Free Coffee At Waitrose Creates "Middle Class Revolt"

[Simon_Jester]

Maddoctor, I'm sure your mother is exactly as snooty as you say.

My point is simply that this kind of snootiness has an origin, it is the consequence of a thought process that actually makes sense inside the mind of a more or less sane human being. Fail to address the origin and you will fail to address the problems that this kind of class bigotry causes.

[Scrib]

I'm familiar with the feeling. In its defence, absolutely nobody enjoys coming face to face with human misery when they're out in their community. Even though 99% of who you'd consider 'poor' in urban America are nice people with personal pride, who are good parents and not hygenically-challenged, you will always remember the one guy who wasn't, and you will never want to chance meeting him again.

I don't think they give a fuck about actual misery no? Just that the extra money or time they're spending is no longer providing the affirmation they want. I mean, look at the complaints, nothing there is truly serious, it's just people who have come into contact with the ancient,undeniable fact that if "those people" (anywhere from pondscum to someone who wears sweats out) can get it it's not quite as valuable.

You're being very charitable.

Not, however, necessarily wrong.

I mean, which is more likely: that large numbers of people are seriously willing to protest and change shopping habits purely out of snootiness? Out of some abstract, theoretical commitment to getting affirmation that no, they don't shop in the same place as the people who make 25% less money than they do?

Or that said people are genuinely (if wrongly) afraid that they will have to deal with the rude, violent, unwashed people they expect to see (some of the time, at least) when they hear the words "we're bringing in a lower income demographic?"

People in the mid- to upper middle class are not cartoon villains.

They're not cartoon villains because I don't particularly consider this some absurdly evil or uncommon thing. I think people act that way, it's just that it's the upper middle class pulling it here.

My point is simply that this kind of snootiness has an origin, it is the consequence of a thought process that actually makes sense inside the mind of a more or less sane human being. Fail to address the origin and you will fail to address the problems that this kind of class bigotry causes.

I will yield that the mindset has value, but then, a ton of things do. I however think that there is a line between legitimate worry and bull...the other thing. There comes a point when your "worries" are so trivial that I suspect that your motives. There's a whole lot of difference between violent people and people you don't want to be seen around/you pay to get away from because of Superficial Reason X. If anyone can provide any info or context that makes it seem as if the incoming hordes are violent or in any way greatly harmful I'll think on it but I think it's just as likely that these people simply do not want to have whatever shows them in a good light fucked with or diluted, however they rationalize it.

[Simon_Jester]

I think what really does it is psychological stress that comes from having to remember more than one set of social rules. Different groups tend to operate on different rules, and if you want an interaction to go well you have to remember all rules relevant to both parties.

Some people can't handle this well. When they're poor they turn into the aggressively ignorant and scornful type who refuse to understand how other people expect them to behave, or tolerate this understanding in others.

When they're rich, they turn into the other aggressively ignorant and scornful type, who refuse to understand how other people might not behave as they expect, or tolerate this understanding in others.

[madd0ct0r]

Nah - people shop at waitrose to signal their social class. If the oiks are invading, it dilutes that signal.

You don't see the reverse, working class people complaining about rich gits shopping in lidl.

[Lagmonster]

You don't see the reverse, working class people complaining about rich gits shopping in lidl.

People bitch about people with bad attitudes, bad hygiene, or bad social skills. That at least is not exclusive to any class. If some millionaire walks into Walmart and acts like a spoiled bag of dicks, he's likely to draw mockery from poorer people who cannot believe how out-of-touch money has made this guy.

[Vendetta]

Yeah, but they won't consider not shopping at Wal-Mart any more because it's attracting "the wrong sort of people" now.

Which is classical Waitrose snobbery.

[Danny Bhoy]

The wikipedia entry describes it as an "upmarket supermarket chain", so it probably just is a bunch of upper-middle-class assholes whining about poor-looking people wandering around in their stores.

It's exactly that.

The class politics of supermarket chains is vicious.

Y'see, the aspirational upper middle classes shop at Waitrose and Marks & Spencer. The lower middle classes without quite enough money to be aspirational shop at Sainsbury's, the labouring classes shop at Tescos and shiftless oiks shop at Asda. (The actually rich people have people to shop for them and probably don't give a fuck where it comes from)

When in London, I shop at Tescos (Surrey Quays) and when I was in the yoonie, at Sainsbury's (Whitechapel). No one who knows my family background or seen my current paycheck would describe me as a C2DE. Admittedly, I shop at M&S here (Levallois-Perreire) for the occasional Indian and pie fix.

[Teebs]

Nah - people shop at waitrose to signal their social class. If the oiks are invading, it dilutes that signal.

People shop at supermarkets for all kinds of reasons. Where my parents live Waitrose is the only supermarket of any size within walking distance. Where I live now I shop at Waitrose about 33% of the time because there is a particular product that I want to buy (for example they do better bread than the other supermarkets in my opinion) and then once I'm there I may as well do all my shopping.

[Simon_Jester]

Nah - people shop at waitrose to signal their social class. If the oiks are invading, it dilutes that signal.

You don't see the reverse, working class people complaining about rich gits shopping in lidl.

Because working class people know that, like it or not, they can't do anything about rich gits. The reverse is not true- rich gits are accustomed to being able to spend money to make problems go away, or at least go bother someone else.

But yes, if the working class had the power to push a button and make annoying people that make more money than they do and appear to be secretly laughing at them go away... I'm betting a lot of them would.