Why is it so hard for people to pay their bills and take responsibility?

Because people take on more than they can afford and/or become ill, can't work, lose their job and have problems paying what they owe...it is a businesses responsibility to work with their clients to enable them to pay what they can afford, that way the business gets their money and the client is able to afford to pay....... why do people blame others... human nature!

Some people just aren't as organised as others. The organised ones will be sensible and try to manage within what money they make. The disorganised ones just won't and then complain - the kind who think the world owes them a living and haven't woken up yet to the fact that it doesn't.

I happen to be British and we certainly have people around who think that our rather generous social security (admittedly rather less generous than it used to be and no bad thing too) entitles them to anything they want. At my age (nearly 53) I was brought up to know that you pay your way, you don't borrow money unless you have to (like for a mortgage) and if you can't afford it, you don't buy it. It probably helps that my parents grew up in WWII with food rationing and that spirit of not wasting anything was passed on to me. It's a family joke - Dad always used to say "eat it up, out the way!" Throwing any food out feels like a defeat.

Of course if you lose your job, you really do have problems and that's different. Then yes you should be into "making arrangements" for how to pay. But you do get some who just can't get it and whine. Somehow their upbringing went wrong.

Having been downsized four times when the companies I worked for went bankrupt and closed abruptly, I can understand how income isn't guaranteed. Heavy medical bills can wipe out personal savings inside of a day or two - my MIL had a blood clot in her leg, the surgery was 6 hours long, she had two more surgeries within 2 days. Her hospital bill was in the hundreds of thousands and the ambulance ride was $3,000. Nobody has enough savings to cover contingencies like this. Add some kids in the mix and you're looking at nobody's income covering them financially 100% of the time.

Welcome to the new society

It's really sad when people don't reach your level of perfection, isn't it.

The billing department doesn't HAVE customer service.

REAL collections departments don't hire people that ask this type of question.

When I was growing up -- it was "what can I afford? "

At some point , people began to think --" I deserve this" -- and paying for it became a non issue .

you could be a tax collector or even an executioner it could be worse do you sing in the rain on your way home from work Mr Lancelot

It's become more common these days. From early on children are taught to be victims. If they fail a test, it's not their fault. It's all part of the Hollywood drama that's their lives. Take heart though. It's not all your customers.

Well, maybe. The billing department for what? People often buy things they can't really afford because they are encouraged to be advertisers, images of beautiful homes, media that implies that the right pair of shoes or the right bag can change their lives. But if you're in the billing department of, for example, a power company, then you might have a little more empathy when people have unexpected medical bills (since so many people have no health insurance in this country) and can't pay their electric bill.