Is there a basis for superiority?

Okay!!! So I forgot to read the bulletin that said I'm supposed to bow down and kiss your a**.

Sheesh! What is it about certain people that gives them a sense of superiority? Certainly they may be superior to me in many ways. Regardless of how good I am at something, how smart I am, or how much I may have.......there will always be someone who is better,smarter, or who has more. There are also going to be just as many who fall below me and yet I don't approach them as if they are less.

So now I sit here contemplating what motivates a person to be 'snooty' or superior in word and action. What is it about their self-image that dictates such behavior?

Before I was able to pass along the responsibility to my employee, I had to deal with many different individuals of whom I knew their social status, income level, etc. Providing a service for them, they had a right to expect certain things from me. So often I'd sit there wondering if they were having a bad day, if someone had slighted them to get their back up, or just what prompted their attitude towards me in the moment. I will not be subservient; I will be respectful, but with some people that isn't enough. You have those who come in and find fault with everything....NOTHING is good enough and yet for the other 99% who come through it is more than good enough. I don't run a slipshod enterprise.

I understand what motivates most emotions and yet this one eludes me. I understand having pride in yourself and your accomplishments. I've known people quite wealthy whose demeanors were not condescending and insulting. Instead they are friendly, gracious, and dignified. So I sit here now wondering if the others have a secret inferiority complex and the attitude is their defense or if they just truly think everyone is beneath them or owes them something. I mean, strip a person bare and he's almost indistinguishable from the others he inhabits this Earth with so what makes him think he is due preferential treatment?

hmmm, oh well. I don't let such people anger me. They do, however, leave me baffled. I'll continue my contemplation.