Colleagues

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.

 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 several project deadlines looming simultaneously, so our boss Marci has scheduled an impromptu working lunch today. But despite the promise of free food, the loss of their lunch hour is universally unpopular with my Gen Y colleagues.