Posted by Rio S.
Disclaimer: Don’t get us wrong, we’re not defeatists. Far from it actually, for those who strive for world domination require constitutions of steel – and highly developed senses of irony. Someday, the Young Underpaid Professionals will be the ones sitting on the seats of power (or at least, hopefully) – what’s wrong with chronicling the journey of getting there?
yup·pie [yuhp-ee]
-noun (often initial capital letter)
a young, ambitious, and well-educated city-dweller who has a professional career and an affluent lifestyle.
Also, yuppy.
[Origin: 1980-85, Americanism; y(oung) u(rban) p(rofessional) + -ie]
yuppie. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved September 23, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/yuppie
Back when big hair and shoulder pads were still in fashion, the yuppie generation was booming. They were the Young Urban Professionals (also Young Upwardly-mobile Professionals). The term yuppie was first used to describe a demographic, though it wasn’t long before it turned into something derogatory. It’s a stereotype, go figure.
Meanwhile, our generation was still stuck in our cribs and drooling on our parents. During the eighties, we were still babies, toddlers, or evil little monsters trying to drive the adults mad. Twenty or so years later, we’re the peons of the workforce, primed and educated for spending the rest of our lives trying not to starve. We’re a different bunch though and your parents (or relatives) may have pointed this out one night during dinner or at a family reunion.
Your parents may have worked in one company for decades. As in grew old there. Even though the pay wasn’t so nice and the benefits weren’t too hot.
You on the other hand, can’t seem to stick around in sucky companies. (When shit hit the air conditioning in the office, the older generation may have whipped out industrial grade gas masks.) You can’t seem to stand sucky bosses, sucky policies, high school-ish office politics, and bureaucracy, among other things.
Your parents tell you it’s time you stuck to one company. The words tenure, financial stability, and job security may have cropped up a couple of times, but more likely than not, you ignored them. You struggle to manage your finances, even when your salary (in theory) should be able to sustain you for at least two weeks.
Did the old Yuppie lifestyle of the 80s rise from the grave? Should we shudder at the thought that our generation has embraced the coño?
Our generation might be categorized into two parties, the Young Urban Professionals and the Young Underpaid Professionals. Both are constantly broke (for different reasons), the main difference boils down to outlook and perspective.
Times have changed, and this is the decade of call centers and BPOs. Company skipping seems to be a norm and we think we can go as far as our ambitious feet can take us. Here’s something from Charliebebs Gohetia’s The ‘Thank You’ Girls that really hit me:
Chris: No big deal. I’m still young and allowed to make mistakes.
Mommy Paola: That makes me realize how old I am. I can’t afford mistakes.
We are allowed to make mistakes only for so long.
Will the new young underpaid professionals succeed? What will become of us? What is the point of this post?
The answer to all three? I don’t know either.
