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Art Colony: Gen X
Saturday, July 29, 2006
› by victoria
49.3 million people are in Generation X, ages 28 to 39. Current Population Survey (CPS)
He looks down at his shoes, then looks back up, squinting at the bright light shimmering off of the asphalt with its imbedded specks of glass.
The cell phone starts to buzz, prompting a muttered "fuck." He shuffles around his bags to get the phone. An unfamiliar number on the screen. That's the nice thing about flip phones. Up to a point, you can tell who's calling. He used to have a kyocera that was flat. When someone was calling, if you pressed any button it would automatically pick up.
He doesn't feel like dealing with any bullshit today.
He puts all five bags in his left hand and puts the phone back in his pocket.
81% of people in Generation X are employed full or part-time. (PF)
He'll wait until 5:30 to head out, pick up something to drink and then take it back to his place, with the small windows and the chain lock.
He hates the sound of plastic bags crunching in his palms. They sent him out to pick up the pre-ordered lunch for the whole department.
The shirt he got as a gift in September feels uncomfortable in this heat. The soda cans on the street vendor's cart are sweating beads that trickle down and pool around their bases.
Streetlight changes: go.
There are 35% less people in Gen X than in the Baby Boom, and Gen X is 32 percent smaller than Generation Y or the Echo Boom generation. (CPS)
Crossing the other way is a group of tourists on their first trip to the city. They stop by the street vendor and pay two dollars and fifty cents for the cans of Fanta and Pepsi.
He hates the tourists. The people who live in the city. Every day is spent winding around these sticky messes who clog the street and the stores and the subways. Watching crap, eating crap, making crap.
$36,139 is the average individual income of a person in Gen X in 2002. (USCB)
The granite lobby floor makes the elevator's bell echo. Floor seven.
He places the bags on the table set up by the office coordinator. Everyone gets their little takeout box with Sharpie writing on the top indicating the contents. Extra packets of mayo, napkins and plastic forks.
Returning to his desk, he sends out an office email telling everyone that the catered lunch to celebrate Dan's fifth year with the company has been delivered.
He checks his favorite blog: his own.
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