i recently lost my job and it’s horrible being in the ‘unemployed’ class – you’re made to feel worthless, you have to take advice from people, perfectly well meaning of course, that are basically encouragement on digging your own grave - i love being in the position where i have to do some fake elizabethian courting ritual where i have to pretend i’m super excited to do whatever tf they do, oh and i’m the best man for the job! – when you’ve just sent in 200 applications and gotten nothing back, when you’ve just been let go for dubious bullshit reasons, you’re supposed to act like you’re ready for a challenge!
important video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkYHNO2vNG4
I doubt Gen Z has any different feelings about schmoozing with others than the other generations. There always have been, and likely always will be, 1. people who mildly dislike trying to make acquaintances who are useful (a large minority), 2. people who generally like making acquaintances and are okay with using them (the majority), 3. people who absolutely love schmoozing and will seek out the ‘best’ acquaintance for their purpose (a small minority), and people like us, who detest everything about the concept (a very small minority).
I bet every person reading this who has a large pool of coworkers can name a person in each of the categories, and probably a bunch in category 1/2. Your category 2s are planning the holiday party and smile the whole time they’re there, a category 1 will hang out in a specific corner with specific folks, category 3s are the ones who whispered in the ear of the manager about having a party, and 4s just don’t show up.