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?

Generation snowflake.

I've never felt entitled to anything in my life, other than a general level of respect and politeness from other people.

I work with the general public, and the sense of entitlement from some still staggers me...... that they are the only customer I have, and their job is more important than everyone elses and that of course they should go to the front of the queue. I am a master at internal eye rolling.

Thankfully the majority of folk are decent enough.

government help if they smoke/drink all their lives and need treatment for a related illness.

People who smoke and drink pay a lot more tax and in the cases of smokers and heavy drinkers, die younger. This means perfect people like the OP can have a state pension and hammer the hell out of the NHS in their old age.

But hang on- are people actually saying the previous two generations smoked and drank less? Like, people didn't smoke in the 60s and 70s???

Didn't drink????

Or that the NHS of those decades had some kind of bizarre rule that meant they wouldn't treat you until they had done a complete background check on your lifestyle?

Or that people who lived in those days nobly abstained from going to hospital because they said to themselves "well, I know I haven't always been as good as I should have been, so I really don't think I'm entitled"???

I’m assuming you don’t have kids, or if you do, don’t claim any child related benefits OP? Such as child benefit, free dental care, prescriptions etc. If you do, why did you have children you couldn’t afford and expect the tax payer to subsidise you? Bit entitled that isn’t it?

See, this can work both ways. Just because you don’t like smoking and drinking as habits and think people that partake in them should be punished, not everyone agrees with you. Some people think that people who have children should have to pay for those children themselves, and if they can’t afford to they should be packed off to the workhouse. Have a look on Reddit or Pistonheads for examples.

Carminabubu The calculation for the costs of smokers is here. It shows that the saving is pensions more than outweighs the healthcare costs bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/6/e001678

@EL8888

no 110% mortgages

Boomers didn’t have 110% mortgages. Pre 2000 the criteria for getting a mortgage was very strict. 3.25 x single income or 2.5 x dual income. A deposit of at least 10% and you had to save with the building society you wanted to borrow from, for at least 2 years, so that they could see your saving habits. Interview with the Building Siciety manager too, to quiz you on lifestyle and spending.

I think it's more that people are frustrated by the inequality and inconsistency than particularly entitled. For example, it was very frustrating to me to see so many friends of mine being given hefty financial help to buy a house and then turn around be all proud of themselves for owning a house. It's the only time people get a gift and act like they're some kind of saint for being given it (and yes, I am including adults to live with their parents rent-free to save for a deposit).
Equally, things like being in agony every day because you can't afford a breast reduction and the NHS won't help because "it's cosmetic" but the NHS will spend money on people who choose to drink/smoke/take drugs. I completely understand why addicts need help and support but it's so frustrating be kicked to the curb and told to fuck off when people who caused their own problems are treated like victims. It's frustrating for people TTC when they'd be incredible parents to see deadbeats not bothering with the children that they have. It's even more frustrating for people trying to adopt to jump through a thousand hoops to prove they would make better parents than biological parents who beat and rape their children.
So, IMO it's not that people feel entitled to breast reductions or houses or children - it's that people are so fucking frustrated with people who don't work for something being given it on a platter when those who do work for it can't have it.

@VinylDetective

I do find it funny that there's a whole thread about how this generation is an entitled bunch of snowflakes but when someone points out how entitled members of the boomer generation often were (with their free university education, affordable housing etc) it's suddenly eye rolling and 'oh my goodness boomers being shot down again, we're such a maligned generation'.

Why do you think "more than ever before"?
You seem to have a singularly moany/bitchy worldview, OP.
I'm glad I don't live in your head, you don't sound like a very happy person.

You would have gotten on well with a certain Ebenezer Scrooge, though.

It's very easy to forget that the baby boomer generation did not have paid maternity leave, equal pay rights for women, or access to cheap credit and hire purchase. If you didn't have the cash then you didn't buy it. And that's just to name a few things. Very few went to university - most left school at 15 or 16 and went straight to work.

Yes, they benefited from lower house prices, better pensions and free university education. But you had to save to buy things - no such thing as a cheap PCP lease deal on a new car, or putting a washing machine on a 12 month interest free buy now pay later plan. I remember my Dad telling me that their first house had a hole in the roof and an outside toilet! They had newspaper on the floors as they couldn't afford carpets - and they had to save and do the house room by room.

It's really lazy and reductive to write off "boomers" as having had everything handed to them on a plate.

Anyone using the phrase snowflake/generation snowflake (or Karen, for that matter) has instantly lost whatever point it was they were trying to make. When you need to resort to lazy stereotyping, your argument has no legs.

No dear, I think you'll find that's just desperation and need. I can't think of a generation who has had less handed to them on a plate than this one.

@Tappering

It's very easy to forget that the baby boomer generation did not have paid maternity leave, equal pay rights for women, or access to cheap credit and hire purchase. If you didn't have the cash then you didn't buy it. And that's just to name a few things. Very few went to university - most left school at 15 or 16 and went straight to work.

Yes, they benefited from lower house prices, better pensions and free university education. But you had to save to buy things - no such thing as a cheap PCP lease deal on a new car, or putting a washing machine on a 12 month interest free buy now pay later plan. I remember my Dad telling me that their first house had a hole in the roof and an outside toilet! They had newspaper on the floors as they couldn't afford carpets - and they had to save and do the house room by room.

It's really lazy and reductive to write off "boomers" as having had everything handed to them on a plate.

Also, when my parents wanted a mortgage in the 1960s my mum's income wasn't even taken into account!

It's easy to forget that many of the baby boomers only managed to buy a house once married and often in their 30's after working for 15 or mor years. They would live with parents or rent till then.

They may well have been brought up in houses that were gradually cleared as slums in the 50's and 60's. The quality of housing, no central heating, outside toilets,

At that point, many didn't have cars or washing machines or telephones or holidays or takeaways and easy cook meals

They then got hit by interest rates of 15%, and power cuts and no bin collections

They have made something of their lives from usually very rocky rough and hard starts with ups and downs along the way.

And I am confident that the current generation will also manage to make something of their lives through the ups and downs

@nancy75

I think fags & booze are some of the most heavily taxed things on sale in this country - smokers & drinkers aren’t getting healthcare for free

For every £100 of taxes raised, smokers contribute about £1 and drinkers contribute just under £2. National Insurance contributes about £23.

The NHS receives about £25.

It all goes into one big bucket and no receipt is ear-marked to meet a specific expenditure. However one way to look at it is to say National Insurance and the levies paid by smokers and drinkers funds the NHS.

VAT generates £23 and that is paid on most things including the above.

I agree. I think we expect life to be easy because quality of life has improved over the last 30 yrs - on the whole.

The average person up until this point in history never had free time, food on the table, expendable income, holidays, maternity pay etc. Life has always been pretty shit for 90 % of the population.

Now we have the first challenge of our generation we are all freaking out.

@EL8888

Yeah people are ever more entitled. But they then get aggravated when you point this out. Just look at the annual “l can’t work over Christmas or New Year as l have procreated” threads every year

My favourite bit of entitlement was a friend saying it wasn’t fair she had to do 1.5 hours work before work started. I was confused and asked what she meant by this. She said as she has 2 children then she needs to do more then people without children. Her way of remedying this was her starting later and finishing earlier but being paid the same amount as colleagues in a comparable job What about those people who can’t have children? Plus you work with people who have older children, they had to do a similar thing for years but didn’t get “compensated”?!

Can't keep up with all the comments so skimming atm before reading them properly later. Just curious: what did you say to this friend?

Last year we had planned a long weekend away with another couple and their two children (two girls - 6 and 8). We had found a property that ticked all the boxes (location, amenities, price, etc) although suddenly the two girls decided they wanted a bedroom each for the weekend (they share at home) and the parents said that the kids were as entitled as us grown ups to have a good time on this break and that we should look for a different property. In the end we couldn't find something suitable and didn't go. Never in a million years would my parents have let me and my sister get away with that. I wonder how these kids will grow up, assuming that whatever they want, they should get.

@TazMac

I’m assuming you don’t have kids, or if you do, don’t claim any child related benefits OP? Such as child benefit, free dental care, prescriptions etc. If you do, why did you have children you couldn’t afford and expect the tax payer to subsidise you? Bit entitled that isn’t it?

See, this can work both ways. Just because you don’t like smoking and drinking as habits and think people that partake in them should be punished, not everyone agrees with you. Some people think that people who have children should have to pay for those children themselves, and if they can’t afford to they should be packed off to the workhouse. Have a look on Reddit or Pistonheads for examples.

No kids. And I don't claim any kind of benefit. I don't smoke but I drink (not much but during meals with friends).

Carminabubu even if it was the case that smokers and drinkers weren't net contributors, it still wouldn't mean they weren't entitled to treatment. When you think about it, very few people pay in more than they get out. Once you've done something perfectly ordinary, like had a couple of babies, you have already spent thousands, especially if any of them needed special care. Plus the odd operation and all the needs people have in old age.
It would be a terrible thing to judge a person's right on the basis of what they've paid in.
So much of life is about sheer luck - being fortunate enough not to have any accidents or get sick. The principle of universal healthcare is too important - we mustn't pick people off for being less than perfect.

in some things I agree, in others not. Regarding healthcare I don't agree, we should all get necessary healthcare. But I do feel some people do seem more entitled in general than in the past, and that isn't always a generational thing. Examples I've heard that to me exemplify this below...

But I need a new iPhone, mine is over a year old.
I have to be able to start late & leave early (on the same wages) because I have kids.
I should always get priority on booking holidays because I have kids.
I should be able to park in the disabled bay, because otherwise I would have to walk an extra 5 mins to get my takeaway.
I should be able to play music as loud as I like as late as I want in my own house. But don't you dare let your kids be noisy before 10am on a weekend.
I should be able to park across, or even in, a private driveway because I'm picking my kids up from school.
I can't pay you back, even though you can't afford to eat this month, because I need to buy a new... (insert something not critical here e.g. bigger TV)
But I need a luxury overseas holiday as I haven't been for 2 years.
I got to A&E first, why are they seeing someone else before me?
I'm in pain, I need to be put on a trolley & fed/given a drink by the nurse who has 5 major traumas to deal with.
(Aimed at anybody in any form of public service, who is trying to make them obey the rules). I pay your wages!
How dare you shout at my kids, they were only... (throwing things, chasing the cat, smashing someones fence, pinching the flowers etc)
But my dog/child likes playing with the sheep & making them run.
But I want to walk across private land.

I think that the goalposts have moved for many people - inc professionals, teachers, engineers, architects, medics so income inequality leaves people wondering why they have a less good standard of living than their parents generation...

Not sure if that is not just globalisation rather than not taking responsibility for individual choices.

I also disagree with the idea that people 30 years ago didn't have free time.
30 years ago was 1990! Hardly the dark ages.
My grandparents lived the life of Riley post ww2. They were always in the pub or the shops or on holiday. Their own parents had it much harder and did a load of their childcare. These were all working class people.
My parents had it harder (no parental help) and they worked hard but I remember lots of leisure time as a family when I was a kid. My husband today certainly works as hard as my parents did - it's just a different kind of work.

We treat people with all sorts of self inflicted hurts and illnesses because we value our humanity in the face of our human weakness.

Thank you for posting this @Emeeno1. It encapsulates so neatly how I feel about it and makes me glad to know there are still other people around who think it.

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

Presumably the OP means those terrible selfish people who pay into the NHS and expect to use it.

Another one that I just remembered: a friend's daughter complaining that she and her boyfriend can't find anything to buy because everything they like is too expensive. But they will not consider cheaper areas a bit further away (say - 30 minutes - they both drive) because they like to go and see friends for a drink and a taxi would cost too much. And they want a second bedroom for when friends would like to stay over. Isn't that entitled?