Millennial calls out boomers for unfairly putting down on Gen-Zers over financial struggles

‘We’re also considerably, and disproportionately, much less than any other generation has,’ musician says

A millennial TikTok user called out a boomer comedian for dunking on Gen-Z and younger generations for being frustrated with their current financial circumstances.

In a viral TikTok video, musician Robbie Scott responded to a clip of 54-year-old comedian Rick Mercer complaining about a Gen-Z TikToker who vented about her 40-hour work week. Scott pointed out in his video that Mercer's points were negated by the fact that a lot of Gen-Z has to deal with financial hardships and a cost-of-living crisis that older generations never encountered.

The clip begins with Mercer’s comment that “the vast majority of people in North America have done [a full-time job] for their entire life”. The footage is stitched with a video of Scott responding, with the overlaid text saying: “Most Boomers don’t know what it’s like to work 40+ hours a week and still not be able to afford a house and food, so let me walk you through it.”

The musician began the clip by pointing out that it’s unlikely that baby boomers will understand what younger generations are experiencing in this economic climate. “We need to stop expecting the same damn people who bought a four-bedroom home and a brand-new Cadillac convertible off of a $30,000 a year salary working at Perkins to understand what it’s like to be working 40+ hours a week with a Master’s degree and still not being able to afford a 400-square-foot studio apartment in b*mf*ck, Iowa,” he said.

He added that the vast majority of people - including boomers - don’t like working full-time, with many seeing it as a means to an end. He noted that many of them were “trying to become billionaires so that you can one day pay people” to do the work for them, not because they wanted to work the same 9-to-5 job for the rest of their lives.

Scott argued that the reason that millennials and Gen-Z are upset is not because they’re lazy and less willing to work. The frustration instead stems from not being paid a proportionate amount that reflects the cost of living prices that have escalated amid inflation.

“What’s s***** is, we’re holding up our end of the deal,” he continued. “We’re staying in school. We’re going to college. We’ve been working since we were 15, 16 years old... doing everything that y’all told us to do so that we can what? We can still be living in our parents’ homes in our late 20s?”

“We’re also making considerably, and disproportionately, much less than any other generation has - and that is kinda s*****,” he added, noting that he knows people in their mid-30s who have been working steadily for over two decades, but still can’t afford a home in his state of Minnesota. “That is why some of us are crying,” the musician explained. “That’s why some of us are angry... we’re holding up our end of the deal, and someone on the other side is not holding up their end.”

Scott noted that although some Boomers and Gen X-ers are sympathetic to the younger generation’s situation, they would empathise more with them if they had faced similar economic conditions. But he didn’t hold back against the older generations looking down on millennials and Gen Z, and had some choice words for them.

“F*** you - because you don’t get it, you will never get it, and you should be thanking God for that.”

Since he posted the video, it has garnered over two million views on the platform, with many young people flooding the comment section thanking Scott for expressing what they couldn’t put into words.

“I wouldn’t mind working if it actually allowed me to afford things,” one person wrote, while another added: “Imagine if they’d just pay us.”

“I don’t mind 40 hours only if it actually makes things affordable like the boomers had it,” someone else commented.

However, it wasn’t just young people in the comment section, with some older workers noting that the work they’re doing now isn’t the same workload they did in their twenties.

“I’m 44 and [let me] tell you - we are NOT working the same 40 hrs as we did when I was 25,” one person wrote. “We’re doing the work of two to three people now.”

But there were a few people calling on Scott and others like him to pick themselves up by the bootstraps and move forward. “It’s not difficult,” someone wrote. “If you work hard you get nice things. Sick of this pitty [sic] party mentality.”