self-centeredness

There are some people who think collectively and some who are individualistic.
There is no good or bad - just that for anything that we are involved in, it's always more correct to balance everything out.
I have had first hand experience of a person who puts himself before anything else - and it is a trait that is consistent. Personality traits are rather consistent - they are relatively stable over time without intervention. So, are these people born like that or did something go wrong in how they developed?
It's difficult to be so self-centered in life - when one is single, you have your circle of friends to take cues from (sometimes). You tend to feel bad when you've upset them somewhat. When one is in a relationship, it's worse - because the other person can only tolerate a measure of self-centeredness.
Of all the negatives a person can express, self-centeredness is probably as bad as someone who is abusive. In an abusive person, the selfishness is expressed - but in self-centeredness, it's silent, but expressed in actions.
You would know how self-centered a person is when he decides that he has more problems which are more important than anything the household is going through.
There is no solution except to wait for a volcanic eruption, which will wipe this problem out permanently. For the selfish person, this will be a tantrum, for the person on the receiving end, this is overdue.
We should never let something rot, but sometimes, things just deserve to be put in the garbage.