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Well, we've established that HN posters consider their experience with supercommuting consultants to be the norm. However, knowing that HN posters are also like

by yterdy 3y ago

Well, we've established that HN posters consider their experience with supercommuting consultants to be the norm. However, knowing that HN posters are also likely to name some multiple of the median income as "middle class" because of their experience living lives of relative privilege in HCOL cities, I'm inclined to suspect that your dad and all his coworkers and all the people you know are less representative of the average supercommuter than, say, your last example. Because my understanding is that the typical person with 2hr+ commutes is someone who is forced to take inefficient public transit, or who has to live far from their jobs in HCOL cities. Thank your for your perspective; I am now asking you to be intellectually honest in questioning if it's correct.

devilbunny 3y ago
My father was a petroleum landman, and based on what I knew about our income growing up (which was not extensive, but I'm not blind), we were dead middle of the band for US household income (like, almost exactly at the median). My mother went to work as soon as my younger sister started kindergarten, and had had side hustles for years before that. So we were definitely middle class, and not in the same way that I'm upper middle class (i.e., I am UMC because I don't have fuck-you money, but I make a lot more than even most UMC people). And I grew up in Mississippi. So, you know, not exactly a rich area. However, I don't have any data on what public transit looks like in terms of commuting. So... who knows? But I'm not some scion of a posh suburb who thinks that having gone to public school makes them oh-so-middle-class. And the guy who commuted LCOL to HCOL for a year? He lived with his mother and grandmother in a small house in a rough neighborhood (i.e., you could expect to hear gunfire nightly) growing up. He just had a goal and some luck.
- yterdy 3y ago
  Dead middle-of-the-band for US household income, in Mississippi (particularly historically) makes you the scion of a posh suburb indeed. Note that a common characteristic of people of unusual means relative to their locality is that they insist that they're average; in-and-of-itself, it's not convincing. I think my point still stands, regardless. No one has yet explained how they know that consultants make up the bulk of supercommuters.
  - devilbunny 3y ago
    Fair enough point, but that’s not posh suburb material. It’s “we owned a house”.
devilbunny 3y ago
I’m not averse to continuing this conversation but bedtime calls. Check again tomorrow, late, this is an interesting topic and I would very much like to talk more. Also, as a side issue: I am not in computing or technology at all; I am a physician, an anesthesiologist, in the USA. I like and use computers, but I’m a hanger-on, at best, around here. Some of us like tech, and there are some (not me) who are brilliant programmers.

by yterdy 3y ago

devilbunny 3y ago

My father was a petroleum landman, and based on what I knew about our income growing up (which was not extensive, but I'm not blind), we were dead middle of the band for US household income (like, almost exactly at the median). My mother went to work as soon as my younger sister started kindergarten, and had had side hustles for years before that. So we were definitely middle class, and not in the same way that I'm upper middle class (i.e., I am UMC because I don't have fuck-you money, but I make a lot more than even most UMC people). And I grew up in Mississippi. So, you know, not exactly a rich area. However, I don't have any data on what public transit looks like in terms of commuting. So... who knows? But I'm not some scion of a posh suburb who thinks that having gone to public school makes them oh-so-middle-class. And the guy who commuted LCOL to HCOL for a year? He lived with his mother and grandmother in a small house in a rough neighborhood (i.e., you could expect to hear gunfire nightly) growing up. He just had a goal and some luck.

yterdy 3y ago
Dead middle-of-the-band for US household income, in Mississippi (particularly historically) makes you the scion of a posh suburb indeed. Note that a common characteristic of people of unusual means relative to their locality is that they insist that they're average; in-and-of-itself, it's not convincing. I think my point still stands, regardless. No one has yet explained how they know that consultants make up the bulk of supercommuters.
- devilbunny 3y ago
  Fair enough point, but that’s not posh suburb material. It’s “we owned a house”.

devilbunny 3y ago

I’m not averse to continuing this conversation but bedtime calls. Check again tomorrow, late, this is an interesting topic and I would very much like to talk more. Also, as a side issue: I am not in computing or technology at all; I am a physician, an anesthesiologist, in the USA. I like and use computers, but I’m a hanger-on, at best, around here. Some of us like tech, and there are some (not me) who are brilliant programmers.