5 ms·
Seems to me it's a story about someone who's too impressed with a lot of superficial stuff. The appearance of a "perfect life", business travel, expensive hote
by hamburglar 7y ago
Seems to me it's a story about someone who's too impressed with a lot of superficial stuff. The appearance of a "perfect life", business travel, expensive hotels, uber rides (?), overpriced seattle apartments with a great view that you can't actually afford, etc. The irony is that these things are all rather unimpressive to those that actually have them within reach, so citing them as evidence of your lavish lifestyle tends to mean you don't actually have one.
- _0nac 7y agoIt's all relative. I spent six years at university without ever taking a single taxi and I still consider Uber rides a luxury, because I can also take the bus for a quarter of the price or bike for free. Also, as the OP mentions, the trap of getting used to nice things is that while you soon stop appreciating them, you will feel their loss quite painfully.
- hamburglar 7y agoThere's a huge difference between a luxury and something that indicates you have achieved a lavish and impressive lifestyle. A cup of coffee at starbucks is a luxury.
- jpatokal 7y agoLavish and impressive is also relative. Your original statement about "these things are all rather unimpressive to those that actually have them within reach" is tautological: having a yacht with a helipad is not going to be particularly impressive to anyone else docked next to me in St Tropez, even if it puts all of us in the global 0.01%.
- hamburglar 7y agoI think there's a subtlety in my point that you're missing. When you can just barely manage a yacht with a helipad, you're impressed with yourself for being that successful. When you can comfortably afford it, you cease to consider it something to boast about. But yes, your point is valid: it's all relative.
- phs318u 7y agoOff topic warning. > A cup of coffee are starbucks is a luxury. In Melbourne, Australia a coffee at Starbucks is considered: 1. A sign that you’re a tourist. 2. A sign that you’re a masochist. 3. A cry for help. 4. All of the above. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself :)
- enedil 7y agoCare to explain?
- jpatokal 7y agoMelbourne is a mecca of coffee snobbery, and most locals wouldn't be caught dead in a Starbucks. (Although you need to try pretty hard even to find one.)
- phs318u 7y agoA joke in poor taste. Melbournians are notorious coffee snobs. As jpatokal said, locals wouldn’t be caught dead in a Starbucks. Basically if the cup is taller than 4 fingers 8-10cm or the ingredients include anything other than coffee, water and milk, or it was made by percolating - then it’s not coffee as far as we’re concerned. It’s either dishwater or a confection of some sort. It may be a fact that Melbourne has more coffee shops per capita than any other place on earth.
- stoolpigeon 7y agoI think to the typical Pole - this is all pretty big stuff and very indicative of living a life that is not available to most people.
- lozenge 7y agoI think you are missing the perspective of somebody in a relatively low salary country where the US is almost out of reach and visiting it /regularly/ is almost unheard of.
- Aeolun 7y agoIt sounds like you’d have to be in the 1% before this could be something you can casually afford. At least is still sounds pretty crazy to me.