The $100 Birthday Gift That Made Mom Mad | The Gen Z Stare

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0:57 It is time to leave your worries outside and laugh with us inside the tree house. I'm Dan O'Malley along with Trey Trinholm. Woo. We, uh, this, I already know. I have a good feeling about this show. Trey is going to let you know. Now you seem apprehensive. You're like, I don't really know. It weirds me out when you're excited. Uh, Uh, basically we're going to bag on kids here. Sweet. And, uh, it's turning into, uh, one of our favorite pastimes. Um, so Trey, let's say you were invited to a one-year-old birthday party. Would that be enough to get you to start drinking again? First of all, and second of all, what are you bringing for a gift?

1:56 I I've been to two one-year-old birthday parties in my life and uh both of them were I was friends with the fathers and both times they were just observers really because yeah they're like this has nothing the kids never get to remember this anything else but but but the mom and grandmoms and everything, it's a production. Oh, you know, they'll, they'll cherish these memories. No, they won't.

2:36 I don't remember my first birthday party. Oh, I, I have a few memories, I think starting about four years old. That's, uh, but that's, that's doing pretty good. Honestly. Yeah. I, I, I mean, it's kind of a sad state of my birthday parties, but I think I remember two birthday parties in my life, really. In my under, well, especially under 18. You know, there was one birthday where my dad had these two chimpanzees, Lulu and Dina. And they came to my birthday party cause he was friends with the owner trainer. They were actually like on the tonight show and stuff. Uh, I even got a picture somewhere, but, uh, that's the guy.

3:36 I have known you for like 25 years. How was this the first time I'm hearing about you having monkeys at a birthday party? I think I actually have a picture up on my fridge of this. Um, I thought, so this was a very interesting small world going back to the radio show days of, of the Russ Martin show. Uh, Mike later on became a hypnotist and Russ had actually had him on his show. Um, but yeah, Lulu and Dina were his two champion chimps. And, um, I said, yeah, he was on the tonight show with him and everything else. And he and my dad became friends. So, uh, I got to see them on multiple occasions. That was always fun. That is cool.

4:17 Looking back, though, so mind you, this is late 70s. This is probably 1979, maybe my fifth birthday party. Having wild animals that could easily rip your head, hands, arms off, maybe not the best idea. I remember one time I actually did the whole chimp imitation thing. And Mike came on glue to me. He's like, don't you ever do that. They can kill you. Okay. Like you didn't realize that you were speaking monkey, come at me, bro. Yeah, yeah. What do you expect from a five-year-old?

5:00 Good point. That's certainly not your fault. Yeah. But now you know, don't taunt the monkey. Yeah, I don't. I don't even know if I had a one-year birthday party. I did. I have photos of it. I hated it. I hated my first birthday, and I've hated just about every birthday since. It's not that I hate them, hate them. I just, I don't like the undue attention. I just, I loathe it. And even at one, when they brought out the cake, I was all about the cake. Don't get me wrong. But once they started singing happy birthday to me, I lost it. Screaming, crying, tantrum, none of it. Get rid of it. Don't want it.

5:42 You remember this? No, they told it to me. I've seen the photos and I believe it because I feel the same way today. I remember I remember turning 19 and going out to eat with my family. And I read a restaurant in Arlington and I hear like the clapping from the restaurant staff coming around. I'm like, nope, nope, nope. And I bolted for the bathroom. And I thought I avoided it. I came back and they came back around and got me anyway, made me do some stupid napkin dance. I hated it. I absolutely hated it. I hated every second of it. I hate it to this day. And my family knows how much I hate it, but they still did it to me. Ditches. Yeah.

6:23 I mean, I could, especially as, as you get older, I, my birthdays could come and go and I'd be okay with just being, it's, it's just. Another day, dude. Mind time is a construct. Yeah. My next birthday is in like a week and I have completely forgotten that it's in about a week that it's coming up until Tara's like, Oh no, I haven't forgotten. I'm like, I have, you really don't need to do really don't need to do anything, but you know, she will. And I'll appreciate it. I do. Um, I just, I believe you get, thank you. Just, just get that away from me. Kind of a thing. Um, so if you were to go to a one-year-old birthday party, uh, any gift idea, No. What does a one-year-old really need?

7:12 I mean, I'm sure I could Google something and find it, but. They're probably still working through the baby registry from the baby shower type stuff. But you better get it figured out, Trey. If someone invites you to a one-year-old's birthday party, you better do a good gift, because parents these days, they'll let you know if you screw it up. Yeah, I guess I was lucky because with both of the ones I went to, the dads were like, don't worry about it. I think I. One of them, I know I was still drinking and I bought a bottle of booze.

7:52 That is perfect on so many levels that that really does help from like the man to man absolution. It's like, don't worry about it. It's fine. I mean, it was a production. And there was like four or five guys standing off in the corner and the women were just... I mean, the house was decorated. It was a. It could have been a quinceanera. Nope, just a one-year-old's birthday. The reason why it's important to know is because if you don't have a good gift, then you might get called out by the party's host. That's exactly what happened in this case. Am I overreacting about feeling insulted with my friend's response to my gift or her daughter? And the accompanying, like I said there, right?

8:44 The accompanying, accompanying, whatever. You know what I mean? The photo of the text exchange that came with it. Hi, I just wanted to thank you for attending first birthday party. I really appreciate you. And because of how long our friendship goes, I feel like I can comfortably address something that's been bothering me since last weekend. Oh, God. The response. Hey, of course. Wasn't going to miss it. Did I do or say something at the party that upset you? The response back. Well, not really. I was just really surprised at the gift that you gave cash at a kid's party.

9:28 followed by the wincing face emoji. And then the lady's response, is cash not doable, LOL? And then mom's response, it's just so impersonal. I guess I expected her to actually open something from you and be excited about it. And then the response from the gift giver. Well, I asked you prior to the party what she likes to play with or if there was something you feel like she really needs. And you said not to worry about any toys or clothes because you have so many of that stuff at home still. And so then it kind of fades away to. And you have a bunch of that stuff already at home from your other two daughters. I figured I can't exactly show up empty handed to a birthday party, so. I thought I could at least give an envelope with some money in it and you could use it however you may need for her. You can spend it on her or put it towards savings. And then mom says, yeah, and I appreciate the gesture, but still, she's a one-year-old. Toys are life at this age, lol.

10:33 She can't exactly open an envelope and understand what it is or what it's for. And then it just kind of keeps going from there. How much did she give? You said no toys and no clothes. This is the gift giver. You said no toys, no clothes. I listened and chose to give her $ 100 cash instead. I'll tell the mom to piss off. If the kid doesn't want it, I'll take the hundy. You know, send it to 00802USVI. Dan, get to me. I mean, could she have gone to the bank and, you know, got to put it in a CD or something, I guess, but I mean, first of all, at one year old, can you even open gifts? Do you have that much dexterity?

11:28 Not really. Like, I think the only, the best thing you're going to do is like stick it in a gift bag and let them maybe pull the tissue paper. And even then that might be a stretch. And again, not going to remember it. And I'm sure the kid has an abundance of toys. So yeah. Just say thank you and go put it in the savings account. Well, I, Use it for yourself. What are you bitching about? God. Now, granted, $ 100 for a one-year-old. Look, if I go to a birthday party for a one-year-old and I'm giving that kid $ 100, I'm not giving the kid $ 100. I'm giving it to mom or dad because that's who's going to take that $ 100 and do something with it. And honestly, that's probably the way it should be because what's a one-year-old going to do with $ 100? Nothing.

12:22 Yeah. So technically as a gift for a one-year-old. Okay. I understand that. There's so much, there's so much context here because if the giver has kids or whatever, and maybe then would have a better idea that I can understand, maybe think it was a little impersonal. if the givers like me and doesn't have kids and really doesn't have a clue, then just shut up. You got a hundred bucks. You can go, go buy him something, go buy, go buy yourself something nice. You've earned it, but bitching about it. I mean, it feels just so very Gen Z.

13:13 Maybe. I mean, it's a one-year-old. So statistically speaking, probably in their twenties. So yeah, either uh older gen z or young millennial type situation on one hand i give i give some of these kids uh i.e you know just people younger than you and me credit for trying to address things with people and being like hey i disagree with you on this or you did this thing and i think that was wrong so let me tell let me bring it up to you right I feel like that was something that we weren't raised really to do. It was more like it would be impolite to bring it up. Um, but at the same time, I feel like it's another over correction. Like you're bringing up stuff that really doesn't need to be addressed. Like it's really not that if the biggest problem in your life right now is you don't like the hundred dollar cash gift that your friend gave to your one year old. consider yourself blessed. I.

14:20 I'm quite sure that if you read Emily post, it would say to say, thank you. And shut up. It would be proper etiquette. Um, and man, I miss her. Yeah. And for those of you who don't know, Emily post was known as miss manners. Um, I, I still think, if there had been no gift and you addressed it, okay, maybe, but it sounds like the giver of the gift, ask the mom what she could buy. And the mom said, Oh yeah, we've got plenty. So, you know, would they have been happier if it was a gift card to toys or us isn't around anymore. So I don't know what you would go.

15:07 Just Amazon, just, yeah. Yeah, I mean, would that have been better? Amazon gift card? Cash is still one of the most versatile things. You can do anything with it. And like I said, hell, use it for a babysitter. Treat yourself to a night out. It sounds like you need to fucking unwind. Or you just need fucking. And $ 100, depending on the neighborhood, could get you that as well. Yeah. Uh, that's the other thing. So this is one of my favorite things. This is one of my new favorite things to do. And that is taking people at their word.

15:48 I don't mean like their word is their bond kind of thing, but like, I mean, in this type of scenario, if you invite me to the kid's birthday and I say, and I say, what is the kid like? Cause I want to get him or her a good gift. And you say, you know what? Don't worry about bringing you gifts. Because we have plenty. They have older brothers and sisters getting hand-me-downs. You just showing up is all we need. I'm now taking you at your word. I am not buying your snot-nosed kid a gift. You know why? Because you told me not to. I then welcome you saying, I can't believe you didn't bring a gift. You said I didn't need to, so I didn't. So if what I'm trying to do now in my older age is hold people accountable to the things they say.

16:34 I mean, and that's fair. It's the same thing as if you're having a party and someone goes, what can I bring? And you go, oh, you're good. And then you're mad because they didn't bring something. Tell me what you want. Yeah. I'm tired of guessing. I am too old trying to figure out what people mean. I've spent too much of my adult life trying to translate people's thoughts into from the words they have used, and I've wasted so much of my time doing it, I now am actively trying not to. If you tell me I don't need to do something, then I'm not going to do it. If you tell me don't worry about something, I'm going to try not to worry about doing the thing.

17:17 Even with your wife? Okay, I'm not perfect. This is a work in progress. You got to extend yourself some grace in there. Okay, Dan, you're fine. Do you feel restless and anxious? Feel like something's missing in your life? Maybe you just need a little more Treehouse in it. Go to patreon.com slash treehouse on air. And check out all the bonus features a subscription offers, including bonus shows, behind-the-scenes content, special subscriber-only live shows, and so much more. That's patreon.com slash treehouse on air. That's p-a-t-r-e-o-n dot com slash treehouse on air.

18:08 This segment of The Treehouse is brought to you by Cook DFW Roofing and Restoration to get your free roof inspection and property review. Call the cooks today to get that scheduled. 833-COOK-DFW. That's 833-COOK-DFW. The website, cook.com. DFW.com back inside the tree house. I'm Dan. He's Trey. Today is Wednesday, October 28th, 2026. Let's celebrate today with some celebrity birthdays. It's a pretty good day, Trey. I'm not going to lie. Uh, not that I would lie to you about birthdays anyway, but here we go. Uh, here we go. Amber Glenn is 27. He's an American figure skater, us national champion, And she's from North Texas. I think she's from Plano, if I remember right. Happy birthday to her. Nolan Gould is 28. I don't know if he's done anything else acting-wise, but he is best known as Luke Dunphy on Modern Family. So, Claire and Phil's boy.

19:13 Yeah. He's 28 now. So, now we're all feeling nice and old. Ugh. He... He's a good example of another, and this is what's difficult about being a cute kid. It's great if you have a cute kid, but when they get older, they may look weird. It's like 50-50, man. If you're a cute kid, it's 50-50 on whether or not you stay good looking. Something happens in puberty and somehow you look weird sometimes. Nathan Gould to me is one of those. Super cute kid, kind of awkward. looking as he came through, you know, uh, puberty, uh, Haley, Joel Osment is another one.

19:57 Super cute kid, little awkward as he got older, Macaulay Culkin, same thing. Oh, I don't think he changed that much. The, the kid, that's the problem. he's a little gangly i can't figure out the kid from young sheldon how that's gonna turn out i. Don't i'm not sure on that one either uh but there are examples of you know quote-unquote cute kids growing up and turning out to be just fine drew barrymore drew barrymore is one leonardo dicaprio is one he was a child star uh seth green was one seth green was a child actor and he grew up looking kind of normal. Maybe not the best example. Well, you get what I mean. There are some examples of the cute kids turning out okay. Sean Astin is fine. I mean, he's just a big guy now, but I mean, as an adult, he grew into like a normal looking person.

20:58 See what I mean? But it's 50-50. Like, if you're an ugly kid, you're probably going to be an uglier. Yeah. There's very few ugly ducklings out there. I mean, Robert Downey Jr. was in his teens, I feel like, when he started, but Corey Feldman was awkward then, still awkward. Will Wheaton. Yeah, Will Wheaton. Cute kid on Star Trek The Next Generation. Awkward-looking adult.

21:38 I think he's kind of aged okay. Maybe he just had like an awkward 30s. Yeah, maybe. This is one you wouldn't think of because he's so much older than us. Kurt Russell started out as a very young child star, like in Disney movies and stuff, and totally fine. By the way, This is just complete sidetrack. I saw, you know how we talk about how old people were, like Wilford Brimley was, I think, 49 or 50 when he did Cocoon. Yeah. Uncle Jesse from the Dukes of Hazzard.

22:25 Oh, no. Oh, no. Was 58 when he's... Bullshit. 58? Uh-huh. That show started, 58. He looked 88. Uh-huh. How is that man 58 years old? I don't know. I just saw that the other day. I was like, oh, shit. You actually sounded a little bit like Jesse right then. Oh, my God. Really? Denver something. Denver Pyle? Is that it? There's someone named Denver Pyle. I think that, you know, that may be. That may be his name.

23:09 I got to look this up. Usually it's you looking up stuff on your phone on the fly, but I got to do this one. Denver Pyle. Yeah, that's Uncle Jesse. That is him. My goodness. Born May 11, 1920. Died 1997. Denver Pyle. Wow. 58 when he, my God. When they started filming Dukes of Hazzard, yeah. Wow. That's amazing. Mm-hmm. Can I just say, though, as a moment of appreciation, good for us.

23:52 Yeah. In the span of really one generation, we look so much better than the boomers. Yeah, we definitely... I mean... But again, that was a whole... You know... When we were kids, adults retired at 55. They were me, mom, papa. Yeah, absolutely. You almost nailed my grandfather. So my papa, on my dad's side, retired at 55 from his job doing whatever it was he did at Phillips Petroleum Company back in the day. And his retirement was becoming a cattle rancher. I mean, you talk about built different. The man retired and then worked harder in retirement than he did at whatever he did for Phillips Petroleum Company.

24:47 But a lot of people didn't. A lot of people, they just retired and just sat there and got old. Yeah. Yeah, that was my papaw. Just out there herding and stuff. I can't even. This is the great irony. It's like, I want to retire so bad, and I probably never will. I don't know what I would do. I'll figure something out. I'll, I don't know what it'll be. I just, I just want to be financially able to retire. I, then I can, then I can figure stuff. I'll find a hobby. That's yeah. I want to, I want to have the wherewithal to retire. I don't think I know that I ever will, but just the security of knowing you could would be nice. Yeah.

25:32 That's part of the reason why we moved to an Island in the Caribbean is because I don't know if we'll ever actually fully be able to financially retire because So then let's just go live in a place while we can walk around and enjoy it. Because I may not ever be able to afford living here unless I'm working my ass off. So I might as well work my ass off and enjoy the view, right? Whose birthday was it? Nolan Gould. Luke Dunphy on Modern Family took us all the way to retirement and Denver Pyle. There you go. Other birthdays today. This is a great name, but I don't think he's a very good quarterback. Stetson Bennett is 29. He led Georgia to back-to-back national championships.

26:26 I think he got drafted by somebody in the NFL, but I don't know if he's really done anything. I'm not sure where he is currently. I doubt he's even in the league, honestly. Probably not. He is one of those guys that. In college, in the system, he was he was good enough. I mean, because he played on those Georgia teams that were so stacked with especially. Defensive talent that. Oh, yeah. I mean, he was basically the. Oh, Trent Dilfer of a college quarterback. Yeah, I got I got two titles. OK. And, you know, I had a Super Bowl winner. OK, Trent. And will be financially well off for the rest of his life. He can open a car dealership in Athens, and he will be set for life because he will be royalty.

27:18 Don't leave Georgia, Stetson. You live there forever now. That's something that enough kids are not told when they go to college on, let's say it's a scholarship situation, you're going to play a sport. You may not make it in the sport beyond college, So let's pretend that you have a great college career, maybe even legendary college career, but you do nothing in the pros. That means you're going to be kind of locked into the state and or city in which you have your college career. Keep that in mind. Mm-hmm. You may be stuck to that state and that area for the rest of your life.

28:04 Choose wisely. Mm-hmm. And yes, I am absolutely talking to you, Aggie. I don't hate you the way Trey does in his tea sip and heart. But I just use that term. I know things, Trey. I know things. My parents were Baylor Bears. Rare. And you know what? Some of the best advice my dad ever gave me, of which he offered it rarely. Because he didn't like to be the dad that was like, let me tell you what to do. He was more like, if you want my advice, I'll give it, but it's up to you whether or not you take it. There's only been two things really in my life that he told me without me asking. And one of them was, don't go to Baylor. Because Waco.

28:52 Yeah, especially back in those days. Waco's, I mean, so much better now than it was. But especially back in the 90s, yeah, Waco sucked. I mean, my dad was at Baylor in the early 80s. Yeah. In those days, the silos that are now famous by Chip and Joanna were actually silos. All right, other birthdays today. Thank you, Stetson Bennett, and happy birthday to you. Gwendolyn Christie is 48. She is Brienne of Tarth on Game of Thrones. Trey, since you haven't really watched it, she's the tall blonde female knight.

29:38 Okay. She was also Captain. Phasma, the silver, the chrome stormtrooper in the new Star Wars movies. Okay. Yeah, I've got, I was watching Game of Thrones and then I've gotten sidetracked and I need to go back and finish, like, I think I'm on the second season. I need to get back into it. I will say, man, there are some great moments in that show. Last season is not among them, really. Even in the last season, there were a few good moments. The season before the final season has one of the great all-time payoffs in TV history. I'll get to it one day. Yeah, one of these days. Speaking of child stars growing up, Joaquin Phoenix is 52. The whole Phoenix family. I mean, River would have been, but he obviously didn't make it all the way to where Joaquin did age-wise, but Joaquin Phoenix started out as a child star. He was in one of my favorite movies as a kid, Space Camp.

30:39 Pretty cool to think about how Joaquin Phoenix was in one of my favorite movies as a kid, Space Camp, and in one of my favorite movies as an adult, Gladiator. Yeah. He's... interesting looking like he is unconventionally, I guess, unconventionally handsome. Yeah. I think he's got the, the cleft palate scar. I think that's, that's, and his face is just, he wasn't the good looking Phoenix. Let's face it. And he knows it. That was river. I'm not saying the parents had a favorite, but I'm telling you, they knew which one had the face for film. Yeah. And it may be, maybe that's part of the reason Joaquin Phoenix is such a good actor is like, He knows he wasn't the good-looking one, so he had to try all that much harder. Let's see. Oh, Brad Paisley from Country Music is 54. Still married to... Oh, I just brain farted on her name. The girl who played the daughter in Father of the Bride.

31:52 Sarah... Kimberly Williams. Kimberly Williams, thank you. Yes. Good on him. Trista Sutter, the first Bachelorette, is 54. And I believe she's still married to Ryan, who was the firefighter that won her heart all those many years ago. One of the few actual lasting relationships from that show. Hell, even the host is broken up with the show. Well, he got caught up in the Me Too stuff. That was it. that was a bad, dumb decision on the bachelor's part. And his wasn't even actually me too.

32:33 It was race-based. Well, I, I remember it was something, but it really didn't feel like it was that bad. It was, it was not that bad. The producers and ABC over-corrected on that one. Yeah. And that show, the only time I've ever really watched the show was one season with you and Tara back in 2011, something 2010. Yeah. And that was mostly because it was centered around drinks and steak. Yeah. But even the highlights, everything was better with Chris Harrison. He's a great host.

33:14 I know Fox is trying to kind of do a Bachelor spinoff with him on their Fox Nation or whatever. I doubt it will do much, but I think that boat's come and gone. I think they've already been sued, too, by Bachelor. Jeremy Davies is 57. He's an actor. He was Daniel Faraday on Lost, Dickie Bennett on Justified, and Corporal Upham in Saving Private Ryan, the one that we all wanted to murder because he wouldn't save the guy getting stabbed up the stairs. That's one of the most gut-wrenching scenes in a movie that I can ever remember. On the opposite side, Julia Roberts is 59.

33:58 One of my all-time favorites. Julia Roberts in the Pretty Woman era, all-time hot for me. I'm with you there. For some reason, I used to not think so, but yeah, you're right. I am honestly trying to think of, has she ever been in a bad movie? I'm sure she has, but I can't think of one. Yeah. Yeah, I'd really have to think on that one. Because even if the movie was bad, she was good in it. Yeah. There was a post like that I saw on Instagram yesterday, and this is so true. I can't remember who the actor was that said it, but I think it was actually Christopher Lee. Christopher Lee, who played Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequels. Mm-hmm. He was also the white bad wizard in the Lord of the Rings movies. Done tons of stuff in his career, right? He was also really into metal and basketball. Fascinating guy. Anyway, Christopher Lee once said, all actors will be in a bad project.

35:13 All actors will be in a bad movie. The difference is not to be bad in it. And I thought that was brilliant. And someone took his quote and applied it to Raul Julia in the very first Street Fighter movie that starred Jean-Claude Van Damme. And you know what? It is so correct. Because Jean-Claude Van Damme's Street Fighter movie was total trash, but Raul Julia as the bad guy in it was phenomenal. He was underappreciated. He was a great actor, and he went way too soon. Those Addams Family movies... He was excellent.

35:56 Those movies are not memorable without him in it. No. And Street Fighter isn't even a conversation we would have if it wasn't for Raul Julio playing that role. That's so good. From NFL Days, back when they actually played football, Denver Broncos safety Steve Atwater is 60. Do you know what his nickname was? I didn't know this. My prep service here has this. He was supposedly nicknamed the Smiling Assassin. I do remember that mother brought it when he hit you. Yeah, that's in the Ronnie Lott class of backs that would take your head off.

36:40 He was also one of those, like, I know that you played, I know you played a lot of Super Tecmo Bowl games. If you know that you played with the Denver Broncos, not only because you got Tony door set running the ball on one side, but on defense, you had Steve Atwater flying around like a madman. Yeah. And Jamie Gertz is 61. Underrated hot. And now she's a billionaire. She took that hotness and parlay that into billionaire wife. And she is absolutely winning. But you read about it. It's not just billionaire wife. Like she's been an active part of like, I think it was at her prodding that they bought the Atlanta Hawks and, uh, like evidently she's super smart and, and yeah, has really done very well for herself.

37:31 It's actually, it's a, it's a great example of you can, you can be a successful man and then you get you a smart, amazing woman and she will, she will send both of you into the stratosphere. Mm-hmm. She's the one that famously said in Twister, we've got cows. And she was also in Lost Boys. Jamie Girtz, 61. Daphne Zuniga is 64. Remember who she is? Melrose Place. And... She. Is... She is reprising her role as Princess Vespa in the most anticipated film of 2027, Spaceballs 2. She was Princess Vespa in Spaceballs.

38:25 Also underrated hot. Mm-hmm. Very. Speaking of hot, Lauren Hawley, 63. Smoking hot at the time. But.... Bad work. Man. Like Picket Fences, Dumb and Dumber. Today? I forget. Have you ever seen the movie Beautiful Girls? I don't know if I have. You should. It's late 90s. Like Timothy Hutton, her, a young Natalie Portman.

39:08 Okay. I mean, it's a phenomenal cast. Michael Rapaport. It's just, it's a great, great movie. Add that to my list. It sounds like one I should have seen. Surprised I haven't. Yeah. Bill Gates is 71. He's done well for himself. Yeah. done okay. It is interesting, though, to think about how it's like to be a kid and think one of these days I'm going to be the richest man in the world and I'm going to come for you, the mosquitoes. Technically malaria, but still. Yeah, I mean, he's He's gotten a bad rap over the years. But one of the most interesting things, and I did not know this because everyone thinks he was just this child prodigy who, you know, bought MS-DOS from IBM for nothing. But it turns out his mom worked for IBM. And that's how he knew about it. And how he got it.

40:12 It wasn't all because he was just a genius. Right. Right. sometimes fortune smiles upon the lucky, but you got to give him credit on being able to take advantage of the opportunity in front of him. Yeah. And then he stole from Steve jobs. Surround yourself with good people. Yeah, absolutely. This segment, Brought to you by us right here in the treehouse. You can go get more treehouse in your life today by going to patreon.com slash treehouse on air. You can subscribe to one of three levels.

40:58 Super plus. Let me start over. You can subscribe to one of three levels. Treehouse plus super plus or ultimate treehouse. Those come with bonus content, subscriber only episodes, video all right there. patreon.com slash treehouse on air subscribe today to get more treehouse in your life because we do it for free three days a week but you can get you know pay a little bit and you get it five days a week pretty damn cool i think i'm obviously a little biased uh i didn't even get through all the birthdays we don't need to go through the rest of them we've already got plenty of content out of the birthdays for today uh there are two things that we need to discuss before we get out of here uh one of those is the gen z stare has this come back trey because i heard about it earlier this year And now I'm all of a sudden seeing more stuff about it. Why do we know?

41:45 Uh, I've just, it's one of their little idiosyncrasies that I, I think it's just cause they don't know how to communicate, but, uh, it's certainly a thing having worked with them. I have some experience with Gen Z, uh, like, Most of my experience with Gen Z is tenants that live in my house, which can be interesting to say the least. But I've never worked, I don't think, with anyone that is Gen Z, at least not closely. So I've never, as far as I know, I have not experienced the Gen Z stare. But even like yesterday, I saw an article, just a simple headline, and I pulled it up. how to respond to the Gen Z stare without looking like a total boomer. The Gen Z stare, everyone knows what that is, right? Sort of like the blank expressionless look on the face. Also known as the look of, if we looked at our parents that way, they would have hit us.

42:59 Yeah, you'd be picking your teeth up. Mm-hmm. So. I don't think I've really been on the receiving end of a Gen Z stare because if I did, I feel like they might also be picking their teeth up. I guess like anything, it's all in how you use it. Like if you just look expressionless and lost, I might ask if you need help. But if you're doing it in response to something, when I'm trying to engage with you, you're going to infuriate me. And maybe that's why they do it. I don't even know why they do. I think sometimes they do it to try to infuriate. Like I said, I've seen a lot when there's kind of a little bit of conflict where they don't, their communication skills just simply are not as good. They haven't had to communicate.

43:48 I guess what I'm thinking is, is it an ignorance or malice situation? Or does it just depend on the person? It depends on the situation, I think, more than anything else. Ugh. An empty, wide-awake stare that younger individuals use at times when it is necessary to respond with words has gone viral, and it's known as the Gen Z stare. It's given rise to debates about etiquette boundaries and emotional labor. That's a Gen Z term right there, emotional labor. I'm doing all the heavy lifting. According to Merriam-Webster, the informal slang expression means a blank look given by members of Generation Z in circumstances in which an oral response would normally be expected. The expression has quickly gained popularity online and is commonly used in conversations about workplace or customer service culture.

44:39 The stare essentially is a rejection of performative happiness. All right, that sentence actually I appreciate. According to experts, younger employees tend to refuse to pretend they feel comfortable when it is not the case, especially in jobs with a low salary or insecurities. You know, this is one of those times where I give credit to Gen Z. It's like, man, if you hate the job and the job hates you, don't pretend to love it. Yeah, but you're just not going to love your job all the time. No, you're absolutely not. So you need to come to terms with it. Yeah. And you're not going to come to terms with it by making a blank face at it. No. In addition, psychologists warn against transforming a popular buzzword into a personality trait.

45:24 They stare, they claim. Or the stare, they claim, might indicate confusion, anxiety, processing, discomfort, or even just another way of looking at an appropriate reaction. Pandemics rob many young adults of valuable social experience through face-to-face interaction during an important period of their development. So psychologists are basically saying, don't hit them when they do it. Because I need that slowdown. They may just be processing something. They may not be trying to say anything. Like I said, they don't It's a generation that everything they've, everything they've done has been digital. Like they, they meet each other. They date via apps. They don't date via, you know, meeting someone. They go out, but they don't meet people.

46:21 It is such a weird thing because let's just be honest. We are among like I realize our grandparents were the quote unquote greatest generation, you know, World War Two and such. But we're the best generation because we're the most adaptable. We've straddled the line. We absolutely have. I mean, we we started with everything analog and then adapted to everything digital. So we run the spectrum. We know what it is. We have perspective unlike any other generation before or probably will ever have. We had to teach our parents how to use the fucking internet. And that built character. And scars.

47:02 Those of us that survived it. Some didn't. R.I.P. R.I.P. Kevin. You know, you find a boomer with an AOL account. There's a kid. There's a Gen Z or Gen X guy. A kid somewhere just gave up. In therapy. Trying to process it all. But it is. I mean, it really is one of the great things. And that's why I think, I don't know, because I'm not a parent. I'm not an expert in child development. I'll ask my wife. She is. I think it would make sense in the digital age to raise, this is what we should have done. And I don't know why we didn't do this. Because Gen Z is our fault, right? Because Gen X is having the Gen Z kids. We screwed them up. I don't know why. To me, it seems so simple.

47:50 I do. Raise them the same way you were raised. That's the problem. Is that we haven't. I don't think. No, I disagree with you. I think absolutely. Gen X raised Gen Z like they were raised, which is very hands-off. The problem is they had the internet. And social media, we didn't. And I think that's where everything went haywire. You know what? I think this is one of those times where we're both actually right. We're just looking at it from two different ways. So you're right in that it's because we were hands off the way our parents were hands off. It's just that these kids didn't want to go outside and do anything because they had so much stuff on the Internet to keep them busy. Right. The way I see it, it should have been is. Don't give them the Internet so early. raised like how we were. It's like, start with a book, start with pencil and paper, but your first tablet shouldn't be an iPad, but.

48:48 You know, and you know, this, if our parents had the ability to shut us up by putting a tablet in front of us, we would have all been the exact same way. I, I think you are correct. I also know that my mom would have hit me with one. Well, yeah, that, and it would have blamed me for it. Yeah. And it would have been my fault. Yeah. Uh, But yeah, I think it should have been. I'm hoping maybe Gen Z, Gen Alpha, maybe they'll do it with their kids. Raise them on analog first, then... shift them over into the digital stuff so they have a better, not just perspective, but appreciation for things. I mean, you look at the number of kids that have iPhones under 15. I think millennials are probably doing a better job of restricting screen time.

49:42 Yeah. I really hope Gen Z does the overcorrection and goes back to, I hope Gen Z is kind of like our boomer parents where it's like, put that down, go outside. Don't come home till the streetlight comes on. I don't want to see you again until lunch. Unfortunately, I think they'll screw their kids up like we screwed them up and our parents screwed us up. I know, you're right. They're going to have kids and it's going to be like just Instead of putting a laptop in front of them, they're just going to plug the kid into a socket. And that's, you know, we won't be here to witness it. It's okay. And you know what? Thank God. Yeah, you know, that's...

50:23 Because otherwise it's going to be you and me sitting around going like, you know, in our days, we licked the light sockets. We didn't get plugged into them. Yeah. No, I mean, we'll be the old man going, yeah, play on our lawn. Oh, there's no one there. They're all inside it. I know it's like I'm at one of the, one of these days I'm going to be of the age where I want to tell a kid, get off my lawn, but I won't be able to because they're all inside. Yeah. They're all, they're all have headsets on and on a virtual lawn. That's what we'll have to do. We'll have to have headsets and, and, you know, be the virtual old men. Get off my virtual lawn.

51:03 Yeah. Oh my God, that's funny and so sad all at the same time. It's like that meme with Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino and he's like, that whole face. That's going to be us except just with a VR headset. Yeah, I mean, I feel like virtually we'll be Waldorf and Statler just sitting there just sniping at people. Get off my lawn. You suck. All right, now I'm kind of looking forward to it. Yeah. I'm looking forward to our Statler and Waldorf era. Oh, man.

51:44 You stick around the treehouse long enough, you'll see it. You'll see the transformation for yourselves. Thank you for hanging out inside the treehouse with us today. We appreciate it. Share the show with a friend. Help us grow the treehouse show. And we will see you next time right here inside the treehouse. Bye. Bye.