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I’m from a reasonably upper-middle class background; reasonably successful in a top-10 metro. So’s my brother, but he’s gone the McMansion & country club route where I’ve tended more modest. I don’t like visiting them. Their environment just rings all my class warfare buttons, triggers all my “you don’t belong here” warnings & the obsequiousness at the restaurants & venues they prefer is just gross. I mean, I’m a middle-aged white guy, dressed like all the other mf’s in the neighborhood, so I do “belong;” it just feels wrong.

Everybody gotta find their own comfort zone, and we have to appreciate that our friends & family can have different tastes. Sometimes, that does mean dressing up in funny costume & hanging out in uncomfortable spaces to share in their joy, but there’s tactful ways to explain/prepare your fam for unfamiliar situations, and there’s “Come here and let me dress you.”

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wise_pancake@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I grew up where my dad’s family was rich (but not mcmansion country club people) and my moms family was dirt poor. They divorced and I grew up with my mom and saw her struggle to feed us and had to work as soon as I was old enough. I like to think I saw both sides, but definitely had more privilege than most.

Those mcmansion people are the worst. My step dad’s brother was one, and he embezzled his own mother’s life savings and lost them. I’ve met tons of them through my dad’s connections and hearing them talk about how workers always wanted too much while owning multiple homes, new luxury cars, and staying in huge hotel suites was gross (I got brought to a few penthouse parties).

I’ve seen my mom penny pinch, but I never had to feel the struggle that poor people do fully. My grandparents were rich but would always look after people (there was a lineup to my grandpa’s funeral because the church couldn’t fit everyone). Mcmansion rich people are the worst. They can do so much more for their community but they’d rather have stuff and luxury.

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- electric@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Sorry if prying, but why didn’t your mother just get alimony? Easier to get if the other parent has good income, no?
  
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