Colleagues

If the telephone rings before 8 a.m., I pretty much know who it will be. It's my buddy Sarah, calling to kvetch about the latest mini-crisis in her work life. Likewise, if she hears that early-morning brrrring-brrrring-brrrring, she knows it's me.

Frank Moldstad is the only 50-something at a west coast digital marketing firm comprised almost entirely of 20-somethings. This is the last in a series detailing his ongoing travails....

It is my last day at work. I have been offered a position I cannot refuse in a distant city, and have accepted it. The company culture at the new place will be radically different. From what I can tell, the average age there seems to be in the mid-40s. I saw only a couple of forlorn Gen Yers lurking in the halls, keeping their heads down, trying to fit in.

Frank Moldstad is the only 50-something at a west coast digital marketing firm comprised almost entirely of 20-somethings. This is the ongoing story of his travails....

We have heard that the latest in business technology is on display at a local trade show, so our boss Marci and five of the staff traipse over to the convention center to see if it is true. We should have come in a yellow school bus, because it feels like a class trip. Thirty-something Marci is like the teacher, the four 20-somethings are the students, and I must be somebody's dad tagging along.

Frank Moldstad is the only 50-something at a west coast digital marketing firm comprised almost entirely of 20-somethings. This is the ongoing story of his travails....

As a mid-lifer, there are certain things you assume everyone can do, like using a rotary phone or finding the sports section in a newspaper. But increasingly, you will be wrong. These are generational skills that will someday be known only to historians and perhaps archeologists.

I was confronted with such a dying skill today when my Gen Y cube-mate Evelyn asked for help writing a check.