Why fed up ‘oldies’ are sick of continually getting the ‘gen Z gaze’   

The New Daily
Jul 06, 2025.




A phenomenon older generations are calling the “gen Z gaze” is going viral on social media with users sharing complaints about their customer service experience.

The gen Z gaze essentially refers to a perceived trend among young customer service workers, particularly those from generation Z, of failing to greet customers, not smiling or simply stare at the customer.


The sentiment is summed up in one post on X, which has more than 1.7 million views, in which user @pbprot says he is “so sick of the new style of customer service where people just stare at you when you walk up to the counter/service desk”.

He contrasted it with an experience he had when getting his car serviced, where the customer service worker greeted him with “good morning, I’ll be with you in a minute”.


It “immediately made me start thinking ‘wow, THIS is how you run a business’,” he shared.   

Another X user, @Nordman__ shared, later shared the sentiment in a post saying: “There is a new phenomenon that when you walk into a food place or coffee shop, etc, they just stare at you and don’t say anything first.”

In response, a commenter dubbed the staring phenomenon, “the Gen Z gaze”.

While having to initiate the interaction as a customer might not be difficult in many situations, some commenters noted that the silence can cause confusion.

“I go into a restaurant and get The Stare from a hostess (and what really even is their job other than to greet you?),” wrote @MattKnightLewis.


“‘Table for 2’ I say. She turns around and walks away,” he added.

“Why do more and more workers just hit you with the fluoride stare like it’s unnatural that a customer would walk into a place of business,” another remarked.


“At doctors’ and dentists’, front desk people act like they have no idea why you’re there and give a dazed stare like they don’t know what a doctor or dentist is,” someone else shared.   

“You walk up to a counter or desk and feel like you need to apologize,” one noted.

Gen Z fights back
Of course, the reply from gen Z wasn’t far behind the flood of complaints.

Many younger service workers took to social media to defend their behaviour as a byproduct of tough jobs and daily encounters with difficult customers.

“No disrespect, but if you had to deal with the insane amount of absolutely f–king braindead people you’ve ever met in your life for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, you would do this too,” one wrote.

But still others shared the complaints pointed at their fellow gen Zs.

“I remember the first time a friend told me she didn’t think customers were ‘owed’ friendliness. Just a mind-boggling mindset,” one wrote.

“The quality of service is so pathetically low now. It pisses me off because I’ve done these jobs and know there’s no excuse.”

One customer service worker even recalled being hugged by a customer simply for being polite.

“She said it made her so relieved to not deal with negativity for once. I was just being normal!”


And the reason for the ‘gaze’?

Some are blaming the gen Z gaze on events such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the increase in the use of modern technology, which they say has left younger generations ill-adjusted and ill-equipped to socially interact with people.

While older generations complaining about the behaviour of younger generations is nothing new, there may actually be some truth in these complaints.

A 2024 survey from online tutoring platform Preply found that “reduced [in-person] interactions have particularly affected gen Z, as many were in education during the pandemic”.

“As a consequence of the virtual world, they have missed out on crucial opportunities to both develop and practice their communication skills,” Preply said.

Christine Byrne, a public relations executive at Looq AI, agreed, telling Forbes last year that: “This lack of exposure affects their ability to read social cues, engage in spontaneous conversations, and build interpersonal relationships.”

Of course there is another solution.  People that feel they have poor customer service, often will not have a very good word to say about the business.  Also it is a good way to lose customers.   

whiteknight wrote on Jul 7^th, 2025 at 3:00pm:


Of course, it’s called reviews.
But then one has to be careful it’s not slander… then they sue for loss of business… just a way to make money other than getting customers lost for bad service.

Incorrect.

My aim is to inspire and help white knight.
I can lower the ladder but white knight still has to climb

Daves2017 wrote on Jul 7^th, 2025 at 7:26pm:


No wonder the prick got out of Dodge the way the NDIS is folding into a halfway employment thing like all the rest, with most of its funding going to lavish salaries and such for 'administration' and nowhere near enough getting out to the coal face - as usual.

Imagine paying a prick like that to administer university funding as its up there somewhere clerk?  On second thoughts - the way unis are these days.... he might be the perfect fit....