Entitlement!
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- February
- 1
I’m back on my high horse today with “entitlement” issues. Let me just get this off my chest and I say I think this is a “Westchester” issue. What is it about today’s suburbanites (particularly in the lower Hudson Valley) that think they are “above it all?”
One small example: I ran into my favorite cafe this morning to drop off the latest issue of InTown: Westchester when I hear a woman (who did not look like she’s dressed for “work” and yes, let me say it here first: these women rushing to their gyms while their nannies are home with their kids are the worst) say: “I need it in 10 minutes.” Now, this is NOT a “10 minute for your order” kind of place. The deli down the street is. This is a cafe where neighbors meet and greet and the service is homespun and homemade. But this woman INSISTED. As if the world should cater to her.
Frankly, I’ve seen a lot of her kind since I’ve lived here. And it rubs off on the children. I’ve had kids walk into my pantry and help themselves to snacks—opening previously unopened packages—without my consent. I’ve also had mothers who back in my kids’ preschool days, would leave their little monsters at my house for hours without ever calling with a pick up time, or with a phone number I could reach them at—often cutting into our family’s dinnertime. Seriously, folks, am I the only one that feels that way? I have to say: I worry about who my girls are hanging out with because, quite honestly, I wonder about their parents.
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on Thursday, February 1st, 2007 at 8:35 am by Jeanne Muchnick.
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It happens in rockland too. ugh I moved up here from Brooklyn. I am the biggest culture shock this town has met. I don’t put up with any of the crap. I have one kid who calls his mom mean and stuff. I have to defend his mother. (when all i wanna do is whack him once in the but and tell him to listen to his parents) But not my kid, but i certainly can tell him what my son can or can’t do. and when he is in my house. then he obeys my rules end of story.
I cant stand people like that. Ultimately the people that wind up suffering the most are the children of these people, yes people…(can they really be called parents?). These kids are left at home all day with their nannies while there parents are off seeing the world or spending quality time in Manhattan or doing whatever it is that they do with their time. I used to have a girlfriend who lived in Chappaqua, NY, and her parents were the exact same way. They were usually around the house, but they never disaplinned her. At all. She never gave them respect. Thats how a lot of these kids are, disrespectful. Why? Well my opinion is, is because they dont know any better. They were never told right from wrong or given any boundries from their “”parents””.
I don’t think it’s just Westchester…there are communities all over the country with a lot of educated, affluent families, and I’m sure these places have their share of self-absorbed a—holes. Fortunately not everyone is like that.
I cant stand people like that. Ultimately the people that wind up suffering the most are the children of these people, yes people…(can they really be called parents?). These kids are left at home all day with their nannies while there parents are off seeing the world or spending quality time in Manhattan or doing whatever it is that they do with their time. I used to have a girlfriend who lived in Chappaqua, NY, and her parents were the exact same way. They were usually around the house, but they never disaplinned her. At all. She never gave them respect. Thats how a lot of these kids are, disrespectful. Why? Well my opinion is, is because they dont know any better. They were never told right from wrong or given any boundries from their “”parents””.
On the adults, I see people like them all the time. They think they are better than the average person because they have a mercedes or a volvo. Its disgusting. And they actually think they are right.
Its disgusting…it really is.
I am 17.
My ford is way better than any mercedes or volvo.
Why? Because my parents didnt give it to me. I worked for it. And that is why my car is better.
And then there’s the kids who say…I don’t want to wait ten minutes for a ride from your mom, I’ll just call my mom and TELL HER TO COME GET ME RIGHT NOW.
No thought that maybe the mom is busy at that very moment and the poor underpriveledged suffering soul will have to wait a few minutes in somebodys toasty warm house or at their self chosen after school activity. And the mom, of course doesn’t bother to say, honey.. you can politely ASK me if its convenient to come now…of course, she’s been TOLD by her 9 year old so she drops everything and gets there just in the nick of time before poor little Johnny throws a tantrum.
I think this kind of behavior has nothing to do with one’s geographic location and everything to do with how children are being raised. If you raise your child to be considerate, polite and thoughtful of others—and if you conduct yourself in the same manner—then you will most likely rear a child who embodies those qualities. Sure, there are poorly raised children, raised by ill-mannered adults. But they’re not just in Westchester, they’re everywhere. The best you can do is to make sure that your children know how to act, not only around you, but around others, too.
I have to bring up the cellphone rant because it fits here:
I just got back from my sons play on John Brown. A parent’s cellphone went off. I wanted to smack her head.
mine was on silent the minute i got there…
so here these kids and teacher are nice enough to invite us and she is so important that her phone rings loud and when she played with it it made all these wonderful annoying sounds.
I showed much restraint and therefore feel i earned a beer. :-( but its way too early. sigh
I am not a parent, but I look at this blog from time to time because sometimes I cannot believe the people and the kids in Westchester. So, here is an outsider’s opinion.
Steve C, I too am from Brooklyn, and while there is some level of entitlement there, it is nothing compared to Southern Westchester. Which is one reason why my husband and I, after 3 years there (Scarsdale) moved to extreme Northern Westchester—NOT Katonah/Chappaqua/Briarcliff Manor, which IMHO, are simply Scarsdale North.
What a difference! The people here are real, the kids are mostly courteous, and the non-working/self-aborbed woman mentioned in the article would be laughed at. I only hope that Southern Westchester twits don’t move up here and spoil it.
Oh this one touches a raw nerve with me,Jeanne!!! I totally agree with Gayle….if you are raised in a polite, considerate manner, you will act accordingly.
At the risk of sounding old..(I’m 44)..I will say, the younger parents are part of the slacker, “me” generation…their attitute is very selfish, self centered and “it’s all about me.” Many are the same people who feel they’re entitled to everything: ie: music is free, why should I pay for it when I could download it for free.
Rules dont apply to them, copyright laws certainly dont and consideration is …well…not even a consideration.
I have a nurse friend who works in a pediatrician’s office who says that behavior, is sadly, rampant! Parents demanding their kids be seen in such and such a time. And, worse yet, she says, people bring more than one kid in to be seen when the appointment is just for one. Then they get angry when they’re denied!
In my “old” age when I see things like that, I have no inhibitions and say what’s on my mind. Shocking what AGE can do to you! :)
Imagine having to cater to these people,I’m in the restaurant business&let me tell you people think that they treat service staff with disrespect,as a manager I have had to on several occasions to repremand the CUSTOMER for the way they treated my hard working staff-
like the lady that anncounced one night that my waitress would not have a job if it were not for the like of her—this was totally uncalled for& as i had to point out——you would not be able to come out and eat if hard working people like this waitress were not here to serve you.This lady(i use the term loosley) was trying to impress her friends,I made her look like a FOOL and the worst is she did’nt even know it.Demographically and geographically speaking, “Rudeness” knows no bounds.
Hey Sue – 44 is not “old”
My husband delivers high end furniture and he says that sadly the rudest are the richest. Apart from Grenwich CT. Lower Westchester is the worse. And the kids are out of control. He encounters people who think they are entitled all the time. It stinks.
and P.S….my Mom used to have a saying.. “money can buy you a lot of things..but it can’t buy you class.”
Thanks Mom, truer words were never spoken! ;)
My dad always said: “Class shows”