"bugging"
So THAT's what I do, good to finally put a name to it. 
I was in a truckstop the other day, there was a truck there that wouldn't start, I spoke to the driver and he was distraught because he needed to get into the city for whatever. It was clearly an electrical problem so I asked if he'd checked the fuses. No he hadn't and he was waiting for a $X00 callout from a mechanic who couldn't get there for a few hours.
WTF?
"Learned helplessness" indeed.
Rob