Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Buying groceries for rich people, I realized upward mobility is largely a myth

buzzfeed.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 71 posts

Re: Buying groceries for rich people, I realized upward mobility is largely a myth

#21

Post by skylan_q »

Alex3917 wrote: post #10

I find it amusing that one of Instacart's competitors, TaskRabbit, is currently blanketing the NYC subway system with ads that say "We do chores. You live life." The implication being, at least the way I read it, that they consider their workforce to be perhaps slightly less than human.

"We do chores. You live life." The implication being that they consider their workforce to be less than human.

That doesn't follow at all. Just because people do chores it doesn't mean they aren't able to live or that they are less than human.

Re: Buying groceries for rich people, I realized upward mobility is largely a myth

#22

Post by weberc2 »

NhanH wrote: post #14

The topic itself is worth discussing. However I'm not actually sure why this specific article was the one being picked for a second chance. It's one long life story (stories?), and there is nothing in it supporting either the title or subtitle. Yes, her upbringing was bad, but I wanted to know what happened personally to her after graduating that she's where she is now. Or even better: what exactly could have helped…

My thoughts exactly. I thought it was going to be another "I got a liberal arts degree and now I'm outraged that I can't find a job; upward mobility isn't real!" article, but it wasn't even that... :/

Re: Buying groceries for rich people, I realized upward mobility is largely a myth

#23

Post by skylan_q »

cperciva wrote: post #17
Alex3917 wrote: post #10

I find it amusing that one of Instacart's competitors, TaskRabbit, is currently blanketing the NYC subway system with ads that say "We do chores. You live life." The implication being, at least the way I read it, that they consider their workforce to be perhaps slightly less than human.

I'm struggling to understand how you can possibly jump from "we do chores; you live life" to "our workers are subhuman". Are you saying that only subhumans do chores?

It was either: 1) A brainfart on OP's part or 2) You're watching someone who doesn't do chores pontificate on how bad "the poor people" have it.

Re: Buying groceries for rich people, I realized upward mobility is largely a myth

#24

Post by maerF0x0 »

> I was nonetheless positioned only marginally better off than my grandparents

>listing the indignities she felt working these jobs with a laconic intensity and steady determination: washing the house’s windows inside and out, cleaning the mattresses and box springs, scrubbing the floors on her knees, a lunch of a cheese sandwich and a glass of milk offered by a client that was quickly rejected, getting paid $3 a day.

I'd argue that smartphone in hand, greater than minimum wage rate, flexible work schedule and the option of going to post secondary education constitutes more than a "marginal" improvement. This person is claiming that she's no better off than 2 generations prior, and but in reality is using a peer comparison to try and prove it. Short of absolute equality, someone has to be behind someone else. Someone has to have "less". But if that relative "Less" is consistently more in an absolute sense, with each generation, then clearly things are getting better.

The "poor" of today have more food, more tvs, better technology, greater rights than several generations back. Largely because the rising tide is lifting the vast majority of ships.

Re: Buying groceries for rich people, I realized upward mobility is largely a myth

#25

Post by x3n0ph3n3 »

NhanH wrote: post #14

The topic itself is worth discussing. However I'm not actually sure why this specific article was the one being picked for a second chance. It's one long life story (stories?), and there is nothing in it supporting either the title or subtitle. Yes, her upbringing was bad, but I wanted to know what happened personally to her after graduating that she's where she is now. Or even better: what exactly could have helped…

I'm also curious what 2 degrees she has that prevent her from getting a job in her field.

Re: Buying groceries for rich people, I realized upward mobility is largely a myth

#26

Post by chasef »

NhanH wrote: post #14

The topic itself is worth discussing. However I'm not actually sure why this specific article was the one being picked for a second chance. It's one long life story (stories?), and there is nothing in it supporting either the title or subtitle. Yes, her upbringing was bad, but I wanted to know what happened personally to her after graduating that she's where she is now. Or even better: what exactly could have helped…

Yeah I agree. It is more difficult to leave poverty if you are born into it, but the choice of the word "myth" was a poor one. I also would have liked to hear more about her degrees. What were they in? Why were they not useful in today's current world? I think this could have gave us much greater insight. Also, the making fun of healthy foods turned me off a little because I always choose healthier options if they are available. "Food" in America is often not really food, so if you can afford better food I wouldn't blame you for it. But it did help visualize the character in her story. Her writing was good. Just would have liked to get more answers to said questions so we can figure out more about how we can fix education to make it not such a struggle for people to move upwardly.

Re: Buying groceries for rich people, I realized upward mobility is largely a myth

#27

Post by bko »

> The woman who laughed at me was one of these customers with very discerning tastes currently causing me a lot of anxiety... With “all my education,” as my family would say, two degrees and the student loans to show for it, I was nonetheless positioned only marginally better off than my grandparents, who ran errands and did other grunt work two generations removed from where I now stood.

I can't tell who the more entitled person is. The wealthy woman who believes she is entitled to have her discerning tastes met, or the author who believes she is entitled to work as an author regardless of her commercial success.

No excuse to treat people who work for you poorly, but I think the entitlement runs both ways.

Re: Buying groceries for rich people, I realized upward mobility is largely a myth

#28

Post by nostrademons »

skylan_q wrote: post #15
mywittyname wrote: post #12

After reading that article, I realize how much truth there is to the old adage that, with a good article, you delete more than you save. This article feels like an interesting and thought provoking topic, but if it's there, it's hard to pinpoint while wading through the biography of half the author's family. Twenty three paragraphs but no message.

Twenty three paragraphs but no message. The message is "tax the rich".

No, it's not. The message is "This is my experience."

I think much of the HN community is accustomed to a style of discourse that deals in big ideas with immediate applications: "This is where tech is going." "How I hacked the YC interview process and got in." "Here's what's wrong with the Javascript dependency mess."

Much of the world doesn't think this way, though. For much of the world, their goal is to be heard, and to be understood, and to have their existence as an individual human being validated. When articles speaking from this angle come out, people react with "What's the point?" And the point is precisely that people react with "What's the point?", and they shouldn't.

The author said as much in her last sentence: "It’s the work I want to own." But there's no way to make that connection to readers who are accustomed to thinking of the big picture without trivializing the little picture.

Related video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM-gZintWDc

Re: Buying groceries for rich people, I realized upward mobility is largely a myth

#29

Post by gearoidoc »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #24

> I was nonetheless positioned only marginally better off than my grandparents >listing the indignities she felt working these jobs with a laconic intensity and steady determination: washing the house’s windows inside and out, cleaning the mattresses and box springs, scrubbing the floors on her knees, a lunch of a cheese sandwich and a glass of milk offered by a client that was quickly rejected, getting paid $3 a day…

I see your point but surely you agree peer comparison is fair?

No doubt the author has things better than generations before (though you do have to factor in things like increased expectations as a cost for this) but if this was the only measure then social equality would be move much slower than it is.

Re: Buying groceries for rich people, I realized upward mobility is largely a myth

#30

Post by home_boi »

x3n0ph3n3 wrote: post #25
NhanH wrote: post #14

The topic itself is worth discussing. However I'm not actually sure why this specific article was the one being picked for a second chance. It's one long life story (stories?), and there is nothing in it supporting either the title or subtitle. Yes, her upbringing was bad, but I wanted to know what happened personally to her after graduating that she's where she is now. Or even better: what exactly could have helped…

I'm also curious what 2 degrees she has that prevent her from getting a job in her field.

I did a quick "site:linkedin.com" google search.

Bachelors in English and Masters in writing from not the best colleges.

Post reply on HN