My mom is in her 50’s. She works in business particularly marketing, data and advertising. She has been working for big corporations for as long as I can remember. Basically she has that mentality that the older generation has: you work hard, you never take time off (she balked at the fact I am taking 2 weeks off of work using the PTO I earned) and you basically give your soul to the company.
Here’s why I’m proud of her: she is currently interviewing for a new job which she really wants and she received an offer letter. The salary they offered her fell on the low end of the range she requested. She called me asking for advice and I told her she needs to negotiate a better salary. She was really skittish about the whole thing and worried they would rescind her offer if she spoke up and also because of her age. She also told me her boomer friend who works in HR advised her against this as those were “her salary requirements” and it’s best she not rock the boat. I told her her friend is an idiot and that if a company is willing to rescind an offer over a reasonable request then that’s not somewhere she wants to work. She was still unsure at the end of our conversation.
A few hours later she called me back and informed me she in fact did request 30k more and better vacation days and they obliged. She said “this is the first time I’ve ever done something like this, I’m so shocked!” The fact these fuckers convinced people to deal with mediocrity is wild. Our parents deserve better and so do we. Always stick up for yourself.