I handed my families boarding tickets to the boarding pass checker and we waited for approval to board the plane. Before she could hand the checked passes back to me a woman bypassed the entire line, walked straight to the boarding pass checker in front of us, stuffed a first class ticket in the checkers hand and then without watching where she was going, rammed into my five year old.
I quickly pulled my daughter out of the way. Told her she needed to be careful to look out for people who were in a rush, but shot the rushing First Class sitter a pretty appalled face.
She looked back at us in shock and apologized profusely. Clearly she did not mean to run over my child in her rush, but all the same, I could not get over her sense of entitlement. Almost like she was so accustomed to her First Class treatment that she forgot there were actual people waiting in line and stepping aside so she, who had been running late, could skip to the front of the line without so much as glancing at a child in her path.
We were all getting on the same plane. Her first class seat was not going anywhere. Could it have behooved her to kindly wait for the five year old to move out of the way? Could it have behooved her to kindly wait for the boarding pass checker to hand back our tickets that we had already given her to check?
I started thinking about how obnoxious humans can be with their sense of entitlement. The bride who feels entitled to her perfect day. The mother entitled to a silent room when her baby is napping. The child who feels entitled to..well…everything if you’re a child of mine. The customer entitled to his extra onions when dammit he asked for extra onions.
People are actually working hard to give you what it is you’re entitled to. Mothers are pulling their children out of your way so you can board your precious First Class flight. Family members are clearing their schedules to celebrate your walk down the aisle. Guests are speaking in hushed tones to avoid waking your baby. SOMEONE is slicing extra onions because YOU can’t eat a burger with a normal serving of onions.
And as obnoxious as all this entitlement is? I wonder if it’s necessary. If we didn’t feel entitled to better treatment then what would we settle for? If we didn’t have women to stand up and demand equal rights and entitlement to vote, then where would we be right now?
Perhaps it’s not ALL such a bad thing…perhaps it’s only a bad thing when you’re knocking over my five year old in line because you’re in a hurry to get to your First Class seat. Maybe that’s when we begin to have problems.
And while we’re on the topic of entitlement…this is hilarious: