To think that many people's sense of entitlement has gone mad?

[SweetAlmondOil]

I regularly come across or hear people assume that they are entitled to 'stuff.'

Be it a job that ticks all the boxes, parents helping out (financially at first, or with kids later, etc), government help if they smoke/drink all their lives and need treatment for a related illness.

AIBU to think that more than ever before people are not taking responsibility for their actions/decisions/choices?

Yabu. What crap.

@RednaxelasLunch

Don't see what's so wrong about expecting help from the people and systems that surround us. That's what a society is, unless I've missed something.

Aye the whole "it takes a village" and all that.

You hear of the glory days gone by when kids were in and out of the neighbours house and you couldn't do enough for one another, community spirit at its finest. Yet ask your retired parents for a hand with childcare these days and your entitled .

For what it's worth both my parents still work full time and have a 10 year old but they still help me and my other grown up siblings with childcare where they can, we all help each other.

@LavaCake lm afraid l do agree with you. They got free university, cheap housing etc. They then pulled up the ladder on the generations behind them. Whilst blaming them for not being able to afford to get on the property ladder, conveniently forgetting student loans, no 110% mortgages, wage stagnation etc

One of the things I find strange about MN is the attitude to benefit fraud. We all know that benefit fraud is a crime, and that it takes resources away from people who genuinely need it, as well as costing all of us money. Yet it is almost universally supported on MN. If someone asks about reporting someone who they know is committing benefit fraud, they are told in no uncertain terms to mind their own business.
It seems it’s “entitled” to want your parents to help out with child care, but completely fine to claim benefits fraudulently.
Bizarre.

@WorraLiberty

What help does the government provide to drinkers/smokers who get ill?

The NHS?

[quote EL8888]@LavaCake lm afraid l do agree with you. They got free university, cheap housing etc. They then pulled up the ladder on the generations behind them. Whilst blaming them for not being able to afford to get on the property ladder, conveniently forgetting student loans, no 110% mortgages, wage stagnation etc[/quote]
They paid a fortune for childcare, there were none of the 30 hours free childcare for that generation. it wasn't all sweet roses you know?

@LavaCake

Compared to previous generations, yes, people these days are very entitled.

There is no generation more entitled than boomers. No generation ever had it easier, or handed on less opportunity to their descendants.

And it only took a page and a half for this bollocks to turn up.

Entitled people are nothing new.

This is going to turn into a all smokers are c*nts thread isn’t it?

I think the problem is that people are using the term 'entitled' as a blanket negative term.

There are lots of things I believe 'everyone' is entitled to (education, food and shelter, a life free of persecution due to sex, race, religion etc.). Health care that is free at the point of use is pretty high up this list.

Of course, some people will take this entitlement too far, but the expectation of adequate health care regardless of wealth is 100% reasonable and a key indicator that society is working as it should.

In terms of childcare, I think it's a complicated subject. Of course no one is entitled to help from grandparents but when the cost of living requires many families to have two working parents and the cost of childcare is prohibitive for some... well I can see how frustrations can arise.

Society is hugely unfair (much more so now) so it creates stress and anxiety about what other people have/ what you don't have.

Back when I was a kid no one had anything so there was no entitlement because there was no fear that others had what I didn't.

Do you not realise how much tax is generated from cigarette sales?! Its off the scale!

definitely a pop at smokers

There's some truth in what you're saying - I think some people are total CFs these days when it comes to stuff like feeling automatically entitled to free childcare from family, for instance - but I voted YABU as I found your comments on healthcare for smokers/drinkers quite judgemental tbh. In some (many?) cases these are people who have ended up needing treatment due to addiction, which is a condition in itself, deserving sympathy imho. Not everyone can simply decide to cease drinking/smoking without guidance and support.

Smokers are net contributers to the NHS over all, not sure of the figures on drinkers. Despite all their "oh we want everyone to quit smoking" posturing, the truth is that if every smoker quit today, the government would be on the bones of its arse immediately.

Very few boomers went to University, in fact a lot started work at 15.

Smokers tend to die young and save the country a huge amount in pension payments and long term care. Its those thoughtless people living to 100 that cost us so much!

@Monday55

I don't know OP it's easy to judge when you're looking at others.

1 pregnancy costs the NHS over £10k and way more when a c-section is involved. Majority of pregnancies are self inflicted as people choose to start a family. Are you going to make a dig on that?

Unless you work for the NHS and know that for a fact then your stats are bollocks

A c section costs the NHS about £1700

That's considerably less than the clinically obese will cost over their lifetime

The biggest one is benefits especially child based ones. It is almost expected that someone should be able to have as many children as they like as government should fund it. all because of child poverty. When i say child base benefits i mean all the benefits including council house (when a single mum gets treated differently than a child free woman), child benefits and free school meals/childcare.

I can't square the everyone is so entitled nowadays with the country voting in BJ and the Conservatives into government.

If you feel entitled why would you choose an elitist party to govern you? We know their ideology is to promote self reliance and personal wealth accumulation rather than societal opportunity and equality.

We are such a confused and divided society with a lot of hypocrisy thrown in that means people don't admit to their real values.

@ CaptainMyCaptain

''Free health care.''

Erm, there's no free healthcare, everyone pays for it from taxes etc (and tbf, smokers and drinkers pay a lot more in tax from buying alcohol/ tobacco.

LavaCake is missing some vital information. Only 5% of boomers, went to university, 95% started work between 15 and 18. My parents, born mid-1930s, paid under £2000 for their first cottage in 1959; my first flat was £65k in 1987.

You are forgetting INFLATION.

@ktp100

Particularly with regards to Covid, I've found.

Too many people caring about their own selfish wants and their child's 'mental health' being affected by not being able to do something utterly unnecessary and stupid.

It's so fecking annoying.

I wondered how long it would take for someone to bring it round to Covid.

You hear of the glory days gone by when kids were in and out of the neighbours house and you couldn't do enough for one another, community spirit at its finest. Yet ask your retired parents for a hand with childcare these days and your entitled hmm.

Kids used to go out and play for hours on end, and adults certainly weren't expected to entertain them.

@XingMing

LavaCake is missing some vital information. Only 5% of boomers, went to university, 95% started work between 15 and 18. My parents, born mid-1930s, paid under £2000 for their first cottage in 1959; my first flat was £65k in 1987.

You are forgetting INFLATION.

The other thing about the boomers many trades people were denied mortgages due to basic wages being low and having a considerable chunk of bonus money but banks wouldn't take bonus into account when calculating for a mortgage.

Many paid rent for years before a change of mindset by banks and a certain PM trying to break down the trade unions, enabled them to get on the housing ladder. People were less likely to strike / put house at risk if they and bank owned it rather than skipping the rent money.

Many were also raised by single parents and had dads who suffered physical injuries and what's now called PTSD. The boomers didn't all have it easy.