I'm reminded of one of my very strange friends when he met my baby for the first time. "Uhhhh the baby is staring at me what do i do oh no uhhhh hello"
this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
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stare mogged on some zoomers today 
Bourgeoise media agitating for age warfare to redirect people from class warfare
We get these dumb stories every couple a years, the nEw WaCkY tReNd the upcoming generation is doing and it's actually just the same shit people have been doing since people were a thing.
You can pull up those horrible movies like national lampoon or porkies and see teenage boomers and Gen Xers do the same intergenerational hate-mongered shit teens do today. Random teen cashier having a thousand yard state because they're finding out early work life fucking sucks? As old and as American as Apple pie
Remember Jenkem or whatever it was called? Shit was hilarious.
"Butt hash"
Real heads are drinking prison wine.
Kubrick stare but you’re 19 and a customer asked if you have non-dairy cow’s milk
When i was working at a pizza shop some POS on my first day asked if she could do half marinara half bbq and when I told her it wasn't possible she flipped out on me over the phone.
I was all "sorry it's my first day let me ask my manager" and she was all "YEAH I CAN TELL" and when my manager told her the same thing about how the sauce is gonna mix in the oven she piped down.
Came in and picked up her pizza all polite like she didn't verbally assault me for 10 minutes on the phone.
New generation of kids would just record the conversation for tiktok then hang up on her sorry ass.
I salute our Gen Z vanguard party. We’re 3 years from a zoomer in Boston pulling up Red Note and filming themselves beating an Arby’s customer with a Cat o’ Nine Tails for asking for their fries to be heated hotter and a refund
For any kids out there, depending upon your state, recording someone over the phone as well as in some situations in-person without notification and consent can be illegal and considered a crime.
pretty sure vacant teen stare has been a general trope for a while. dont see how this is a gen z specific phenomenon
Everyone suddenly starts talking about how an entire age range of people has supposedly become completely zombified
I Look into it for 3 seconds
95% of it is just the next generation of Americans taking their turn at being mad the youths in shit retail jobs aren't "respectful" enough to them
"The gen z stare" "the Gen x twerk" "the millenial backflip" motherfucker
Hey the Gen Z stare is a real thing. But people have it ass backwards. The expression itself isn’t new at all. It’s the same expression as “I’m too old for this shit.” Just a completely impassive face like you stopped giving a shit.
Wanna know why older generations have started to notice? Because when they try to get Gen Z or younger to respect them (by being loud or rude or whatever) young people collectively just do not give a fuck. And why should they?
I’m an elementary teacher. If a kid gives me this stare I know I have to change what I’m doing because I’m in the wrong most likely.
It’s not the Gen z stare at all, it’s the teenage apathy stare.
I know we were always in shit for it as well and I’m in my 40’s now
When someone says something so rizzlerphobic and you gotta hit em with something
idk as someone who worked multiple jobs with kids the "stare" usually means you as an adult are not engaging enough
also seen plenty of millenials genX and boomers do this same "stare" when you say something they don't want to comprehend
It's the gormless expression teens make when they have absolutely zero initiative and will only function by being told what to do. You see it in new retail workers all the time and it's those workers, hotel workers, and fast food people come into contact with it frequently enough for it to become a thing people notice.
They grow out of it. Most people had it at some point as a teen and it's just really ridiculous that people pretend they weren't also like that when younger.
Expecting someone to point out gormless is ableist or something. I have no idea what the etymology of that word is. I'll be disappointed if I have to stop using it because it's a strong word.
Had a big research student orientation yesterday. Thought "Cool now I can meet the younger genZ crowd, I remember the older ones I taught were good people".
Had a look out for all these allegedly weird genZ behaviours, I saw.... very friendly slightly shy 20 somethings who were eager to study and a bit LLM brained like everyone else.
Basically the only thing I could point to as different was there were no Goths (rip) and seemingly more tolerance for people with their own styles given the variety of dress/hair styling/jewellery.
As usual humans are just humans and the kids are alright.
Yeah people are just looking for things to cause generational division. Trying to make sure generations do not interact with one another, if people are negative about genz before they even speak to one they're going to have a bad interaction with them
this is a gormful post
c. 1746, also in early use gaumless, gawmless, "wanting sense, stupid," a British dialectal word, from gome "notice, understanding" (c. 1200), from Old Norse gaumr "care, heed" (of unknown origin); + -less.
It's what seniors are calling the "are you fucking kidding me?" nonverbal reply to a deeply stupid comment or demand.
I feel like they just made it up so they would have something to add to the generation snark.
Yeah, oftentimes itll be a blank stare from Gen Z employees or students. Like I will be waiting to be rung up and say "hi" and then nothing. They might not even tell me my total or anything. It's fucking weird and uncomfortable but it's not just a Gen Z thing. I just feel like maybe it's more prevalent
Maybe real wages for retail workers have fallen to the point that they no longer cover emotional labor
I have worked very very many customer service jobs since I was able to have a job and it has never paid for emotional labor, never. I have always made minimum wage or have been considered low income, or very low income, at every single job I've had for the past 22 years. How is it considered emotional labor to say "hi", "that'll be $20", "have a good one"? It's wild to me that that is considered too much for someone working a public facing job to do. No, I don't think you should kiss my ass. No, you don't have to be all smiles, or even really show emotion at all. No, you dont have to go the extra mile. But is literally just giving an acknowledgement that the person in front of you exists too much emotional labor anymore?
Yeah honestly they're over worked and under payed and probably burnt out from working three jobs to split a 2 bedroom four ways.
I'm gonna preface that this is gonna be a long-winded ass response so my apologies for that. If I get an "I'm not reading all that" I wont be mad lol.
I'm not meaning to talk down on or talk shit on Gen Z people, most of my very close friends are in that age range so I don't have this sweeping generalization that applies to everyone, my experience has been very specific to customer service, and it's like half the time, not every single time either. I am also very explicitly talking about acknowledging the existence of other people in a job environment where someone willingly applied for and accepted a job that they know the function is to interact with the public. Not expecting people to do the whole song and dance shit that people were and are forced into. I just very genuinely do not understand why there is so much push back as if it's completely unacceptable to expect someone to just say hello to someone.
So yeah, they are over worked and underpaid, but that's been the case for literal decades and it's strange to me that people seem to just jump to that as the reason and seem to forget that capitalism didn't spontaneously develop in 2020 and that people have been exploited for decades. I began working just a couple years before the 2008 recession. When I was 27 I was making so little that I was splitting a 2 bedroom apartment with 5 people. Until I quit my most recent job I was close to qualifying as "very low income" according to the city's standards and I could not afford even a studio apartment. I grew up with my electricity shut off with all the groceries stored in a camping cooler so that child protective services wouldn't take me away from my mom. I am autistic and have always dealt with social anxiety and shyness. Despite that, I have worked very many customer service jobs beginning at 15 years old and I went into it knowing that I would need to interact with other people. That's the entire purpose of being a cashier. So why take a job where you have to interact with people if you absolutely hate it to the point where you don't even want to interact with other people at all?
Imo, interacting with people can also be a way to make your job less miserable. Shitty, asshole customers will ALWAYS exist and they will treat you like shit regardless of how you act towards them. But sometimes interactions with strangers can be really fun. I have had many customers that I would look forward to seeing, or I would crack jokes with, or complain about the state of the world, or they would just be super kind. They might turn my day around or at the very least make time go by faster. It's like you're possibly denying yourself potential moments that might make the work feel a little less excrutiating. Sometimes those few cool people would be the only thing getting me through my day because my boss fucking sucked ass and it was so monotonous.
I think what really gets me on this, too, is that people will simultaneously say "people are terminally online and need to touch grass", but when it's pointed out that it's worrying that people can't even communicate in the most minimal ways, then it's "oh but they shouldn't be expected to interact with people". So which is it? I don't think that people should be disciplined for not having sunshine shoot out their asses. I do think that it's fine to only put in the effort you think is commensurate with your wage. Quiet quitting and time theft are dope. I guess more than anything it's just troubling to me that people seem to not think it's important to practice very basic communication skills with strangers and get downright defensive if it's suggested.
Perhaps I really just don't understand the significance of COVID lockdowns and I wish I could hear some anecdotal experience from someone who feels like it did really change how they communicate. Perhaps it's an overcorrection as everyone can hop on social media and see that capitalism is garbage and how it's decaying every day. I admit that there is probably some old-man-shaking-fist-at-the-youngters "back in my day" shit going on but I do really try not to fall into that. Idk, I'm not trying to shit on people and say that they are bad for lacking social skills, but that it does seem much worse and that maybe it should be something folks should work on
Covid could be part of it. Maybe it's different than burnout. I have only heard about this on tiktok, that's just how it seems to me.
Yeah, could be a variety of things. And I mean, what I'm talking about is something ive only seen a handful of times but when I have it was just VERY noticeable to me. All that said we all have our stereotypes. Gen Xers were apathetic and cynical, millenials were just cringe... We all have our things lol
saying hello is not emotional labor
christ i hate therapy speak
Not saying "fuck you" because you're on the clock is emotional labor
Nah I get the OC, I got shafted 3 raise cycles making minimum wage, so I just did bare minimum until I found another job.
I used to work at a chain bakery place and after I got harassed by the employees I started doing shit in view of customers that I knew they'd dislike. Throwing a bag of mac n cheese in the microwave and cutting it open right in front of them probably made them think twice about spending $8 for it.
I also gave a bunch of free stuff away whenever possible, it probably brought them more business but my managers HATED it.
stop staring at me dog!
Late stage capitalism and the attention economy kills your brain. Also stupid generational divides and stuff.
Us millennials had the boomer's thousand yard stare and we were happy about it.
The lead poisoning stare
I have a hunch that like 70% of teens want to off themselves tbh so i cant blame them that badly
Hot take incoming. Most people haven't said "how's the day going" to someone and had them look back like ice cube in Friday after he got high.
Like say "it sucks" say "it's going" anything is better than a tilted head with your jaw open like you got a sinus infection and are forced to mouth breathe. That's fucking weird.
People getting mad at kids high off their asses at work
It's what you do when you're trying to rizz up the huzz, 67! On god no cap fr fr.