BuzzFeed Fires Their Old Guy

Today I read this Gawker article by Mark Duffy, the oldest employee to ever get fired from BuzzFeed, a job he claims to have taken a $43,000 pay cut for.

First of all, the alternate universe where copywriters make enough money to take $43,000 out of their salaries and still live inside only exists to 53 year old white guys who think being a dick is a legitimate career move. Second, being willing to toss $43,000 in the trash means one of two things. He was ready to take a shit on his boss’s desk anyway, or he’s already some kind of crazy rich where people do things like live in a castle and not think that’s weird. In the article he readily admits that he was kind of rude and grumpy, didn’t take his editor’s notes well, and thought he was something special, when in reality, he was just a relic of a bygone era who was generally unwilling to accommodate any shift in tone.

He doesn’t even know how to make a fucking GIF. Because he thought they were stupid!

You know what skillsets I think are stupid? None! If I don’t know something, it’s because I can’t learn it, and mores the pity because there are 1,000 other thirsty bitches nipping at my heels for the work I have. If you can’t do at least three people’s jobs, you better get used to being cold. Because there’s no such thing as a specialist in this world.

Baby boomers talk about how self obsessed millennials are, but y’all are some of the laziest people I’ve ever met. Oh, you can write? And you want a >$45,000 salary for the privilege? That’s adorable. Literacy is no longer a special skill. You don’t get free coffee and an office with a door just for having a Bachelor’s degree and a tie. Being an asshole is no longer the sign of quirky genius it once was. Now it’s just exhausting, and makes everyone who’s not you start to look real good.

America doesn’t make anything anymore. Except kitten GIFS. Welcome to the new world, get on board or get dragged.