30 Times Tattoo Artists Had To Deal With Customers From Hell

If you ever wondered where the term "choosing beggars" is coming from, it comes from the old adage “Beggars can’t be choosers.” This effectively means that if you have to resort to the charity of others, you have to be willing to accept what they offer you or do without.

Meanwhile, a choosing beggar is a person who ignores this advice. If someone doesn’t owe them anything but offers them something out of generosity, a choosing beggar will put conditions on it or demand something different. 

A choosing beggar is someone who has an enormous sense of entitlement. It comes from the belief that someone deserves special treatment or recognition for something they didn't earn. Arlin Cuncic, the author of "Therapy in Focus: What to Expect from CBT for Social Anxiety Disorder" and "7 Weeks to Reduce Anxiety," argues that people with this mindset believe that the world owes them without ever giving anything in return.

Cuncic explains that entitled people have a tendency to adopt goals based around their own self-image, often leading them into conflict with others. "While they may be able to put up an exterior of being nice and well-mannered on the outside, research shows that it's all just for show; deep down inside this is not how they truly feel about themselves or other individuals around them."

Moreover, Cuncic warns that when people think of themselves as superior, anything that challenges their worldview is met with defensiveness and anger. "This creates a vicious cycle: the more they are challenged by society's limitations, the angrier they become at these injustices," she claims.

Meanwhile, Jane Adams, Ph.D., a social psychologist, writer, and speaker argues that when people feel entitled, they want to be different from others. But just as frequently they come across as indifferent to others. "That’s why they often provoke such negative responses in those they encounter, especially those they don’t personally know," she explains for Psychology Today.

According to Adams, recognizing when our own sense of entitlement is driving us helps us understand our need to balk at social convention, and rebel against limitations on our autonomy or prohibitions on our preferred behavior. "Marching to our own drummer is one thing; knowing when that sound affects others like chalk on a blackboard is another," she argues.