The College Graduate and Their Parents

I've got several friends who recently graduated from college. In each case, they worked their way through, so it took them a little longer, but now they've got jobs. McJobs...not careers. Waiting tables. Working at a car dealership driving a shuttle. Nannying. You get the drift.

Anyway, they're getting heat from their parents. Same as I got after I graduated...people telling me to just put a resume together, put a suit on and go get a job at a local bank or utilities company. Oh yeah, and a haircut wouldn't hurt, either.

It's a new economy, folks. One in which companies are a lot more hesitant to offer you health care or retirement benefits and golden parachutes and golden handcuffs are non-existant. The "50-years-gold-watch" thing is long gone, too.

So cut them some slack, Moms and Dads. They aren't lazy, they just understand that you can actually make more money waiting tables than you can at an entry-level position with no benefits for the first year.