By Nancy Friedman, Keynote Customer Service Speaker; President, Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training

Millennials? What’s new about it?

The biggest secret of all? Nothing. Nada. Zip.

In my travels, working with this fun, bright, exciting group, I’ve found they’ve simply never been shown certain things.

Of all the things they’re called, one is missed. And that is: EAGER. Yes, I found them eager. Eager to be good. To learn. They asked more questions than other groups I’ve spoken to in a while. I didn’t have any ‘know it all’s’ in the audience.

Some folks say the millennials feel they are:

• Entitled
• Lazy
• Unfocused
• Narcissistic

And a few other ‘titles.’ Well, you know what? Those are some of the same ‘titles’ used over the years with nearly every generation.

And some folks never lose those titles. As they get older, some folks still feel they are still entitled. Some are still lazy, unfocused and narcissistic.

I’m not a fan of name calling. It’s the old “sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never harm me.."

I have found most of the millennials I’ve had the opportunity to work with to be fun, bright, eager to learn, and yes, ok, sometimes unfocused and a bit narcissistic. But aren’t a lot of us? No matter what age?

It seems every generation gets a label put on them. Not by the generation themselves, but by others.

The millennials ask far more questions about handling customers than many other groups. I’ve found them eager to learn and do good. (Does anyone really want to do ‘bad’?)

Moral to this story? Give them a chance. They want to learn. And we can teach.