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?

The only multi millionaire I know looks like a hobo who’s not brushed his hair or had a bath in a week 😆

I have to steal the cat food from cats...

Very interesting points OP. I fully agree that working in retail you're going to make snap judgements about who to spend your energy on - I always find it utterly maddening when I'm buying a TV or looking at a property and every answer to any question I ask is directed to my DH (or in one very bizarre twist my male employee).

I don't know if atttitudes have turned to pity toward British people but I am confident you're asking in the wrong place. I have always found the Brits utterly oblivious to the general dislike many other nationalities have towards them. I'm not saying it's fair they face those prejudices or are generally regarded as wankers but I find it fascinating how unaware they are.

I think the sort of very high end Pretty Woman style boutique staff might be the type the OP is talking about? The kind who can guess your postcode and income bracket at a glance and judge their commission on those factors?

And the sort of clientele who think nothing of spending £1000 on jewelry in the duty free.

But I don't think I need to be troubled any time soon about what these sorts of people think about me, because I'm not likely to visit.

There's a difference between not knowing and not giving a shit enough tbh.

Sorry but I don't agree. There are many British people I know who are totally oblivious - which is a good thing!

It's glaringly obvious during every World Cup or Euros tournament, what with the Anyone But England crowds out in force every single time. Trust me, we notice it (and I'm not a football fan!)

Thing is there's fuck all we can do about it. I refuse to have an argument with someone defending myself for things I'm not responsible for (Brexit, colonialism, the empire, the royals, our weird politicians, etc) What's the point? Such people won't change their minds because of me reacting to them, in fact that's likely exactly what they want. Easier to just not care and not bother with them in future. I would never ever dislike someone on the basis of their nationality, how fucking nasty is that?

I fully agree with you. But you're not who I'm talking about.

And what an excellent source of protein they are.

You're lucky though, we can't afford to feed lice.

We just suck the canal water from the coal we rescue from the canal bottom like the poor Englishers that we are.

Can you explain who you're talking about then please, by referring to "the Brits"?
Genuinely not being goady here, I honestly don't get it and would like to understand.

Yes I understand why some British people are massive bellends. I do not understand why that makes it OK to generalise and hate everyone with that nationality.

What's going on in America atm is bloody awful but I have many, many lovely American friends, colleagues and relations. I'd never go around saying all Americans are wankers, no matter what Trump and Vance cook up next.

I totally agree that sales assistants make quick judgements (sometimes incorrectly) on the people who are coming into their shop to buy.

I have worked retail, in high end shops, and it's part of the training. We knew the type of person coming in who would buy multiples of a number of products and the ones coming in to buy several different items. And the ones coming in to buy a couple of items.

I actually quite like the honesty of this.

I was harassed by a bloody Specsavers saleswoman who wasn't "reading the sale", and wasted my time and hers because I really only did want the basic deal.

Good sales people know where to direct their energy, and it's only annoying when they read the room wrongly.

Sure. Tone gets lost on these posts so I'll start by saying I'm not trying to be goady at all either.

I'm not talking about all British people, I'm only talking about British people who look totally confused at any reference that they are not popular as a nationality within particular countries. Unfortunately these are almost always the ones who are behaving like bellends and assume everyone is delighted to see them coming.

However I don't think anyone should have to pander to discrimination so I don't see any harm in the lack of awareness.

When I said not like you I meant because you clearly do know these prejudices exist and are quite right in your assertion that you should not give a shit.

I was comparing to (for example) my husband being very aware of the discrimination he faces.

I too know lots of great Americans and lots of great British people.

I hope that makes sense. (i'm very tired)

Dh is English, I'm Irish - when we have travelled in the last 3 years and we're asked where we're from - they ignore dh who says English and get very excited and animated about me being Irish. Dh and I have been together for decades, he doesn't care about not being noticed or popular but he got a hostile reception in Austria - he was accused of causing Brexit and that wasn't nice. The difference in the way people treat us is becoming increasingly obvious.
It was particularly charming to meet a young Vietnamese man who was thrilled to meet an Irish person after watching the Derry Girls on Netflix 😂

I suppose it depends where you go. We travelled around India in the summer, at exactly the time the racist riots were happening here. So on Indian news there were images of British people attacking black people and Asians. There were still plenty of Indians who were excited to see me when they found out I was British. I had lots of requests for selfies. I felt rather ashamed to be British at this point but it didn't affect their view of me.
I've been treated poorly in Paris for being British, including having waiters mocking me and singing our national anthem in a ridiculous way. I didn't care!
I've travelled a lot recently in southern Europe - Portugal, Spain and Italy and everyone was very friendly to us.

I'm Irish and have travelled a lot - people light up when they hear the accent. There is always loads of "I love the Irish!" thrown out passionately (as if we are one homogeneous group) unfortunately nearly always followed by a story of how they had a wild night out with some Irish person involving insane amounts of alcohol.

However within Ireland I'm from Dublin which is universally disliked by the other parts of Ireland and considered to be a dump full of dickheads. I've lived and spent lots of times in the other parts so I find this quite funny but I'm always amazed when other Dubs think everywhere in the country will be thrilled and honoured to receive them.

My friend and her dh are just back from India - both English and she reported the same thing - loads of selfies. Never been asked for a selfie before!

If you find Parisians unpleasant, try Bordeaux instead. Courteous classy lot in beautiful safe clean city.

Believe it or not, not everyone is desperate to move to the UK. We have family in India. They have absolutely no interest in moving here.

Reporting your racist comment. I have had it with the veiled racism on MN.

Sorry Op, I disagree . This is perhaps a reflection of retail knowing you were browsing a handbag or something rather than buying. Our wages have stagnated in the West and maybe more people in general are browsing. Maybe some staff are used to certain groups of people spending more, but this really isn't an important point, I feel. Briton isn't thought of as poor on the international stage (she might have just thought you were too tight to buy). Although Brexit has taken away some of our gravity and power.

Incidentally , the business I work in has mechanisms in place to be paid up front for Middle Eastern embassies for services before they are delivered. This is because they have a long history of not paying. Not all embassies are treated the same.