Gen X at Work · Wild Leadership

Gen X, shared

Our working lives, in numbers, memories and moments you might recognise.

Share anything that speaks to you. Each card has its own address and opens with what was said alongside it. The numbers carry their sources. The photographs of me are real; the other pictures are illustrations made for each post.

Three times the experience. Just over half the interviews. Age 28: 67 interview invitations. Age 50: 37. Rejection isn't a measure of your worth.One applicant aged 28 with nine years' experience. One aged 50 with thirty-one. Matched applications to 190 real vacancies in England.15 October 2026There was a time when status looked like this.The car phone was the first time your boss could find you in a lay-by.15 October 2026A 1990s office kitchenette: a woman in a patterned jumper pours from a kettle while a man in shirt and tie and a woman in a dark jacket talk quietly over mugs by the filing cabinets, a photocopier beside them. Text: We didn't need Slack. We had Sandra. Sandra knew everything. genxatwork.comWho was leaving.14 October 2026A worn office desk: an open leather wallet stuffed with receipts, a water-stained receipt taped flat, a printing calculator, a coffee ring, an expenses form and a blue biro. Text: £14.70. Swindon. The receipt had been through the wash. genxatwork.comSix weeks of receipts in a wallet.13 October 2026A woman in a patterned jumper pours a kettle into a mug in a cluttered British kitchen, rain on the window, toast, a newspaper and a work bag on the table. Text: We had a morning routine. It was called being late. genxatwork.comAlarm.12 October 2026Friends round a pub table. One enormous advantage of being 24 in 1998: there is very little evidence.There are entire sections of our twenties supported only by conflicting witness statements.10 October 2026Four office workers round a pub table on a Friday afternoon, 1994. Text: Shall we get some lunch? One of the most dangerous sentences in British business, circa 1994. genxatwork.comIt started with a sandwich.9 October 2026A 1997 office desk with a beige CRT monitor showing an inbox of four emails. Text: 1997. The inbox had four emails. You read them twice. genxatwork.comOne was from Keith in Accounts, nine feet away, checking it worked.8 October 2026Text: We used to phone in sick. Then spend the day avoiding the front window. genxatwork.comYou phoned your boss.7 October 2026The first computer on the desk, 1995On 24 August 1995 Windows 95 arrived. The personal computer stopped being specialist equipment and became the normal place to do clerical and professional work.5 October 2026The furlough letter, 2020On 20 March 2020 the furlough scheme was announced. Owners and managers had to decide whom to furlough.2 October 2026The wage packet, 1978In the autumn of 1978 Ford workers struck for nine weeks and broke the government's pay norm. Somebody starting work that year met a union that could stop production and break the government's pay limit. Somebody managing a workforce met it as a direct challenge to who set pay.1 October 2026The photocopier, 1993In January 1993 unemployment peaked at 10.7 per cent. The people finishing school and university in those years met the worst of it. The ones behind them came in on the way down.30 September 2026The card index, 1986On 27 October 1986 Big Bang transformed the City. A graduate walked into a rapidly expanding international market. A partner in an old-style City firm watched the old firms get bought.29 September 2026The personal organiser, 1991In 1991 a novel gave this generation its name. The name then attached itself to everyone born in those years, including the ones who were refusing nothing and wanted the career.28 September 2026

Newest first, as they go out. If one of these is your story too, tell it.