FROM YUPPIES TO MUPPIES: THE EVOLUTION OF A BUSINESSMAN

The other day I wore a suit. With a tie. And a briefcase. The whole enchilada. It’s not like that happens every day but I didn’t pay much of attention to it until one young guy in a hurry almost pushed me to get out of the building before me: "Hey, rotten yuppie, make some space if you are that slow!" 

The thing is, I wasn’t upset by his rude behavior or unkind words. What striked me is that he considered me to be a yuppie. I did not hear that word for so long and it stirred up my curiosity. 

 What is actually a yuppie?

According to Wikipedia, it is “a fashionable young middle-class person with a well-paid job”. The 1980s stereotype about yuppies included their obsession with material objects and financial success. Yuppie was born in the economic boom of the 80s and 90s. 

Yuppies then made loads of money, splashed around with their gigantic mobile phones, and usually worked as stockbrokers or analysts, or any other career that demanded a “slicked-back hair” as part of the uniform.

When I think of it, they actually represented (or even caused) what will become a fast-growing consumerism (that will eat us alive). Consumption of material goods became a chief characteristic for them and they quickly grew to enjoy their expendable income.

The very term “yuppie” was coined in the United States in 1983 back boning on a business networking group founded in 1982 by the former radical leader Jerry Rubin, formerly of the Youth International Party (so-called "yippies").

The end of their regency was after the 1987 stock market crash and not only that: the term gained the negative socio-economic connotations that it still alive and kicking – as I had the luck to make sure that it was. On April 8, 1991, Time magazine even proclaimed the death of the "yuppie" in a mock obituary.

Anyway, the evolution of a businessman is something I never thought about until now. It actually shows pretty clear the way market and its rules change. 

In my brief and pretty superficial research (on the phone, while commuting) I even stumbled upon a new term. Muppies.

When I didn’t fall off my seat. Apparently, muppies are the 21st-century yuppies, only they are Millennials. Even though Millennials are having trouble with a reputation for being lazy and self-involved – as of 2013, about 19 percent of U.S. millionaires were Millennials, aged between 18 and 31! 

Muppies are highly educated, super-social, and (most importantly)—entitled. They do not repeat the pattern of the 80s yuppies - they are quite simple. They enjoy fair trade coffee, spend an hour a day on blogs, and almost always think their job is a waste of their talent. They all believe they’re winners.

I already like them. And, forgive me for saying this:

My God, I wish I was younger. And I wish the guy from the beginning called me muppie instead of yuppie!