At least the short term situation is more livable, right, Allyson?

Fascinating class discussion that I've pretty much missed. (Is "harried" a class?) Count me as another one who grew up working class and then floundered post-college into clerical work. Though my brothers never did--I think that trap is easier to fall into for a woman. Sometimes I still wish I could have a do-over on my 20's so I could build a proper career for myself, because I am ambitious. But, really, all I'm ambitious for anymore is to become published, so maybe it doesn't matter. A day job is a day job, as long as it pays the bills.

I have to say, I rolled my eyes forever at one of the speakers at last weekend's writers conference. He'd been a high-powered attorney who had an epiphany that he was doing the wrong thing with his life, so he quit to write books. For two years he lived on his savings and his wife's income, and at the end he thought he was going to have to give up and go back to work, and then he'd Never Live His Dream.

All I could think was that maybe my dream is stronger than his, because I don't let the pesky fact I have to work full-time stop me from writing.

Whoa, a whole new Natter!

Damned browser with the damned crashing.

Oooh! I have a teensy weensy bacon chocolate bar. Very excited. But however will I be able to decide when to eat it? I have 8 weeks. If I were more optimistic I'd say when I get my next job.

There are plenty of good reasons to avoid Wholefoods. That curry one caught my eye too.

Cute!

In terms of what colours are who, this isn't me, is it? I really like the shape of that dress, dammit, and most of the scooter dresses on ebay are polyester.

Hey ita!

Wow, I could never wear this dress. I mean, I can, but it won't look good on me.

The pig IS cute!

I think you could wear it, ita, though it's probably not your absolute best color.

Hey Shir!

Thanks, Susan. I'll give it some more thought. I also poked around their late 60s suit section just in case and put in a small bid on one, but that's for business.

Yeah, that's my job-shopping for today. Buying old suits.

Wait...I just thought of one more recruiter-seeking email I can send out. I'm not completely blowing today. How do people job hunt when they're already working 40 hours? And the headaches don't help.

Okay, letter just about sent. How do you end the punctuation on:

Your connections really all that, she asks tauntingly

It feels empty without a question mark, but it's fondling the wrong word.

Contour sheet folding is pretty fun, actually--stick your hand in one corner, match it up with the opposite corner, and then shake it out so everything lines up. Then do the same on the other two corners and fold the two doubled-up corners together.

This part I'm good with. But then there's the step that seems to go "then you flip and flip, and voila there's a nice little square with tidy corners." And I flip and flip, and voila there's a lumpy rectangle with corners hanging out.

So things have worked out oddly. I'm no longer my boss' secretary. I'm the VP's secretary. She had less on her plate than I have, so can deal with his demands better.

Allyson, I just popped in to see how things went today. I hope this is a better solution and that working for someone you don't have such a long history with will be easier on both of you -- it sounds like maybe that was the core issue. (Which is not to excuse your boss at all, because he was definitely being an asshat, but I kinda think that's why he was being an asshat.)

There's a cool PBS documentary about class -- there's a ton of stuff online here [link] A lot of it is about defining classes by values and status symbols more than pure economics, because your class is a tribe. Being considered upper-class in the US isn't just about having money; a poor family who wins the lottery isn't going to magically fit in with the people who summer in the Hamptons.

a poor family who wins the lottery isn't going to magically fit in with the people who summer in the Hamptons.

Nope, but they are going to fit in with other I guess brand new money. (Think Toby Keith's album title "White Trash with money".) It fits what you say, but ol Toby is not hanging around with a bunch of roughnecks, or people who play for tips in bars.

Economic class trumps social class a lot more than the other way around. Take a hypothetical. You may be "old money" but lose that money and the ability to pay dues, and you are out of that country club your family has been a member of for 20 generations. And if that old money country club won't let Bill Gates in, well he can buy his own damn country club. And your "old money" background won't get you into that one either.

But your example is also economic. Is the old money family who loses it all going to take up bowling and monster truck shows because they can't afford polo and opera? Their taste/values won't change as a result of an empty bank account, even if they can't indulge those tastes anymore.

Toby Keith is rich. But he is not what people are thinking about when they refer to the upper class. If anything, a title like "White Trash with Money" is basically a message to his fans saying, "I'm rich, but I'm still just like you ."