I feel another twisted fairy tale coming on.

Behold the laborious lay of the LAIRFMFRs. Once upon a time in the Kingdom of Dysfunction there was a group of workers, who's job it was to go into the provinces and liaison with places of lodging and refreshment to set up conferences, seminars, training sessions and meetings. The vast majority of these courtiers were, like myself, millennials, but stereotypically so. They learned that my best friend and coworker, K, and I had done this very same job in the past. So, the senior LAIRFMFR, all of 24, decided to enlist K and my assistance in doing their job. We were a little older, and higher in position, but we're pretty informal and we agreed to help them out. At first, it was a polite request, one or two simple taskings, and a nice thank you after. In two months it was still a polite request, several taskings, and a lukewarm thanks. In two more months it became, "hey, we want you to do x, y, z, a, b and c." The things that the LAIRFMFRs were asking were time consuming. K and I had to drive through traffic, find parking in a very busy area, then walk to the site, find the right person, convince them to set up what the LAIRFMFRs needed and pay for it. One tasking could take two to three hours not counting driving back. By this time they frequently began to ask us to do their job on Friday afternoons at about 3:30 to 4:00pm. K and I wouldn't get done until 10 or 11pm after we had already worked a full day.

It was about this time that I noticed a pattern and brought it to K's attention, but she felt sorry for the LAIRFMFRs and so we continued to help out and it did help the organization immensely. There came a period in which we did their job five out of eight Friday afternoons. It also went from, "could you please help us" to "you two need to head downtown and get..." Thanks had also departed the equation. I asked them why always so late on a Friday and they always said the tasking came in at the last minute. I began to double check and found that they received the tasking a week or two before and just forgot or got distracted and that K and I were their saviors. I circled back after getting a tasking on a Friday and "visited" their office to find that they were watching basketball, playing games and planning a baby shower...while K and I ran downtown to do their jobs. Once, they went to a tea ceremony with the boss Friday afternoon while we did their jobs.

Finally, after K and I flew a four hour flight, we landed, did the post flight and then got tasked to do their job on a Friday evening. K and I worked an 18 hour day and we repeatedly called the woman who needed this done because she had to make some decisions on what we had found. She never answered and never responded. The next day we got a hold of her finally and she said, "meh, it turns out I didn't need that."

I blew a gasket. Right in their work area, I called them all a bunch of Lazy A Incompetent Rat F MFrs. They abused our time, good nature and energy for six months while they watched sports, planned parties, and played games. Not once did they accompany us to do the job. From that point on, informality was out the window and they needed to schedule appointments to see us, wait in the lobby until summoned and would report to us per protocol and respect our higher positions.

You gotta love those millinnials! (I'm one)