People like that most likely have lived in very manipulative human service systems, so they in turn learn how to manipulate in order to get what they want, need, etc. I work in the field and see it a lot, did a lot of quality ratings of human svc systems in the northeast.My wife worked with developmentally disabled adults for years and they could be just as manipulative and greedy as anyone else. Perhaps even more manipulative sometimes because sometimes they're aware that people aren't expecting it of them, or don't know how to handle it.
There was one guy who figured out that if he went to Starbucks and dropped his drink he'd get a new one. So he'd get one, take it outside, drink most of it, drop the rest and brink back a dripping cup for a new one. Over a couple weeks he worked his way through most of the employees at one store before they caught on or were willing to call him on it.
By far, my best visit was to a mental health day program in NH. One participant had just refused to take his meds, took a shovel and wacked the yoga instructor in the shinz. When I arrived to do my rating, she was trying to lead the group in deep breathing exercises while still hyperventilating from the preceding event. It was kind of hilarious to watch the group try to imitate her ("uhh, uhh, uhh...(shake)..uhhhhhh!"
OK, I now have no faith in my own humanity after typing this!
