Jul6 Written by:Kayle
7/6/2008 4:29 AM
Dependency is a huge issue that we constantly face here. Though you want to be generous and give to people who have needs or subsidize things so that it can be affordable, you find that your generosity can quickly become taken advantage of or an attitude of dependency/entitlement develops.
We've seen one such case with our friend's domestic helpers (gardener and maid). If one has the ability to hire a gardener or maid, it is your social responsibility to do so. Our friends have a hard working maid and they pay her well in comparison to what most maids earn--about 5 times more than average. However, because they pay her so well, she has developed an entitlement attitude. She will see meat in the freezer and moan to our friends about how her stomach hurts since she hasn't had meat in so long (expecting them to give her meat) or our friends' children will be playing with a toy and the maid begins to moan that her son is so sad as he doesn't have any toys to play with (expecting them to give her son toys). Even though the maid gets paid well, she often goes around asking others for money. It is quite disturbing to see. Today she came by asking us for money but we had to say no as we have our own domestic workers to care for. It can be so hard as you know people are legitimately struggling, but you also see scenarios like this and know that others begin to feel entitled to your generosity.
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