Ouch, that statement hurts. Unfortunately, it is a fact of life when talking about jobs and economics. If you're working at McDonalds', you may hate your boss and the customers, but you still need the paycheck.
But this entry isn't about McDonald's workers or bad bosses, it's about a concept you may not have thought much about.
Small towns don't like big towns (or cities), but they need to put up with them in order to survive. Your comprehension of this concept relies slightly on your economic situation as well as where you live. If you have a comfortable living and reside in a city, you won't understand my examples and points as much. I still invite you to open your mind to what I'm telling you.
I live in a small town with a small population. I need to drive at least for a half an hour before I get to any real stores. I live on an old farm, my house is 150 years old, and my neighbors include a farmer, another farmer, and a butcher. The people in this town understand the concept of hardship and of not getting everything you want and need because of poverty.
Small towns like mine REQUIRE the influx of tourists and vacationers to bring in money. Without this, our community cannot economically thrive. Winters are a very hard time for us, because the tourist flow has all but ceased and nobody buys anything.
You may be wondering why we'd not like tourists or out-of-towners. They provide the much-needed money to keep us afloat. Why bite the hand that feeds?
For the most part (and I'm not saying this as a stereotype because it's NOT everyone) city dwellers/New Yorkers/the "rich" are rude, short tempered, and act as if they own the place. They really do. My Dad and I have a business that is literally in our back yard, and these people have no problem with going where they clearly don't belong. You can always tell an out-of-towner by their car and clothes. Seeing a Hummer in the parking lot of a diner is almost an insult. No one around here owns a car that expensive or show-offy. We wonder WHY waste money on such a useless machine? What does a Hummer have besides a fee for being wasteful of gasoline? (Buyers of Hummers need to pay a fee when they buy the car because it consumes so much fuel)
Why the bitterness? Why the unkind remarks and feelings towards the outsiders of our town? Because....maybe it's easier to just not like someone who has it better than you, rather than being jealous of what they take advantage.
I hope I didn't come off too harsh, but I believe it had to be said. You can expect more small town rants in the future. I just can't fit it all in one post!
Comments?
I fully understand you. I'm a lucky farm-dweller as well, though in a slightly larger town that is a suburb of the state capitol. I work at a mall in the very wealthy, stuck-up part of the suburb, and some of the people are really awful. However, the income from this mall goes to benifit the local school district, which I went to for most of my life and where my sisters are going now, and it gives me a paycheck, so I tolerate them - if only so I can have wonderful bad-customer horror stories to share.
I don't need drugs - I have genetics.
Thanks so much for the reply, Meaghan. I was wondering whether anyone would really understand this entry.
Why is it that the wealthy are (typically) stuck up, rude, or inconsiderate? Personally, I find that people who live in the country are a heck of a lot nicer.
Some wealthy people don't understand what it's like to be poor. A lot of my customers are rude and inconsiderate because "it's my job" to put up with them.
I don't need drugs - I have genetics.
I found that working at a fair food stand helped me understand what restaurant and fast-food employees deal with. Now I'm a lot more patient and considerate. Not that I've been one of those snippy people, but I'm still more understanding than before I worked at a food stand.
People that have or make a lot of money become targets of society.
Most people with money don’t like poor people, they look down upon them for many reasons!
Main reason is because they fear the thought of ever becoming poor, rich people therefore turn their backs or head away whenever they are confronted with poor elements that surround them, they act rude to keep distance from everyone that wants to be them!
Rich people are in fact a bit sick because they lack emotions that are linked with empathy, they suppress these emotions in order not to feel guilty of all the money they make or have!
To add to this, they are subjected to constant threats that involve jealousy, theft, abuse of trust, gossip, prejudice and other negative social behaviour that make them to stick around with their kind only, meaning other rich people.
When I was young I cleaned pools for a period 6 months, I was in a team that went to all the rich homes in order to get the swimming pools clean and ready for summer. Some of the guys I worked with, were extremely jealous about everything they came across like if they were missing out on something whenever we found ourselves cleaning rich people’s pools.
One day it really got on my nerves when they vented their frustration after they saw the owner leave his house in the morning to go and play golf, since his golf bag was sticking out on the backseat of his Porsche.
They could not relate to the fact that this looser had so much money and bla la bla…
I told them that this looser might maybe be a wonderful person that saves peoples lives being a surgeon, or a successful engineer that worked his ass of in college!
Some of the guys understood while others stayed jealous!
Whether you are rich or poor, there will always be something wrong with you!
This is a form of human arrogance that goes in both directions….
I think the phrase "The grass is always greener on the other side" is relevant to your example of rich disliking poor and poor disliking rich. At least somewhat. I'm not sure if very many rich people wish they were poor, but they would like to escape the hassels of living where they do and dealing with the problems city life can bring.
I understand what you are saying although I have not experienced it.
I'm actually one of those kids that lives in an affluent area but it hasn't always been that way for me. Honestly, I think the same thing about the people that live around here. I hate going to the mall, or should I say the "Somerset Collection," they don't even call it a mall that's how much better they think it is that any other mall. I try to avoid this type of environment as much as I can. Even though I'm a part of the city I live in, I feel so detached from the people here.
I used to live in a suburb where it took about 25 minutes to get to the nearest mall and there was a lot more economic diversity. I was (and still am) friends with kids who lived in farm community and kids who live closer to the city.
From my experiences there is a huge difference in people that had everything handed to them and people who actually work for what they have. I, personally, enjoy being around people that actually know what a dollar is worth because they worked hard for it.
Each person is different and I don't look down upon the kids that live in a farm community. I would never personally like living there but I don't find it beneth me to live there either.
I hate people that think that people with less money than them are beneth them. I don't believe that your material worth defines who a person is. ___________________________________________________________________
"Is it true, said Candide, that people in Paris are always laughing?"
-Voltaire