Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I can tell OP isn't talking about me though because when I brag about something I bought it's because I spent pennies on the dollar.

That can be overdone, too.

People, OP is the most obvious troll ever.

Why are you feeding her?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here-

I am not bitter about my circumstances. I used to work in another field and switched to something with fewer hours and less stress/responsibility when I rejoined the workforce after being home with small children for several years.

So do you need to feel superior to her because of your upbringing vs hers and because you know you could do better than being a secretary and she can't? So when she talks about what she buys, you feel you need to cut her down so she doesn't come across as better than you? Because that's kind of how you come across on here

OP, I know people are being harsh but I can kind of understand all this. This woman is not very self-aware. Tons of people on Facebook are not self-aware. They just don't realize how they come across. I am painfully self-aware, to the point where I stay up night after night second guessing myself on everything. I have had to work on this.

As a PP said, you can only control your own reactions to this. It probably feels good to vent. There is not some magical way to tell people how they come across, how they are acting, how they should be acting, what is classy and what is not (that is what DCUM is for!). It's not HS where any straying from the pecking order gets a harsh smackdown and everyone stays in their place.

People will just naturally distance themselves from people that turn them off. People will notice or they will remain oblivious. It is what it is. Just try to do other things instead of hanging with coworker who turns you off. Focus on work. Do errands during lunch. Distance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here-

I am not bitter about my circumstances. I used to work in another field and switched to something with fewer hours and less stress/responsibility when I rejoined the workforce after being home with small children for several years.

So do you need to feel superior to her because of your upbringing vs hers and because you know you could do better than being a secretary and she can't? So when she talks about what she buys, you feel you need to cut her down so she doesn't come across as better than you? Because that's kind of how you come across on here

OP, I know people are being harsh but I can kind of understand all this. This woman is not very self-aware. Tons of people on Facebook are not self-aware. They just don't realize how they come across. I am painfully self-aware, to the point where I stay up night after night second guessing myself on everything. I have had to work on this.

As a PP said, you can only control your own reactions to this. It probably feels good to vent. There is not some magical way to tell people how they come across, how they are acting, how they should be acting, what is classy and what is not (that is what DCUM is for!). It's not HS where any straying from the pecking order gets a harsh smackdown and everyone stays in their place.

People will just naturally distance themselves from people that turn them off. People will notice or they will remain oblivious. It is what it is. Just try to do other things instead of hanging with coworker who turns you off. Focus on work. Do errands during lunch. Distance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. you may be reflecting you insecurity on her. You say you grew up in Potomac, which indicates at least middle class, but you are working as a secretary, not a particularly prestigious job. Maybe your snobbery at being forced to be on the same professional plain as this woman is the real issue

That's what I'm thinking as well. It almost sounds like you want to cut her down so she's at the same level or below you. One of you comes across as someone I wouldn't want to hang out with, and it's not your coworker.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP's parents living in a McMansion in Potomac does not constitute her being "old money" simply because she grew up where most people do not want to live anymore.

She is working as a secretary. There is nothing wrong with that - except for the fact that she is putting her co-worker down and building herself up based on where they both grew up - which neither of them had control of and they are both working at the same job now.

Trust me, Potomac is mostly Nouveau riche:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouveau_riche

If OP is of such a "higher class" than her co-worker she should be able to figure this little dilemma out on her own but obviously the co-worker is pushing her buttons so something in OP's story rings false.

OP isn't the landed gentry she thinks she is.

"Landed gentry"? The people on Downton Abbey are landed gentry. Note that Downton Abbey is a TV show, about a different country, 100 years ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Well if she was raised in Potomac her parents were most likely rich and perhaps but not necessarily nouveau riche. But she would be a minimum of a second generation rich girl, thus making her not noveau riche.

Anonymous wrote: I can tell OP isn't talking about me though because when I brag about something I bought it's because I spent pennies on the dollar.

Anonymous wrote:OP's parents living in a McMansion in Potomac does not constitute her being "old money" simply because she grew up where most people do not want to live anymore.

She is working as a secretary. There is nothing wrong with that - except for the fact that she is putting her co-worker down and building herself up based on where they both grew up - which neither of them had control of and they are both working at the same job now.

Trust me, Potomac is mostly Nouveau riche:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouveau_riche

If OP is of such a "higher class" than her co-worker she should be able to figure this little dilemma out on her own but obviously the co-worker is pushing her buttons so something in OP's story rings false.

OP isn't the landed gentry she thinks she is.