201–210 of 817 posts
> Nobody had walked me away from my desk to keep me from stealing pens or staples or secrets. Are you saying poor people are always dishonest so by trusting you they treated you like a rich person, which is bad because ?? . Honestly I'm just confused.
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It’s not just food education. If you’re poor in the US you’re much less likely to live near a source of fresh meat and produce, which makes calorie-rich fast food more tempting. You’re more at the mercy of many multi-billion-dollar industries that serve unhealthy food to the masses.
“Less likely”, “more at the mercy”, it still comes down to the individuals choices, it’s not that hard to not be obese when poor.
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Are indoor rock climbing and adult soccer known to be especially expensive activities? I haven't done much indoor rock climbing, but I've done a lot of adult soccer, mostly for free.
Indoor rock climbing for sure. A gym will cost you at least $50 a month (where I am, but I doubt it's that much different elsewhere), and the equipment costs aren't astronomical but do add up, especially compared to "cheap" sports (at least $200 for shoes / harness, and additional gear depending on what sort of climbing you want to do).
I've seen this before. Not often, because the companies I have worked at have rarely hired someone from this social strata. But in the cases where we have, I have seen the alienation. Aside from the obvious "be genuinely friendly", does anyone have suggestions of what to do as a coworker to support someone suffering from this cultural barrier?
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Taking a 3 day vacation overseas definitely is a joke. You'll spend as much time sitting in a plane or waiting at the airport as you'll spend at your destination, how's that supposed to be relaxing?
Plus nobody would 'recommend a hotel'. An island, maybe
I definitely saw the videos of those dreamy Greek hotels with in-room balcony pools and if I were rich I would know their names too. I’m sure that if you contact them you’ll just have to drive to SFO and the rest will be taken care of by them.
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> There's no point being overly defensive about these things. People with all kinds of life experience can learn from each other. I don’t think this is the fault of the author. When you’ve never had the chance or experience or bank account to dream of doing something that many people take for granted it’s easy to sort of clam up or realize your different and that you have to try harder to fit in.
I meant that wealthy people should not be too defensive about it.
In Europe, you don't go bankrupt when you get sick. Health care is one of the top causes of bankruptcy in America. In more socialized countries, you don't lose your housing when you lose your job. You don't need to struggle to keep a car (which you need for a job) because there is public transit and you're almost guaranteed access to higher education.
The upper middle class and higher need to realize this is a big systematic risk for the country.
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“Less likely”, “more at the mercy”, it still comes down to the individuals choices, it’s not that hard to not be obese when poor.
“it’s not that hard to not be obese when poor.” The statistics make it quite clear that it is hard, maybe your assumptions are wrong.
If there was demand for food in those areas people would sell it, but there isn't.
Edit: A strong piece of evidence is that people aren't getting poorer, but they sure are getting fatter.
- People ordering lunch always felt weird for me, in my mind I think "why should I pay 10€ for a bowl of salad, when I can go to the grocery store below the office and have the same for 1€", or even better pay 70 cents for the raw vegetables, wash them and chop them in the office and they will last 3 days
- Student debt doesn't apply, the good thing of being "poor" in Italy is that the country pays you to go to university and not the opposite
- When I got my first tech job I was like "wow, I got a MacBook just for joining the company, this costs like 1 year of salary of my previous job"
- The part of stealing I don't find relatable, even when my bank account was empty I would never resort to stealing, must be some honour system I grew up with
- The gym part is also not relatable, when I was fat and I did go to the gym everyone was very supportive, and every little progress was celebrated by everyone making you want to go more and more.
A thing I notice, is that the mentality stays with you no matter your salary, I always try to avoid spending more than necessary, with a comparison with my colleagues my monthly expenses are less than 1/3 compared to them.
Many of the comments on this article are so cold. I can’t believe it. When I read the original article I was imagining all the constructive ways HN readers would interpret it and hold a mirror up to their own behaviour. Some commenters are doing this. But it surprises and depresses me how many people are commenting saying “no, this list isn’t what it says it is, it’s a list showing the author has a negative mindset /…
Some people enjoy having their heartstrings tugged. Others don’t. What causes people to feel sympathy differs from person to person. I remember reading some tweet from Chrissy Teigen before she stopped tweeting complaining about a restaurant serving her a $10,000 bottle of wine without mentioning the price when she asked for something that went well with her dish. Not my kind of problem but it annoyed her. No doubt t…