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‘My grandkids are the rudest ever’: Anonymous op-ed blasts Gen Z’s ‘lack of consideration’

April 1, 2024 | | Print Article

An anonymous grandpa blasted Gen Z, calling it “the rudest generation ever known.”

“Is Generation Z, those now aged 12 to 27, the rudest generation ever known?” the author asked in a piece published in the Daily Mail. “I think it must be. They are casual, uncaring and never imagine that arrangements they make are to be honoured.”

As an example the grumpy grandfather pointed to his 23-year-old eldest grandson, who asked to come to a Sunday lunch, only to ghost him as the day approached.

“I heard no more, so on the appointed day I messaged him three ways, by email, text and phone. No reply. Should I start cooking, book the restaurant, or what? 12 o’clock came, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm. Nothing. No grandson, no messages,” he wrote. “Finally, at 8pm and after prompting by his father, I had a brief text saying that he was out late the night before and sorry he didn’t let me know he wouldn’t be coming.”

Grandpa’s entire day had been “wasted.”

“Don’t I matter? Don’t I count?” he asked. “It appears not.”

“I could perhaps excuse this behaviour in a 14-year-old,” he wrote, “but for somebody who is supposedly adult and holding down a responsible job, it is unforgiveable and rude.”

And it wasn’t an “isolated example.”

“Vague promises to visit are rarely kept,” the grandfather wrote. “Admittedly, seeing your old granny or great aunt for lunch may not be the most exciting of adventures, but in our day, we viewed such visits as our bounden duty, knowing that the lonely elderly folk would be greatly cheered by the lively presence of young people.”

“And it’s not as though we are particularly demanding. Just seeing them once or twice a year is all we ask,” he continued. “But even that, it seems, is too much. It didn’t occur to any of them, for instance, to wonder if I might be all on my own over Easter or think to cheer me up with a phone call or card.”

“And I know that it is not just my particular family who behaves like this,” he wrote. “Such lack of consideration is endemic among Gen Z.”

To hear grandpa tell it, Generation Z is comprised of thoughtless narcissists.

“These youngsters are the princelings of today, leading the lives they choose and never mind about anybody else. The fact that somebody might be waiting in all day for a visit that never materialises, does not enter their heads,” he wrote. “And even when they do deign to pay a visit, usually turning up late, they spend the time just staring at their phones.”

He believes their problem “is that they have been spoilt to death from day one. They have never been disciplined and believe the world revolves around them.”

The octogenarian spread the blame around to schools, teachers, parents, “electronic devices,” and a failure to launch.

“[M]y generation (I’m now 80), and also their parents, were independent and out in the world in our early 20s, at the latest, this lot are still living at home, not paying rent and having their washing done and meals cooked for them on demand,” he noted. “This prolonged indulgence means that they never really grow up. So is it any wonder that they don’t give a minute’s thought to anybody else?”

Melissa Fine
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