Anti-Corporate Moment, or Just A Mid-Life Crisis?
Why a generation of burnt-out corporate girlies are suddenly romanticizing the service industry - and why I'm actually doing it.
The algorithm has been flooding my feed with content about bookstores, baristas, and millennial burn-outs. I understand I’m probably influencing it a bit with my own demographic data and search history as I work on my bookshop & espresso bar start-up, but it’s getting to be a little much, except for the bookish content keep that one coming all day long. My point is that the aggregation of all these posts got me thinking about one thing - the whole concept of how millennials are anti-corporate and romanticizing jobs like being a barista.
THE DREAM
Long before COVID and reading became trendy again with the rise of #booktok, my dream was to own a bookstore and a coffee shop (or a Cuban cafeteria, since I always hoped it’d be inspired by my heritage).
I’ve been a cog in the corporate wheel for decades, but I’ve worked in hospitality as a teen and a second job on/off over the years. The service industry, for all of its hardships, has always been a place of peace for me. As an introvert, socially shy, and awkward (in my head anyway), I find that I don’t enjoy putting myself in social situations. It is draining to small talk with no purpose or pretend to enjoy the company of people whom you’d rather avoid. However, it is a completely different experience for me when I’m helping someone. There is incredible joy I get from helping someone and getting to know them, so that every time I can (hopefully) make their experience better. Make them feel like they’re part of the community we’ve been building. This is the feeling I’m chasing.
MID-CRISIS
This dream has been a retirement plan, if that was even possible. I mean, if you’re a millennial, you know that we’ve lived through endless cycles of tragedy and a consistently unforgiving economy. I’ve been surviving on fumes if I’m honest. It is only recently as I approach my 40s that I’ve gotten minimally close to being able to making it happen.
See that there? How I’m approaching 40? Is this my version of a shiny red convertible?
I keep telling myself that the reason I’m pulling the trigger now on this dream is because I can and I want to do it while I can actually work and enjoy it. I don’t want to wait until I have a health scare or major life event to do what I want in life. It does feel that way, doesn’t it? Like every time someone is living out their dream or fulfilling their bucket list, they’re on the heels of surviving.
Wait, isn’t this the epitome of a mid-life crisis? Taking action after considering my own mortality?
ANTI-CORPORATE & BURN-OUT
On the flip side, millennials are understandably burnt out. It is a fact. Remember those global tragedies I mentioned?
Bush #1’s 90’s war
Hurricane Andrew
Information era (pros & cons, believe me, i.e. dial-up, asl’s on MSN chats, cyberbullying)
Peak consumerism
9/11
Bush #2’s war
More hurricane damage with Katrina & Wilma
Housing & financial crisis
A celebrity was elected President
COVID
Return to office mandates
New financial crisis, inflation is crazy!
Another pointless war
This is the last 30 years of my near 40 in a nutshell. I became an adult around the first financial crisis and still vividly remember a few nuggets from the corporate stooges that employed us at the time:
“I know before we were all about family, but there is no family in team. With family, you have to help carry them when things get tough, but as a team if we’re not all pulling our weight, we’ll have to start considering strategic cuts.” (I low key agreed, but this speech was not the motivational speech they thought it was.)
“If you don’t like the terms we’re setting, feel free to leave. We don’t need you. You need us. You know how hard the financial crisis is. If you don’t want to fall in line, then I can find a replacement today.” (Again, another truth of the times, but not cool.)
“She’s not part of our inner circle. She will never be promoted.” (This clique-ness unfortunately is present in many employer inner circles.)
“You are qualified for the senior role, but we’ll hire you now with the entry-level title and we’ll re-evaluate in 3 months. If you do well, we’ll promote you and then the analysts can report directly to you.” (Checked in with them quarterly for 2 years, exceeded the job expectations, and despite their praises the promotion never came. It was only until resigning on year 3 that they brought up the promotion again. Still dangling that carrot.)
“You’re going to come in and build your own team. We need someone with your experience to really set us on the right path.” (They never allowed any hiring for this supposed ‘team’ that was being built, and never agreed with implementing any of the improvement plans brought up. Six months later they hired some former chief that was 40+ years older than the entire company average age, who hadn’t done the job in years, to be an additional leadership layer and finally build the team. No team was ever hired. I quit. He retired. The company closed soon after.)
The point I’m trying to make is that we’ve spent years fighting to climb a corporate ladder only to be used, abused, and discarded by the ghosts of companies past (a bit of an exaggeration but also, not really). We’ve normalized it because the golden handcuffs are comfortable - the pay is good, and the hours and benefits too.
I’ve had my share of toxic rooms. But ironically, my current employer is actually pretty awesome. Through good leadership (and my own conscious choice to step off the corporate ladder climb), I’ve found a place to call home for years. So they’re not all bad. Corporate burnout, at least in this current chapter, isn’t the villain.
REALITY
Objectively speaking, I’ve always been a woman who dreams big, and dreams often. So while I don’t completely discount the mid-life crisis theory - I am after all staring down forty (eek!), it’s just a minor influencer.
As for corporate burnout? It’s out of the question too because I’m at peace with where I’ve settled on the corporate ladder.
So, what is it?
Maybe it’s not a crisis at all. Maybe it’s just the quiet realization that surviving isn’t the same as living. Sometimes a dream is just a dream until you decide to stop treating it like a retirement plan. I’d rather try and break a few bricks than spend the next forty years wondering what was on the other side of the wall. I’m betting on myself to build this little corner, while keeping both feet firmly on the ground, regardless of whether the cards fall in my favor or not. Wins are spectacular, but even the failures leave you with a story to tell.
Until next week…..keep your spaces cozy, and your reading a little unhinged.
Take care,
Your Resident (future) Bookseller
Quiet Nook Books
