A lot of people seem to have an overblown sense of entitlement without any just cause. For some reason, they got it into their heads that they’re superior to others, and therefore have the right — even the obligation — to treat others poorly while simultaneously elevating themselves into positions of authority.
As you can imagine, this irks the heck out of pretty much everyone they come across. Although they’re pretty irritating across the board, these are some of the most annoying things they’ll do on a regular basis.
1. Volunteer other people’s time or energy without consulting them first.
Entitled people often feel that others’ time is theirs to assign at will. They’ll volunteer their friends, partners, or children to take on responsibilities without asking whether they’re available (or willing) to do them, and then get horribly upset and offended if they decline.
Some people do this at work as well: an entitled person may drop work off on a coworker’s desk to do because they see it as beneath them, or they’ll inform a colleague that they need to go out and get coffee for everyone, as though they’re a superior giving an order and not a peer.
2. Have excruciating double standards.
They seem to adhere to the concept of “Rules for thee, but not for me”. Essentially, they’ll have a set of rules and boundaries that they establish for everyone around them, but they’re oddly exempt from following those same rules themselves.
I experienced this kind of thing with an ex of mine who demanded exclusivity from me while simultaneously wanting the freedom to see other men. I’ve also had housemates who’d have kittens if anyone else used any of their belongings, but they’d eat everyone else’s food, never replace the toilet paper, and so on.
3. Treat public spaces like their private areas.
Many entitled people act as though any space they’re in is theirs alone, for as long as they occupy it. For example, they’ll berate others for having the audacity to be in a public park when they’re having their dog’s birthday party there, and then leave garbage all over the place for “someone else” to deal with. They want all the benefits of using a space at their whim, without any of the responsibility for its maintenance.
A perfect example of this would be a social media influencer who berates people for having the audacity to walk past them on the beach while they’re filming content. Those people have just as much of a right to be there, but the entitled individual will pout petulantly and behave as though they’ve been horribly wronged.
4. Expect others to be available for them at the drop of a hat.
It seems as though entitled people don’t actually see others as human beings so much as tools that they keep in a box until they’re of use. They’re self-centred and don’t consider that others have their own lives, responsibilities, or pursuits. Rather, they see them as standing around like pawns until they get activated to do something useful for them.
Case in point: their friends might not hear from them for weeks (or months), until they finally receive a phone call because they need help debugging their computer, or they want an invitation to an event their friend is hosting. It never occurs to them that these people may not be available. And if they aren’t, because they have other responsibilities or they’re on another continent, the entitled individual will act petulant and put out about it. How dare you have a life outside of their whims?!
5. Butt to the front of a queue.
How often have you seen someone butt to the front of a queue for reasons that nobody else seems to be aware of? They inevitably have some excuse as to why they should have that privilege, but it’s based on their own values rather than any truly valid reason.
It’s one thing if a person has limited mobility or other health issues and they ask politely if they may cut in line, and something entirely different if someone demands that privilege. Those who fall into the latter category will often cause a scene, yelling and elbowing others until they either get what they want or are removed from the premises for their poor behavior.
6. Prioritize their needs and wants over everyone else’s.
Anything and everything going on in their lives is a crisis that takes precedence over what anyone else may be dealing with. These are the people who will swan into Urgent Care/the Emergency Room and declare that their sore hangnail needs to be treated immediately, never mind the guy who has a spear through his sternum and has been waiting in triage for three hours.
To put it bluntly, they’re selfish. They’ll take family funds that have been allocated for home repairs because they need more fashionable clothing or a new electronic device. Similarly, they have no problem cancelling plans that someone else was looking forward to because there’s something else they’d rather do instead.
7. Expect special treatment.
A lot of people seem to expect prince/princess treatment from others, while doing nothing to earn that kind of attention. When they go on dates, for example, they’ll expect the other people to make all the plans, pick them up, and pay for the meal, simply for the honor of having their company for an hour or two.
Others may interrupt salespeople when they’re helping other customers and demand to be served immediately, as though they’re superior to everyone else around them and thus deserve special attention. If you ever hear the phrase “Do you know who I am?” from someone’s mouth, you know that their sense of entitlement is off the charts.
8. Interfere in other people’s lives.
I read a post on social media recently in which a neighborhood busybody informed one of her neighbors that he needed to put his holiday lights up early, because she liked to walk on his illuminated sidewalk. The implication was that he needed to invest money and put labor into doing something for her benefit, without any appreciation or reciprocation on her part.
Another post from a couple of years ago involved someone berating their neighbor for dressing their child in pink, because doing so might interfere with the toddler’s gender identity choices.
Entitled people often feel that they have every right to butt in and interfere in other people’s lives. This is sometimes for their own benefit, and other times because they believe that their perspectives are correct and should be shared by those around them. They don’t seem to understand that it isn’t their job to police or influence others’ lives, or that if people wanted their input, they’d ask for it.
Final thoughts…
There are many different reasons why a person may exhibit an overblown sense of entitlement. One is “main character” syndrome because they were raised to believe that they’re special and better than everyone else, and therefore deserve better treatment. Others overcompensate for their insecurity by demanding attention and behaving as though they deserve it because of their genealogy, status, and so on. Either way, this type of behavior is incredibly annoying, and few people can bear to tolerate it for very long.
