University library employee reports increasing student entitlement towards loaned laptops since 2020: 'I've had more than one patron demand I get them a different laptop because the one I grabbed from the cabinet didn't look nice enough'

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Olivia Arocena • Writer and Editor
Jun 28, 2026 11:15 AM EDT

When a gift creates a sense of entitlement

When we pay for something, the transaction is clear: I give you money, you give me what I paid for. With gifts, something more elusive happens: For some people, receiving something as a gift creates a sense of entitlement that masks an underlying dependence on what was given to them. Some people defend themselves from that feeling of dependency by treating what was given to them as something they were owed. For other people, it's the other way round; they can't process that they're receiving something without feeling like they have an enormous debt to the giver. Aside from these cheap psychological observations, this university library employee noticed that since 2020, students have behaved in a more entitled way towards their free laptops. Do you think she might be in the right? Or is it a False Cause Fallacy?

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