Youth these days - were we different?

Here is my “two penneth” Grand2dogs. Many more (than 40 years ago say) of the 20 somethings of today are only sons or daughters and are infantilised like never before in our history and so think 13 for 20.
All that parental energy being focused on the child doing well, all that pressure on one little person for 19 years and counting does not bode well for the development of a personality. Quite a few of the 16/17 year olds I work alongside are humourless to the point of sullen 😞 and place a great deal of importance on eyelashes, eyebrows and hair and fingernails😀. It’s not all their fault though because I am convinced now that kids have a more interesting life when they are surrounded by a diverse age range and “different” characters on a regular basis from messy toddlers to cranky grandparents.
Interestingly those sullen teenagers have got over themselves by 18/19. This is the good thing about going to work early on even if it’s only a weekend job.

Maybe the BA crew just felt like doing their jobs rather than giving you some sort of song and dance about ‘personality’?

You have no idea what they are like when off duty OP. When on duty they behave professionally. That’s how it should be.

I got boxed in in a carpark by a lady slightly older than me. My sister went back into the cafe with the reg number to find her and she made an excuse about "us old women" meaning herself. I wouldn't judge anybody by their age., rudeness and thoughtlessness is demonstrated by all ages.

There are good, bad, rude, helpful, miserable people of all ages. I wouldn’t judge people by their generation. It’s the same as the ridiculous way that people say that northerners are friendlier than southerners. People are people with all their different personalities.

The young of today are the products of our generation bringing them up. As people, they aren’t different, they all have their own personalities.

Why would you expect crew to show their personalities, they've been trained to be professional.. be glad they did their job well

Grand2Dogs
You’ve obviously never had the pleasure of partying with cabin crew.

I was thinking only this morning hw even as a child i was always ready to speak up for myself. Not that I think I was ever rude to anyone.

There have always been rude ill mannered peole about and I do not think it has got any different.

The OP needs to remember that back in the day he was a young man, 20s-30s, while now he is 70s? 80s(?) and I think that makes an immense difference. Old or older people have always been treated with disrespect by younger people who just find them in their way. I am not defending the attitude, but that is how it is.

He was probably trying to flirt with the female cabin crew thinking he was being a charming old man, and they understandably ignored him.

Or telling ‘funny’ jokes?

I know many young people. None sound like the ones you have met Grand2dogs. Maybe you have just been unlucky or do you see them from a biased point of view.

The cabin crew were doing their job. I work in hospitality and some of the most "trying" customers are the older generation. Let me explain before I get lambasted.

I cater mainly for events where service has to be slick and seamless. The dinners are usually followed by a speaker or some form of entertainment so time is of the essence.

It's hard, hot work and whilst the young team are naturally more than happy to share brief pleasantries with customers we clearly haven't got time to listen to protracted humorous anecdotes, a litany of medical complaints or someone asking if they can have a quarter of a potato (one with no crispy bits!) because their appetite isn't what it used to be. Seriously how is the waiter supposed to perform this fiddly operation?

The situation is compounded when the poor waiter is obviously poised with a scalding hot and heavy serving dish.

I think that retired people often lead a generally relaxed life (and so they should) and expect the waiters to be equally relaxed.

For clarity, I am in 67.

What with my wife sat next to me, I doubt it. I wouldn’t know how to flirt with anybody.

None of my grandkids fit your description grand2dogs
The two boys were working since 17/18 one has his own business at age 22 , the girls have all worked alongside school/ college /uni since 13 starting with paper rounds I have one working her way round the world (yes working) they all know how to have fun ( sometimes too much) As far as I know none have had any beauty surgery all totally gorgeous anyway

How can cabin crew be ‘mischievous’ they have a serious job with often out of control older flyers necking drinks

The girl in the car park was well out of order but that’s only one instance
I think the kids of today have a tough time and always get it in the neck

Early 60s actually!

I think the youth of today are mostly wonderful. My husband tries to be funny (haha) with either cabin crew, bus crew etc and not everyone want to play along. I sometimes find him irritating so god knows what they think. We have some fabulous youngsters living near to us, my grand kids are lovely people and I generally get on with the younger generation better than my own. I think our age group expect too much from youngsters. When we grew up we could be little buggars at times as well and I know I wasn’t perfect.

I really don’t know what the OP expected of the cabin crew. Perhaps he would enlighten us.

Personally I wouldn’t want airline crew to have ‘personality’. I just want them to do their jobs quickly and efficiently with a pleasant manner.

I do think many of us were brought up to be more polite, when perhaps we should have been more outspoken.

E.g. when I was a student, admittedly in a very short skirt, waiting at a bus stop, an elderly woman said, ‘I think you look awful in that! I know I don’t know you, but I don’t care - I always speak my mind!’

An older and more forthright me might have told the ghastly old bag to keep her extremely rude opinions to herself, but of course I said nothing.

Example 2, when I was around the same age, a university lecturer at my very first tutorial, when I was a bag of nerves,
said almost straight off, ‘Your essay was fine, I’ve given you a B. Now, how’s your sex life?’
(He was 25-ish, with a mid-Atlantic accent and evidently fancied himself rotten.)

Polite little me just said, ‘Fine, thank you.’
DDs couldn’t believe it when I told them - but of course times were so different then. I can well imagine what they’d have said!

Germanshepherdsmum

I really don’t know what the OP expected of the cabin crew. Perhaps he would enlighten us.

perhaps a singing/dancing floorshow in the aisle..

At university we had a gruff old (fifties!) senior lecturer, Welsh and bibulous.

I had to go and see him about something, and after a while he turned to me and barked 'Are you afraid of me Miss M0nica?' My immediate response was a vey firm 'No' (because I wasn't). He looked taken aback and then said 'Bold woman' and sent me on my way.

Never had a problem with him after that.

Every generation, throughout history, has complained about the younger generation, and 'remembered' how they had been in their day,

This foes way back to ancient times, when Socrates or another Greek philosopher wrote about how rude and aimless the young men were, only thinking of their own pleasure - so unlike when he had been young!!!!!

It’s easy to be critical of a different generation There is always good, bad and indifferent
But the term grumpy old man and grumpy old woman doesn’t spring from nowhere

Maybe a better question would have been, ‘was there ever a time in history when the younger generation weren’t criticised by their elders ?’ !

The answer of course would be no !