15 ms·
One time when I was younger, in my late teens, I was walking through the city around 8pm. I suddenly felt rather cold, and went through the typical 15 seconds o
by sellyme 6y ago
One time when I was younger, in my late teens, I was walking through the city around 8pm. I suddenly felt rather cold, and went through the typical 15 seconds of internal grumbling. I then had an epiphany, and walked into a nearby department store to purchase a jacket. Somehow I'd never even considered that as a possibility previously.
As silly as it may seem, I use that singular point in time as the reference for when I commenced adulthood. I've got no idea if others have similar experiences (I grew up very poor, so I was probably primed against the idea of spontaneously buying something to begin with), but the contents of this list seems to be very much in the same vein.
- legerdemain 6y agoNowadays, you'd probably just order one on your phone, and a drone would deliver it to you, and a taco.
- k__ 6y agolol Reminds me of a time when I was in the city with a friend. My shoes were broken, so I said to him "I need new shoes" went in the next department store, bought a pair, threw my old ones in a trash can and wore the new shoes. He was mind-blown.
- jaspax 6y agoBoth this and OP depend crucially on the hidden assumption that you have enough money to buy new shoes or a jacket on a whim. Depending on where you are, what kind of store it is, and how much money you have, it may be practically impossible to carry this out. Of course, having a reasonable amount of cash on hand to enable immediate, necessary purchases is also a mark of adulthood (it means you have a decent job), so the story still works.
- Jommi 6y agoOr they suddenly realized that the immediate need for the product tipped over the scale for a purchasing decision that normally would have waited X amount of time. It's not like it's an item bought for no reason at all. (Not to mention in both instances they could go and return the item the next day)
- na85 6y agoI think the point is that plenty of adults in first-world countries can't afford new jackets or new pairs of shoes on a whim.
- hkai 6y agoI think the original point of the article is that plenty of adults can afford many things, yet they unnecessarily restrict themselves and inflict suffering on themselves. I know people who are not going to break their budget by spending $10 on Uber when they are late, yet they would rather wait for a bus in the freezing cold or rain, waste time and be late.
- faebi 6y agoDon‘t know, it‘s just a delay, just cold and maybe just water and some wasted time. I try hard not to get into such a lifestyle. Of coure, I would walk if the distance is reasonable.
- flemhans 6y agoThere are also some people who don't get that Uber solves an inconveniencing problem. Like, I have a friend who was finally convinced to take an Uber. She'd ask the driver to drop her off at the bus stop she'd usually get off at, and walk the rest of the way.
- inglor_cz 6y agoMaybe she was distrustful and did not want the driver to learn her precise home address. It is perhaps a bit paranoid, but when trying an unknown and unusual service for the first time, not over the top, especially if she is a girl living alone.
- ldarby 6y agoFor me, it was contactless payments. For the longest time I didn't want a contactless card, a little bit out of fear of someone being able to steal just by being close enough but mainly out of "it's such a minor convenience it's not worth asking the bank for the card". Several years go by and the non-contactless card expired, and the new one was contactless, but I still wouldn't use it. Then one day I did, and holy shit it's the best thing ever, I'm never using cash again (this was before covid hit which has made contactless mandatory now). I'm sure there are a few other things in my life like this, i.e. things that I'm aware of, but making stupid choices about, I'm just not aware that it's a stupid choice.
- sellyme 6y ago> Both this and OP depend crucially on the hidden assumption that you have enough money to buy new shoes or a jacket on a whim. It's hardly hidden: > I grew up very poor, so I was probably primed against the idea of spontaneously buying something to begin with
- MinusGix 6y agoIts more referring to the concept of realizing there's a solution to the problem and being willing to take it. When I was younger, there was a notable amount of times where I felt cold but didn't bother getting a jacket. Of course, grabbing a jacket from a store may not be an option for a person, but I think you're generalizing every part of what they are saying too much rather than the point they're making.
- k__ 6y agoTrue. My next step was not wearing shoes at all. But I have to admit that's only working in the summer and outside of clubs/restaurants.
- Kim_Bruning 6y agoYou're not Australian then? (Down-under type people sometimes don't wear shoes either.)
- k__ 6y agoI'm German. People here usually wear shoes.
- myroon5 6y agoExact same epiphany when a coworker proposed buying shoes without holes instead of changing socks after every rainy commute
- mrtksn 6y agoAt some point, I noticed that I can order my second drink at dinner. Previously, I thought I had to mach my drinking speed to my eating speed. That’s the moment I became an adult. This may not resonate with Americans due to the free refills or British because in UK it’s normal to have tap water served.
- asciimike 6y agoIn the US I felt it with the opposite: not finishing my drink. When you're young, you'll finish whatever drink is in front of you because alcohol is expensive and you don't want it to go to waste, but I remember the first time I didn't finish a beer and realizing that that was perfectly reasonable (and arguably, the more mature thing to do).
- Normal_gaussian 6y agoNot just drinks; meals. Its perfectly fine to go to a restaurant, eat 1/2, 1/3, 3/4 of a meal and still order a dessert.
- leetcrew 6y agowild. I make about twice as much as I need to cover my living expenses and I still can't bring myself to leave a meal that I've paid for unfinished.
- Normal_gaussian 6y agoIts been helping me improve my relationship with food. I used to find it hard to make myself eat, then in recent years I've been eating too much (hmm, significant correlation with finances...). Portion control is much easier when these external learned behaviours are ignored! I'm still not 100% comfortable with it though...
- submain 6y agoI grew up being forced to eat everything in the plate. Now, as an adult, I keep doing that even though I am fully aware I don't have to. The result is that I eat much more than I should.
- asciimike 6y agoMy similar "coming of age" moment was in a hotel in Tokyo. I had been collecting whisky from a bunch of small liquor stores and had run out of clothes to wrap my bottles in when packing them in my suitcase, so I grabbed a towel from the bathroom. Being a fancy hotel, I saw they had a price sheet for items that "unexpectedly" went missing, and I think the towel was like $60 or something insane. When I was a kid, I never understood why anyone would pay that much for a towel, but at midnight in my hotel, with a bottle of Japanese whisky worth far more than that potentially on the line, it suddenly clicked why someone might want to do that. I think I put the towel back and went to the local Don Quixote (open 24/7!) and bought some cheap packing material, but in that moment I definitely understood the prioritization exercise that others I this thread have talked about (how much is my time/how valuable is this thing).
- peteretep 6y agoI’d always assumed they put prices on stuff to try and make it clearer to people they were stealing by taking them, rather than just “taking the free stuff”
- woofie11 6y agoI always assumed it was a side source of profit -- rich tourists and businessmen. If there's a price listed, I never thought of it as inappropriate, especially given the markup. I think if my income was 2x what it was at one point, I would have taken a hotel robe under the listed price. I've had really mixed experiences buying robes at stores and on-line. You can't tell how well they'll work wet. Hotels sometimes have really nice ones, with the upside you can try them out straight out of the shower, and see how they work. Downside is the markup.
- peteretep 6y agoTotally ask if they’ll cut you a deal. I recently purchased a hotel robe that wasn’t listed for sale for all the reasons you list.
- 6y ago
- GVRV 6y agoHeh, I've lived through this exact scenario. In my defence, I did not think I would need a jacket on a sunny day in May in San Francisco.
- arwhatever 6y agoOne day about age 15, I realized that I like Steely Dan. And for the first time, I didn't care what my friends thought, nor what they themselves liked. I realized I could form my own tastes and preferences completely independently of everyone else.
- abootstrapper 6y agoMine was my freshman year in college. I had a craving for chocolate cake one evening. My epiphany was that I could just hop in my car and go buy one. I didn’t have to answer to or explain myself to anyone. So off I went and bought a cake! My dorm roommate seemed just as enlightened at the notion and he helped me eat it. I’m not sure I mark this as “adulthood,” but it was a strangely significant milestone in my budding independence.
- dmd 6y agoOh my god, yes. The day I realized "wait, you can just ... buy a cake? yourself? Whenever you want? No party or anything?" was mind-blowing.
- greyhair 6y agoOr (being it is convenient here in NJ) just driving to a diner any damn time of the day, and getting a big wedge of chocolate cake and a cup of coffee. And nothing else. Chocolate cake and coffee for breakfast at 7:00 AM? Hell yeah! At 2:30 after the bars have closed? Why not? At 9:30 PM because you are feeling a bit 'peckish' after dinner? Sure.
- wodenokoto 6y agoI think we've all had a version of the "Wait, I'm an adult, I can eat ice cream for dinner if I want to" as well as the "I guess I'm an adult, because I don't want to eat ice cream for dinner"
- golergka 6y agoAs I transitioned to full-time WFH from beginning of 2020, it was "I can eat steak for dinner every day if I want to". If you're going out, a decent steak would cost you over $100, so I never considered eating it as everyday food before - but buying decent steak cuts to cook at home can be much more affordable.
- the-dude 6y ago> cost you over $100 Wait, what? Is that USD?
- purple-again 6y agoSteak houses in the US (not places like Texas Roadhouse) like Bern's in Tampa (most famous East Coast example I know of - don't spend much time in DC or NYC) or Marks Prime for a more mass produced McDonalds approach at the same concept generally cost around $100 per head for the full experience. This includes a steak, a sauce for the steak, a side, a soup, and some fancy types of bread. The whole place will usually be done up like you are dining in a side hall of the Vatican and of course you can go up to $1,000 a head easily if you start looking at their wine bottles. Its a staple experience of the meat eating upper middle class here in the US.
- coldtea 6y ago>generally cost around $100 per head for the full experience (...) The whole place will usually be done up like you are dining in a side hall of the Vatican That's not "steak houses in the US", that's a specific type of steak house for the upper middle class. I've had excellent steaks in places like the Cattlemen's Steakhouse, OK, and they were nothing like $100 per head. So, it's not like this was the parent's only option for steak outside the house. They could have a $30-$50 fine steak experience in tons of places.
- barrenko 6y agoOk, mine is kinda plain - I started a trip to a location, suddenly I didn't feel like it, and then left the bus at the nearest possible location, ate a pastry while waiting for the transport back.
- methyl 6y agoI had such moment when I’ve had been living in my first own apartment for a few months already and listening to music till was really late. I was just about to go to bed, when I realized I can just stay and sleep on the couch. It was really nice and enlightening feeling, thanks for bringing this memory back!
- jmcqk6 6y agoI identify so much with this. It's extremely freeing to break through these previously unrecognized limitations. The first step to breaking out of prison is recognizing when you're in one.