Gen X Remembers When “Blending” and “Balancing” Work & Life Was Laughable

The Internet is buzzing about Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah telling employees “Working long hours, being responsive, blending work and life, is not anything to shy away from.” People are shocked, outraged, incredulous! But…

Generation X is just shrugging this comment off. We had to endure and live by so many work/life challenges in our early career years.

Starting our careers in the early 1990’s — after sending out hundreds of resumes with typewriter cover letters, addresses somehow looked up (where?) and schlepping to the post office for stamps and mailing — we were on our way. Well, we were on our way once we got a landline phone call from a potential employer, weeks after they received our snail mail.

In Gen Xers’ first jobs, office life was so different than it is today. I don’t think Millennials and Gen Zers would believe it!

Here are just eight things we Gen Xers endured for and at work.

1. App-less Coffee Runs

As the youngest and newest employee chosen for the coffee run, I had to walk around the office with a Post-It note and pen and ask the higher ups what kind of coffee they wanted. I would have to write it down carefully, get cash, run across the street and verbally place this huge order at Dunkin’ Donuts. Carrying all the scalding hot cups back was a real balancing act. UGH. No online app to order in advance or deliver it. Just me.

2. The Mysterious Fax Machine

It scared me at first. Should the paper face up or down? Did I have to dial “9” or “1” before dialing the number? Did I have to dial the area code? And, most importantly, how could I be POSITIVE that it actually went through? Decades later, I often wondered if a critical document was caught between the moon and New York City and a key company deal went down the drain — all because of me not knowing how to fax properly.

3. Having to Play Operator
At my first job, I had to answer the phone and then shout out or transfer the call to the right person. It was such a high-pressure and time crunch situation. I dreaded hearing the phone ring, I was/am an introvert, and it always felt so demeaning.

4. The Long Commute Home — Every. Single. Day

There was no such thing as “working from home.” You had to schlep into the office every day, period. Nothing like a long, frustrating, traffic-laden commute from Maryland to Virginia to start the day off with stress and a struggle. And if you were late to a morning meeting due to traffic? No way to call ahead. You just looked…late.

5. Private Conversations
Think about it. If we wanted to talk to our spouses or significant others, quickly vent with a friend, or call a doctor, there was no taking a cell phone outside or down the hall. I can’t tell you how many times I heard co-workers chatting with their people about what to have for dinner. It made me hungry — and annoyed.

6. The Return Phone Call
Some days (or nights), we would be waiting for a call back from someone who had a piece of information or answer critical to closing something out. And we would have to sit there and wait. And wait.

7. Late nights AT the office
Gen Z kids are blown away when parents work some evenings — on the living room sofa. They feel bad. “Are you kidding?” I said to one son the other night. “We used to have to sometimes sit and stay at the office until well after dark if we had more work to do. There was no ‘going to do it later from home.’ This is not that bad! This is comfy!”

8. Mom guilt, shame and sadness
Early evening kid’s school concert or soccer game? Good luck to working moms back then. It was not a common or accepted practice to head out of the office early to get home in time to see your kids’ stuff. ESPECIALLY if you were a woman/mom. And if that made us sad? We couldn’t show it. Mental health and having a personal life were not part of office culture then.

But we did it. We did it all; we had no other choice. We didn’t know any differently.

I appreciate today’s work world, because I remember the ’90s one like yesterday — when work life balance wasn’t really a thing and navigating office life wasn’t so easy.

We played the game. We schlepped. We struggled. We didn’t “bring our whole selves to work.” We strived to do our best. And, today, I couldn’t be happier or more appreciative of the advances in the workplace and how work-life balance — in many companies — somehow came to life.