Have you ever experienced age issues in the work place?

Question

I am curious. Has anyone else experience work place issues due to age? I am the youngest in the managers role here in the office. I feel that I have an uphill battle for respect due to the cutesy little comments about "you are just a baby" ect. Last time I checked I am 41 yrs old and have 15 years of work experience! I can't help it if all the others are near retirement and could be my mom!

Answer 1

I work in a company that has more than forty men and just 3 women in the office.  I am the accountant and I am 38.  The receptionist is 70 and the billing clerk is 63.  I take more grief from these cranky old women than anyone deserves.  The treat me like a 12 year old that should not be allowed out of her room.  

In the beginning they constantly questioned my authority and tried to undermine me when I changed things.  I would literally SCREAM when they said "thats not the way we've always done it".  But I perservered and just tell them to mind their own anymore.

But what gives me comfort each week is the fact that I do payroll and I know how much more I make than them, so I just suck it up and be extremely nice and polite...which makes them all the more crankier :)

Answer 2

Honest to G-d.  I never thought I'd do that, but I've told someone younger that they're just a baby when they are 50.  It's a little envy and the realization of how young I was at their age when I thought I was so old.  I open my mouth and it flies out.

However, that has never happened on the job.  I've worked for men and women, blacks and whites, younger and older.  Your advantage is that they will retire one at a time and you will be the old one in the office fairly soon.

Just keep expecting respect (demanding it) and let it roll off your back.  Just don't rub it in their face.  The work force is changing and everyone is having a hard time adjusting.

Good luck as a manager.

Answer 3

oh yeah!!  I'll have 6 years this sept.!  

Some of the new managers are about 10-20 years older than me, and  seem to have a hard time taking orders form a younger female.  

but hey, I know my job, and I know what needs to be done.  

And I've heard things like you have, about being a baby compared to them.  

Sounds like you let it roll off your shoulders though!

Keep your head up woman!