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?

How do you make that out?

Don't say "GDP", because GDP is not a measure of wealth, it's a measure of turnover. A third of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, San Francisco has got a tent city, 20m live in trailer parks.

As to why I'm so fixated, I think it's partially dual ethnicity, the weird combination of your ancestors being oppressed for simply living in their own country but not being minded to sail half way across the world to steal another countries wealth, yet the my knowledge of my English family history, as poor farmers, they didn't have it great either. I find Britain as a country fascinating. I find the legacy of empire fascinating. I find the irony of the current world superpowers fascinating, and how little we in Britain matter to the rest of the world now. I find it funny how the crumbling buildings of our capital, made with all the wealth from our collective wrong doings, are now being the sole reason tourists come here. We could have created a better, fairer society with all that wealth but we didn't.

The Russian economy is not "coming on great", it's on the verge of collapsing.

You sound very gloaty OP. You do realise there are still many poor people in India, China and the Middle East.

Also karma is not a real thing.

It's the Vivian (Pretty Woman) effect isn't it.

@UmbrellaEllaEllaElla why would I gloat? I live here, my children are here, my family are here. Seeing people go to food banks, rough sleeping, lose homes, that's horrible. It's a terrible decline, but we seem to be in the dark about it. Why aren't we furious? We had a chance to make things better, and we threw it away.

Interesting, do you really think that the Arab Gulf, Nigeria, Russia, and Asian wealthy people care about poor people in their countries? Every country peaks and then declines. Look at other countries it's not just the UK. It's just weird that you're so happy about it. The only people that really suffer are the poor. The rich still get richer.

You think Indian and Chinese people are all wealthy? A tiny proportion are. They’re still two very, very unequal countries.

I don’t suppose sales people give a shiny where paying customers come from.

Why do you “love” that people in the UK are getting poorer?

I was totally opposed to Brexit, knew it was disaster in the making for most people and I find the current state of the nation deeply depressing.

Which country do your parents come from OP?

Comes to mind

not RTFT. But I know what you mean.
I remember being in Hong Kong in 1997 and the shop staff in Tsimshatsui refusing to serve me " No Indians!" or being very surly and grumpy. Similar service elsewhere.

It's changed.

Source?

I do agree that there seem to be a lack of anger about the state of the country, instead a lot of people seem to think that this is how it is in all of Europe. My perception is that Britain has been hit way worse by the COL crisis than the rest of Europe and the decline is much more noticable. That's from an outsider perspective though and I can't say that where I live has been nearly as badly affected. Sure our food prices went a bit up too, but not as much as in the UK. Electricity prices have also been very reasonable here. Our interst rates went up too but have been coming down again for some time. Our healthcare system has recovered since the pandemic and we don't have those ridiculous waiting times in A&E or for an ambulance. I had to go to A&E in the summer, got in at about 7am and I was the only one there. I was seen within 5 minutes.

I go to China a lot for work - Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen regions. There I certainly feel very poor. I imagine it would be different in the rural areas but the cities are insane.

On the plus side, I can go to countries like Egypt and Morocco and not be harassed simply because some people continue to think brown = poor and white= rich.
I can also travel solo and be safer in a way.

I think a post like this will always get people's backs up. I agree that we are stagnating, I work for a global firm, my peers in the EU out earn me and have way more benefits. My direct reports in the EU will also probably out earn me fairly soon.
I was trying to keep an open mind but this response confused me.

I think globalisation means more places like Asia and South America are more accessible ie easier to fly to.
I disagree about Asia being a cheap holiday destination. What places in Asia are you referring to? I'm planning 2025 hols and I can't find anything for less than £10k for a family of 4. And that's for a week to destination that's a pain to get to with DCs. DH is also looking at a boys trip for later in the year to South America and is looking at no less than £3k for a decent flight and accommodation.
I don't think that's cheap. I just don't think you get as much for your £ as you did for long haul anymore. I fell ill in Central America last year and the resort GP was more expensive than a private GP appointment here.

I'm not sure anyone in Europe ever schmoozed Brits

A resort ‘anything’ is always going to be expensive.

I don't understand this idea that Britain is the only country experience economic difficulties at the moment

But re Switzerland, op is probably being mugged off because she only speaks English

That’s what we commented in Italy - dh did lol at me and point out I looked homeless at that point 😂 (he’s usually complimentary and did have a point).

I liked reading this. Wish you'd carried on with your musing.

By "Switzerland" @DeliaSmithsEpicGuitarRiff , do you mean Geneva? Because that's not really a typical city for retail.

As an aside, I used to go to the Alos several times a year, fur about a decade. Some of the consistently worst retail service I have had was in Switzerland. I was happier to sieve my £/€/CHF in France.

Why so many "British" posts around at the moment?

Most people that I know, don't refer to themselves as British. I usually see that from other countries.

Was in Toronto recently and received a pitiful “oh you’re British?” a few times.

🤣

And by posters who are posting on MN for the first time today. It's so odd 🤔