Also read: generations in the workplace, age discrimination, older workers, Generation Y, generation facts

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I like to think of myself as a pretty cool boomer--I had an iPod before my friends knew what one was (and I now have an iPhone), and I can discuss why "Entourage" is so great this season and how "Beverly Hills, 90210" doesn't compare with the original.

But I must confess that when it comes to workplace communications and protocols, I still don't get it.

Click here to read "Is the Generation Attitude Gap Widening?"

Click here to read "Things NEVER to Say to Young Coworkers."

Click here to read "Millenials Watch Less TV, Study Says."

In the first place, what's with the earbuds? I love music (ask my husband how much money I spent on concert tickets last summer!) but in my mind, work is work and you can't concentrate if you're fiddling with playlists all day. The 20-somethings who work in our office disagree. They say drowning out external noise and putting on music helps them concentrate. Meanwhile, I'm standing over them, calling their names and waving my hands, wondering what I have to do to get their attention.

And then there's text messaging. I learned to text message primarily to reach my son and daughter, who are also in their 20s and don't always deign to answer my nagging e-mails or phone calls. But when communicating with your boss, is it really appropriate to text message "R u there?" or "Am sik. Not in 2day"? More offensive to me is the constant messaging during meetings. They think I don't notice the eyes going down and those little fingers clacking away. I admit that since getting the iPhone, I want to check it all the time. But manners are manners, and when someone is talking to you--or eating lunch with you--you put the PDA or the cell phone away.

The third thing I don't really get is the shift in work/life balance. In my day, you came to the office unless you were at death's door. You tried to be there before your boss got in and you left after he or she went home. If you worked and had personal needs (I was the managing editor of a daily newspaper when my children were small), you came up with a solution on your own and never brought it to work. If you wanted to succeed, you were there, working hard, period.

These days--and this may be a good thing for all of us--everything is much more fluid. People work from home or wherever they want to be as long as they get their work done. I'm OK with this, basically--and actually find I am more productive when at home because there aren't constant interruptions--but I still believe you need to be in the office as much as possible and that many times, work has to come first.

This came to a head a couple of years ago when we had a young employee who was annoyed that a more senior employee, who had demonstrated his worth repeatedly, was allowed to work at home on occasion. She called in one day and said she was staying home because her toilet seat (not the actual toilet, mind you) was broken and she wanted to get it fixed and this would be an all-day project. I told her she could take a personal day for, ahem, this personal need, or she could come to the office. Two weeks later, she resigned.

Was I inflexible and failing to understand a generational gap? I don't think so. I think she was immature and we were better off without her.

But we are all working together and we need to understand the best ways to do this. I am more flexible now with people's personal needs and I have my younger cohorts to thank for that. I've always been a compulsive worker--I love my work, and when I have time on my hands, even on weekends and holidays, I work. My husband is the same way, thankfully, or we wouldn't be so happy together.

I used to get annoyed at people, especially younger people, who didn't want to answer my e-mails on the weekend or be available around the clock. I've come to understand that what works for me doesn't work for everyone and that we need to consider our individual situations and be more flexible as managers.

Maybe I'm finally growing up--or maybe I'm realizing that true diversity means also accepting different lifestyle needs, be they generational, work/life, or other.

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