Beyond typical personality quirks, I believe the breakdown of the family is largely responsible for the entitlement problems of Generation Y. Being a responsible chore-bearing part of a family unit AND sharing simple daily activities together - like dinnertime, devotional time, even TV watching -- rather than being off in their own corner with an electronic device prepares kids for proper interaction and expectation for behavior in their adult life.
The family unit is being devastated by divorce, dual careers, dismissiveness, permissiveness, debt, busyness, distraction, and narcissism.
I worked at McDonalds in the late 80s and our behavior with customers was actually monitored and corrected if necessary (yes, at McDonalds!). And the standards were high!
As an example, I worked the drive-thru window a good bit, and wintertime winds were no joke. Nevertheless, I was rarely allowed to shut the window during a transaction with a customer - it was considered rude. Small thing, but if you've ever had a window slammed in your face after forking over your money, you know it makes a difference! With my upbringing, these 'rules' actually made sense to me, so they were easy to live by. Instead of complaining about the cold wind, I took gloves to work. We were raised to believe we were NOT the center of the universe, we were PART of it. We need to give kids a chance and raise them right!
Denise
