Is a POTUS of the future (and maybe her boyfriend) currently living in your basement?

Is your voted most-likely-to-succeed college grad lad waiting tables (for $2.13 per hour) until the job market bounces back?

What’s ahead for government as Generation Y (millennials) move in then, out of boredom or curiosity, move out again. And again. And again.

Will 20-, 30- and 40-year federal service pins become candidates for Antiques Roadshow exhibits?

Wednesday’s column and our Your Turn radio show focused on the challenges ahead as millennials (people born in the early 1980s through the early 2000s) take over government. Or not.

Whether you are about to turn 24 or are one of the many feds still working into their 80s, you have a stake in the next generation of civil servants: Both as colleagues and as the people that will run programs you need to stay comfortable. Maybe stay alive!

So what do we do with the Gen Ys? And what are they going to want, and do, with us. Here’s part of what one reader has to say on the subject. It’s a long read, but worth it:

“I do have some questions, although some feel like they are perennial — Congress wanting to cut budgets, but wanting government to do more.

1. “How can the desire to cut the federal government, both by staff and money, be reconciled with what experts say the millennials want — more training, more mentoring — all of which takes more money and more manger’s time, and quicker promotions, which also isn’t possible if there are fewer slots. With fewer people, they might get more responsibility, but they do want money too and don’t always have the experience or judgment to match the responsibility (and supervision = need for more people).
2. “Aren’t some of the descriptions of millennials overblown? Differences certainly exist between generations, but are some of the differences more about age and experience? Many things written about millennials — that Gen Xers supposedly don’t like — were or are written about Gen Xers. GenXers are the most tech-savvy generation; Gen Xers want work-life balance — sound familiar? Now I see that some are writing GenXers live to work but that’s not what all say or said in the past. And the boomer generation was all about idealism and working together to forge a better world — the Civil Rights, women’s rights movements, etc. … caring ‘more about work that matters’ than that.

   “Would seeing the differences more as stages of life than “generations” make a difference in dealing with them? Do most people who expect you can have work- life balance in their 20s realize by their 40s that they can’t if they also want more money, more career prestige or promotions?

3. “Is the media hyping the few exceptions of millennials who are CEOs of their own companies by age 27? If so, does that cause unrealistic expectations for the other millennials? Especially those living with their parents and underemployed?
4. “How can the desire of millennials for tech — indeed the probable need for it — work in government where security and top secret are often needed, and the time and money to make and protect new tech — and teach people how to use it — is often not there. Plus, the popular sites change frequently — Facebook to Twitter to Instagram to Pinterest to …? Can an employee or agency realistically be expected to keep up with the changing platforms in getting out or receiving info?

“And I have more, but you’re probably tired of reading this already. One of the bigger challenges I’ve faced with millennials is not that they want to have a seat at the CEO table from day one (where, in my experience, their input is often valued), but that they think they’re opinion is the correct one and that they have nothing to learn from people who have been in the workforce and don’t need to tell people what they are working on or do assigned tasks if they don’t want to do them. Some of them (not all) don’t just want a seat at the table, they can’t understand why anyone else should.”

Nearly Useless Factoid by Michael O’Connell

The largest known organism on the Earth is a giant Armillaria Ostoyae fungus that occupies 2,384 acres of soil in Oregon’s Blue Mountains. Scientists estimate the fungus, which grows along tree roots, is about 2,400 years old, although it could be as old as 8,650 years, making it one of the oldest organisms too.

(Source: Scientific American)

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