Until yesterday I've been driving round in a 15 year old VW Golf. It was a bit ratty, but perfectly reliable and you wouldn't believe the amount of stuff you could cram into it with the rear seats down.
Unfortunately there was nothing wrong with the car, but there seems to be something wrong with other peoples' opinion of you if you drive a ratter - since no self-respecting poor person would be seen dead in anything less than a £30k BMW or something.
Finally, at the wife's behest, I finally allowed myself to be shamed into buying a new (second hand) car that's only 10 years old (but it is a £30k BMW :) ) Now people look at me and hate me rather than despise me - people are such twats - nice car though :)
Can anyone explain to me why I have to drive round in a valuable, highly depreciating, asset to prove that I'm not poor? (Even though the previous owners all apparently lived on council estates where google maps shows every other car is very flashy, if not brand new).
I sometimes earn more in a year than these peoples' houses are worth (well, not quite, but almost) and no-one seems to own their cars either - but the perception is *everything* apparently.
Personally, I would much rather send my kids to a decent school, live in a nice house in a nice neighbourhood and yes, drive round in a shitty looking reliable-as-fuck 15 year old VW Golf - but that makes me poor in other peoples' eyes somehow - people are idiots.
This is why I am more in demand than ever at work, even though I keep hiking my rates - it's all about perception - and the fact that most people are seriously fucking stupid.
Not even techies are immune. I once put forward the idea that two loaves of bread that were baked at the same place, using the same ingredients, but were then sold under different brands - one at the Co-op (50p), the other at Waitrose (£1.50) - and guess which one they said they would choose? (Bearing in mind I've already told them that they are exactly the same) - out of 10 people I asked, every single one of them said they'd buy the Waitrose one.
I no longer think I'm an alien on this planet - I think everyone else is :)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
