Entitled

There's an interesting dicotomy in people, where on one side they are fearful and don't demand for what they are entitled to, and on the other side, they believe they are entitled to maybe more things than they should. They don't feel entitled to demand their Governments to serve them, work for them and show decent results based on what they promised they would achieve, don't feel entitled to oppose as a natio a reform, a bill or a law that serves only a small portion of society that doesn't really need any more favors, in detriment to a large segment that could use if not a little bit of help, at least a little bit of slack. Instead of facing up these things, people are content placing the blame on others or pretending they don't have the power to do a thing about this, letting people in very delicate, key positions loit the people and dispose of the taxpayers' money as if it where their private "Fund for Fun".

On the other side, however, people tend to feel entitled to small things that don't matter that much, that they don't really need, but which they snitch as if it were some sort of prize. Our bathroom, for instance, is filled with lots of little bottles of body cream, shampoo&shower gel and little soaps of the kind you see at hotels, just as shower caps, tiny show polishers, mini sewing kits and vanity sets. Yes, some are simply beautiful, but do you really need to take them home? Like, don't you have soap at home or a real, regular bottle of shampoo that fits the needs of your hair and scalp, rather than a generic one, no matter the type of hair you have? Sure, some people collect them, but collectors take as maximum one sample of each, not the whole set for every day they stay at a given hotel. And this is not only a quirk of someone I know who isn't me and will remain nameless, but that of a lot of people, who feel the compulsive need to take just about everything that's not nailed to the floor, walls or ceiling.

Cuttlery, dishes, pillows and blankets from airplanes, ashtrays from restaurants, mugs from coffeeshops, towels, and toiletry from hotels as just some of the things people take away with themselves because they claim that their cost is already included in the price they've paid, or that they are there so they'll use them up, so they'll use them up, or because if they don't take it someone else will (because, for instance, the chambermaid has nothing better to do that steal industrial amounts of toiletry from the hotel, nor the waiter has anything other in mind than taking away as many ashtrays as possible), or because they will actually use them up when they have an emergency. Well, so far I haven't been in a situation where a tiny soap bar would save my life, and nor me or my boyfriend carry them in our wallets -  or purse in my case - just in case we need to wash our hands and there's no soap to do so.

Yes, they are pretty, yes they are cute and maybe even a souvenir, but if you want a souvenir, why don't you make a picture? (Okay, I must admit that I have an unhealthy apetite for stationary and hotel pens/pencils. Only I often use them up right at the hotel, taking the sheet and writing to one of my penpals.) No, because that's not the point. The point of the whole maneuver is to take something that doesn't belong to you clearly, that hasn't been given to you expressly for you to take away, but to take a courtesy item, something offered to you to make your stay wherever you are more pleasant - be entirely consumed by you or not - and be left there. It's a small favour that's offered for your comfort, not a piece you have paid for and bought. Or are you also taking the phone with you? Maybe the chambermaid as well? (Okay, DSK is the only one I've heard of who would really take the chambermaid, but let's not go there.)

Why do we feel entitled to take - nearly hoard - whatever is free, or any gesture of kindness and courtesy as if it were owed to us? Standing in line to demand free samples of products you don't intend to buy and that probably aren't meant for you (like 20 year-old girls standing in line to get a sample of a wrinkle cream. Dude, come on!), or taking smiles for granted, and good customer service as owed to you. Perhaps many feel that if they don't take all they can, then they are being ripped off, or they are not as smart as they should be, but that's pretty lame. Actually what happens is that with such an attitude, people often contribute to polute the planet and make our living conditions worse.

For instance, if you take a small bottle of shower gel from the hotel - that you don't need - you take from stock a small plastic container that will have to be replaced. Remember that all these plastic bottles can be refilled a lot of times, but if you take one from the stock, that must be replaced. Most likely you won't reuse the plastic bottle (a few people do it... I'm one of them. Since we have so many, I often use the empty bottles to squeeze in them handcream and keep them in my purse. Well, that was until I've got hooked with L'Occitane's sheabutter handcream that comes in a size small enough to be carried in my purse), so either you use the shower gel or not, you will be throwing that plastic bottle away, and most likely into the regular garbage, not to a recycler. Even if you recycle it, the bottle would be chopped and turned into plastic pelts that would become a lower quality of plastic, and would be used in another product.

The hotel from where you took the shower gel, would need to replace the bottle. The more people take away the toiletry - thinking that it's their right to do so - will start to ball up the costs of the hotel, which will force them to either push up the price of the stay or cut costs by either letting go part of their personal - which will be detrimental to the quality of the service - cut other services and courtesies (lower the quality of the food, or the amount, maybe replace the shower gel for a mini soap bar or even offering only one set of toiletry per stay, and even charge extra if you ask for more toiletry items). You may be right not at a hotel, maybe glancing at the soapbars neatly tucked in your bag and thinking "Nah, that's too little, it won't make a difference". Yes, it does the difference.

It makes the difference if you are one of the people who is able to accept a courtesy for what it is, a gesture of kindness, meant to please you and make you feel more comfortable, not as something you were entitled for since the begining, thus every cut on it would make you feel like you are being robbed, when in reality you and people with that same attitude have been the ones shamelessly ripping off the place. It makes a difference also in you, for this way, instead of constantly being on an aggressive defensive attitude, you open yourself to be gladly surprised, to be pleased, to be treated with kindness, and give kindness and pleasure in return. By taking your thought of entitlement away from the small courtesies, you would be able to focus on what you are really entitled to, and on finding ways to enforce your right to demand accountability on them.

Please think, what do you want? A house decorated and set off entirely with hotel, restaurant and airplane items, free samples and all sorts of courtesies, or would you rather have a life and life conditions where you are more empowered to make things happen?