In fact, how was it EVER a thing?

If I had a dollar for every time I've read or heard something along the lines of the following, I'd be able to afford lots of lunch items not listed on the Del Taco "buck and under" menu. 

"For the first time in U.S. history, four generations are working together side by side"

Why is all of this generational theory content still so pervasive in the HR/recruiting-sphere? 

While I'm not into publicly publishing my age, I will state that I've been working long enough to know the above is absolutely FALSE. No matter where I've worked since my high school years there have been people of all age ranges in practically every workplace I've seen. 

In my earliest retail job(s) as a teenager I recall working with people very close to my own age, some people slightly older, some people close to my parents' age, some people with grandchildren, and some people that may have been close to or past traditional retirement age. 

I also recall NO ONE cared or made any fuss whatsoever about any combination of generations working side by side. 

However, somewhere along the past dozen or so years, there's been this obsession of making it a BIG DEAL. There doesn't seem to be any signs that this trend is ever going to end either.

Unfortunately, the opposite seems to be happening as an abundance of generational thought leaders and article writers have discovered new ways to push more of the same nonsense in reference to generation Z. 

I can't possibly be the only person to notice and wonder why this topic appears to be coated in a version of Kryptonite that erases common sense.