If you haven’t yet heard of Talia Jane, here’s some background. Recently, Talia published online an open letter to her boss, the CEO of Yelp, that was apparently a misguided attempt at shining a light on the difficulties of living on minimum wage. She was fired just a few hours after posting the letter, prompting an immediate debate once again on the plight of Millennials and a mix of sympathy and disdain for the former Yelper. The problem with this open letter was although Talia made some valid points about wage discrepancy and the outlandish cost of living in San Francisco, she came across as entitled and bratty, dismissing all of the generous benefits her supposed horrible job gave her and acting shocked that she couldn’t pay the $1,200/month rent that she willingly signed a lease for.
Basically, it was obvious that Talia’s problems stemmed much more from making irresponsible financial decisions than from the working conditions at Yelp. As you can see from some previous blog posts I’ve written, one of my biggest pet peeves is the ongoing entitled Millennial stereotype. Unfortunately, when people like this young woman come along, she isn’t doing us any favors, and instead perpetuates the idea that everyone born after 1980 expect things to be handed to them on a silver platter.
To a certain extent, I have a lot in common with Talia Jane. I, too, was an English major, choosing to follow my passion for reading and loathing for anything math-related while in school instead of a major that would guarantee me a well-paying job. I, too, made less than $10 an hour at my first post-graduate job, and as a result I, too, struggled with budgeting and making enough to pay my bills on an entry-level salary. However, what I did NOT do while making less than $10 an hour was move across the country to San Francisco, a city known as one of the most expensive places to live in the country. Unlike Talia, I did not expect a significant pay raise after three months, and I certainly did not post an open letter to my first boss after being hit with the realization that most of the time entry-level jobs completely, for a lack of a better word, suck. No one said starting out on the bottom was fun.
I’m not denying the fact that income inequality is a huge problem in this country, or the fact that minimum wage is hardly enough to get by. I’m not denying that it can be disheartening when starting out your career and realizing that you cannot spend a few hours a day blogging and make enough money to buy designer clothes (I blame you for this myth, Carrie Bradshaw). Climbing up the corporate ladder takes hard work, determination and a commitment to coming into work and making sure that you provide value the company that employs you.
I wonder if Talia Jane ever thought about how many people in San Francisco would kill to have a shot at working for a company like Yelp. I’m willing to bet quite a few, especially considering the fact that the company offers incredible benefits, as she mentioned in her letter but quickly dismissed the importance of. News flash: companies do not typically cover 100% of the health care costs for employees who have been working for them for just a few months. Talia should have considered herself lucky, instead of slamming the CEO of Yelp for not paying her enough to afford her own apartment in San Francisco (ever heard of roommates?). I wonder if she ever thought about the millions of unemployed people desperate for an opportunity like the one she had and threw away for the sake of getting 15 minutes of Internet fame.
From one millennial to another, here’s some advice. The best way to get what you want is to work for it. Go give that a shot and quit making the rest of us look bad. We’re not all entitled brats, but every generation has their bad eggs.
