Examples of Millennials’ casual work talk
May 15, 2022 1:57 PM Subscribe
Part of a story I’m writing takes place in a workplace in the U.S. east coast where the employees are a diverse group of 25-40 year olds (Millennials). Are there good examples of casual, witty dialog for this demographic and setting? Are you a Millennial at work?
The workplace is formal but stressful. Employees have a lot of autonomy. They often diffuse tension by switching to very casual talk between bouts of being “buttoned up.”
Are there reality shows, podcasts, YT channels, TikTokers, articles, fictional shows/books/movies or other examples that get it right? Note that I’m not looking for what Millennials want and don’t want from work environments, but strictly for true-to-life examples of casual dialog amongst themselves.
The workplace is formal but stressful. Employees have a lot of autonomy. They often diffuse tension by switching to very casual talk between bouts of being “buttoned up.”
Are there reality shows, podcasts, YT channels, TikTokers, articles, fictional shows/books/movies or other examples that get it right? Note that I’m not looking for what Millennials want and don’t want from work environments, but strictly for true-to-life examples of casual dialog amongst themselves.
2010s Buzzfeed?
posted by oceanjesse at 2:38 PM on May 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by oceanjesse at 2:38 PM on May 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
The younger ones (25-29) roast the 30+ about their skinny jeans.
posted by kapers at 2:49 PM on May 15, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by kapers at 2:49 PM on May 15, 2022 [3 favorites]
I'm a millennial who works in a moderately high-stress environment with other millennials. Workroom conversations tend to be (1) venting; (2) youtube videos; (3) people's kids/school stuff; (4) college basketball.
I don't know anyone who watches TV, unless by TV you mean like Netflix or Prime. But the watch experience is so asynchronous with streaming it's hard to actually have a conversation about it. By contrast, I had a summer office job in 2008 where Lost was a frequent topic of discussion/debate.
posted by basalganglia at 2:54 PM on May 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
I don't know anyone who watches TV, unless by TV you mean like Netflix or Prime. But the watch experience is so asynchronous with streaming it's hard to actually have a conversation about it. By contrast, I had a summer office job in 2008 where Lost was a frequent topic of discussion/debate.
posted by basalganglia at 2:54 PM on May 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'm a millennial, and work with people mostly my age. 'I've been watching...'/'Have you seen...?' [insert prestige streaming show] is a popular watercooler subject at my workplace, as have been a few shows that do a weekly new episode drop like in the pre-streaming times, e.g. Game of Thrones. I remember when the last season aired, certain of my colleagues would do a little 9am cluster to discuss the episodes the day after they aired. Politics is also a popular topic - my workplace is reliably left-leaning, so people tend to be in agreement about things largely.
posted by unicorn chaser at 3:04 PM on May 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by unicorn chaser at 3:04 PM on May 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm an old millennial who works in government. We only talk about politics with coworkers known to share our leanings. With my fellow olds, it is usually discussion on our kids, microbrews, or books and TV. A bunch of us just got caught up on Cobra Kai.
With the younger ones, there is definitely gentle roasting of the older ones and more references to TikTok trends.
posted by notjustthefish at 3:09 PM on May 15, 2022
With the younger ones, there is definitely gentle roasting of the older ones and more references to TikTok trends.
posted by notjustthefish at 3:09 PM on May 15, 2022
My favorite millennial coworker talks about shows she's watching, video games she's playing, where she and her boyfriend have had dinner recently, her cats (with adorable photos), and work complaints.
posted by cooker girl at 3:51 PM on May 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by cooker girl at 3:51 PM on May 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm a Millennial with an age-diverse team at an age-diverse tech company. TV/streaming content, pop culture, broad politics, food, and pets/family are all common conversational topics with literally every person no matter how old they are.
The only difference I palpably notice when I talk to other Millennials is wanting to advance at their jobs, be paid fairly, and have better relationships with their managers. Older Millennials have been kicked around a lot in the workforce and we just want our work to be valued. The younger Millennials/elder Zoomer contingent are leading the way for things like DEI initiatives, slapping pronouns on things, and learning new skills. Compare this to the older generations who are absolutely seen as complacent/lazy by the younger folks. That's where I see the most difference in casual work conversation at work: when folks are talking about their experience at work.
Otherwise I really don't experience a whole lot of difference. Smalltalk is generally gonna be the same wherever you go. Two of the coworkers I talk to most often are 49 and 57. One is on TikTok and the other asked me last week if I had watched the latest season of Call the Midwife yet on Netflix. Another coworker who's 25 showed me a few hats she crocheted for her cat.
posted by phunniemee at 3:53 PM on May 15, 2022 [9 favorites]
The only difference I palpably notice when I talk to other Millennials is wanting to advance at their jobs, be paid fairly, and have better relationships with their managers. Older Millennials have been kicked around a lot in the workforce and we just want our work to be valued. The younger Millennials/elder Zoomer contingent are leading the way for things like DEI initiatives, slapping pronouns on things, and learning new skills. Compare this to the older generations who are absolutely seen as complacent/lazy by the younger folks. That's where I see the most difference in casual work conversation at work: when folks are talking about their experience at work.
Otherwise I really don't experience a whole lot of difference. Smalltalk is generally gonna be the same wherever you go. Two of the coworkers I talk to most often are 49 and 57. One is on TikTok and the other asked me last week if I had watched the latest season of Call the Midwife yet on Netflix. Another coworker who's 25 showed me a few hats she crocheted for her cat.
posted by phunniemee at 3:53 PM on May 15, 2022 [9 favorites]
Best answer: Several People Are Typing rang true to me- it's a novel written in Slack form. It gradually goes... surreal, ish, but has some good Millenial workplace banter.
posted by damayanti at 6:22 PM on May 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by damayanti at 6:22 PM on May 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'm 41 and until a couple years ago worked for a software company in Massachusetts. I think there's probably some gender differences here. For example, today is my old office buddy's birthday. I texted to wish him a happy birthday, and he mentioned he was stuck quarantining for it. So I of course shot back "didn't realize they made you quarantine for herpes bud". I guess that's what you'd call locker room humor. Is it witty? You be the judge, but I bet if you have a group of dudes together, especially young-ish dudes without kids yet, they'd probably venture into similar territory.
We also used to watch and quote the business card scene from American Psycho constantly. Like, multiple times a day. Or like, if someone came into our office, we'd ask them if they like Huey Lewis and the News. American Psycho was a real cultural touchstone for us. But we're on the older side. I think Fight Club serves pretty much the same purpose for a lot of people (especially guys) as well. Dazed and Confused is probably too old, although some of the people at the top end of your age range might quote it to each other, especially if one of them happened to say the word "alright". Not saying that any of those movies capture Millenial dialog, just that they're the kinds of movies that Millenials might talk *about*.
The same co-worker also really loved Indian food, and when we'd talk about where to go for lunch (which was like 75% of our pre-lunch conversations most days), he'd *always* suggest this one Indian buffet (even if we'd eaten there the day before), which he'd always mispronounce, and our Indian co-workers would make fun of him. One funny Indian buffet story: I was usually the only white person in the lunch group, and my favorite Indian dish is stereotypically white-person-eating-Indian-food. So one day, we're there, and a group of like 20 white people walks in the door. My co-worker says "Kevin, you better hurry up and make your second trip to the buffet. They're about to run out of chicken tikka masala." Everyone rolled.
One thing I like to do, a thing that I find witty but other people find annoying (which of course just makes me do it more) is to respond to "can I ask you a question?" by saying "you just did".
So yeah, a lot of busting each others' balls and pop culture references.
One of my female co-workers at the same job somehow talked a bunch of us into ranking the hottest women at the company, and then being mock(?)-pissed at those of us who didn't rank her #1. She was probably top-2 but we weren't trying to get sent to HR.
Another time we power-ranked fruit. My #2 ranking for figs was a topic of conversation for a while after that. Power rankings are fun.
Not dialog, but I had another co-worker at that job who would turn off her video on Zoom calls and knit. She knitted a unicorn head that she then mounted on her office wall taxidermy-style.
One thing that just came up in my Facebook memories a couple days ago from an older job was our plan to start a bumfights.com-style video site about Canada geese attacking each other. This office had a pond behind it, and there were some Montague-and-Capulet-level families of geese. The particular Facebook post was about one of the geese abducting a gosling from another goose's nest. We talked about the geese a lot. It remains funny to me year later.
If two guys run into each other in a restroom, and one asks how the other is doing, the second guy should reply "oh, you know, just livin' the dream". Bonus accuracy points if this scene repeats a second time a few hours or maybe a day or two later, but with the roles reversed.
As for media that gets it right, this is obviously a problematic suggestion now, but one of the things that I liked about the PJ-and-Alex incarnation of Reply All was that it really felt like hanging out with two funny but not like comedian-funny, likable people. A lot of the podcasts from the Ringer also have that quality. Bill Simmons and some of the other hosts are a little older than maybe you're looking for, but the general tenor of speech is right. I mostly listen to the Rewatchables, and if I see that Shea Serrano, Van Lathan, or Mallory Rubin is a guest, I expect a fun episode. Great banter with those guys. Aside from the fact that they're employed by the same company, it's not necessarily work-related, but it's talking about movies, which like I said is something that would come up among officemates. Bandsplain by Yasi Salek is something similar, although both Yasi and her guests might be a little more artsy than office-y. On TV, Silicon Valley should have something for you, especially the scenes with Dinesh and Gilfoyle.
Where on the East Coast are your characters? People from Boston love talking about movies set in Boston. The Departed. All the time. Another Boston thing is that sports tickets are always mysteriously procured. You never just buy tickets from like, the ticket office at the Garden. You always get tickets for this one game only from your uncle's neighbor or something. And then you try to sell them to someone else, because you have some mysterious reason for not being able to go. "My wife's boss left us eight tickets to the Pats game, but I gotta go to Worcester on Sunday to pick up another pitbull, so I can't go." People in Boston also talk about sports gambling a LOT. It's hard to believe you could have a story set in Boston with male characters and not have one of them at least mention sports gambling or The Departed or both. But these are all Boston-specific.
One thing that I've seen happen at several different companies I've worked for is that a Millenial co-worker will implement a company recycling program. Like, getting the company to buy recycling bins for break rooms and stuff, and then sending company-wide emails announcing them. Almost every company I've ever worked at. Unless this company is a startup that's had all-organic everything from the start, one of the characters should talk about starting a recycling program.
posted by kevinbelt at 7:25 PM on May 15, 2022 [5 favorites]
We also used to watch and quote the business card scene from American Psycho constantly. Like, multiple times a day. Or like, if someone came into our office, we'd ask them if they like Huey Lewis and the News. American Psycho was a real cultural touchstone for us. But we're on the older side. I think Fight Club serves pretty much the same purpose for a lot of people (especially guys) as well. Dazed and Confused is probably too old, although some of the people at the top end of your age range might quote it to each other, especially if one of them happened to say the word "alright". Not saying that any of those movies capture Millenial dialog, just that they're the kinds of movies that Millenials might talk *about*.
The same co-worker also really loved Indian food, and when we'd talk about where to go for lunch (which was like 75% of our pre-lunch conversations most days), he'd *always* suggest this one Indian buffet (even if we'd eaten there the day before), which he'd always mispronounce, and our Indian co-workers would make fun of him. One funny Indian buffet story: I was usually the only white person in the lunch group, and my favorite Indian dish is stereotypically white-person-eating-Indian-food. So one day, we're there, and a group of like 20 white people walks in the door. My co-worker says "Kevin, you better hurry up and make your second trip to the buffet. They're about to run out of chicken tikka masala." Everyone rolled.
One thing I like to do, a thing that I find witty but other people find annoying (which of course just makes me do it more) is to respond to "can I ask you a question?" by saying "you just did".
So yeah, a lot of busting each others' balls and pop culture references.
One of my female co-workers at the same job somehow talked a bunch of us into ranking the hottest women at the company, and then being mock(?)-pissed at those of us who didn't rank her #1. She was probably top-2 but we weren't trying to get sent to HR.
Another time we power-ranked fruit. My #2 ranking for figs was a topic of conversation for a while after that. Power rankings are fun.
Not dialog, but I had another co-worker at that job who would turn off her video on Zoom calls and knit. She knitted a unicorn head that she then mounted on her office wall taxidermy-style.
One thing that just came up in my Facebook memories a couple days ago from an older job was our plan to start a bumfights.com-style video site about Canada geese attacking each other. This office had a pond behind it, and there were some Montague-and-Capulet-level families of geese. The particular Facebook post was about one of the geese abducting a gosling from another goose's nest. We talked about the geese a lot. It remains funny to me year later.
If two guys run into each other in a restroom, and one asks how the other is doing, the second guy should reply "oh, you know, just livin' the dream". Bonus accuracy points if this scene repeats a second time a few hours or maybe a day or two later, but with the roles reversed.
As for media that gets it right, this is obviously a problematic suggestion now, but one of the things that I liked about the PJ-and-Alex incarnation of Reply All was that it really felt like hanging out with two funny but not like comedian-funny, likable people. A lot of the podcasts from the Ringer also have that quality. Bill Simmons and some of the other hosts are a little older than maybe you're looking for, but the general tenor of speech is right. I mostly listen to the Rewatchables, and if I see that Shea Serrano, Van Lathan, or Mallory Rubin is a guest, I expect a fun episode. Great banter with those guys. Aside from the fact that they're employed by the same company, it's not necessarily work-related, but it's talking about movies, which like I said is something that would come up among officemates. Bandsplain by Yasi Salek is something similar, although both Yasi and her guests might be a little more artsy than office-y. On TV, Silicon Valley should have something for you, especially the scenes with Dinesh and Gilfoyle.
Where on the East Coast are your characters? People from Boston love talking about movies set in Boston. The Departed. All the time. Another Boston thing is that sports tickets are always mysteriously procured. You never just buy tickets from like, the ticket office at the Garden. You always get tickets for this one game only from your uncle's neighbor or something. And then you try to sell them to someone else, because you have some mysterious reason for not being able to go. "My wife's boss left us eight tickets to the Pats game, but I gotta go to Worcester on Sunday to pick up another pitbull, so I can't go." People in Boston also talk about sports gambling a LOT. It's hard to believe you could have a story set in Boston with male characters and not have one of them at least mention sports gambling or The Departed or both. But these are all Boston-specific.
One thing that I've seen happen at several different companies I've worked for is that a Millenial co-worker will implement a company recycling program. Like, getting the company to buy recycling bins for break rooms and stuff, and then sending company-wide emails announcing them. Almost every company I've ever worked at. Unless this company is a startup that's had all-organic everything from the start, one of the characters should talk about starting a recycling program.
posted by kevinbelt at 7:25 PM on May 15, 2022 [5 favorites]
Oh, one more anecdote. At another old job, we used to do potlucks pretty frequently, until one person brought in a chicken dish that used canned chicken, and it turned out there was some chicken wire in the can too. A co-worker ate a piece of the chicken, got the chicken wire lodged in her throat, and actually had to have surgery to remove it. So literally any time the person who had made the chicken dish brought food in after that, whether it was for a potluck or just her own lunch, everyone would ask her who she was trying to kill that day.
posted by kevinbelt at 7:29 PM on May 15, 2022
posted by kevinbelt at 7:29 PM on May 15, 2022
The drama of buying houses. Gardening. Lots of gardening. Music, more so than movies or TV. Food. Pets and kids. Workplace politics. Tech and gadgets. Products of competitor companies. Reminiscing about ex-coworkers/the old days.
I'm in tech, and reading this thread, I realize there's almost no discussion of sport except for soccer among my European coworkers, and there is a reasonable amount of discussion about politics.
posted by redlines at 8:21 AM on May 16, 2022
I'm in tech, and reading this thread, I realize there's almost no discussion of sport except for soccer among my European coworkers, and there is a reasonable amount of discussion about politics.
posted by redlines at 8:21 AM on May 16, 2022
Best answer: The movie Set it Up would be pretty great for this
posted by mosst at 10:49 AM on May 16, 2022
posted by mosst at 10:49 AM on May 16, 2022
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This thread is closed to new comments.
Oreo vs Chips Ahoy and other "versus" type questions
Topical pop culture
Venting about a customer/work thing
Talking about whatever last night's prestige TV episode was that aired
Cooking, food in general
Source: millennial who grew up on east coast and worked for a decade in an office with other millennials
posted by nightrecordings at 2:23 PM on May 15, 2022