OMG IM SO SORRY!

[Phox]

Oh please, let me have it. We can show him what a really good time is in the city.  In the ghetto.  With the crack dealers and meth heads.

I promise to return it.

You stay the hell away from me.  You scare me.

So, Khara, up for a little road trip to UW? I can call Kai, and we can have a nice dinner with him while we're up there, and then we can take care of this joker. We're taking him to the IL side of the river, right?

[Luna]

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, bidding to open.

Now taking opening bids.  Minimum bid is one pool boy for the auctioneer (photograph, resume, and references required, send via PM).

[Freeky]

Nigel rides the motorcycle of Correct ITT.

[trix]

...
I guess it all depends on what you're comparing it to.

That's the crux of it right there.
it's all relative.  same as how you can ask just about anybody if they're 'rich', and the answer will almost certainly be no, regardless of their income or accumulated wealth.  people look up when they think of economic status.  that's where their desires lay, that's what they envy, that's what they want to see.
"sure, there's folks that have less than I, but i'm certainly not rich.  That guy over there is rich. he makes twice as much as me.  if i had that, i'd be rich and happy."  (of course that guy is thinking the same thing)

Having been poor as fuck, when my ex and I were making six figures each I told the kids "we are rich." I didn't want them to harbor any illusions that that was how most people live. Even right now, we're broke, but we're not poor; so I made 13k in taxable income last year, but I'm getting child support and sitting on about 100k in equity, which means a small measure of security. Of course, it also means that unless things improve radically I'm exactly two years of recession from losing everything.

Being middle-class doesn't undermine anyone's credibility, but when people who have never actually experienced poverty declare that they came from a "poor" background... not "working class", not "middle class", but "poor"... they undermine their credibility and they certainly undermine my perception of their intelligence. Because it happens so very frequently, it's difficult to automatically accept that claim at face value. Sure, Trix MIGHT have grown up below the poverty line. I'm just skeptical. I'm betting that his family had a modest house in a working-class subdivision, at worst.

I've never lived in a house, or a subdivision.  You can bet whatever you want.  I'd elaborate, but without a way for you to verify anything I say, the entire discussion is rather pointless.  Which has been what I've been trying to get across from the beginning of the "middle class" discussion.  I could type three pages of whiny tripe about finishing people's meals at McD's or hanging out at Duncan Donuts when they close for the free perfectly good donuts they'd throw away, but I could as easily be making it up as telling the truth.  So I didn't bother.  You can choose to take me at my word that I know what being truly poor is like, or you can not.

If it really matters to you though, I have left plenty of hints in past threads.  About how everything I owned was in my van because I was "in between places to live" (AKA living in the van) and some fucker stole most of what I owned of value out of it.  Or the thread where I compared Discordia to the "big d20 of life" and mentioned my prison stretch and felony, mentioned the period of homelessness and staying with a friend in his apartment.  Of course, I could have been planning for this discussion to take place since I got here.  

Actually, I don't need to "verify" anything. If you said "My family was under the poverty line while I was growing up", I'd take your word for it. Or "Me and my mom lived in a car for three years when I was a kid". Or "My dad always seemed to be working but we were on food stamps". You know... not "after I moved out I lived in a van".

Family of origin stuff makes a huge difference. Maybe you really did grow up impoverished in your family of origin, but if you did I would kind of expect a little more gratitude for the circumstances that led you to be in Uni right now, rather than the entitlement you're displaying.

I am endlessly grateful for it.  Without being here I'd be royally screwed.  I do display gratitude, all the time.  But, I didn't in this thread.  It wasn't on topic.  Every personality trait I have must be included in every post I make?

[Cain]

Hey, I originated from a formless chaos which somehow coalesced as a giant cosmic egg.  What class am I?

Also, class is set for forever more, and can never change due to circumstance.  If you're born working class you die working class, even if you own a hundred diamond mines.  kthanxbai

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

Oh please, let me have it. We can show him what a really good time is in the city.  In the ghetto.  With the crack dealers and meth heads.

I promise to return it.

You stay the hell away from me.  You scare me.

So, Khara, up for a little road trip to UW? I can call Kai, and we can have a nice dinner with him while we're up there, and then we can take care of this joker. We're taking him to the IL side of the river, right?

Oh yes oh yes oh yes.....  I know just the place down by the river we can dump the body have a nice dinner.

[The Rev]

Oh please, let me have it. We can show him what a really good time is in the city.  In the ghetto.  With the crack dealers and meth heads.

I promise to return it.

You stay the hell away from me.  You scare me.

So, Khara, up for a little road trip to UW? I can call Kai, and we can have a nice dinner with him while we're up there, and then we can take care of this joker. We're taking him to the IL side of the river, right?

He's smarter than I gave him credit for.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, bidding to open.

Now taking opening bids.  Minimum bid is one pool boy for the auctioneer (photograph, resume, and references required, send via PM).

Oh no I already called dibs on this one!!!!! 

[The Rev]

Hey, I originated from a formless chaos which somehow coalesced as a giant cosmic egg.  What class am I?

Also, class is set for forever more, and can never change due to circumstance.  If you're born working class you die working class, even if you own a hundred diamond mines.  kthanxbai

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

...
I guess it all depends on what you're comparing it to.

That's the crux of it right there.
it's all relative.  same as how you can ask just about anybody if they're 'rich', and the answer will almost certainly be no, regardless of their income or accumulated wealth.  people look up when they think of economic status.  that's where their desires lay, that's what they envy, that's what they want to see.
"sure, there's folks that have less than I, but i'm certainly not rich.  That guy over there is rich. he makes twice as much as me.  if i had that, i'd be rich and happy."  (of course that guy is thinking the same thing)

Having been poor as fuck, when my ex and I were making six figures each I told the kids "we are rich." I didn't want them to harbor any illusions that that was how most people live. Even right now, we're broke, but we're not poor; so I made 13k in taxable income last year, but I'm getting child support and sitting on about 100k in equity, which means a small measure of security. Of course, it also means that unless things improve radically I'm exactly two years of recession from losing everything.

Being middle-class doesn't undermine anyone's credibility, but when people who have never actually experienced poverty declare that they came from a "poor" background... not "working class", not "middle class", but "poor"... they undermine their credibility and they certainly undermine my perception of their intelligence. Because it happens so very frequently, it's difficult to automatically accept that claim at face value. Sure, Trix MIGHT have grown up below the poverty line. I'm just skeptical. I'm betting that his family had a modest house in a working-class subdivision, at worst.

I've never lived in a house, or a subdivision.  You can bet whatever you want.  I'd elaborate, but without a way for you to verify anything I say, the entire discussion is rather pointless.  Which has been what I've been trying to get across from the beginning of the "middle class" discussion.  I could type three pages of whiny tripe about finishing people's meals at McD's or hanging out at Duncan Donuts when they close for the free perfectly good donuts they'd throw away, but I could as easily be making it up as telling the truth.  So I didn't bother.  You can choose to take me at my word that I know what being truly poor is like, or you can not.

If it really matters to you though, I have left plenty of hints in past threads.  About how everything I owned was in my van because I was "in between places to live" (AKA living in the van) and some fucker stole most of what I owned of value out of it.  Or the thread where I compared Discordia to the "big d20 of life" and mentioned my prison stretch and felony, mentioned the period of homelessness and staying with a friend in his apartment.  Of course, I could have been planning for this discussion to take place since I got here.  

Actually, I don't need to "verify" anything. If you said "My family was under the poverty line while I was growing up", I'd take your word for it. Or "Me and my mom lived in a car for three years when I was a kid". Or "My dad always seemed to be working but we were on food stamps". You know... not "after I moved out I lived in a van".

Family of origin stuff makes a huge difference. Maybe you really did grow up impoverished in your family of origin, but if you did I would kind of expect a little more gratitude for the circumstances that led you to be in Uni right now, rather than the entitlement you're displaying.

I am endlessly grateful for it.  Without being here I'd be royally screwed.  I do display gratitude, all the time.  But, I didn't in this thread.  It wasn't on topic.  Every personality trait I have must be included in every post I make?

No, but the "Anyone can go to University" line kinda blows your credibility.

[Luna]

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, bidding to open.

Now taking opening bids.  Minimum bid is one pool boy for the auctioneer (photograph, resume, and references required, send via PM).

Oh no I already called dibs on this one!!!!! 

Now, now, be fair.

If I don't auction this one off, I'll have to wait for the next to get that pool boy, dammit...

[Freeky]

Hey, I originated from a formless chaos which somehow coalesced as a giant cosmic egg.  What class am I?

Your class is utter bastard.  If you take a level of barbarian, and a level of drunken monk, you can go into the prestige class "Kentucky Wife Beater."  Alternatively, you could take a level of rouge and go "Alaskan Politician."

[Cain]

Hey, I originated from a formless chaos which somehow coalesced as a giant cosmic egg.  What class am I?

Your class is utter bastard.  If you take a level of barbarian, and a level of drunken monk, you can go into the prestige class "Kentucky Wife Beater."  Alternatively, you could take a level of rouge and go "Alaskan Politician."

But what does the colour red have to do with Alaska? 

[trix]

No, but the "Anyone can go to University" line kinda blows your credibility.

While I admit that was a perfect example of foot-in-mouth, which I've already responded to, it did come from a reasonable, though incorrect, train of thought.

After prison, felony, and complete lack of income, I still managed to get into uni.  If, with all of that against me, I can do it, others should be able to.

That line of thought is, again, full of assumptions, ignorance, and is plain wrong.  I admit that.  But that's where it came from.

I wonder if that will be quoted out of context some day...

[Freeky]

Hey, I originated from a formless chaos which somehow coalesced as a giant cosmic egg.  What class am I?

Your class is utter bastard.  If you take a level of barbarian, and a level of drunken monk, you can go into the prestige class "Kentucky Wife Beater."  Alternatively, you could take a level of rouge and go "Alaskan Politician."

But what does the colour red have to do with Alaska? 

You'd have to ask Sarah Palin abut that, I'm going for "Holy WRATHinator."