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Gen Z problem of the day

Posted on 6/27/25 at 6:16 pm
Posted by armsdealer
Member since Feb 2016
12267 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 6:16 pm
I am training someone for a new position at work, new grad, super smart, great work ethic.. which I find most Gen Z have that we have hired. Well, she was making a technically difficult phone call to a doctor to tell him something about his patient that he probably only had a very limited understanding of. It's not that the doctors are dumb, they just can't know everything.

She did great telling him the issue with his patients, what products and services we could and could not provide due to the relatively unique complications the patient had. What she couldn't do... is dial the phone!

She was having trouble so I said "Oh, you have to dial 9 to get a line out". I was handling an issue another employee had and then I turn back and this Gen Z and another Gen Z employee were looking at the phone. They didn't know you had to dial a 1 before the area code...

Both these new grads are smart and so far, hard working... they just never had to do this before. I had to demo how to call out... and then they both wrote how to dial out in their notepads!
Posted by SallysHuman
Lady Palmetto Bug
Member since Jan 2025
12343 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 6:20 pm to
quote:

What she couldn't do... is dial the phone!


Prolly never seen one before.
Posted by JEC119
Alabama
Member since Apr 2024
2090 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 6:20 pm to
At least they didn’t tell you to turn the truck on to roll down the windows in a old truck that you manually roll down. lol
Posted by AlextheBodacious
Member since Oct 2020
3562 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 6:23 pm to
quote:

She was having trouble so I said "Oh, you have to dial 9 to get a line out". I was handling an issue another employee had and then I turn back and this Gen Z and another Gen Z employee were looking at the phone. They didn't know you had to dial a 1 before the area code...


If you were gen x or a millennial back in the day, how would you know to do that your first day at an office job if you hadn’t been told before?
Posted by AUstar
Member since Dec 2012
19114 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 6:26 pm to
I believe most Gen Z'ers don't know how to read an analog clock either. They simply weren't taught how.

Not surprising they cannot operate a landline phone. They simply don't exist in many places anymore.

Moral of story is wer'e just old.
Posted by armytiger96
Member since Sep 2007
1932 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 6:31 pm to
quote:

If you were gen x or a millennial back in the day, how would you know to do that your first day at an office job if you hadn’t been told before?


Maybe dial 9 to get an outside line, but we all knew to dial 1 plus area code to make a long distance call well before we entered the work force.

On the flip side Gen Zers are laughing at Gen Xers for their lack of understanding of technology. Generational bickering has likely been around since Adam and Eve's kids made dumb arse mistakes.
Posted by TheDrunkenTigah
Baton Rouge
Member since Aug 2011
18118 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 6:33 pm to
I’m a millennial and every place I’ve worked has had a completely different entirely-too-complicated way to dial out.
Posted by 777Tiger
Member since Mar 2011
87690 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 6:35 pm to
quote:

She was having trouble so I said "Oh, you have to dial 9 to get a line out". I was handling an issue another employee had and then I turn back and this Gen Z and another Gen Z employee were looking at the phone. They didn't know you had to dial a 1 before the area code...

Both these new grads are smart and so far, hard working... they just never had to do this before. I had to demo how to call out... and then they both wrote how to dial out in their notepads!


very weak, and pathetic
Posted by AlextheBodacious
Member since Oct 2020
3562 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 7:08 pm to
quote:

we all knew to dial 1 plus area code to make a long distance call

If I ever did that I don’t remember doing it. I know how to use a rotary phone though
Posted by kywildcatfanone
Wildcat Country!
Member since Oct 2012
135021 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 7:14 pm to
quote:

super smart, great work ethic.. which I find most Gen Z have that we have hired
Posted by DiamondDog
Louisiana
Member since Nov 2019
12658 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 7:16 pm to
You should send this to Smiley Anders. He'd eat this crap up.
Posted by 777Tiger
Member since Mar 2011
87690 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 7:16 pm to
quote:

I know how to use a rotary phone though


I still know how to dial using the switch
Posted by AUFANATL
Member since Dec 2007
4998 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 7:19 pm to

If you really want a laugh put a rotary phone in front of them. That's what I learned to "dial" on.

Posted by Stexas
SWLA
Member since May 2013
6795 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 7:20 pm to
In their defense, I haven’t worked in an office with a phone system like that in 15 years… your company needs to fix that.
Posted by Jmcc64
alabama
Member since Apr 2021
1717 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 7:45 pm to
Don't have to do either on our current system
Posted by Morgus
The Old City Icehouse
Member since May 2004
9709 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 7:48 pm to
At LEAST tell me she's heard of Van Halen?
Posted by Kingshakabooboo
Member since Nov 2012
1408 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 9:06 pm to
quote:

They simply don't exist in many places anymore.


I have a phone sitting on coroner of my desk. I literally can not remember the last time I made an outgoing or received an incoming call on it. Been in my current office for past 6 years and I know for a fact I’ve never touched it. It’s either email, teams calls or my cell phone. Hell I don’t even know my own extension number for my line.
Posted by Mingo Was His NameO
Brooklyn
Member since Mar 2016
35784 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 9:12 pm to
What kind of bootleg operation are you working at that doesn’t use voice over IP?

That’s been a thing for like 15 to 20 years
Posted by SUB
Silver Tier TD Premium
Member since Jan 2009
24581 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 9:19 pm to
That’s not a gen z problem. It’s a new to the workforce thing that has existed forever.
This post was edited on 6/27/25 at 9:21 pm
Posted by SquatchDawg
Cohutta Wilderness
Member since Sep 2012
18889 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 9:28 pm to
Wait until they try to set up a conference call. They’ll hang up on everybody.

Or god forbid try to connect to the right printer.
This post was edited on 6/27/25 at 9:29 pm
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