squeeeb

Skitto's thread over in life: http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/tilted-...eneration.html
while not exactly related, reminded me and got me thinking.

it seems to me that many younger folks, and a few older folks, have this unfounded sense of entitlement which seems to cause frustration and snowball into other problems, such as massive debt, stress, depression, etc.

when i was 18, living out in the world, i had nothing. i wasn't suffering, not by any means, i had a place to live and i was eating quite well, i just had nothing. i didn't own or drive a car until i was 21. i didn't have a credit card, so if i couldn't afford it, i didn't buy it. we didn't have cell phones back then, but i did have a phone card that i got billed for each month. i learned when i wanted something big, i saved for it each month until i had enough to get it, then i bought it.

to get all nerdy: i think Dungeons and Dragons is a great model for life (other than the looting and pillaging and stealing part). you start with very very little, the basics, the clothes on your back. you go on adventures, gain experience, and slowly accrue a bunch of stuff in your inventory. it takes a long time, but you eventually end up with a whole bunch of money and clothes and things.

nowadays, it seems young'ns think that by the time they are 21, they need to have a house, big truck/shiny fast car, big screen plasma tv, the whole shebang. they look at others and think that is how they should be living RIGHT NOW!

i know a handful of people, young and old, who are in debt because they HAD TO have a brand new huge truck, a brand new huge plasma screen tv, even though they knew they couldn't afford it. they see others with it and think "i deserve it as much as they do, dammit, i'm getting it."

i would be willing to bet some of the blame on the current US economic situation can be fully put on the people who knew they couldn't afford the big house but got it anyway, instead of starting with a small house, building equity, selling it for a profit, and upgrading. this takes years to do, but that seem to be the right way to do it. but due to a sense of entitlement, need for instant gratification, need to "keep up with the joneses," not thinking about how what they do now affects the future, they got the big house, all the stuff to fill it, and then were upset when they had to foreclose.

as for the people who could afford it until they were laid off, i have mixed feelings. it is a shitty blow that you don't see coming, but on the other hand, i don't think they should have gotten so far into debt without a safety net of savings to back them up.

um... ok, i'm done ranting. it's been on my mind for a while, i wanted to know what others think.

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onward to mayhem!

optik_nerve

I've always said being broke builds character.

thespian86

Why do I feel like that?! Seriously!?

I hate that I have this innate need to want but not work for it. fuck.

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hunnychile

Good post squeeb.

I work with So many Gen Xers that are so freaking clueless about the way companies work & how to handle bosses and projects. It ties directly into your post. There are so many unaware people who get jobs and expect it to be an easy game. Nope, not happening. Period. You must be accountable. Customers want more service, and yep-you DO have to remain "chargable" for your time out in the field. And those noobs wonder why they aren't getting huge raises. Well, they forgot to call "so and so" about his new router. Or yep, they left early on Thursday and didn't fix X Ladies copier even though they were scheduled to be there at 4:00. She's pissed and the owner has to go there and make nice. Or call you at home at 7:00am to go there and do it right.

It's almost a comedy of errors.

And it seems that most people in America really only care that they get IT ALL NOW. It's like a bad dream gone wrong.... we want it all now.

And of course, we can just say: "Charge it". Mind fuck there, right? WHo needs to wait? As long as we have more "stuff" than the next guy, we win.

Who cares if the intrest is 18 percent and that's added another 2K onto the 4K the idiot owes.

Okay done with my rant, too. Ahhhh, that's better. Wish I still smoked!!!

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Jinn

The only caveat I would add that is if you pursue the right educational paths and land the right job(s), you can both maintain an unhealthy sense of entitlement and also receive it.

I own a fast sports car and a motorcycle, two HDTVs over 40 inches, etc., but I work with the big boys too. It's all about tempering your sense of what you should 'want' with what jobs you can land - like finding a +1 sword at level 1. It's a huge headstart.

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squeeeb

oh totally. if you are a whizz kid hot shot 24 year old pulling in 200k a year because you can, then by all means, live it up. just understand nothing is guaranteed and you could one day lose it all. if you are prepared to deal with that, rock on. if you can use a +1 sword early on, hells yeah! but just because you found the +1 sword does not mean you have the experience to use it properly.

hunnychile brought up a good point. lots of folks want to start out in managerial, or at the top, not realizing that just because you got a diploma does not mean you know what you are doing. people hate to "pay their dues" but if they think of it as "earning the experience and learning to do the job correctly" instead of some kind of "pay your dues" hazing, perhaps they would realize the benefits.

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onward to mayhem!

Xerxys

What's odd and I was about to start a thread about this ... I am one of those people except I don't have these items.

I moved out of my parents house and wanted to die, then wanted everything else, now I have the money to buy whatever useless materials I want ... but I don't. I thought I wantwed these items but what I really want is money ... more of it, all the time ... simply just so I can look at it.

Case in point, I drive a hooptie intirigue and have an empty apartment. I PROCRASTINATE if I have to buy anything above $50 bucks!! But I want everything NOW!!!

I don't think I'm wrong in wanting this.

squeeeb

there is nothing wrong with wanting stuff. people should strive to live as comfortably and happy as they can be. its not the wanting that is the problem, it's the "i deserve it now!" that is the problem. i want things NOW as well, but i know i cannot afford them NOW so i wait, instead of burning up my credit card.

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onward to mayhem!

Xerxys

Squeeeb, you are my brother from another mother. I always felt the essence of credit cards are faulty. I felt that a credit card is spending money you don't have. It's like going to a grocery store, seeing a packet of milk for $1.99 and agreeing to buy it for $2.70 with your friend picking up the tab! Interest has never made sense to me unless I'm earning the interest and it STILL makes no sense to me!!

Plan9

Alternate thread title:

Whiny Materialistic Bitches with Sense of Entitlement vs. Practicality / Responsibility

OP: An excellent way of stating the obvious. I approve.

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Baraka_Guru

I spend too much of my life "taking 20s" when I should be doing more things that require me to roll that d20.

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Nisses

How about D&D is a terrible model for life?

You start off at lvl 1 wanting a head start. By the time you're lvl 5 you're eyeing that gear for lvl 15+. By the time you're 10, it's gear for 20+ etc. etc.

You're actually learning to always want more and more, and yearn for something that you shouldn't have.

You're in fact getting accustomed to exactly the mindset that drives people to spend and borrow money, to attain that.

Whereas you're born, and you want virtually nothing, provided your basic needs are met.

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Latenter

I think a lot of the problems come from people either not being educated on credit/finance, or just being to dumb to apply it. I'm 25 and have only worked full time the last 2 years since college, but I have 0 debt. No student loans, no credit cards, no car payment, not mortgage. That will change when I buy a house, but basically, if I can't pay for it, I don't buy it. When I had student loans (because really, who can pay for all of their education on their own?) and was actually earning money, almost all of it went to pay off my debt. I have credit cards, but only for convenience and because I get 1% back. I pay them off completely every month.

A friend in his 40s tells me I'm smart, because he built up $40k in credit card debt (now paid off.) I just understand that I'm not getting free money. When my car died, I bought a Corolla, because it made sense. I could probably have afforded the payments for a new Audi, which would have been nice, but then all my money would be going to pay someone else interest. Instead I payed cash from money I saved up. (not against getting car loans, just against outlandish spending.) I have a new flatscreen tv, but I've wanted one for years, and only bought when I could afford it.

In the D&D example, people want to run all the high level dungeons right away. If you don't level up enough beforehand you get crushed. I don't see how it's that hard to understand.

DaniGirl

D&D is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!

Giant Hamburger

I need another saving throw!

Punk.of.Ages

Just remember, even if you have a +5 Vorpal greatsword, a +5 suit of fortified plate, the hand, and the eye of Vecna, somebody's bound to use Mordenkainen's Disjunction....

***********************************

I'll accept my award for "Nerdiest Anology of the Thread" now.

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Halanna

I have some in-law relatives who live like that. Always buying buying buying and if anyone they know buys something, they have to run out and buy it too. Doesn't matter if they need it or not. They are up to their eyeballs in debt and if one of them breathes hard the whole thing is going to crash around them.

It totally baffles me why people live this way.

And Xerxys, credit cards are not all bad. If you pay your balance in full you aren't charged the finance fee. They are great for tracking spending. If you go on vacation, don't have to worry about travelers checks or anything. Some specialized cards offer things like 10% off if you use your card, so I spend $90 instead of $100.

Credit cards start to hurt when you carry a balance, and that balance continues to increase.

Jetée

haHaha I don't get it.

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Zeraph

OP- Yeah..but shhhh! Non gamers never get the gaming references. I've actually learned a lot from RPGs. Life lessons, vocabulary, math, etc.

Daniel_

I never used the encumbrence rules - and I can still fit more into a car than my wife thinks possible.

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Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air,
And deep beneath the rolling waves,
In labyrinths of Coral Caves,
The Echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand;
And everthing is Green and Submarine
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squeeeb

WORD!

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onward to mayhem!

cellophanedeity

I can't agree: They cut druids and bards out of the core handbook. They don't even count me in anymore unless you buy the supplementals.

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