I’m a millennial manager, I refuse customers because I want to go home

‘Why is it that any time Millennial managers, business owners or Gen Z want to make their lives a little but easier, the Boomers always have to come in and have some weird flex they had harder lives than us?’

This was the start of Chelsea Mazzetti’s TikTok rant about Boomer business advice, regarding how she runs her ice cream shop, Modern Cone, in Michigan, USA.

The business owner shared how she’d had a busy shift with a line out the door that ‘just kept coming’ and she knew her staff weren’t going to get out on time, so she capped the line 20 minutes before the shop’s closing time.

Chelsea explained: ‘I staff minors that have to get to school the next day… this is the place where teenagers work. So I allowed [them] to cap the line because I knew that by the time they were finished helping the line that was inside, it would already be past close.’

She added that it would probably take her staff another hour to clean the store so it would be past 10pm before they could leave.

However, when Chelsea announced on Facebook that customers arriving 20 minutes before close may not be guaranteed ice cream, she said that Boomers gave her a very frosty reception.

‘The amount of business advice I got from old people was insane,’ Chelsea said.

‘The suggestions they were giving me was that I should only hire adults, that way I can keep them later; I should tell my employees to stop crying about it, that they worked 500 hours when they were 16 until three in the morning…’

‘That’s great, Jerry, but there’s a lot more labour laws now in 2024 that we have to follow,’ she added sarcastically.

Chelsea shared that Boomers in the comments were telling her she’d lose out on money, but to her having a happy staff was more important because she won’t have to pay to train someone new when an unhappy staff member quits.

‘I don’t understand this Boomer mindset of, money is the most important thing,’ she said. ‘When you try to explain [your thought process] to them, they lose it even more and call you rude and this and that and their lives were so much harder.’

Future work specialist and executive coach, Harriet Minter, previously told Metro that there’s a reason Boomers value money so much.

She says: ‘Boomers and Gen X have the mentality of: “If you work really hard, you’ll get a great lifestyle in return.”

‘And for them, it was true. They could pay for foreign holidays and buy their own homes.’

This isn’t the case for Gen Z and Millennials, meaning they value a work-life balance and flexibility – hence why Chelsea is so passionate.

Harriet added: ‘There needs to be more understanding on all sides. Older workers need to appreciate that the working world is different to when they entered it – younger people aren’t being “brats”; they have very reasonable concerns.’

After the Boomer backlash on Chelsea’s Facebook post, Gen Z and Millennials have come out in force on TikTok to show support for the business owner.

Her video now has nearly three million views, and it turns out that most of the younger generations are feeling quite fed up with those many years their senior telling them how to work.

Mockingly, TikToker Alli wrote: ‘Just don’t close. If you were open 24/7 you could make so much money.’

‘Boomers could scoop ice cream and buy a house when they were in their 20s,’ added @prt2204.

‘If you don’t cap the line you should just stay open indefinitely? They think if they throw a penny at you rules are suddenly suggestions,’ said another.

Amanda even wrote: ‘They’re of the mindset “if you’re miserable, you’re successful”.’

Jim Moore, employee relations expert at HR consultants Hamilton Nash, told Metro that Chelsea has every right to refuse customers.

He explains: ‘Shops can open and close whenever they wish, and are entirely within their rights to choose whether to serve customers. 

‘They are classed as private property, and shoppers have no right to demand service.

‘Employers have a duty to respect their employees’ work-life balance, and it’s likely that this ice cream shop owner was simply anticipating the workload out of consideration for the workers.’

When it comes to the boomer backlash, Jim agrees it’s a tad over the top.

He says: ‘I wonder how many people complaining about the shop owner’s decision would also moan about uncaring bosses making staff work longer than their contracted hours?’

But the careers expert does warn that refusing customers should be done with caution, to ensure you don’t have any disgruntled consumers.

‘Businesses and customers both need to understand that there is a balance to be struck between serving customers and protecting staff,’ Jim explains.

‘The rights of staff are not subordinate to the expectations of customers, but at the same time, keeping your customers loyal means keeping them happy.’

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