Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Some People...

 Don't know what money looks like.
A woman at the club was boasting to me that she lived in one of the larger and newer homes in my neighborhood.
The woman pointed out that she had just built her home and that she had included all of the latest amenities.
She boasted of her new Benz and that she only shopped at Dillard's.
She boasted that her sons only wore Polo brand clothing.
She boasted that her husband had just been accepted into one of the many wanna'-be-elite clubs in our town.
The woman just seemed to be impressed with herself.

I just smiled and congratulated on her recent progress up the social ladder as she kept boasting of her planned vacations, her new time share, and that she was going to enroll her sons in private school.

The thing is, the woman didn't know that I lived on one of the older more established blocks in her neighborhood.
But this was announced by another neighbor (the wife of a prominent doctor in town) who broke things down to her.
"You built your house to be near us - we never built our homes with the hopes of you moving in.", she said in a condescending manner.
"John has generational wealth and liquidity - you have debt in the hopes of being able to afford your bills each month.", she continued.
"John doesn't even shop at Dillard's nor wear Polo - they lack 'snob-appeal'. Have you even been to Saks, Barney's or Neiman-Marcus?", she would say.
"You built a house on a lot - we built our homes and some land.", the doctor's wife would continue.

The doctor's wife then walked away leaving the first-generation-middle-class woman dumbfounded.
"It's okay.", I said to the woman, "When everyone has money - it's incidental. There is no need to boast - it just comes across as being one from the lower classes.".

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ha! They're lucky there were no thieves around.

Around here they'd be casing their homes that same night!