Would you be offended if someone said you lived in a rough area?

[marbleel]

In recent weeks the area I live in has been targeted for burglaries and car thefts. I’ve never known it like this before and I just mentioned it to a colleague and she said “well you do live in a rough area”.

Colleague who at 30 has never once lived away from home. She then admitted that she doesn’t know anything about the area 😳

(it’s not rough, there are more expensive areas which are more desirable or areas further from the city centre that are quieter etc)

No. My area is rough as fuck.🤷‍♀️

My dad was like that when I moved into my own flat. It was in St Pauls in Bristol.
I had already agreed a let, and picked up my keys. He rang me in a panic that someone was shot dead in the very road I was moving into. He offered to pay any cancellation fees and find me somewhere else. He had made it up. No one was shot. He just didn't want me living there.
When I did move in, a friend visited me and frantically banged on the door until I let him in. He was scared about being stabbed.
I lived there for 2 years with zero trouble at all. My neighbours were ace.

Sometimes. One of my husbands family thinks anything outside the south east is rough. He has no understanding of anything Midlands/North and comes out with sweeping statements like "we saw that stabbing we were so worried about you it's so rough" when said incident happened 30 miles away in an a completely different area but because it's "midlands" it's all "rough".

I don't live in a rough area so would laugh at anyone thinking it was rough.

It’s rude.
She’s free to think it but no need to say it out loud.

No I wouldn't be offended.

There's rough and rough. The area I live is quite urban - 10 mins from town centre, local station literally round the corner, in a side road between two main roads. It's actually quite an expensive area (easy commute to london) and I have a nice house. But because it is so urban/central it's fairly busy and noisy with a fair bit of opportunistic crime including drug dealing, antisocial behaviour, thefts from cars etc. My mother thinks it's horrifyingly rough - lives in a quiet seaside resort in big detached house.

There is a very rough area elsewhere in this town. Very poor/deprived, high crime levels, massive anti social behaviour. That's proper rough. My mother would faint if she went there!

You mention your colleague as having led a sheltered life so the first sort of rough probably seems very rough to her. It's a bit annoying and tactless but just roll your eyes and be glad you're not her.

Logically, would car thieves and burglars target a "rough" area when they could target an upmarket area where the value of cars and home owners' possessions would be considerably higher? Or this down to the upmarket area having better home and car security systems?

We live in a rough postcode. On purpose! Actually we live on a small estate that’s about 20 years old next to a rough area. But we love it there, we chose to move into the area to be involved in community projects and we are, it’s great, really friendly and fantastic people.

It’s all relative. It’ll be rough compared to one place and desirable compared to another.

The main point is that you like it and you feel safe enough there.

Its been said to me but i was more confused

apparently we had drug pushers and prostitution 😳

turns out our road name was the same as one in the next door town (same name but one was ave and the other road)

i didn’t know that at the time but it didn’t matter how much i said it was wrong she just kept insisting 😀

i agree that areas can be targeted

Not offended no. If I did live in a rough area I'd agree, and if not, I'd wonder where she got that impression from.

My area is rough as fuck and I know it 🤣

More likely can't afford the rent or to move to bigger property when you have kids because of gentrification.

You know people can't always afford to live in the areas that are not considered 'rough'?

I think it’s a dismissive and flippant comment that implies if one lives in a poor or deprived area then expectation should be of increased crime.
“ I Rough” is a judgemental comment too. so in short, it is a negative comment, but no, I wouldn’t be offended - I’d feel the person who said this is an ignorant and I’d ignore them/ call them out.

Yes I would but I'd forgive a really young idiot

My sister and I were brought up in an extremely rough and deprived area. If I'm honest, we still had a pretty middle class upbringing due to our parents' backgrounds and jobs, but I'm proud of where we came from. It gave us a good grounding in life and the community around us was far friendlier and down to earth than the well trod area I live in now. I can't stand snobbery and am far more comfortable with people from similar backgrounds to me, generally speaking. When people ask where I'm from, it's often met with disdain, but I couldn't care less. I only live where I do now to be closer to elderly relatives once they needed additional support - I'd have been quite happy staying put where I was, and know my children would have thrived there too.

Why are you offended?

Your area sounds rough.

But also if you are in a city I’ve noticed every area has a rough side and a “posh” side and each person is entitled to an opinion which is most likely formed by living a different life or accessing other information.

I lived in a rough area, but the section I was in was very quiet and nice. If you walked 5/10 minutes up you were in the rough part.

No it wouldn't bother me. I live in a small village that had a reputation for being a bit rough about 30 years ago.

A colleague once asked if it was ok living there. He lives in a very desirable village, the one with the outstanding senior school.

But I have lived here for 14 years, no issues at all, lovely neighbours, no crime, whereas he came out one morning to discover someone had pinched all the alloys off his Mercedes which was up on bricks 😂

We each make our choices. I am happy to live with mine.

Not at all

I'd agree with them.. I do live in a rough area

No as it's true.

However today I attended a sports event against a very prestigious private school and said to one of "our parents" that I was hoping the other group didn't think I was with them (logistics) and she threw her head back and sneery laughed saying "oh don't worry, they knew you weren't" while pointing me up and down 😱

It’s rude to say it but I wouldn’t be offended because I know where I live has a bit of a reputation. It’s “up and coming” which means house prices have doubled in the last decade and we now have two natural wine bars.

Theres a fair bit of crime; it’s not unusual to see low level crime or the police dealing with something but it’s an urban area in a major city. The posher areas have the highest rates of burglary, mugging and car thefts because they’ve got more stuff worth stealing. If you drive a Range Rover round here, you’re probably a drug dealer! And there’s an actual sense of community here - I know my neighbours so one will text if they see a strange man near our house (normally one of my brothers).

Well if it is rough or has a reputation for being rough then I can't see the issue. Also, it's not like she randomly said it, it was said in response to your comments. YABU

I live on the outskirts of a town that is known to be rough.
I have gorgeous views at the front and we can walk through miles of countryside with the dogs.
It doesn't really bother me what is happening in town as such, it isn't really 'dangerous' more like chavs selling drugs and nicking each others quad bikes etc.
I would however have asked the 30 year old, still living at home which area they deemed suitable to move to when they flew the nest!

Well it is either true or not but being offended would change it so unless it makes you move then why would it change anything?

Why do others opinions matter so much?

I think it's rude and would never say that to someone. Also where I live, car thefts etc happen in the nicest areas because they have lovely cars! Very judgemental of her.