Teenagers: Our Future Workforce

I got a call today from a college campus political group. The young man that called -- well actually I think I'll call him the "youth" instead of young man -- was frighteningly unprofessional. Here's how the conversation went:

Youth: Hey, Beth, This is X from Campus Political Party. How's it going over there in Kaylooooooeee. How do you pronounce that?
Beth: Kailua.
Youth: Yah, how's it going over there?
Beth: Fine.
Youth: So what are you doing over there?
Beth: In regard to what?
Youth: Just how's it going. What are you doing. I've never been there.
Beth: I'm sorry. I'm in a meeting right now. You'll have to try me at another time.
Youth: Ok. Sweeeeet.

Sweet?

Inc. Magazine had a small article in the September issue on hiring student interns. It was a good story about how companies are successfully using interns. The part that caught my attention though was this:

"Just 11% of teenagers today (the hiring pool for interns, by and large) say their generation is focused on goals, while 50% say their generation is all about having fun." This is according to Teenage Research Unlimited, a market research firm. The firm's research also said that 71% of teenagers expect to be successful. I wonder how?

These are our future employees. I sure hope we are raising and educated them well.

Beth C.