To wonder why some people are so in awe of people that have money?

[LucyTory]

I've seen it happen quite a lot in the town in which I live. It's quite a small town and everybody seems to know everybody else, and it always seems as though people that have money get put on a pedestal by many and treated as local heroes.

Most recently, an aquaintance's financial situation has changed a lot in the past couple of years. Her DH started a business and it's gone really well, and they've gone from living in a 2 bedroom semi to a 5 bedroom detached house, upgraded their car, have nice holidays, buy nice things etc. Since this has happened she seems to have acquired hundreds of fans on Facebook, that ooh and aah at everything she is wearing in photos and gush about how nice her house is, and how lovely her kids are. This didn't really happen before she appeared to have money.

On Saturday it was the birthday party of one of her DCs. It was in a soft play place locally where loads of people have their DCs parties. During the course of Saturday I must have seen 6 or 7 Facebook statuses each tagging her and saying they'd had a great time at "The Party of the Year". It's so weird! It was just kids playing in the soft play followed by kids eating fishfingers and chips!

Basically it seems that since this woman has been better off financially she gets treated like a queen!

Does anyone else notice this kind of thing regarding people who have a bit of money? As I said, I have seen it happen quite a bit locally.

Money talks im afraid. Ever thus and ever will be.

Bibbit I never said being rich was bettering yourself. I said 'wanting to achieve, be aspirational or be successful in whatever'.

That said, it does seem to be that any sign of wealth not in line with the persons background, irks a lot of people, wether that be a new house, clothes, cars etc.

Why do you find 'bettering yourself' repellant?

Rugger Shopped in Marks ? Notions well above your station woman! Whatever next?

Omg do people actually put 'I love your life' on fb??!

Womensnet
Well op was about people who have money and you started on about "bettering" oneself" so as I saw it, you were equating the two.

Yes, this goes on everywhere! All over the world, to quote ELO!

We also lived on air for ages, but now are ok, but to hear from my own mother that we are getting above ourselves is hard to bare. Just because we have chosen to live in a different country where the standard of living is higher than other places doesn't mean I am better or worse than anyone else. There will always be people richer, poorer, fatter, thinner, prettier, plainer, taller or small than any of us and we should be grateful for what we have.

She completely turned her nose up at my house and said how it's lucky she lives in a nice area, nothing wrong with where I live it's actually considered a very nice area. She's just a snob and if her son wasn't friends with my son I'd love to tell her where to go 😁

:) better off without her. Sorry I'd assumed the opposite and it was a stealth boast, good to know that isn't the case

I kind of was in a simular situation where I was with some friends fawning over rich someone's house both said they could only dream of living in a place like it.
I said nothing other than agreed it was nice.

I work for and have been surrounded by wealthy people at various points and I might have admired their drive and successesand not fawning but I have never been impressed with material possessions or felt any desire to want what they have.

I live in a place similar to this. I don't use FB & it's great at Easter, we can get in the swimming pool as everyone else is in Florida.

I don't think what Sparrowhawk said of Ireland is as true now at all. The Celtic Tiger changed all that. There are a few well off, well they present as well off I have no idea what their bank balances say, parents at my dcs school and I have remarked to my dh a few times about how everyone fawns. This is in small town Ireland. People are very interested in what others have and judge them on a scale accordingly.

We are a wealthy family, it has come down from my parents so I'm used to it but DW has much more normal roots.
I get on brilliantly with her parents but years after we got married they confessed that they had concerns when they saw what I'd come from. They just made a load of negative assumptions based upon seeing the family pile. To their credit they never said anything and it only came up years later in passing.

DW still works even though she doesn't have to and her work friends are the funniest. We've had 'holy fuck is this where you live' and 'so which flat is yours?'.

It was all fairly new to me to be honest as I the people I happened to mix with growing up either were rich themselves or knew my family so weren't surprised if they ever saw the house.

It does make me laugh sometimes though. Years ago, DW's best friend introduced us to her new man (now husband).
They moved in together and went to live a couple of hours away by the sea. We would see them whenever they were back in the area or we would go down and see them for a few days. When they came back to her hometown they would stay with her parents and not us obviously - so without us realising it was 4 or 5 years and he had never actually been to our house.

Finally they came over one day and when approaching the house he apparently came over all nervous and looked very uncomfortable. Wife said to him 'what's up?' And he said something along the lines of 'shit didn't realise they were like royal or something'. He's a proper working class lad from a big northern city and he was intimidated by the house...

We did take the mick for a few years after that (in a nice way)!

I get this - it comes via the local landed village gentry who is so fantastically showoffily wealthy that everyone fawns all over him. He now fawns all over me because he's utterly money-obsessed and overheard me explaining to a mutual friend how to sort out buying and selling shares - and the shares i was talking about were ones Mr Wealthy thought were respectable. All of a sudden I'm A Person in his eyes, and all the sycophants now pay homage to me even if they're not entirely sure why I'm A Person...

These silly people don't seem to realise we do our weekly shop in the local equivalent of Lidl, buy clothing, books and furniture exclusively secondhand from the local equivalent of eBay, take sandwiches to work instead of buying lunch, never eat out, almost never go to the pub, etc. All spare money has always been invested as wisely as we know how, so that we can afford to do stuff like buying and renovating our house. I think Mr Wealthy thinks that we play the stockmarket because we can afford to play with money... shallow git.

Still - better to have him inside the tent pissing out than outside pissing in...

It's so sad for the victims of the sycophancy. They think they have friends, but when push comes to shove they are on their own.

A friend of mine moved to a posh American enclave in Mexico and suddenly found herself surrounded by lots of friends. It turned out that they thought that because she was the representative of the Canadian Embassy in that town, she was a useful person to know. When they found out that she had no pull at all with the Embassy, they dropped her like a hot brick and she had to start all over again. Not a pleasant experience. For Americans it is called networking.

I've also noticed the difference in how some people react to earned wealth and lucky wealth . Friends who have made money from scratch , setting up business and working all hours have been sneered at by mostly left wing types who've never had to pay rent or mortgage due to inherited homes or wealth .
Have also seen lottery winners lauded whilst anyone who earned good money from their talents were dismissed as 'lucky' or in someway undeserving.

The biggest pain for me is one particular acquaintance who fawns all over me (online mainly) and is constantly suggesting I pass on my cast offs to her (I like to shop). I suspect she wouldn't give me the time of day if I was on the breadline.