Entitlement: Expecting something based on who you are, not what you earn.
There was an article in the Vancouver Sun recently announcing that some schools are doing away with grades because bad ones hurt kid’s self-esteem.
I find it immeasurably angering and sad that we would ruin perfectly good children with this kind of teaching. It’s entitlement of course (I DESERVE the same marks as everyone else because I’m special, not because I worked to earn something for myself.) And of course the true source of self-esteem is earning something by yourself, on your own merits.
Here are some marks of an entitled person:
- Putting in a less-than-great effort because they’ve been in the job for a long time
- Expecting perks or taking them for granted, and angry when they’re not received promptly
- Treating a customer with indifference
None of us can ever forget that we have our jobs because of what we produce for the organization, not because of who we are. There’s always room in any organization for the person who says “Give that hard job to me, I’ll take care of it!”