic 35-year run. Some studies suggest that millennials don’t want to eat at a restaurant that objectifies its waitresses while others think they’re just not that into boobs anymore. Most agree that it’s at least partially to do with the chain’s sub-par food and generally creepy atmosphere.
But what do millennials care? Restaurants come and go; if it were just Hooters, other casual dining establishments like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee’s would be flourishing all the more for its sacrifice. Turns out, they’re on the chopping block too. Millennials don’t discriminate—they just dislike the industry as a whole. Having been a Chili’s employee for several years and a millennial my entire life, I can tell you why.
Millennials are a sympathetic generation. They’re more emotional than their predecessors and resonate more readily with the struggles of others. That’s why social justice is on the rise… and why corporations that see their employees as “disposable” are not.
Hosting at Chili’s isn’t what my parents’ generation would call a “real” job. I got paid minimum wage, spent a lot of time standing around doing very little or nothing and was threatened with expulsion every time any little thing went wrong. I was lectured by angry customers—sorry, “guests”—whenever I had to make them wait and was expected to serve them with a smile even if their demands flew far wide of my job description.
One demographic that never treated me unkindly, though, was the millennials. My peers were almost unanimously polite and respectful, not just to myself, but to other servers who weren’t even a part of their age group. Even though they didn’t tend to tip well—they are, after all, the brokest generation to date—they were often the least trouble to serve, even waving away problems like long wait times or incorrect orders as if they were par for the course.
This isn’t the behavior of a generation that’s been spoiled or feels entitled as many would like to believe. It’s that of a generation which can sympathize with the restaurant worker in front of it, seeing the person behind the apron full of straws. Millennials value consideration and individuality above things like hierarchy and bureaucracy; after all, we weren’t just raised to believe that we’re special snowflakes or little angels. We were taught that everyone is.
So, millennials aren’t killing the casual dining industry. We’re just waking up to the fact that it’s killing us, and we don’t feel compelled to endorse an industry where we wouldn’t want to work. Add to that the fact that we’re poor, and it’s just more cost-effective to cook at home, even if we do have to call our parents every five minutes when we forget how to boil an egg or make toast.
The same reasoning can explain why department stores like Macy’s and Sears are dying too. I don’t know how to fold a T-shirt into a square, and I feel bad making some underpaid, underappreciated member of staff do it for me every time I want to pick up and look at anything. Plus, Walmart probably has the same item off-brand for a better price.
It’s the same reason millennials look “entitled” to other generations. Nobody likes feeling like a nobody; millennials don’t see other people as disposable and won’t stand for that sort of treatment for themselves either. We don’t just value others, but also ourselves.
After years of being called a member of a spoiled, needy, want-for-nothing generation, I almost became resentful of my millennial status. I hated being called a millennial and tried to argue that being born just a few years before Y2K exempted me from that role. But now I realize that it’s my compassion and that of my peers which drives our economic decisions and moral behavior, and I can take pride in that. After all, it’s the way my parents raised me.
