I would like to apologise for my generation. I’d like to apologise because the older generation see us as ungrateful, uneducated, disrespectful yobs. And I’m afraid a large percentage of my generation are those things.

I’d like to apologise on behalf of those teenagers who shoulder-barge you in the street instead of stepping to side.

I’d like to apologise on behalf of those teenagers who stand around in gangs, chain-smoking and shouting abuse at passers-by.

I’d like apologise on behalf of those teenagers who don’t know the difference between ‘your’ and ‘you’re’ and who have never heard of J.R.R Tolkien or Lewis Carroll.

I’d like to apologise on their behalf and promise you that not everyone in my generation is like that. Some of us do read, some of us are respectful and some of us don’t actually think that a good night out constitutes getting absolutely hammered and then throwing up in the gutter.

Honestly – some of us are nice. I swear.

Not every teenager who has their hood up and their earphones in want to stab you and grab your money. Perhaps they just might want to be alone and listen to some good music.

Not every teenager who has a frown on their face will swear at you or tell you Bleep off. Perhaps they’re stressed because they’re working hard at school, or at their job. Perhaps they’re actually really nice people who’re working towards their future.

But it’s not all up to me to apologise on behalf of my generation. You – the older generation – have got things to apologise for, too.

For having the stereotypical view that every teenager is ungrateful, uneducated and disrespectful and therefore dismissing us as having nothing to contribute to society.

For saying that we’re just being ‘typical moody teenagers’ when we’re angry or down, because you bet your bottom dollar that in most cases, we’re not just being ‘typical moody teenagers’. We actually have feelings, you know.

For sometimes treating younger people with less respect than you might treat adults or older people with, just because we’re the ‘yob generation’ and therefore all of us deserve to be treated like yoofs. I had a customer at work today who expressly came over to my till and proceeded to shout at me because someone had gotten the price of something he’d bought wrong by one pound-eighty. He was yelling at me, saying, “It’s not good enough, is it?” and he then had the cheek to say, “This place shouldn’t employ young people like you if you can’t do the job properly.”

I mean, how does anyone think they even have the right to speak to someone like that? The one thing I hate about working in retail is that you get customers who think, just because you’re on the other side of the till doing the work, that they can treat you as a lesser human being and talk to you like they would never talk to anyone else.

And yes, it is adults and elderly people who do it, especially to teenagers. And we don’t deserve that. Just because adults have this negative, stereotypical view of my generation, that doesn’t mean they have the right to belittle and talk to us like we’re something scraped off the bottom of their shoe. We’re behind that till working because we want to work – we want to earn money so that we can at least partly pay our way through life until we leave home. We work because we’re not like the ungrateful, uneducated, disrespectful percentage.

So next time you’re in a shop buying something and there’s a teenager in front of you, don’t bloody talk to them like they’re shit, because I can tell you now, it’ll stay in their mind. Every nasty, unnecessary comment you make will be remembered and you will have made that person’s day just that little bit shittier. So treat the working population with respect.

So yes, I do apologise for my generation, because most of the time I am ashamed at my peers. I want you to know that we’re not all the same and that there’s no need for you to completely lose your faith in the future generation.

But you’ve also got to play your part, too. You, as adults, have the responsibility to treat us teenagers like actual human beings and consider that some of us do actually have thoughts and opinions that matter.

And finally, don’t be that arsehole that complains and makes a scene over one pound-eighty, because what will you have gained?

Your one pound-eighty back, which could buy you a whole fridge magnet
Ruining the day of someone who probably has enough things to worry about, let alone your petty whinings

Peace out, ya’ll.



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I would like to apologise on behalf of the op for making us look jobless