Trakk 02: Gen X Workplace Stories: When You're the Office Historian at 48

After a brutal morning setting up for our company event, my coworkers suggests we get McDonald's for lunch and we all excitedly agreed. We were exhausted, running on three hours of sleep and the kind of desperate hunger that makes a Big Mac sound like fine dining.

My 27-year-old colleague pulls out her phone. "I'll start a group order on the app so we can all just add what we want."

The app. Of course there's an app for this. There's an app for everything now.

As we're scrolling through options, someone mentions the 20-piece nuggets, and I, without thinking, blurt out: "You know, I remember when Chicken McNuggets first came out. Can you believe I lived in a world without Chicken McNuggets?"

Dead silence.

Six pairs of eyes staring at me like I just said I personally knew the guy who invented fire.

That's when it hit me: I wasn't just the oldest person in our department of six. I was ancient. I was the keeper of Before Times knowledge. I was the person who remembers when things... didn't exist yet.

The worst part? I kept going. "Yeah, 1983. They were a huge deal. We thought it was the future of food."

Why am I like this?

But here's what I realized later, after I changed into my favorite comfort sweatshirt (the one that doesn't judge me for my historical McDonald's commentary): We're not ancient. We're experienced. We lived through the invention of things these kids take for granted. We watched the world transform from analog to digital, from "be home when the streetlights come on" to "share your location."

We're not just getting older—we're getting stories. And honestly? Our stories are pretty good. Even the ones about fast food innovations.

Ready to embrace your role as Chief Nostalgia Officer? Shop our collection for comfort clothes that understand exactly where you've been and where you're going.