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Poor in Tech

megelison.com

31–40 of 817 posts

Re: Poor in Tech

#31

Instead of seeing the bright side of life, in which this person clearly vastly improved their situation in life, all they can see is what they don’t have. “I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I had the only fat body in the building.” I’m sorry, but no, being poor doesn’t make you fat. Your eating choices make you fat. Poor people have agency too. Agency is not something you buy. This is comin…

There are food deserts in the USA, where you literally can't buy high quality food like vegetables in a large area, and have to resort to only eating the highly processed and highly unhealthy food. These food deserts usually are located in the poorer neighbourhoods.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert

Re: Poor in Tech

#32

The trick to being the only poor person is to not let on. Once people know, they exploit the hell out of you. They don't seem to do it consciously; somehow it just happens. I made that mistake a few times during my time in SF.

How does this exploitation look like?

Re: Poor in Tech

#33
I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because everyone else had good teeth.

No joke. I grew up with free government dental, and it took years of earning to get at least presentable teeth. Not smiling for years doesn't help your work prospects.

Re: Poor in Tech

#34
post #29

Assuming the trip to Greece was a joke was pretty good, as was the comment about hearing other people’s hobbies and just thinking about the expense. There are definitely cultural signifiers from wealth. Discussing housing endlessly is the biggest one.

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?

If you fly business/first class. I know people who went to Macau for a weekend or Paris and that is how.

Re: Poor in Tech

#35
post #10

> I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I was the only person who would say hello to the cleaning lady as she meekly made her rounds around us when we worked late. Everyone else had a long habit of ignoring anyone like her. That's IMO the worst behaviour of the rich listed in this article. I've heard stories that at Google, the non-engineering workers at campus may not socialize with engineers…

i found that one weird in my experience, there is no difference in how poor or rich people behave towards low-level staff. in general, my feeling is the rich are more friendly, but it may be less genuine

My decades of experience have been that wealthy people would rather ignore people if they can possibly do so.

Re: Poor in Tech

#36
> I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I was afraid to seek mentorship from anyone above me, convinced that even asking would seem like bothersome begging. I watched the people around me network effortlessly, assured of favors and good words put in. I could only think in terms of what I could offer and how I could survive; they were thinking on the next level where they never had to wonder if they were good enough. They were to the business-class manner born, at least.

This one resonates very strongly with me, not sure if it's a poor-people characteristic though. It's anxiety but it may come out of the "poor person" mindset, I don't know.

From elementary school to uni, I never asked anything any teacher, or had a tutor, because they obviously have better things to do than talking with me. Like, isn't it just being polite?

Re: Poor in Tech

#37
post #29

Assuming the trip to Greece was a joke was pretty good, as was the comment about hearing other people’s hobbies and just thinking about the expense. There are definitely cultural signifiers from wealth. Discussing housing endlessly is the biggest one.

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

Re: Poor in Tech

#38

Assuming the trip to Greece was a joke was pretty good, as was the comment about hearing other people’s hobbies and just thinking about the expense. There are definitely cultural signifiers from wealth. Discussing housing endlessly is the biggest one.

Found that bit surprising one. For European startup long weekend in Greece isn't that special. The flights can be quite cheap and Greece generally isn't that expensive country. A few hundred all together could probably be done.

Re: Poor in Tech

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would imagine you got it right with the "get out of the gym if you are not already fit". It's amazing how badly people act towards people starting out on their fitness.

Literally never seen this happen. 98% guarantee the stigma is in the obese person’s own head more than anything. It’s just easier to transfer the responsibility to ”an unfriendly environment” than taking responsibility & control of your own feelings and actions

Literally seen this almost all the time at three different gym places...

I went to the gym I was asked to come back "later" as "the gym is near full (50% full actually) and we prefer 'regulars' to come and train for something instead of... kind of you...".

So, if I am like you - just seeing with my own eyes and not follow the feeling and facts from other persons - I would say that gym regulars are just full of s*** :)

Re: Poor in Tech

#40
post #29

Assuming the trip to Greece was a joke was pretty good, as was the comment about hearing other people’s hobbies and just thinking about the expense. There are definitely cultural signifiers from wealth. Discussing housing endlessly is the biggest one.

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?

I'm sure it's a much better experience if you fly first class.
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