11 Things Entitled People Avoid That Normal People Do Pretty Much Every Day
They truly only care about themselves.
Zamrznuti tonovi | Shutterstock Conflict, tension, and resentment tend to follow entitled people wherever they go, like a study from the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology suggests, because their toxic behaviors and disrespect for others are ingrained in their daily routines. From interacting with service workers, to using public spaces, and even spending quality time with their partners, their main concern is their own well-being, needs, and comfort.
Many of the things entitled people avoid that normal people do pretty much every day are simply behaviors rooted in this mentality. Even when they offer kindness to others or help a friend, they always have their own needs and desires at the back of their minds. Their love is conditional, their affection weaponized, and their bonds with others manipulated to serve their best interests.
Here are 11 things entitled people avoid that normal people do pretty much every day:
1. Saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’
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According to a study from the Social Psychology Quarterly, the prevalence of “please” and “thank you” in our culture is becoming less and less common across all generations, with other basic manners, like picking up after yourself in public spaces, also lowering in popularity. People are growing more narcissistic by the day, but entitled people tend to avoid all of these things every single day.
While for others, not expressing gratitude or cleaning up after themselves is a time or mental health dilemma, for entitled people, it’s an intentional choice. They don’t care about making other people feel bad or putting more work on their plate to free up their own — they only care about themselves and what they’re getting from interactions and relationships.
Of course, this is part of the reason why entitled people are endlessly miserable — they don’t reap the benefits of positive connection or expressing gratitude in the same way that normal people do pretty much every day.
2. Cleaning up after themselves
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From returning a shopping cart at the grocery store to cleaning up a mess from a table in a public space, normal people don’t mind putting in a little bit of extra effort to make someone else’s life easier. However, entitled people don’t mind selfishly leaning into convenience, even at the expense of a service worker or a kind stranger’s time down the road.
Even if it means deteriorating the well-being of already struggling “third places” and community hotspots, they’re more concerned with their comfort and time than anyone else’s enjoyment of shared spaces.
3. Saying ‘excuse me’
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According to clinical psychologist Matthew Boland, entitled people often lack a basic foundation of empathy in their lives that sabotages not only their relationships but also all of their social interactions, passing conversations, and professional networks.
Of course, there are several things that can lead to a lack of empathy in normal people — like chronic stress and burnout — but for entitled people, like many of the other things they avoid, it’s an intentional choice and an integral part of their personality.
Even if it means avoiding saying things like “excuse me” when walking next to someone or “please” when ordering at a restaurant, that seemingly takes little to no extra energy, they don’t care about how their behavior — or lack of behavior, respect, and kindness — affects others.
4. Apologizing
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For the average person, avoiding accountability and apologizing is largely rooted in internal shame or insecurity — they believe that admitting they did something wrong makes them an inherently bad person, according to psychologist Guy Winch. While entitled people may be operating under a similar kind of insecurity and fragile ego, their lack of apologies is often rooted in their need for superiority and control.
By foregoing apologies and forgiveness — experiences that tend to lower negative emotions, boost social connectedness, and feed into the health of relationships, according to a study from the Journal of Religion and Health — they isolate themselves from truly healthy connections, while protecting their seemingly “untouchable” ego.
Of course, never taking accountability or apologizing often keeps them stuck in a rut of stagnancy, where they never grow personally or in their relationships. That’s part of the reason why entitled people leverage large social networks and tons of superficial relationships to meet their needs. When they’re no longer able to manipulate and evolve with a person, they throw them away.
5. Picking up after their pets
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Even if it’s bringing doggie bags on a walk or cleaning up after their pet in a public space, this is one of the things entitled people avoid that normal people do pretty much every day. They don’t mind putting another person’s time at risk or their shoe in danger by prioritizing their own convenience and comfort.
While pets may be generally associated with wellbeing and happiness — largely because extroverted people with healthy habits adopt and purchase pets, especially dogs — it’s not uncommon for entitled people to get an animal simply for the benefits, avoiding any of the added responsibility.
They appreciate being the center of attention when they bring their cute dog for a walk or being able to socialize with people who can’t help but stop to pet them, but they’re never going to pick up after them or go the extra mile trying to prioritize their well-being.
6. Showing up on time
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Entitled and unreliable people tend to erode their relationships by never keeping their commitments and showing up constantly late to their obligations, according to a study from Michigan State University. They don’t care about anyone else’s time, but their own, so when they’re expected to show up for someone or put their needs on hold for someone else, they almost always fall short.
Psychiatrist Neel Burton suggests that people who are chronically late in their day-to-day lives often have a lack of respect for other people’s time, which is why it’s not surprising that reliability and consistency are some of the things entitled people avoid that normal people do pretty much every day.
If showing up 10 minutes late to work means they get to sleep in, they’re not worried about the consequences or struggles it causes for other people on the job.
7. Respecting boundaries
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Like a study from the Journal of Personality Assessment argues, many entitled people believe that they’re deserving of everything — regardless of their true merit, skills, mentality, or kindness — without pushback or complaint. Whether it’s access to someone else’s space, money, time, energy, or material possessions, they believe everyone should make themselves available to meet their every need and desire.
Of course, this mentality also comes with regularly overstepping boundaries in their daily lives. They don’t respect anyone else’s needs but their own, so when a boundary is set or reinforced, it’s always a suggestion.
Of course, this being one of the things entitled people avoid that normal people do pretty much every day correlates with a lack of balance in connections and their struggles in forming truly healthy and meaningful relationships. Not only do they actively disrespect people by overlooking their boundaries — whether it’s in the workplace or at home — but they also ensure they feel misunderstood, unheard, and unvalued.
8. Actively listening
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Entitled people are only worried about protecting their voice and space in conversations, so they don’t mind making themselves the center of attention, putting other people down, and even interrupting others to assert their misguided superiority.
While interruptions in a social interaction can be rooted in a number of things — from attention struggles to mental health — like a Stanford report argues, they still work to make other people feel less heard and valued. For entitled people, that’s often the goal — they want other people to feel less empowered to speak up in conversations, because that makes more active space for them to talk about themselves.
They never reap the positive benefits of active listening because they’re never doing it, instead waiting for their turn to talk or actively dominating a social conversation with interruptions and boasting.
9. Being receptive to feedback
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A study from the Breathe journal argues that accepting and offering feedback is fundamental to the health of not just workplace environments, but also personal relationships and connections. It promotes a kind of healthy communication that protects experiences like conflict resolution and personal development.
Normal people may find constructive feedback and criticism uncomfortable and hard to receive and offer, according to Harvard Business School researchers, but for the most part, it’s something they deal with every single day. On the other hand, entitled people actively avoid it and confrontation altogether — making excuses, justifying misbehavior, and shifting blame so they don’t have to take accountability for their own mistakes and behaviors.
They want everything from everyone, but they’re never in the driver’s seat of their own life — they don’t want to be responsible for changing their own life or fulfilling their own needs and desires.
10. Respecting service workers
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Being rude to service workers is often a sign of internal turmoil, according to psychologist Reena B Patel. People lash out at their barista or call their waiters names to cope with their insecurities, chronic stress, and anxiety.
For entitled people, the same is true, mixed with a lack of emotional regulation skills and failing accountability that ends up sabotaging the well-being of innocent strangers.
Entitled people also believe they’re inherently better than everyone else for no apparent reason. In situations with people, like service workers, whom they deem “unworthy” of basic respect and kindness, they’re not afraid to be rude and condescending to support their misguided perception of personal status and authority.
11. Helping people without expectations
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Entitled people make relationships innately transactional — offering rewards and punishments to their partners, friends, and peers in exchange for getting what they want. However, these punishments often include things like emotional manipulation and gaslighting that encourage people to put their own needs to the side, so really, these relationships only “benefit” the entitled manipulator.
According to psychologist Mark Travers, “excessive” and “restrictive” entitlement in relationships tends to sabotage well-being, lowering partner intimacy, sparking more conflict, and generally decreasing satisfaction in romantic relationships. When one partner expects everything from the other without reservation — holding them to unrealistic expectations and only putting their own needs first — the other grows consistently more isolated, disconnected, and resentful.
That’s why all the entitled people you know in your life generally pass through friends and relationships quickly — they use people until they’re no longer able to be manipulated, then they move on to the next.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in social relations & policy and gender studies who focuses on psychology, relationships, self-help, and human interest stories.
