I agree that people with the &quot;scarcity-minded&quot; approach aren&#x27;t fun to be around. However, this is the unfortunate reality of some jobs.  If you work somewhere where the revenue stream is relatively fixed (non-profits), then a huge raise for one person necessarily takes away from the pool to distribute raises to others.  Even for profit enterprises are scarcity driven in any given year.  Everyone is competing for the budget surplus to go to their own paycheck.  I don&#x27;t think this view necessitates engagement in social comparisons...it is merely a realistic perspective of business operations.