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25-Year-Old's Letter To Yelp CEO Highlights The 'Millennial Mindset'

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An open letter from a millennial to the CEO of her company complaining about her salary recently went viral. It's also getting a heated response from more experienced workers.

The open letter written from 25-year-old Talia Ben-Ora to the CEO of Yelp said that making about $12 per hour in a starter position has her all but starving.

Workplace guru Stephen Viscusi helps people find employment and told CBS2's Emily Smith that this letter is whiny and wimpy. In fact, there's been a lot of online backlash at the employee and millennials in general.

Viscusi said millennials, ranging in age from 19 to 29, don't seem to want to pay their dues to climb to the top.

"They need to be patient. In Talia's case, she thinks one year on the job in customer service was too long. Really Talia?" Viscusi said.

The millennial lost her position at the company just hours after she posted the letter to social media. In the letter, she lists grievances such as her cell phone bill being due and living 30 miles away from work to find an affordable place to rent.

"It's groceries, drinks, going out... you can't have a social life if you have a $12 job," one millennial told CBS2.

Millennials CBS2 spoke with mostly took the worker's side, also agreeing with her choice to confront Yelp's CEO on social media, but only if she had tried to meet in person prior to that.

"Social media publicity actually gets change done. That's one of the biggest things," Victoria Zhong, a college student, told CBS2.

A spokesperson for Yelp says Talia Ben-Ora was "let go from Yelp Eat24 for multiple reasons, including violations to our code of conduct."

After taxes, Ben-Ora made about $8 an hour. CBS2 experts say you have to start somewhere, and that often means rock-bottom.

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