Rant on Entitlement

I have run into WAY too many people lately who believe they are entitled to a variety of things...all of which they are not entitled to.  Here are two recent examples.

Why, when someone cracks his car up does he believe it's his insurance agent's responsibility to pay for the damage to the uninsured car because the insurance agent didn't send him a SIXTH notice that the policy had been cancelled a year ago?  (No, this did not happen to me.  But it did happen.)  The first five notices weren't enough, I guess.  And I suppose  the fact he didn't receive a single insurance bill during the past year wasn't a big enough clue that his insurance had been cancelled, right?  What about all that paperwork he didn't get?  I don't know about your insurance company, but mine sends me DOZENS of mailings each year, aside from invoices:  policies, ID cards, ballots to vote at the corporate annual meeting, solicitations, etc.  He didn't think it was odd that all the junk mail from his insurance company just stopped?  Guess not.

I know a woman who got fired from her job because she lied on her time sheet.  She, however, believes her employer fired her unjustly.  Here's the scoop:  When she recorded her work hours on Wednesday, the woman realized that on Monday she'd incorrectly recorded her hours.  To compensate for the two hours she'd shortchanged herself, she added two hours to Wednesday's hours.  Well, unfortunately for her, her boss worked late on Wednesday and knew for a fact the woman hadn't worked the two extra hours.  When asked why she'd lied about her hours on Wednesday, the woman explained about the error on Monday's time sheet.  Herr boss didn't buy the woman's story.  "You lied on your timesheet and you just admitted you lied.  Why should I believe anything you say?"  The woman is not only offended that her employer would think she's a liar, she's offended that she lost her job for such a "little" thing.

Two completely different situations, but each person is upset and offended because someone else didn't come to the rescue.  THEY goofed themselves up, but feel entitled to free insurance and an employer's trust when neither of them deserves it.

How does this tie into writing?  I just wrote about it, didn't I?  (Guess I'm still a bit pissy.)

Your thoughts?