Sense Of Entitlement
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Feb 3, 2009
First, the latest issue of the T. T. Mitchell Consulting Newsletter, What Are You Afraid Of, is now available. Also, I realized I didn't list the previous newsletter, Chain Of Command, so here it is also.
Right now I'm listening to a book on tape by Ken Follett. The main protagonist is the son of a man who's not as rich as everyone thinks he is, who's gotten himself into trouble by building up great gambling debts. Though his father bailed him out the first time to a tune of $50,000 pounds (the book is set in Scotland), this time he's in debt for $250,000, and his father told him no. So, instead of owning up to his own problems and figuring out how to get out of trouble legitimately, his plan is to steal from his father in a major way because he feels that his father turned his back on him and owes him,... for something.
One of the subplots in the story is that the father works with someone he's thinking about dating, and mentions it to his children. His oldest daughter says, not a direct quote, that she feels she and her children are entitled to the benefits of his wealth, and not some stranger who her father might decide to end up with in his old age.
This conversation about people and their thoughts on having a sense of entitlement is present in most businesses. When I was a manager, I used to hear people say that they deserved to be treated well because they always showed up to work on time, or hardly ever used their sick time. My thought was always "that's your job". People don't get rewarded for doing exactly what they're supposed to do. Comedian Chris Rock used to say that about men who fathered children saying "I take care of my children"; that's their job.
Every once in awhile I do believe that someone has earned their right to an entitlement. The day after Barack Obama was elected president, someone I know complained about the invocation Rev. Joseph Lowery gave near the end of the proceedings, saying if a white preacher had said what he'd said that he would have been booed off the stage. I wrote back that not only had he misunderstood what Rev. Lowery was saying (he was actually taking liberty with an old song whose lyrics were powerful during the Civil Rights movement and turning them into something positive), but that Rev. Lowery had been through some very tough times during the struggle for Civil Rights, including standing up to the possibility of being killed many times, and that he was someone who had earned the right to pretty much say anything he wanted to say, whether it had been positive or not.
How many of you have heard people say they're entitled to something that they're not? People who feel as though they're being treated unfairly when, in reality, they're taking advantage of the good or, can I say, soft nature of the person they report to, as well as the people they work with? What are your thoughts when you have to hear this, and do you ever take the time to deal with it?
If you don't deal with it, your departments will suffer, because these people bring everyone else down, or stir some people into behavior that you don't want infiltrating everyone else. As managers, sometimes you just have to do the hard thing for the right reasons.
Being an employer I get it all the time, not first hand as I usually hear it from someone else after the employee has winged to them. It’s like you say, they feel that they are entitled to something extra when all they are entitled to is to be paid for their labors and to be treated fairly and as human beings, something my brother and I pride ourselves on.
When we confront them about it and listen to their grievances explaining why certain things are done a certain way it all goes away, until next time. Honestly if I could do it all on my own I would.
I remember, ages ago, how some union bosses thought that there constituents deserved a pay rise because company profits were up and naturally it was all related to the workers efforts. The thing is they are already being rewarded in the form their pay packet and besides if the following year they make a loss how happy would they be if the following pay was less than the one preceding the union forced pay rise?
Sire´s last blog post..Duplicate Content And Article Theft
Good point, Sire. Of course, even when business is bad, unions are often trying to get raises for the employees; goofy if you ask me.
Now, I will say this. I do believe, at times, that some people do work themselves into a little bit of entitlement because they usually go above and beyond. But within certain boundaries at all times.
That is so true Mitch, and that is what bonuses are for.
Sire´s last blog post..Duplicate Content And Article Theft
Actually Sire, studies have shown that people, though they appreciate bonuses, really want to know that their good work is being recognized, even moreso than with money. Seems like an odd concept on the surface, but it’s true; I used to get a better response to having a pizza or party day than announcing raises.
We always give words of praise with any bonus as they need to know what it’s for. We also used to do movie nights but it’s as if the guys didn’t want to be bothered when they weren’t working.
Sire´s last blog post..Duplicate Content And Article Theft
Great article and this entitlement mentality is all around us.
I see this in my workplace too, people expecting this and that, yet they sit on their ass and don`t do anything about it.
When i worked in network marketing for a short time, I first learned about this and how people have this mentality that if they work all their life, the government will take care of them when it comes time to retirement.
And now is the time for them to get a reality check.
tom´s last blog post..If it wasn’t for “dumb†people in this world, I wouldn’t be successful
You called that right, Tom. Medicare and Social Security were never meant to have to cover any and everybody, per se. They were set up to help those who needed it. But it’s gone a different direction, and most everyone found a way to make themselves needy. Kind of like now; trust me, I know the economy is tough, but we all have to be ready to become something else and do something else to find a way to survive.
We can all earn our entitlement; we just have to work hard first. Thanks for the great comment.
Heres a great example. i was watching a video of one of Jack Canfield`s talks. He held up a 100 dollar bill and said who wants it, everyone practically raised their hand, and shortly one guy ran up to him and took it out of his hand.
tom´s last blog post..If it wasn’t for “dumb†people in this world, I wouldn’t be successful
So he who acts is entitled to more than he who just wants?
Sire´s last blog post..Duplicate Content And Article Theft
That’s an interesting lesson. I like the lesson, but if I were Jack, I’m not so sure of how I’d have reacted if someone had run up towards me while I was on the stage. 🙂
Lets put it this way, no one will hand over anything to you over a silver platter.
tom´s last blog post..If it wasn’t for “dumb†people in this world, I wouldn’t be successful
True, unless you’re a Hilton or a Gates. Even then, and I tell people this all the time, for all the heat she takes, Paris Hilton is one of the hardest working women in the world, and on her own makes between $25 and $50 million a year, without her parents money. Sure, she had a boost to start with, but without some guts, vision, and some hard work, it would have collapsed in a heartbeat. We all have to be ready to take advantage of those opportunities that come our way.
Mitch,
Another great blog.
Take care,
Gayle
I guess that sense of entitlement rings true in all industries; even the one I was in. Once, I moved into the corporate side of the business, I could not believe the nonsense that I heard from entertainers and management.
Yes Nikki, a sense of entitlement seems to have no real boundaries. It probably started way back when societies were first being built, so to speak, when the biggest and strongest made all the rules. Nowadays, it’s not always the biggest and strongest, but it seems like some perceive it that way.