To think British people aren't thought of as rich anymore

[DeliaSmithsEpicGuitarRiff]

I kind of love this, as the child of someone from a colonised country and different race, but the other half very much British.
I am away somewhere that it is possible to spend a lot of money. There once was a time where being British would mean you received excellent service, no one thought you were poor, no one suspected you would steal or have your card declined.
Now I feel the opposite. That being British makes people assume I'm poor or likely to quibble about prices. Where I am now there are so many tourists from much richer countries such as the Middle East, China and India and we simply do not compete. The sales people look at us with contempt and pity, the poor English woman. It feels like some epic karma for the empire.
Are we likely to continue to decline in standard of living until we are Europe's shabby cousins, you know the ones who had lice and lived off tinned ravioli? And will the proud, Brexiteers even recognise that this our fate?

In your dreams.

I’ve never experienced that whilst overseas.

😂😂😂

The sales people look at us with contempt and pity, the poor English woman.

Sure they do.

Those other places aren't richer - they're just more unequal

Brits used to be treated like crap back when you were only allowed to take £200 overseas

I've got lice and eat cat food, thought that was the norm in Blighty.

The sales people look at us with contempt and pity, the poor English woman.

Either you need an extreme makeover, or some treatment for paranoia.

Yeah but she might look like the bird woman from Home Alone 🤷‍♀️

I have no idea what you’re going on about. Individuals are wealthy or skint, I don’t think people in shops make sweeping judgments on whether Brits (or the French, or Luxembourgers etc) are able to afford things.

But surely the rest of Europe know that our wages are stagnant, that our cost of housing/rent/ childcare is more (as in a bigger percentage of our expenditure). Why wouldn't they make judgements about whether to bother schmoozing us in shops and restaurants? Knowing there are more wealthy other people around the corner?

You think your sales assistant is making assumptions about the per head gdp of the uk relative to other nations? Seems reasonable.

because they don't give a curse about your wages or cost of living or anything else. They are too concerned about their own lives - british lives don't matter at all to them. You walk in and want to buy an hermes purse - as long as you have the money to pay for it then the poor woman standing behind the counter in Paris or Nice or Rome really doesn't give a shit about the UK GDP.

And this is amazing OP - think about it - it will blow your mind. You can actually sell to a less wealthy person in a shop and THEN sell to the wealthier person around the corner. Ain't commerce grand?

I don't think that British tourists were ever assumed to be rich, especially in places like Benidorm where working class people started holidaying in the '70s.

People with money can come from anywhere.

I don't think there's anywhere in the world where Indians and Chinese are assumed to be rich. The same goes for most of the Middle East.

I think some of you have never worked in retail, and it shows. You have to make very quick judgements about who is going to buy and not buy, who you put on the razzle dazzle for, because you can't do it for all, especially in a busy shop/ restaurant/ cafe. I'm in Switzerland and it's very obvious who is getting the best service and it's not the Brits (not just me, but multiple British couples and families I've seen)

I'm in my mid fifties.

I've been working in retail since I was 12 years old.

I still think you're talking rubbish 😳

I've lived in Switzerland and always received excellent service.

"I've got lice and eat cat food, thought that was the norm in Blighty."

You're lucky, I can't afford cat food, I just pick the lice off my malnourished children and eat those.

I’ve always had great service except a handbag shop in Italy… I did walk in looking like a drowned rat though. Oh actually I did get ignored in Chanel in Florida but we decided to walk from the hotel as it didn’t look far. It was an hour walk and my hair went full Monica. I also couldn’t afford their prices so it was a fair assumption.

This post is weird though because it assumes we all want to be rich and have people think we’re rich. I like to be comfortable but filthy rich isn’t something I aspire to. Very happy to live a normal life. I can only assume op is projecting.

I don't think British people have been thought of as rich since about the time Phineas Fogg left the Reform Club and went for a wee dander.

What an utterly bonkers post.

Also who CARES if strangers think of Britons as rich or not. I don’t care what strangers think of me when I am travelling overseas.

In fact if they think I am poor it’s for the better - keeps the beggars, hagglers and scammers away.

Therapy.

This sort of 'pondering' always happens after midnight ..... Strange

I think the point about whether those with wares to sell are reading you/Brits as a good prospect as a punter is one thing, and that's more down to whether your clothes and image match the shop/restaurant you're in than your nationality. Though there are places where Brits have got reputations for bad manners and might get a frosty reception... But that's been the case for years especially since the football hooligan years.

The other point about being on the decline as a country since the empire days is a different point.

I think we've been propped up by our legacy historical wealth for a long time (infrastructure, world status... All showing signs of wear and tear as time goes by) as our circumstances recalibrate to the fact that we are no longer routinely plundering the resources of other nations without compunction... So we've been on a general downward trajectory of national grandeur since the days of Carnegie...

But again, nothing new there. I think it's only fair that this happens, though in world politics one built is usually replaced by another.

I have noticed market sellers shouting ‘I’ll give you Primark price’ and ‘Asda price’ to British tourists.

So I think you may have a point, OP.

I worked in retail multiple times when younger and think your post is bonkers.