Best Of: "Back in My Day..."

Join Jess and her insightful son, Cameron, as they tackle the complexities of generational work ethics and life perspectives in a conversation that promises to enlighten and entertain. Prepare to be part of an engaging mother-son exchange that delves into the distinctions between Gen Z and Gen X attitudes towards the grind of daily labor and the quest for a fulfilling life. They’re peeling back the layers on how each age group perceives hard work and happiness, with Cameron offering a Gen Z viewpoint on the unique pressures his contemporaries face, while Jess reminisces on the conventional values that have sculpted her career journey.

They’ll navigate the shifting tides of work-life balance and how expectations of traditional rewards like home ownership have morphed through time, stirring up a lively discussion on what it means to truly value one's work in today's economic environment. In a moment of levity, Cameron ponders the personal problems he’d ask Jesus to solve—and yes, it involves a rather mischievous cat! Tune in for an episode that skillfully blends introspection with a dash of humor, as we explore the idiosyncrasies, challenges, and joys that life throws our way, all shared through the unique lens of our generational viewpoints.

Transcript

0:00:03 - Jess

If you're new here, welcome! And if you came back, oh, God bless ya! Thank you for coming back. This is the Jesus Fix It Podcast with Jess. We talk about everything: life, its craziness, it's ups and downs. ‘Cause you know what, Jesus can fix it and He can handle it all. I'm trying so hard to be really professional today and not go straight into mom mode, because my guest today is my oldest son, Cameron. Are you excited? 

0:00:37 - Cameron

I'm so excited to be here today. 

0:00:39 - Jess

Oh, my goodness. No, you're not, I am. First of all, I just want to say I did not make him. I did not pay you to be here. I did feed you. I did feed you spaghetti. 

0:00:50 - Cameron

A nice big old pot of it. 

0:00:51 - Jess

I did I make him his own pot of spaghetti. Usually once a week? Yes, every Thursday. I cook you spaghetti, but I asked you to join me in this conversation about your age group, your culture, because I want a better understanding. Okay, I'm ready to educate. Whoa, we've never really sat down like this and had a conversation about things that affect your age group, I don't think. 

0:01:19 - Cameron

I don't think so. 

0:01:20 - Jess

Do we talk enough? 

0:01:22 - Cameron

I think we do. 

0:01:23 - Jess

We do. Of course you would say that I don't think we talk enough. You probably think we talk too much. 

0:01:28 - Cameron

Not too too much. Really, I think we talk a good amount. 

0:01:32 - Jess

Okay, we talk every day. Yeah, yeah, we do. I love that. 

0:01:35 - Cameron

I don't see you every day. I mean I see you once a week, but I mean we talk every day. 

0:01:38 - Jess

Long as you check in. Yeah, long as I know you're still there. Yeah, I'm good. 

0:01:42 - Cameron

I'm always texting you for something. 

0:01:43 - Jess

By the way, call your mom Okay. So this is the thing I feel like me, along with I know I'm not the only one. I want a better understanding of, I don't want to say, kids today. Is that disrespectful? Your culture, your age group? You're Gen Z, right, yeah, Gen Z. What age group is that? Let me look it up. 

0:02:06 - Cameron

I want to say the cap is 30. I feel like Gen Z is in your 20. 

0:02:09 - Jess

It says 1997 to 2012. You were born in 2000. 

0:02:14 - Cameron

I knew this, so me and. 

0:02:15 - Jess

Chris, I gave birth to you. 

0:02:16 - Cameron

Okay, you remember my birthday year. Yeah, me and Christian are both Gen Z. 

0:02:23 - Jess

Yeah, Christian is his brother. I gave birth to him too. Yes, you are both Gen Z, I am Gen X. What I think? Yeah, I'm Gen X. What age group is Gen X? Gen X is hold on, I'm looking this up now I don't want to spit out any numbers. No, what do you think? No, what do you think Gen X is? I want to know what age group do you think Gen X is? 

0:02:45 - Cameron

I'm going to say 45 and up. 

0:02:49 - Jess

What? Okay, you're right. 

0:02:50 - Cameron

Yeah, there we go, gen. 

0:02:52 - Jess

X is 44 to 59. 

0:02:55 - Cameron

Okay, okay, cool. I was going to say, wait a minute. 

0:02:57 - Jess

Is that it? Wait a minute? I thought I was younger, though. 

0:03:00 - Cameron

No, because then that's millennials. 

0:03:02 - Jess

Yeah, millennials is okay, but millennials I think they are, they can be on the cusp, because you have your older millennials and then you have your younger millennials. 

0:03:14 - Cameron

Personally, a millennial is just a millennial. To me, they're all the same. Once you hit 30, you're a millennial. Now, okay, no matter if you're like early 30s or right at 44, you're a millennial. 

0:03:28 - Jess

I don't like the way you said that though, oh, you're a millennial, you didn't. You sounded a little I don't know. I mean, there's no disrespect, it sounded disrespectful. 

0:03:37 - Cameron

I know some millennials. I'm friends with some. 

0:03:40 - Jess

You're almost a millennial. 

0:03:42 - Cameron

Not that close. 

0:03:43 - Jess

A Gen Zer is going to look at you one day and be like oh, he's a millennial. 

0:03:47 - Cameron

We'll cross that bridge when we get there and I'll still be Gen Z, even though I'll be in my 30s. So Gen Z is still a different, cooler group. 

0:03:56 - Jess

Okay, we're getting way in the weeds here. I didn't mean to do that, okay. So let me tell you one of the things that my age group is noticing about your age group, okay. And please hear my heart behind this and please don't get offended or take any disrespect. The work ethic. 

0:04:17 - Cameron

How did I know that was coming? 

0:04:19 - Jess

Because you and I have conversations about this all the time. Any chance you get to work extra or work overtime, all I hear is work-life balance. But it's not just you. I hear this a lot from your age group and I'm not saying I don't agree with work-life balance because I do. I really feel like you should take time for yourself. I feel like you should have a healthy work-life balance. Just hear my heart behind that, but I do, and please just know that I hear my heart behind this. But I do feel like there is clearly a distinct difference between the work ethic of my age group and yours. I was taught to work hard. You work extra, you go hard, you work that overtime. I was working at 14, 15 years old. I was putting in that hard work. I had two jobs sometimes and I mentioned you having two jobs. Maybe you weren't getting another job on the weekends and you're like I would never. So what is it why? 

0:05:31 - Cameron

Well, I think the biggest difference is just you know, it was a completely different world when you were growing up versus now. 

0:05:39 - Jess

What do you mean? 

0:05:41 - Cameron

You still had to work hard, but it's like you were definitely getting the prize. You knew that if you were going to put in your full 40 hours, you were going to get a good bit of money and you could afford things. But now it's like you have to work even harder at the same type of job just to get the same amount of pay, and then it's like things to buy a home that's so much more expensive. It is now that it is back. Then it's like you have to put in so much more work to get the same thing that you guys put in the work for. You know, and you only get two days off and it's just like why would I want to constantly waste all that little time that I have working? You know I'm going to be able to go out and see my friends. You know I want to be able to go out and go to a movie. You know I want to be able to lay in bed with my cat and just be able to do nothing. 

0:06:36 - Jess

I don't know. I just feel like so what I'm hearing from you is, if you have to work twice as hard to get the basics, or like, back then we worked hard and we got extra, yeah, and now you have to work twice as hard. 

0:06:53 - Cameron

Yeah, just to get the minimum. 

0:06:55 - Jess

So you may as well not work hard at all, you may as well just work. 

0:07:00 - Cameron

I wouldn't say, necessarily work is hard, but back then you know, like, for example, you know, I'll make a little story, can I just say when you say back, then you make me feel so ancient. If it makes you feel better. I don't even know what year you were born, OK, so. 

0:07:15 - Jess

OK, how old do you think I am? Do you know how old I am as your mom? 

0:07:19 - Cameron

You never told me You're not allowed to ask a woman her age.

0:07:23 - Jess

Oh, I raised you right. Ok, go ahead. I'm sorry, I interrupted you. 

0:07:28 - Cameron

I wouldn't necessarily say that we shouldn't work as hard now. It's just I feel like you know, ok, like at work, my manager, he's going to give me like a whole list of things to do. Ok, a lot of manager like tasks. You know, if I'm not going to get paid like the manager, why would I do all that extra work? I feel like back then you could do that extra work and you would be rewarded for that. 

0:07:54 - Jess

Yeah, but if you are and I get what you're saying if you're not going to get the same pay as your manager, yeah, but maybe those, those are things you can put on your resume. You happen to have a job that you're not going to stay at for life, so maybe you can either one talk to your manager about what you're doing and you guys can reassess, or those are things that maybe you get knowledge and skill and you can put on your resume to use for your next position. 

0:08:25 - Cameron

That's true, but I think for a lot of my generation and with my job I do think I would have that opportunity to talk about getting paid accordingly, but I feel like a lot of jobs and corporations now they're not willing to do that. You know you have to come in and do so much work for not that much, and then it's like now I have to take on a second job just to afford basic things, not even to go see that movie or to go out with friends. This is just to pay rent. And I think a lot of my generation is just kind of at the point that if we're not going to be paid accordingly for all the work we're going to do, then we're just not going to do it. 

0:09:09 - Jess

Oh, I hear you. 

0:09:11 - Cameron

You know, and you know you don't get that much time here, you know, and I feel like you got to use every bit. So I tried to at least give myself a day, you know, to just be able to stay at home and just chill, and I feel like that goes through all aspects. You know I'm not going to do all this extra work if I'm not going to get paid for it. Things are expensive, things are going up and I know it. 

0:09:31 - Jess

I know that and I know you stole my toilet paper. 

0:09:36 - Cameron

And paper towels. 

0:09:38 - Jess

OK, Tide pods, wait a minute. You take my Tide pods? 

0:09:41 - Cameron

Not too many. 

0:09:42 - Jess

OK. 

0:09:43 - Cameron

I didn't take any this time. 

0:09:45 - Jess

OK, we digress. Ok, So so do you feel like my generation, like Gen X or even millennials, or what you guys call boomers? Do you feel like we don't know how to relax? Do you feel like we don't know that work-life balance? Do you feel like that's something we need to work harder at? 

0:10:05 - Cameron

Yeah, because I really do. I feel like back then. 

0:10:09 - Jess

Here we go with the back then again, okay. 

0:10:12 - Cameron

I feel like it all kind of just ties in together. You guys did work a lot, but you were getting. There was an end goal. You knew if you worked this much, you were going to get that house, you were going to get your bills paid for, you were going to get the end of that goal. We're not getting that type of it's like now. We have to put in even more work just to get the same things that you guys got. 

0:10:36 - Jess

So again, not to interrupt you, I don't want you to forget your point, but I just want to just make sure what I'm hearing is is you feel like it was okay for us to put in the work back then? Because when we were working and pushing ourselves back then it was like we knew there was going? 

0:10:53 - Cameron

to be a payoff, exactly. 

0:10:54 - Jess

Yes, but now if you guys work 60, 70, 80 hours a week, you don't see an end in sight, you don't see a payoff, and so you're like why do that to ourselves Exactly? If we're not going to see a return on investment, so to speak. 

0:11:09 - Cameron

We may as well live it up live life Exactly, and I'm not opposed to working. I like having a purpose and doing stuff. But it's just. We got to be real here. Bills have to get paid. I'm not going to work 60 hours a week, my whole week, just to get the same paycheck that I would have got if I was alive back then working the same hours. 

0:11:33 - Jess

Is there such thing as being an overachievers? You know what I mean. So is there a certain point, though, that you're not going to settle for it just being enough? I guess this is where I am, because I hear you. I hear what you're saying, but there's got to come a point where just the minimum is not going to cut it, even if you say, okay, for the next five years, I'm going to hustle, and then, once I stack up my dough, I'm good, like, even if you fully understand, okay, this year I'm going to work on the weekends, I'm going to work. You know y'all. If you could see his face right now. 

But if you know, if you know in your mind, you're just doing this to save money. You're going to work two jobs this year to save money, to do extra, and you know it's not going to be like this all the time, but I got to do what I got to do. Right now, you're not willing to do that Like. Is that a mindset? Because that's where I was in college. I knew life wasn't going to be like this all the time, but I had to do what I had to do to get through that season of life, and I'm not seeing that mindset with your generation. It's like you guys feel like, oh, I'm just going to be stuck here forever, so I may as well live my best life now, but what about the later? It's like you're not even thinking about what's next. Not all of you, but a lot of you. 

0:13:05 - Cameron

I definitely do think it's our mindset and I think that's why I really like my age group, our generation, because I feel like a lot of why we're standing our ground on not working more or doing two jobs is I feel like we know our value. You know we're not going to do all this extra work if we're not going to get paid for it. You know I'm not going to come in on a Saturday to do all this extra work if I'm not going to get overtime. I'm already having to work 50 hours just regularly in the week, just to make basic needs. So I'll save what I can. But I always hear remember you and dad always telling me how you guys would work all the time, and it's like I don't want to work all the time. You know I want to have fun with my friends. So if that means me not going in for that shift on Saturday and that's just sitting inside all day versus going out spending money, I'll do that instead. You know. 

0:14:02 - Jess

Yeah, okay, you know what I can respect it. I can. I really can. I am very thankful that your Nana and your Papa instilled in me the value in working hard so that I could one provide for you and your brother and so that I can buy shoes and I mean keep a roof over our heads and get the things we want, because one of the things me and your dad always wanted to show you and your brother is that we work and we work for the things that we need and we want, and I just wanted you guys to be able to see that. 

0:14:43 - Cameron

Not to interrupt because I don't want to forget and I feel like that's exactly what you did. I feel like you and dad put in me. I know my worth, you know I know my value and I know that I can do a good job, so I'm not going to stay somewhere that's not going to pay me accordingly. You know you guys taught me to get stuff done and you put confidence in me and you told me you know that I am worth something, so I would like to earn a living that equals that, you know. So I'm not going to do extra work. You guys taught me that. You know we got to have value in ourselves, confidence, and you guys taught me that a good work ethic is possible. But if I'm going to have the work ethic, I got to make sure that I'm getting something for that. You know. 

0:15:23 - Jess

And I certainly do respect that. I really do. I respect everything you're saying and you're not wrong, you're really not. I guess we just go about it differently. We just I can respect what you're saying but also want to work hard. If that makes any sense at all, yeah it does. I don't, and again, I don't think you should work your life away. I don't. I believe you work hard, but I also believe you play hard as well. 

0:15:49 - Cameron

Yeah, yeah, I just want to make sure I have time to play though. 

0:15:52 - Jess

Yeah, and I just want to make sure you have money in the bank one day, because Mom and Daddy ain't going to be here forever. 

0:15:59 - Cameron

I think you guys will be. 

0:16:00 - Jess

Okay, I would love to hear other thoughts and opinions, so please feel free to email your thoughts and opinions. Call the station, call the morning show. I would love, love, love to hear your opinions on this. Okay, cam, because I ask this question for every guest and you are a guest. I have to know if there was anything Jesus could fix. What would you ask Jesus to fix? 

0:16:32 - Cameron

Hmm, what would I ask for? I guess I would ask him to sit down with my cat and ask him why he feels the need to rip down my curtains, each and every piece, like actually rip them to pieces. Okay, I would like to take them back up and I've asked him myself why do you feel the need to rip these down? So maybe Jesus can fix that for me, because that's upsetting to see every time I come home. 

0:17:02 - Jess

Okay, valid. Thank you for being you. 

0:17:07 - Cameron

As always. 

0:17:08 - Jess

I love you, I love you. 

0:17:14 - Announcer

Life's not perfect. That's why God gave us friends like Melody and Candi. Check out QuirksBumpsandBruises.com or search Quirks, Bumps, and Bruises wherever you listen to podcasts.