Did anyone else find David and Judy to be self-absorbed irresponsible schmucks. Here they are at the beginning of the movie, lollygagging around in bed, making kissy faces, while ignoring the fire siren and an emergency phone call from the clinic. From that moment on I hoped they'd be ripped apart by zombies.
Did Romero intend for these two to be unlikable jerks, or was this just lazy expository writing?
Well, he was only a volunteer fireman, and she was just the nurse; the way Evanstown is described makes it seem that both the "real" firemen and the doctor could generally handle the town's few problems. Plus I don't think she knew it was an emergency call until she picked up the phone.
The point of the scene was just to quickly establish them as being a serious couple, thus making their risky decisions later in the film more plausible.
They didn't know that anything more severe than what they deal with on a daily basis was happening. They just thought it would be another day at work. I'm sure you've also had days when there is something you have to do but would rather stay in bed. That doesn't mean you deserve to ripped apart by virus infected people.
Come, fly the teeth of the wind. Share my wings.