A long rant about nothing new.

At work today I received a call that a student was having issues with her bedroom door. There was something wrong with it, it was broken, she couldn't lock it and she felt unsafe because of it.

I drove across campus to the building, went up to the second floor and knocked on the apartment/suite door.
I knock on the door and wait.
Knock on the door again, harder, and wait. Walk around the hallway a bit.
Knock a third time, "knock and announce" (yell through the door who I am and why I'm there) And wait.
Fourth time, "knock and announce" plus announce that I'm entering the suite.

(we'll make a brief side rant here)

Now I have the magic key, but instead I push down on the door handle to see if it's locked. It's not of course. I think "If you're truly concerned about your safety and not being able to lock your bedroom door, of course you'd leave the front door unlocked!"

Anyway, I slowly push the front door open and sitting at the table about six feet away are two young women just staring at me. (Well of course they didn't answer the door, they were a whole two yards away! They'd have had to get up, or at least say something. Come on now, let's be real, that's far too much to ask.)(sigh)
They just sort of looked stunned that I opened the door. You know, despite me knocking repeatedly and YELLING that I was going to open the door.

I tell them who I am again and they just sit there looking at me. Motionless.
I tell them why I'm there, which room I need to look at... they still just sit there. They don't move, they don't make a sound. Total deer in the headlights.

Thankfully the girl who reported this problem has heard me talking AT the two others. She walks half way down the hallway and says she reported it, it's her room. I enter the suite, and start walking towards her, at which point she turns around and starts walking back to her room.

And at that moment, I knew EXACTLY WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HER DOOR.

Because I saw that she was wearing a "Sandy Hook Promise" t-shirt. (the anti gun, anti "school shooting" organization.) I don't know if the rest of the country sees their commercials on youtube, really I don't recall seeing THAT many of them at home, but on campus my youtube is bombarded with them at times. (Which is always funny watching gun channels with anti gun commercials.)

She walked into and across the room to her desk to get her key, I suppose so she could show me how the lock was broken. I didn't enter the room, I didn't need to. I stood in the hallway. I literally knew what was wrong with it from her shirt. So I reached around the door and said "Okay, now watch. Here's your lesson of the day." (Part sincere, part sarcastic.) I pushed in and turned the little button on the door knob and magically her door locked. ("Kneel before me! These hands have been touched by God!")

She looked a bit perplexed. I wish I could say she looked embarrassed, but not really. Maybe a just tiny little bit. I told her "Don't feel bad, it happens all the time here." (My way of saying "yes, sadly there are plenty of other people as dumb as you!")

As it turns out, I did two more just like it later in the day.


I'm really stunned by my job now, what I do. That a large portion of my job is showing college students how a door knob works. It sounds like a joke. Hard to imagine that's real, but it is. And it's sad.

I've had many different jobs in different fields in my time there. Always trying something new every handful of years to keep from getting bored. I took a demotion and a pay cut to get the job I have now, something nobody'd ever done. lol (I had to interview for a demotion. And getting it was harder to pull off than any promotion I'd ever gotten.)

It made 31 years go by in the blink of an eye. Scary fast. When I started I was the same age as them. (that part was more fun then) But this isn't something brought on by age, becoming old and cranky, no I can say this will all certainty from watching it happen all along the journey. They are getting dumber and dumber every year.

These kids haven't had to do a thing. It's not unlike how your body builds an immune system.

There are a lot of factors, but the workforce today is absolutely fucked. While I was still a contractor it was fucked, back when I was welding the interns we were getting showed the warnings signs. The bedrock is "everybody goes to college," then layered on top is participation trophies and more. The young people don't want to work or take instruction. A lot of sectors are suffering now, but the trades are in trouble. Immigrant labor will fill all of these positions, the ones AI doesn't eliminate.

Safe spaces and all this other dogshit, are building drones, not people.

I know the type of lock you are talking about. The push button to lock it is unusual while most doors have a button in the center of the knob to turn.

Write up a door locking sheet and stick it in their orientation package.

Many have lead a pampered life with everything taken care of by mommy or dad. After stopping up a toilet with everything you can imagine (that should not go in a toilet) they have no idea how to use a plunger. We could go on and on....

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
They are getting dumber and dumber every year.

And I get called an angry old man when I bring this up.

quote:

Originally posted by arcwelder:
The young people don't want to work or take instruction. A lot of sectors are suffering now, but the trades are in trouble. Immigrant labor will fill all of these positions, the ones AI doesn't eliminate.

And that goes back to childhood. Could be something as small as sports with a child being uncoachable, that child turns into an adult that is unteachable.

The trades typically pay well. Then people will whine and bitch about how "Mexicans" are taking away "our" jobs yet kids these days think it's below them. I keep telling kids if they get into the trades, especially electrical and HVAC, they will NEVER run out of work. Back in 2018, there were electricians charging $100 to hang a TV. $200 to assemble and hang a ceiling fan which would take less than 2 hours to do. That's more than $100/hour.

Wonder why they have problems paying their loans off?

quote:

Originally posted by 41:
...while most doors have a button in the center of the knob to turn.

^ That's the type of doorknob they are.

Nothing special, nothing unusual.



Okay, so this isn't EXACTLY like the doorknob on your bedroom at home. You're 20 years old and and never lived anywhere else, fine. The part that saddens me is the total lack of trying. "Here's a thing that looks like it's made to turn. Maybe I should try turning it?" Nah.



But when I think about it, do they turn anything anymore? MAYBE the temperature controls on the dash of their car? Stoves maybe? They probably don't cook. (funny that I had to really think about what still had knobs on it in this day and age, and I actually had tough time coming up with anything. Clearly these are children who never changed the channel on the Tv with a needle nose pliers.)

I can imagine all three of these scholars standing before this strange device called a door knob. None of them know how it works. None of their parents are answering their texts that say "Fix my door". Tik Tok has no answers. They type into ChatGPT: "Door no work." ChatGPT gives them a brief history of doors in a helping of words that are too many to read.
Then, we hear the voice of Mike Judge and he says: Coming soon to a theater near you, Idiocracy 2: Upgrade.

What was the deal with the two 'deer in the headlights' girls?

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
But when I think about it, do they turn anything anymore? MAYBE the temperature controls on the dash of their car?

Nope, those are touchscreens on many newer cars nowadays.

That was actually one of the things specifically on my "wish list" while car shopping a few months back: Manual HVAC controls with actual dials and buttons!


Heck, even the number of washers and dryers with actual dials and buttons are dwindling these days...

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:
What was the deal with the two 'deer in the headlights' girls?

No idea. Two Asian girls, they were eating (at least before I opened the door, and back to it when I left)

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
Clearly these are children who never changed the channel on the Tv with a needle nose pliers.)

OooOOooo, instant flashback. The broken plastic knob, the splined center stem with the endslot ...

About like me having to show a tenant how to reset a breaker.

After multiple denials about what caused the trip, she finally admits that she sprayed water on the receptacle. It’s an AFCI/GFCI combination breaker.

I swear, they’d rather me tear apart the house looking for a problem than admit they caused it.

Cas, I believe you just figured out where the saying "Dumber than a door knob" comes from.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
It made 31 years go by in the blink of an eye. Scary fast. When I started I was the same age as them. (that part was more fun then) But this isn't something brought on by age, becoming old and cranky, no I can say this will all certainty from watching it happen all along the journey. They are getting dumber and dumber every year.

Sadly, they are. There've been studies done.

Example: Research Confirms It: We Really Are Getting Dumber

quote:

Originally posted by cas:

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:
What was the deal with the two 'deer in the headlights' girls?

No idea. Two Asian girls, they were eating (at least before I opened the door, and back to it when I left)

I still understand why they wouldn't open the door. My kids too won't answer the door nor pick up the phone.

It boggles the mind.

I was in college from 1990-1995 and back then college students were so damn dumb it was astonishing. You know how many flats I changed, cars I had to jump for people that had the cables without a clue what to do with them, etc?

Having read to this point, I'm wondering how much the shift from rural to urban living in the last century or so has contributed to this.

Seems funny to me how moving to an area where the pay is better leads to a loss of self reliance. I guess you just hire people and buy things with the extra money instead of doing it or fixing it yourself?

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:
My kids too won't answer the door nor pick up the phone.

"Well I know it's not for me, so why would I answer it?"

That's my usual assumption. And in a way, I get it. Especially if you're living with, for the most part, strangers.


"Can you come back later?" is usually a fun one. You asked someone to come... and when they did you don't want them there?
You might think hey they're college kids, up real late, sleep late whenever possible. Fact is, this is no good time. lol
When I was younger and more prone to being mean to them, when asked if I could come back later, I'd say things like "Sure, how's November?"

Just hand a youngster an old fashioned Analog watch and ask them to tell you the time.

Should be good for a belly laugh.