The youth of today...tsk

I had to wait in for the gas man today.  "We'll be there between eight and one" said the not-very-friendly person on the phone to whom the boiler problem had been reported (aside: why don't call centre people ever sound very friendly?  I used to be a call centre person; I wasn't very happy about it, I worked too-long shifts and I wasn't being paid much, but I felt it was part of my job to at least try to sound nice and helpful, which may have been why I didn't get many 'problem' customers.  But still...)

True to their word, the gas man was round at nine-thirty promptly (don't you just hate it when they turn up at twelve fifty-nine?).  He refused a cup of tea, which was a good thing - seeing as even while I was offering it I remembered there was, as usual, no milk in the house - and duly trudged over to the boiler.

Now we've had gas men round to fix things in the past, and they've all been of a similar ilk; late fortysomething/early fiftysomething, greying and a trifle huffy.  Today's man, though, was twenty (I know this because he told me) and full of the joys of spring.  Even when, as I suspected, the intermittent boiler problem failed to occur for a full fifteen minutes after he arrived; leaving him standing around while I fluttered about, frantically turning taps on and off and spluttering "the water'll go cold again in a minute!  It will - honestly!"   

Thankfully it did, and the gas man got to work.  As he did so he took several calls on his mobile (including one from someone he'd been out with last night; his side of the call began with "I'm so not ready for work today, mate - had such a large one last night I don't know what I'm doing") before having to call a 'boiler specialist' (what a great job to have - seriously!) to check the problem due to the fact that he actually didn't know what he was doing.  While the boiler specialist had him on hold he told me a few things about himself; age, relationship and career status and his optimistic aspirations in life.  He was actually quite charming (though he didn't fix the boiler - that's happening next week, apparently).

And as I was talking to him I got that sinking feeling I get sometimes when I talk to members of the younger generation...that I just don't understand them.  Two things in particular baffle me: their music and their confidence.  The former because it's not aimed at me and as such I find it contemptible (I actually caught myself once saying to a young person something along the lines of "Madonna already did everything Lady Gaga's ever done...and better" before wanting to kill myself).  The latter because when I was twenty I had zero confidence, so I can't relate to twenty year-olds who do; twenty year-olds who are chatty and happy and all that.  I relate to outsider-mentality angst.  But youth-related angst seems to have completely disappeared these days.  Log on to Facebook and all you'll find from today's tweenagers will be a barrage of self-taken iPhone pics and "Like for a rate!" statuses.

Come the revolution I'll be cowering in the corner with my Madonna LPs while the youth of today are out conquering the world in meat dresses.  Still, the next Prime Minister has to come from this lot.  Just don't be surprised if their first order of business is to call the American president with something along the lines of "I'm so not ready for work today, mate - had such a large one last night I don't know what I'm doing".