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<p>I don’t think this is just the younger generation, but a longstanding problem in US society. An older friend had as a first supervisor a boomer-aged individual who had this problem in spades despite having been a college graduate. </p>
<p>When a colleague of my friend compared her to Joseph Stalin because of her totalitarian micromanaging manner and she overheard it, she completely missed the reference and thought he was referring to “one of their customers”. She ended up wasting an hour’s of the department’s time when she ordered them to “look up Joseph Stalin in the database”. </p>
<p>In another incident, the friend was working with a Vietnam veteran who mentioned Ho Chi Minh in passing when talking about his war experience. Guess what? That very supervisor overheard and asked “So, how’s the food there?” Turns out she thought “Ho Chi Minh” was the name of a Chinese restaurant. :(</p>
<p>And many wonder why she was the laughing stock of my friend’s office and why they celebrated when a change in governors meant she was replaced.</p>