#MillennialPause Is Not a Dance Move

And other mistakes I made this week!

The past few days have been a blur of sniffles and dragging my tush from one activity to the next with my 6-year-old, because I have a cold. I wish this newsletter contained the secret answer on how to be less sick — but the one thing I know for sure is that it has everything to do with not having a young kid. If you do, I’m sorry. There are no sick days.

My loud, adorable and question-filled child wont let me rest, but friends — why do I also feel like I cannot take a sick day from work? Thankfully, I work from home but as I’m coughing my way through zooms — like I was raised to do — I’m starting to question this logic. Two years ago, I worked through COVID, last year I worked through the flu. Does the younger generation do this?

I asked a young coworker if she ever takes sick days. She replied:

“I refuse to take sick days unless I truly need it. I like to work. I feel like if I miss a day of work I missed a whole lifetime.”

Okay, she sounds like me, and I am a dum-dum. She then went on to say she was different than her peers however, “They get to go travel and stuff. They enjoy the unlimited PTO and taking advantage of that.”

Even reading those words served as a reminder to me that I too have UNLIMITED PTO. Adding “plan a dang vacation after this dumb cold” to my to-do list. C’MON, FOSTER.

COVID has certainly made all of us feel more self-conscious about being sick in public — hacking at the grocery store is not exactly a hot lewk. (I will acknowledge there are always at least 7 exceptions to the above statement on every plane.) But, did this general feeling spillover into the office? Has the overall vibe of feeling sick shame led to calling out instead of heading into a shared workplace? I don’t know — but you know who does? Google.

A quick search produced this repeated statement: “Gen Z Employees Take Significantly More Sick Days Than Older Peers.” My eyes grazed a stat that said Gen Z take 3 more sick days on average than Gen-X or Boomers. And you know what? GOOD! Who told us we have to work while miserable? I’m raising my DayQuil to YOU Gen Z! (But also, please reply all when I’ve taken the time to include everyone on the email who needs to know the answer to my question.)

Here are a few highlights from my past week as someone keeping tabs on “old” and “young.”

• I came across some shocking news about a dance move that we ALL do — and apparently...It’s over? More on that below.

• A dear friend telling me that after a trip to New York she finally stopped wearing skinny jeans and got a pair of “cool jeans.” Her husband thought they were GROSS (his words), but she bravely put them on to debut to her 27-year-old coworkers. She’s like “Look at my new cool jeans!” and she was devastated when they had ZERO reaction because they are just jeans. These are her cool jeans of choice.

• Chatting up a group of parents after they took their kids to the Taylor Swift Eras movie. Comments ranged from, “What a great songwriter!,” to “I wish all of her songs weren’t about failed relationships — it’s not great for our kids.” I asked whether or not everyone thought Taylor was gay — and Travis was a beard inspired by a recent conversation I had with a friend. There were oddly no opinions there. Also, a few added that their kids were “baby swifties.” Me? I can’t wait to see the film if only to experience watching youth afraid to blink for fear that they will miss something major, to watch them sway themselves into believing that for just a few moments they actually are Taylor. Cause I remember feeling just like that.

  

• Louie (HTBLO youth correspondent) had a slumber party to celebrate becoming an official teen. His parents rented a bounce house — the choice sort of surprised me, but what do I know because apparently it got put to great use. 12 kids, zero hours of sleep. In his recap, he was mad that some of his friends were on their phones most of the night. “Why did they even come?” Also, he gave me a dehydrated Skittle to try - his new favorite candy. It was delicious.

And now, lets get down to the real business. A tiktok came my way that stopped me (skull emoji) in my tracks. It was about a dance move that apparently shows your old old age (shockingly no, it’s not the Carlton!) For me, just walking through the club doors in my sensible flats is likely enough! But after watching this video countless times I had to consult two youths to find out if this hot breaking news was indeed true — because it affects us all.