Things rich people dont know

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That a family of five can only ever bathe in the same bathwater- youngest to oldest once a week and still be pretty damn clean and odour-free.

Yep. Husband grew up with Saturday night bath only. Hot water is pretty dear when you have to pump it from the well, then heat it on wood you chopped, stacked and carried yourself. Everyone in the family used the same tub and then it was used to scrub out the privy. No one in the family EVER smelled. You washed your pits and private parts daily with a washcloth. There are still plenty of families here in Appalachia that heat with wood or coal and have no hot water heaters.

What about their hair? Did they also wash it once a week in shared bathwater? I mean, yeah, you could clean your body up with washcloths, but how do you get rid of that greasy hair smell??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How to start a fire with wet wood.

Gonna be smoky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much a loaf of bread costs (from another DCUM thread)

That poor people don't see dentists or doctors regularly. They end up just getting teeth pulled vs getting dental work.

That violence at home happens all the time. There are exceptions of course, not all affluent homes are peaceful/non-violent. But I grew up MC/UMC with a poor nanny and remember being shocked at her stories of violence perpetrated mostly by her father but also by her mother, uncles, brothers, etc. For her it was normal.

I grew up in a smallish town but there was a hospital system and a directional state U so there was some level of affluence. But it was your typical midwestern town with a lot of lower class people too...just one high school for the town so I went to school with the children of MDs and PhDs and mill workers and manual laborers and gas station workers and one thing I noticed when I went to my “poorer” friends houses is how they interacted with each other. Parents screaming at kids. Lots of hitting and swearing. Parents ALWAYS fighting. Whereas at my house and more affluent households it was more “Susie, could you please put the dishes away?” Poor homes: “SUSIE PUT THE GOD DAMN DISHES AWAY BEFORE I SMACK YOU INTO NEXT WEEK”

There is an enormous difference in the way rich people and poor people talk to their children.

+1. I'm the PP with the poor nanny. My parents never hit me. I was routinely told I could do/be whatever I wanted and always was told how much I was loved. DH grew up in the third world and was regularly beaten; I don't think his parents were particularly encouraging to him and they never said I love you.

You seem clueless. 3rd world does not mean poor. For example, most H1B visa workers who come here are actually well-off in their countries. If you were routinely told how loved you were, (for just existing) I am guessing you are White. At this point it is not SES differences but cultural differences.

Have you ever (a) been to Columbia Heights or (b) taken a bus on 14th Street or Georgia Avenue? Lots of young, presumably low-SES parents screaming expletives at their kids and yanking them around.

- a "rich" person who doesn't own a car and takes WMATA everywhere

[Anonymous]

UC wealthy people don't do public schools and automatically think they're inferior, though they often pay lip service to liberalism and diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rich people don't know that it's difficult to eat well and healthily if you live in a food desert.

I HATE phrases like 'food desert'. People have feet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rich people don't know that it's difficult to eat well and healthily if you live in a food desert.

I HATE phrases like 'food desert'. People have feet.

DP who wants to point out to the ^PP that walking two or three miles on your feet sure does take the convenience factor out of going to the store or restaurant and, despite the walking, can be very unhealthy depending on what neighborhoods you have to walk through. I really HATE people who talk about things they don't understand. Education is free in the US. I suggest you partake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rich people don't know that it's difficult to eat well and healthily if you live in a food desert.

I HATE phrases like 'food desert'. People have feet.

So a single mom with kids is supposed to walk to the store (how many miles?). Does she use a stroller to push her kids or does she strap them to her back/front and have those 4+ walk? Because once she loads up on all that healthy, fresh food, she is “using her feet” to lug food and kids back to her home. The ignorance of this post is exactly the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UC wealthy people don't do public schools and automatically think they're inferior, though they often pay lip service to liberalism and diversity.

Interesting, are you implying all upper-class people are liberal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My Dad worked 3 jobs- every weekend, every holiday- in factories & as a janitor in a country club in the summer- so my mom could be a SAHM with 4 kids. (1 kid was hers BEFORE they married & he adopted him). We always had food, clean clothes but no free lunches, fresh air fund camp, or financial aid for college. I worked Full-time to pay for my college- 8 years to get my BS. Similar for my DW & we had to relocate to find any kind of jobs.

We sacrificed to pay for our kids' college. Our kids did NOT qualify for any special programs, scholarships, etc. No one came to their school to advise on careers or give them any career/college insights. If we did NOT help them, they would not be able to eek out a living wage.

Sorry I have no sympathy for the child of a single mother or for poor children who get my tax dollars for special programs. As a society, we need to help average, working class & middle class children, for a change.

To the OP, as a teacher, you need to advise your students that not every white person with 2 parents are "rich". AND they have many benefits and programs not available to working & middle class people.

Another person here with a similar upbringing. I feel like as an adult I have no sympathy for all the various charitable appeals I hear for different groups because no one gave me any kind of handout. I was able to go to college but I laugh when I think back about the whole application process. I applied to one school--the state university--because that was the school I visited on a high school band trip for a music competition so I had physically been there once and seen it.

So what you're saying is, it was hard for you and rather than making it easier for other people so they don't have to experience what you did, you'd rather others struggle like you did?

Not at all. I am not in a position to do so. As an adult, financially, I continue to be impacted by the total lack of financial education and career counseling I never received. My parents didn't know what they didn't know. Compound interest, 401Ks, how a college major might impact future job earnings, how you can choose a job that provides some degree of satisfaction while also paying the bills--these were discussions that never happened in my house and I'm paying the price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That a family of five can only ever bathe in the same bathwater- youngest to oldest once a week and still be pretty damn clean and odour-free.

Yep. Husband grew up with Saturday night bath only. Hot water is pretty dear when you have to pump it from the well, then heat it on wood you chopped, stacked and carried yourself. Everyone in the family used the same tub and then it was used to scrub out the privy. No one in the family EVER smelled. You washed your pits and private parts daily with a washcloth. There are still plenty of families here in Appalachia that heat with wood or coal and have no hot water heaters.

What about their hair? Did they also wash it once a week in shared bathwater? I mean, yeah, you could clean your body up with washcloths, but how do you get rid of that greasy hair smell??

We all have really thick hair that’s isnt limp/greasy and doesn’t have odour. Even all these yrs later we all only wash hair 2-3 times a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rich people don't know that it's difficult to eat well and healthily if you live in a food desert.

I HATE phrases like 'food desert'. People have feet.

So a single mom with kids is supposed to walk to the store (how many miles?). Does she use a stroller to push her kids or does she strap them to her back/front and have those 4+ walk? Because once she loads up on all that healthy, fresh food, she is “using her feet” to lug food and kids back to her home. The ignorance of this post is exactly the point.

I push three kids in a stroller 2 miles for groceries and tuck the groceries into the rack and a backpack

[Anonymous]

As a black person I read this thread yesterday and was reminded how thankful I am for my parents and family because my life has been easy, comfortable and privileged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rich people don't know that it's difficult to eat well and healthily if you live in a food desert.

I HATE phrases like 'food desert'. People have feet.

So a single mom with kids is supposed to walk to the store (how many miles?). Does she use a stroller to push her kids or does she strap them to her back/front and have those 4+ walk? Because once she loads up on all that healthy, fresh food, she is “using her feet” to lug food and kids back to her home. The ignorance of this post is exactly the point.

I push three kids in a stroller 2 miles for groceries and tuck the groceries into the rack and a backpack

And I am sure that it is uphill both ways!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rich people don't know that it's difficult to eat well and healthily if you live in a food desert.

I HATE phrases like 'food desert'. People have feet.

So a single mom with kids is supposed to walk to the store (how many miles?). Does she use a stroller to push her kids or does she strap them to her back/front and have those 4+ walk? Because once she loads up on all that healthy, fresh food, she is “using her feet” to lug food and kids back to her home. The ignorance of this post is exactly the point.

I push three kids in a stroller 2 miles for groceries and tuck the groceries into the rack and a backpack

And I am sure that it is uphill both ways!

My 90-year-old grandmother was able to push her cart 1/2 mile to the grocery store and 1/2 mile back. She couldn't take too much, so she went at least 3x a week. She didn't drive and grew up in the Depression. To her, it was just business as usual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UC wealthy people don't do public schools and automatically think they're inferior, though they often pay lip service to liberalism and diversity.

Interesting, are you implying all upper-class people are liberal?

No -- that's probably why pp said "often" instead of "all". Also, "lip service" indicates that the belief is not genuine, right?