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?

[quote IMNOTSHOUTING]@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'.[/quote]
Because ageism is endemic on MN and it gets old. Just 5% of boomers went to university and most of them were paying 15% interest on the mortgages for their “affordable” housing.

Personally I don’t see a great deal of entitlement from any generation.

I wouldn't call it entitled, more unrealistic and naive

National Insurance (mentioned by many PPs) hasn't got much to do with it. A lot of people think it's synonymous with NHS funding, but the NHS is funded mostly from general taxation, and most NI doesn't go to the NHS.

The main thing about NI is that your contributions determine your pension. However, they don't have any effect on your entitlement to healthcare.

I am being a bit of a pedant, but I think it's important for mums to be clear on thaat, as it's us women whose pensions tend to be affected as a result of time out of the workforce.

In response to the OP: Yeah, I do think many of us are a bit spoiled nowadays and less able to make our own fun, grit our teeth etc. But other things are harder. Don't know.

@PenelopePilchard

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.

Funny, some of the most rude and entitled people I've met are over 50. It's not just teens and twentysomethings.

@Gancanny

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.

Same. 'Snowflake' is one of those words where I instantly discount anything people who use it have to say.

@SweetAlmondOil l didn’t know where to start to be honest! I gently pointed out that other people have other commitments / challenges e.g. ill and or elderly relations, pets etc outside of their work life. Plus having children is a lifestyle choice. Which she really didn’t like. She is one of those people who really really hates being challenged. Very keen to tell me how “easy” my life is, most people don’t think infertility and IVF are easy but what do l know! Needless to say we aren’t friends anymore

Funnily enough she never asked her employer as lm sure deep she knew they would say no. They already had flexible working arrangements in place so she was being demanding and entitled

@SweetAlmondOil

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?

That's not entitled. Its just unrealistic. Something many, if not most, first time buyers are when they start looking. We all have a set of desires in a house and it's only through looking, and possibly not finding anything, that we start to compromise. Theyre obviously not at the compromise stage yet. But in no way does that make them entitled.

I agree that some people these days seem to have a huge sense of entitlement - especially on MN - but disagree with your comment about drinkers and smokers and treatment. Everyone deserves help with a medical issue, however it came about. Where would you draw the line?

Lol

you sound quiet bitter OP

Alcoholism is a disease. They can no more stop drinking without specialist help than an anorexic can "just eat something".
If family have a problem helping with childcare, they can say no.

I don’t think your last example is entitlement OP. It sounds like they are not willing to compromise and morning about the consequences of that, which, granted, is annoying. It’s not entitlement though.

moaning!

I will concede that I think there are a lot of poor-me posters on MN who see themselves as victims of circumstance and society. But at the same time, I also think that they are, in a phrase from school, a bit wet. Times ARE definitely hard right now for a lot of people, but from the vantage point of being 64 and knowing what life was like from the 1950s onwards and before anecdotally, you are kidding yourself if you think life is tougher now. When I was at primary school, there were no free school meals for example. Girls who fell pregnant before marriage either married quickly under parental duress or gave up their baby for adoption. My SIL was adopted at eight days old.

Yes some are.

People who smoke and drink "all their lives" to the point of needing lifesaving medical care are very likely struggling with addiction, which I think (as someone who is mentally unwell) should be considered a mental health issue. It's very easy to wag your finger at people who likely know the harm that they're doing to themselves but find it hard to cope any other way.

@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously

I think smokers and drinkers are entitled to help - they paid the tax on all those cigarettes and alcohol, along with income tax, so yes they are 'entitled' to medical assistance. Re childcare - no one is entitled to that from parents but I can see that if the parents benefitted from help given by their parents, the kids might feel there's an obligation to pay it forward. Otherwise, no, they aren't entitled to free childcare from granny. I agree with you about the job though.

Yes a lot of the smokers and drinkers I see in my job who end up with lung cancer, throat cancer, oesophageal cancer etc often with a very poor prognosis are often under pension age so will never get to be paid that.

If smokers and drinkers (I am neither) should have to pay for their healthcare, fat people should too. And people who become pregnant by choice (although no idea how you would test that). Also what about those needing care due to sports injuries? Some could be classed as their own fault? Boxers who have Parkinson's disease?

Completely agree.
We have an NHS, which is great, but there would be a lot less strain in it if people took responsibility for their own health.
All that increasing money spent on diabetes treatment (Type 2, avoidable by a vast majority of sufferers, obviously I don't include those who have it as a by-product of other health conditions) could be spent on cancer treatment, for example.

Some people seem to think because they pay national insurance that takes away all the responsibilty on their side to keep themselves healthy. They then moan about the waiting list for treatment.

People gave grown to be entitled because they have raised my parents whose life priority was to meet all their needs, even perceive needs, at the detriment of their own.

When you have more and more parents prepared to never have any holidays or other luxuries for that matter so that their kids can go to private (many selling themselves on good advertising rather than upstandard actual care), prepared to move to a smaller house so their kids can attend the outstanding school (as above), refuse to consider FT work because they believe their kids will suffer from going to before/after school, will drive miles to take their kids to some activities, will buy their kids a nicer phone/laptop/car then their own, then of course these kids will turn into entitled adults.

All that increasing money spent on diabetes treatment (Type 2, avoidable by a vast majority of sufferers, obviously I don't include those who have it as a by-product of other health conditions) could be spent on cancer treatment, for example.

And what about the many cancers that are lifestyle related and therefore avoidable? Who decides what's worthy or not?

I am so with you @dontdisturbmenow

As for what the NHS should and shouldn't treat, I'm not suggesting a new charter here - but yes, in an 'ideal' world, anything self-inflicted should be paid for privately IMO. A healthy lifestyle should be rewarded - and healthy doesn't mean boring. You can drink and eat but without becoming obese. Any condition you're born with should of course be treated by the NHS. Could that even lower the cost of the NHS to the tax payer???

@SBTLove

I read on here outrage that a struggling sibling is helped out financially by parents but they aren’t, they then add they are on £150k pw and equally successful DH but can’t see why the parents helped out the other child. That’s entitled and grabby.

Really? It's hardly going to force the 'struggling' sibling to get their finger out if they're constantly being propped up by M and D!

I work in customer service, can confirm 🤣

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.

Speaking as a 'boomer', 1948, there were very few people in my circle of friends who expected to start married life with a houseful of new furniture etc., our parents mother especially, saw it as an excuse to get rid of their old stuff to their child and get some new stuff for themselves! Our dining table was a white plastic garden table and four chairs from an old chapel. Generally I think we had lower expectations.