Comments | scarlettina: Examining my privilege

scarlettina

Examining my privilege

Oct 02, 2014 08:04

I don't typically think of myself as "rich." Comparatively speaking, financially, I'd say I'm comfortably middle class, if such a thing still exists in these United States. Every now and then--such as my trips to Kenya or Europe--I am reminded that my self-perception isn't wholly accurate in the context of the larger world, that I have resources ( Read more... )

observations, deep thoughts

Comments 11

madrobins October 2 2014, 17:33:56 UTC

That you're even looking at this stuff ... well, you know.

herself_nyc October 2 2014, 18:49:17 UTC

My first thought when reading this was to be impressed that you make conversation with the manicurists! I never do. I just say hello, how are you, and please and thank you, and that's it. (No one else seems to either, maybe it's a NYC thing.)

So I applaud you making conversation, and I suspect that if you don't sound braggy, you're not going to come across as such.

Re: the cat sitter, yeah, I cringed with you there.

And maybe you should make an arrangement with your vet when you do travel that if there's an emergency the sitter can bring the cat in and they'll bill your credit card?

mevennen October 2 2014, 19:04:48 UTC

Bill the card or invoice you, if they'll do that. We have been in a position of being property-rich but cash-poor. Sometimes it has been hard to lay out £10 for petrol: it does make you very conscious when having conversations with people. I just assume that everyone's skint. In the UK, generally, these days everyone is, relative to the culture (i.e. compared to Angola, we are wealthy beyond compare).

scarlettina October 2 2014, 19:17:48 UTC

As I said to herself_nyc above, I've been skittish about giving my card number out since my identity theft. On the other hand, I've done business with my vet for 15+ years. It's probably not a bad idea not to work with them on this.

joycemocha October 3 2014, 14:38:05 UTC

In horse world, the vet frequently bills the owner because it's a barn call. The owner can leave the credit card on file. What frequently surprises me is that even with the barn call fee, horse vet bills are frequently less expensive than in-office small animal vet bills.

Anyway. I would think the vet could set up a billing routine for these circumstances. I've been able to do things like that in the past with small animal vets, and again, with the horse...usually it's a billing because the vet is usually not able to process a credit card at the barn (mobile access issues).

Thread 6

editrx October 3 2014, 05:43:20 UTC

I fear, m'dear, that I'd embarrass you, too, or make you feel awkward. Your situation is no longer middle class. The classes have shifted.

garyomaha October 3 2014, 13:23:11 UTC

Janna, thank you for writing this. Amidst all the pleasant-but-not-important messages arriving via social media today, this is the one that has made me think.

I've lived in the midwestern U.S. all my life. What we have is, I used to assume, what everyone has. I grew up in a very white, very middle-class, somewhat Jewish community. I saw few minorities. I saw little poverty.

The concept of "privilege" did not occur to me until adulthood, and (I am embarrassed to say) I didn't think about it much until fairly recent writings, mostly by our dear friend Jay Lake. Perhaps this sort of thing should be taught in school? (I come from an era where one had to learn useless facts and figures in school; hopefully, by now, that has improved and teaching *concepts* is the norm.)

My present religion (and workplace) teaches the value and worth of all -- that's a good starting point to use to help begin counter-balancing "privilege."

joycemocha October 3 2014, 14:56:51 UTC

Hmm. Most of the time when I've had my nails done, we either don't talk (the salon where I now go for pedicures, the stylists are frequently talking to each other rather than us) or we talk about style. My first manicurist and I talked about work, because manicure work was a side job for her and she was moving into a full-time job at my husband's company. Since it was an x-ray tech job, and I know just enough about it from the husband to be curious and ask good questions, we had good chats about that. She also taught me a lot of things I didn't know about maintaining my nails. At another salon, frequently the owner (male) would talk about his other salon and we'd talk business while he did my nails ( ... )