“74 Outrageous Moments When Entitlement Went Too Far This March – You Won’t Believe Number 7!”
Entitlement can also be a characteristic of some diagnosable personality disorders, says Clark, in particular, narcissistic personality disorder.
“It can also be seen in different ways in people with borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, or dependent personality disorder. There are many people who don’t meet the criteria for a diagnosis but may still exhibit narcissistic traits. While it may appear that someone who is entitled thinks highly of themselves, from a mental health perspective, entitlement is often linked to deep-seated insecurity, a fear of rejection, and low self-worth,” she explains.
The dogs-in-grocery-stores problem is getting out of hand. Every time I go (not exaggerating) someone has a dog in their arms, in their cart, in a leash, etc.
Naturally, the behaviors that entitled people exhibit affect people around them, too. “You know you are in the presence of an entitled person if you feel constantly on edge, constantly wondering if anything you say will offend them,” says Dr. Hokemeyer.
“Entitled people are draining. They make you feel emotionally diminished and physically exhausted. They can also evoke strong feelings of anger and resentment. This is due to their projecting airs of superiority over those around them, a superiority I hasten to add that is not justified by any measure. In sort, you feel invisible, devalued, irritated and angry around them.”
“Entitled people can be difficult to be around and hard to maintain healthy relationships with,” adds Clark. “There are often higher levels of conflict, as they refuse to compromise or take responsibility for their actions. It can be emotionally draining to feel that you constantly have to attend to an entitled person, leaving you feeling drained, used, or manipulated.
Over time, entitlement can lead to resentment and an imbalanced relationship, with one person feeling like they are giving so much more. Accommodating the needs of an entitled person can cause stress, exhaustion, or emotional withdrawal, much like burnout.”
If a person notices that the entitlement of others is affecting them in these ways, there are measures they can take to deal with it.
Behavioral relationship expert Tracy Crossley suggests trying out the following ones:
- Be honest about everything—from keeping expectations in check about what you are willing or not willing to do to saying how you really feel. Saying how you really feel without blaming them is to maintain your own sense of worth (people who are entitled will trample you if allowed to).
- Stop worrying about their sense of entitlement and instead focus on why another person’s wants supersede what you want for yourself.
- Look at the value of your interactions with them; is this a person you want to spend time with? If you feel you have no choice, then practice self-awareness when the conversation starts to go to their expectations, either state that you don’t wish to talk about it or shift the focus of the conversation, or leave.
“Handling entitled people is a big effort, and one of the first steps is to realize that it is very unlikely that you will be able to change them,” notes Clark. “Entitlement continues because, very often, it works for people—they don’t necessarily have an incentive to change.”
So the best thing to do would be to limit engagement with that person,” says Dr. Hokemeyer. “To the extent that’s impossible, work on setting personal boundaries around them. To be effective, these boundaries need to be clear, consistent, and enforceable. Your responsibility is to your self-care and peace of mind,” he concludes.
I would like to start by saying I cook all the time. I also buy and share food all the time. She very rarely does either of those things, but whatever I can feed myself. She lets me stay rent free while I’m in college so I figure it works and I can pitch in that way. Anyways, this time I didn’t want to share so I very clearly labeled my food. I come home to eat the food I was looking forward to all day to find this is all she left me. She then tried to blame my grandpa. He has had three strokes and is 86 and does not eat that much. So I tell her I know good and well he did not eat it. I show her it was very clearly labeled “No”. She then lies again and says she didn’t see the label. There is no way she didn’t see the label. Ugh.
The tube can be frustrating as it is, where people really push past you to get a seat without any consideration.
But this shocked me, there were 5-6 people standing on the right, and this Ms prioritised her dog getting a seat (also it was early in the morning, everyone going to work). Is this not getting out of hand? Shocking how much people lack empathy in this city sometimes.
