To wonder if it's acceptable to brag about money if people are being disrespectful in the professional setting?

[ThatBlueViper]

This came up yesterday and seemed to split responses down the middle. As a petite non-white ultra-high achiever from a regular background I often have to deal with varying degrees of disrespectful behaviour, normally from older white men.

I have tried various things over the years but nothing, and I mean nothing, puts a stop to it like pointing out the behaviour then making a very direct comparison e.g. if you're going to keep talking over me like you're smarter than me, please explain why you have far less money than me?

I'm not going to deny that it's rude, confrontational, nasty etc but it reliably stuns people (especially men) into silence and they are never disrespectful again. AIBU to think it's ok to use this line or variations of it in a professional setting?

All I can think about is Harry Enfield’s “Oim considerably richer than yow” in broad Brummie! You would be thought of as quite ridiculous tbh!

Personally I wouldn’t use it (but it did make me laugh). I think you are in the right and this puts you in the wrong. I like almostbloody50 suggestions and take the moral high ground. If you are ticked off and want to be deliberately confrontational and make them squirm i would go with the very simple: Why do you think it is ok to interrupt me? Why do you think it is acceptable to talk over me? or whatever disrespectful thing they are doing. Then silence whilst they struggle to find an answer.

Honestly you can't be that smart if you actually thing this is a smart thing to say to someone.

I work in a low paid sector and while most people are nice once in a while we deal with an asshole. My colleague usually stays quiet to their face but then launches into a rant about them, saying they assume they can talk down to us as they see us as lower class or poorer. She says how she is overqualified for the job and comes from a very wealthy family, owns lots of property etc. It makes her sound like 'do you know who i am' and it's a bit pathetic. It's very insulting to the other staff who actually are struggling financially and are from WC backgrounds. If anything it reinforces the customer's classist attitude because she is trying to say she is actually as good as or better than them and that's why she should be treated with respect. Not that everyone should be treated with respect regardless of race or class. So no, it's not ok to say this IMO.

These people are so irritating and I can see it's tempting to say anything to shut them up. But the way forward is always by example. Show them up with your greater knowledge or better ideas.

I think if you’re as smart as you think you are, you’ll be able to come up with a better way to handle these situations. You might be getting stunned silence as a response, but it’s not out of respect.

How else might you approach it?

You could try these as an alternative, on a similar vein to what you propose:

'I'm rubber and you are glue'
'What you say is what you are'
'Takes one to know one'
'Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me'
or
Repeat their sentence back to them but sounding like you have a speech impediment.
Repeat everything they say even after they ask you to stop
Open your mouth really wide using your fingers and waggle your tongue
Say 'so is your face' or 'so is your Mam' at the end of their statements.

It’s crass, and almost lowers you to their level, tbh. You can do better than that.

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