Jesus Got What We Deserve

In addition to my part time job in youth ministry, I recently took a part time job at a brand new Chick-Fil-A in State College. It's not my ideal position, but the people who work there are great, and the boss is awesome, so I'm not complaining. Working there allows me to interact with all sorts of different people. I normally work in the front of the store, so I take lots and lots of orders. I like to think I've been around the block enough to not be surprised by things people do in public, but I've been taken aback a few times already, and I've only been there for three weeks! The one that still gets me (and it happens every day) goes something like this:

Me: "Hi, welcome to Chick-Fil-A! How may I serve you?"
Person: "Yes...I need a #4..."

...and the rest of the conversation doesn't really matter for the purpose of the rest of this discussion. As soon as I hear "I need," I immediately think, 'Do you really NEED a filet of chicken that's been fried in oil for three minutes with a Coke and a large waffle fry (also cooked in oil)? Sure, this food tastes really good, but does your life depend on this meal? You actually NEED it? My guess is you don't really need it. You want it. You'd like to eat it...you'll survive if you don't get it. In fact, you probably don't NEED anything from this restaurant. The only thing you might actually need from this establishment is, if you're like me, a job.'

Of course I smile and happily serve them their food and wish them a good rest of the day, but every time I hear someone say 'I need' while ordering, I am seriously amazed at the sense of entitlement that people have today - and this covers many generations. I have heard a representative from nearly every age group besides children begin their order with 'I need.'

If you 'need' a delicious chicken sandwich, how do you handle other situations? What are your other 'needs?' What kind of expectations do you have? How about this: before you give me a coupon for a free sandwich and tell me that you need it, why don't you give that coupon to someone who actually needs to be fed without spending money.

This sense of entitlement makes me pretty upset, as you may have gathered. I am not innocent of this attitude either, although I am trying hard to stop. Here's how I learned I had an entitlement issue: Two years ago while going to Penn State, I had to run a quick errand one day, and it required me to park the car. Not wanting to pay for parking, I passed on the garage and parked in an area with metered parking. I didn't have change, but I was only going to be a couple minutes. Five minutes later I come back to see a sunshine-colored envelope gently tucked underneath my left windshield wiper. 15 bucks out of my pocket...I was royally ticked off. I was only running in and out! I was going to leave quickly! I didn't have any change! Should I fight this ticket?

Now seriously, how ridiculous does that sound? Was that my parking spot? Does it really matter if I was going to be there for even two minutes without paying? That's why they have the meters there...you're supposed to pay for parking. And think about it, it was really silly of me to get so worked up about this. I didn't follow the rules, and I deserved that ticket (as much as I hated to pay for it). These instances happen to people all the time, and people get upset about these things all the time. And if people get upset because of little things like this, then what happens for bigger and more important things? How can you answer that?

I normally write this blog just to get my thoughts out there, but the purpose of this one is to not only force me to examine my own life, but also to challenge the three of you who will read this. In what situations do you expect things to go your way? How do you handle things when they don't go your way? What are your needs? What are your expectations? Are they really helping you - or more importantly, are they helping others? Where do you need to look out more for the interests of others?

What do you deserve? Think bigger picture. (Hint: It's in the title)