I'm not entirely sure how it's come about, but the old adage that:

The customer is always right

seems to be stretched further and further these days. I know we're a lovely capitalist society but people seem to think their money, or the time they spent earning it, is maybe more valuable to other people then its true worth. People with little concept of economy, wage and earning differences have the belief that because they're giving money to a company that company owes them everything.

I take the example of people attending supermarkets where they will happily have staff lead them this way and that to find items that they're too lazy to look for, or complain about the slightest thing, safe in the knowledge that they're correct because they're the ones spending money. The problem is that the staff aren't employed to help out. Their job descriptions will be 'shelf-stacker', 'till-assistant' or whatever not 'run-around customer monkey'. Regardless as to whether you find the corn flakes they will get paid, and yet people would still take a mortal offence if they weren't treated with the obeisance given to a knight of the realm when going about their shopping business.

The trend of belief in greater value continues onto the internet, where those who pay monthly subscriptions for online games seem to think that the £9 or less per month should entitle them to an uninterrupted perfect gaming experience, and will complain, threaten and generally kick up a fuss loudly if even the slightest thing goes wrong. Once again vainly ignorant of the real world they don't seem to realise that £9 for what could be around 5 hours play every single day of the month is pretty cheap, and with games the size of MMOs there are bound to be problems. Obviously it proves that they're a joke when they spend most of the time unable to play threatening to stop paying/playing and then shut up as soon as it's there again. Once more a situation of the consumer just wanting to be vocal in exercising their "rights".

The truly odd thing about the growing trend (though I shall leave the larger matter of the "sue the bastards!" craze for another time) is that whilst perfectly content to assume their supremacy and deservedness of kingly treatment in Asda, people tend to have no qualms about tipping in restaurants, despite the fact that waiters are paid to do a job the same as staff in a supermarket, and probably a lot more. What this indicates is that it's a society thing, based on traditions and what they see other people doing, and at some point its going to turn around as those who offer the services tell us exactly what we have to pay for what we think we deserve. So just remember next time you're shopping and the boy stacking shelves merely grunts when you ask him for directions that this isn't an insult to your honour that can only be expiated by the unfortunate student's ritual suicide, but merely a result of the minimum wage filtering into the youth's bank account for his hours spent at a monotonous task with the same music on repeat.