Many people are familiar with the term "sociopath". Most people think of a criminal. A search on Google (www.google.com) for the term yields this definition:
"A person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience."
Consider this real-life situation. A woman and her daughter rent a condo from a couple who had bought the property years ago as an investment. After a few months without incident, the woman gets into a situation which she claims makes it necessary for her to vacate and gives one month notice. The couple asks for rent and the woman states she will have it for them when she leaves, a month late.
After a few more unsuccessful requests, the couple decides to follow the legal process of eviction immediately to avoid being put in a financial bind. (http://www.occourts.org/self-help/landlordtenant/). It would seem like a quick process.
The couple then does a little more research on the tenant and finds that she has done this multiple times before. They find that she lied on her application about never being evicted or having a criminal record.
They find out that the process may not go as fast as they would like. They also find that the tenant has in the past cases slowed the process by filing appeals and dragged out the time period for months instead of days.
The woman seems to fit the definition of a sociopath. She is using the law to cheat the landlords and confound the law itself. She is engaging in antisicial behavior by cheating the people out of rent money and doesn't seem to care, taking full advantage that laws prevent the landlords from throwing her out but the eviction is a civil action that takes time, effort, money and process. She is also flaunting the fact that with multiple occurrences, the court is still willing to grant her time, waive fees, and not collect the moneys due her victims.
Many people would be appalled at this behavior and wonder what would make this person have so little regard for the sanctity of other people's property. People may contend that she has no right to do this and perhaps she needs to work hard like everyone else, especially with a young daughter.
The problem is that she is not like everyone else. This is someone who only sees things from her own perspective; she lives in a world in which she is right and everyone else is wrong. She is the most important person and everyone else's needs come after hers.
People might wonder what circumstances would foster such a narcissistic view of the world. Such self-entitlement may come from certain experiences.
Certainly this is someone who may have had a tough upbringing in which her needs were not met. She may have seen others get what they wanted by cheating and lying, ans this became her normal.
She may also have abused, physically or emotionally or both. That would create an overall distrust of the world. She would come to see it as hostile and win-at-all-costs.
Unfortunately, people like her who do not learn from consequences. It's other people's fault when she fails or has consequences. Basically all we can do is maje aire rhose consequences are in place. Society needs to set limits and make sure people like this are not allowed to manipulate a system set up to protect citizens.
And hope that someday, she learns her lesson and changes.
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