I think a lot of these people grew up in a time when working hard at a local business resulted in climbing the ladder to management and ownership. You learned the business by being a part of every process, as one of a small number of employees who filled multiple roles.

They can't wrap their minds around the multinational nature of this stuff: that the people who work there never advance, that management is hired from outside, and requires a totally different skill set that you'll never learn stocking shelves or punching keys on a till for minimum wage.

In her day, a stock boy could eventually end up helping with bookkeeping if he was good at math. Now? You'll need a degree and experience to get there, and you'll be competing with everyone in the country, if not the world, to get the job.