When did we start feeling "owed"?

Here is one that will blow you away. I have a 29 year old neighbor who says she suffers from fatique (Lazy) . Married with no kids, just dog and swimming pool. She decided she didn't want to work because her husband had supported his ex- wife and didn't expect her to work ( she had 2 kids to take care of as she "sit" at home. So this girl gets her doctor to put her on FMLA so she doesn't have to go to work if she is not feeling well. Funny thing is she only felt bad on Fridays and Mondays (4 day weekends). The company caught on to her habit and started giving her points anyway. So she decides to keep missing work so they will fire her so she can sit at home doing nothing but sitting around the pool. And collect unemployment. It worked -- they fired her - but guess what they refused her unemployment so now she has to go to arbitration to fight for it. Aren't paybacks great. Now here is the kicker. She came over the other evening and proceeds to tell me that she thinks the government should have to buy her feminin products because " She didn't ask to have periods" I was agast. I asked her how it was the governments fault that she had them. I also ask her how she thought the government would get the money to buy them for her. Answer was Dumb Look. I informed her that the government would take honest hard working taxpayers money in taxes from there paycheck to buy them. Another Dumb Look. I proceeded to tell her that the day the government took my tax dollars to buy her pesonal products was the day I personnaly would march on Washington. I now clip coupons and give them to her.

You are right in the instance. She didn't pay her bill so therefore was not covered. Sometimes it takes hard lessons for hard heads to learn them. I try to tell some people that their insurance will go up a great deal if they don't keep up with their premiums but most don't listen and find out the hard way. Now if I'm in a resturant and my food isn't cooked right, I don't blame the waitress/waiter for he's/she's not the cook. All he/she does is bring it to me and keep my drinks filled and brings what ever else I need. I tell them that too, that I don't blame them and they're much happier to do my bidding as long as it's within reason.

Some people would say it all started with the Famous "Twinkie" Defence. Where the criminal claimed that he was not responsible for his behavior because of all the additives that were in Twinkies and he had been eating several a day for years. It seemed that after that personal responsiblity was a thing of the past. Politicians started to pass laws to protect "victums". The goal was to become a victum and get special treatment. Look at Special Education. Orginally started to provide an educational program for those students who were Mentally Redarded (the approiate term at the time). Now it has become a place for any student who wants special treatment. Parents have tried to get their child in Special Education so they could get extra time taking College Entrance Exams. Now the politicians are trying to create more victim group. We are being told that we are not responsible that some one else is responsible for our problems. The other idea that we are being told is we are entiled to what ever someone else has and we don't and let the rich pay for it. How soon before the rich leave or we all become the "rich" and have to pay for every one else?

I try not to think I owe anyone if they dont listen its not your fault they need to read mail! Or listen to phone calls ya make. I know when you are on a set income too it is hard to make thos Ins. policys I had to go with out alot last month to pay mine for it was almost $300 since they dropped my daughters car off it. But since we had paid half of a half of it they dropped her and sent back the money but was just when ready to pay the other half which I didnt think was right so now her ins has gone up to $150 a month Ins. is getting rediculouos. Isnt it?

I think under certain circumstances it is ok to be owed. For example, if you were screwed really bad by a builder who really messed up your house and the possibility of not being able to sell it for what you put into it and the builder is at fault, then yes this is a circumstance where it is justified. It depends on the situation and the person(s) involved and to what extent the issues are. Some lawsuits are frivolous, yes, but there are cases where some are owed.

i think it started when everyone started feeling like the 'victim'...even criminals will tell you they are a 'victim' even though they are the wrong doers!

This points out something I see, which is how sometimes, some seem to feel they don't have to follow the rules (like your insurance client) yet nothing should go wrong (and it's someone else's fault when it does). I don't get it!

The only things we are really owed are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, we are not guaranteed happiness but we are free to pursue it. I believe that people thinking they are owed something originated with LBJ and his Great Society social experiment. After that people started thinking that the government owed them, and welfare was a great way to collect. Things got worse as people began to expect more and more all the time. What started of fairly simply has snowballed into what we see going on today. Personal responsibility is virtually non-existent and the silly lawsuits abound everywhere...and people are actually winning and being rewarded for the dumb things they do, even though it was their own negligence that caused the circumstances that triggered the lawsuit in the first place. You mention an expectation of perfection... that would be an unrealistic expectation and one that can never be met because no one is perfect, and mistakes do happen. We should expect high levels of service, and high quality products, but there can never be perfect service and perfect products. Shoddy workmanship and materials are unacceptable and should be remedied by whatever means necessary and good service and work should always be acceptable. Setting standards and delivering within those standards would be ideal.

wow