10/14/2025

The ‘Gen-Z Stare’ Is Tormenting Business Owners

Here’s how to turn It Into positive change

Gen-Z's workplace habits somehow keep returning to the spotlight—from being the “toolbelt generation” to “quiet thriving” to oversharing personal information. But the latest aspect of Gen-Z behavior that has captured everyone's attention might qualify as the strangest and, to some people, one of the more challenging, traits some young workers exhibit. We are talking about the deadpan, expressionless moments in conversation that have been labelled the "Gen-Z stare."

You have likely seen the behavior in question. Glamour magazine does a neat job of summarizing it, in case you haven’t: “The ‘Gen Z stare’ is an apparent tendency by young people in customer service positions to respond to innocuous statements with a blank look instead of a regular comment.” Other commenters say that Gen-Z uses this deadpan look in other situations as well, to equally unsettling effect. Some of the more pearl-clutching opinions include the notion that despite the stare not being "a raised voice, a walkout or a protest email" when the stare happens in the workplace it's still "driving seasoned managers to the brink," as the Times of India contends.

Part of the heated online debate about the stare centers around the meaning of this behavior. As Business Insider notes, people who receive the stare, "i.e., non-Zoomers," feel it's simply "an inability to make small talk, like the brains of twenty-somethings are buffering when confronted by strangers who simply want to exchange pleasantries." Conversely, Gen-Z people who deliver the stare say it's "the look they give people who are being stupid while waiting for them to realize they are being stupid." It's a classic intergenerational tussle of norms and manners, reminiscent of the Millennial/Gen-Z slur "Okay, Boomer," from a few years back.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Inc.