can the rich and poor be friends?

[Shoggoth2588]

Everyone has a price and I'll gladly take on the job. Seriously though, I don't see why poor and rich people can't be friends. I've never really known anybody who was wealthy though...my Dad's brother may be a millionaire possibly but he cut ties with me and a chunk of Dad's side of the family once he started making money.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

I'm still not sure I understand. Are you saying that it would not work because you'd feel tempted to ask him for handouts, or is it because you could not relate due to your different lifestyles? Is it simple jealousy?

Right now, all I understand is that if someone has way more money than you, it is somehow a deal-breaker.

I think mainly in the relating sense that us average joes have to spend the majority of our lives working and i don't see how you could relate in the slightest. In the case of all the "rich" people i know most of them came from working class backgrounds and worked their way up to be millionaires so they still appreciate earning and managing money.

When it comes to something like arrow or flash the billionaires are just casually chilling with the lower class, you have people like barry who has to squeeze saving people's lives into his busy schedule of investigating crime scenes and helping his 'dad' clean the house when a couple of million could allow him to focus on more important things.

So it seems you're not necessarily talking exclusively about "rich people", you're talking about Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton types, who pretty much do nothing but be rich on account of what their parents do, and just party and be famous for pretty much nothing (like Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen).

In a case like that, no, I just wouldn't be able to hang around with someone that lazy and clueless who had no direction or sense of purpose in their life besides "party, spend someone else's money, repeat"

But rich people who are rich from making wise investments, working very hard, being really good at what they do, inventing something big, finding an ultra-successful company, etc.? No problem at all.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

It depends on the rich person, it really does.

There are a few kinds I've met:

Those who were born rich and jerks about it. - No they can't even be friends with other rich people and basically have no real friends.
Those who earned their wealth and became jerks. - Nope there too, they generally lose all their friends, usually end up with no real friends.
Those who were born rich and are nice. - Yes. I had a friend when I was young like that, he just randomly bought me stuff and was super cool anyways.
Those who earned their wealth and remained nice. - Definitely. They're usually humble and have some sort of understanding of the struggles of the lower earning brackets.
Those who suddenly get wealth and lose their minds. - Yeah, just don't expect them to stay rich. Unless they get paranoid about people wanting their money.
Those who suddenly get wealth and stay sane. - Sure. Though asking them for money constantly will lose you a friend, because they're trying not to blow through their sudden good fortune.

 

[Summerstorm]

Do you know what friends do? Sharing...

Seriously though: Yeah, but there is always a strain on such a friendship. Since i am pretty poor, nearly all my friends, who are not students, are richer than me.

I, for example just bought an apartment (It's a lie; the bank bought it and for the cheap-cheap price of half my wages they will be giving it to me fully iin about 13 years). It's 90 square meter, 70-year old house, crappy neighborhood. (Apartment itself is ok though).

At the same time a friend of mine bought a house. Tripple the size + garden. Recently built. Sweet design. He payed mostly from his savings... He then got it renovated completely for a few ten-thousand - i was just painting a few rooms and fixing stuff for a few hundred euroes, mumbling about my broken car and defect computer i can't afford to replace yet (Seriously i am an IT-Administrator and had to cobble a temporary machine together out of parts from the waste-corner in my office)

The envy is pretty bad sometimes *g*
You can have fun together, even if you live in completely different worlds, if it is about money and what things are worth. For example i just can't fathom paying 25.000 or double, tripple that for a CAR. Can't get that into my mind. A car is worth about 1000, maybe a bit more if it is really good and unlikely to break down soon...

Eh, rambling about being poor ends here *g*

 

[viscomica]

Yes. My dad was friends with a son of a very wealthy business man and they remained besties until said friend died. I knew him and he was really cool and down to earth. If you're an asshat it doesn't matter if you're poor, rich or middle class, you're still not gonna make many friends.

 

[xaszatm]

Well, I used to be a millionaire and I'm pretty sure I'm friends with people on this forum so...yes?

 

[Fox12]

Uh, yes?

Look, he doesn't owe you anything just because he's rich. There's this tone of "well, he could give me enough to retire, so why doesn't he?" Well, whose the one whose making a big deal out of the wage discrepancy? Not him, apparently. As long as he's nice, and he's not trying shove his wealth in your face, then who cares? Personally, if I had Fuck You money, I'd like to think people still liked me for my personality. I'd probably buy a modest house and not tell anyone about my cash, to be honest. Mansions creep me out.

I know it's a hypothetical, but wealth isn't a barrier unless you make it one.

 

[Timeless Lavender]

Well I guess it is possible. I mean , many people are friends with others with different racial background, religious background, political background and what not. As long as they are tolerant with another and find a hobby that they are interested in, then they will not talk about their social class unless they want to address it.

 

[Amaror]

Don't think people are fully grasping what i mean by rich here.
I earn a pretty decent chunk of cash compared to the average Australian and I've known millionaires and multi millionaires and people who earn more in an hour than i earned in a week. I even knew a guy whose boat is worth 4x what my house is, but there are people out there that could pay my life's salary with the money they have in their change purse.

I just can not imagine telling my friend I'm off to do another 60 hour week while he takes his yacht sailing in the Caribbean for a 6 month vacation.

Yeah but have you actually seen rich people like that. That have millions upon millions of cash, don't work a single day of their week and have no grasp of what's money really worth. I don't think people like these would be very rich for very long.
Most rich people are working just as much, they just get way more money from it. But they also have way more expenses so they do still work and often they do it alot. How do you think they came by all that money in the first place? By sitting on their ass all day?
And i don't really think it would be impossible to be friends with such a person. Yeah, it's somewhat different culture but as long as their a nice person, why not.

 

[lunavixen]

Can it happen? Sure. It is likely? Not really, it depends on various things.

There tends to be social segregation amongst the wage earners depending on whether they are unemployed, to low income earners (like me), to middle income earners, to high income earners, the uber rich tend to be in their own world (some of them usually inhabit their own ass). Low and middle income earners tend to share the same public spaces more often than higher income earners do with lower income earners. Wealth can be both a barrier and a source of strain in a friendship, but it's not the only thing that makes people friends or stop being friends. It doesn't matter how much you earn, if you're a massive douche, then you're not going to keep a lot of friends.

 

[AlouetteSK]

Depends on how you define friend. IRL? I'm not much of a social butterfly. Online? Play vidya with all sorts. It's all about the skill.

I would think there would be a variety of scenarios involved. If the rich or poor were jerks, then jerks are jerks and you shouldn't be friends. If you are poor, you shouldn't demand tribute to be friends with a rich person, or guilt trip them to help you out. At the same time, if you were rich, you should never be obligated to help out the poor person. If they ask for help, fine. It's condescending when you feel like you need to help someone out when they never asked for it. Been on both sides of the scenario. Not a billionaire, but better off then some of my friends.

 

[Marovus]

I'll bring my own anecdotal evidence into the mix! My Uncle's step father and real father, my grandfather, get along well. The step father is a millionaire (his house looks like a mini citadel with a tower in the center) from building a local franchise business that spans the city and my grandfather is former middle-class turning poor from retirement problems, but they're good friends. My grandfather is too proud to ask for financial help from others because even though he's poor now he was used to a much worse poverty from his youth (slept outside of his mother's tiny house on a bench) and got out of that on his own.

 

[Kristoffer Mattila]

How rich are we talking here?

I was friends with a guy who lived in a house with 3 floors, had his own piano etc. Was super posh but I dunno if he was exactly "rich". Just far better off than my family was.

He was super nice too though. I miss him. :C

I think it's possible, it really depends on the persons individually.

I love how you listed owning a piano in rich people things. People pretty much throw their pianos at you just to get rid of them.
I'm sure his was supposed to be a nice one though.

 

[Muspelheim]

It depends, doesn't it? Being wealthy doesn't mean that you're a nob, after all. And neither does a lack of wealth make you a nob. You become that by yourself, or with the help of an unhelpful enviroment.

Rich nobs tend to be the ivory tower-type, thinking poverty and bad things happen to people as a punishment for some lack of personal quality. Otherwise, they wouldn't be poor/ill/depressed, would they? It can't be too hard to stop being that, can it?

Poor nobs tend to be the type that thinks their personal hardship outweighs the needs and struggles of everyone else. Not everyone can afford a nice beach house, so why should they get one? Never done a proper day's work in their life, and everything wrong with my life is all their fault.

While people tend to only make friends in their own social class, since that is simply the most likely arenas where people meet each other, but if you do make friends on different parts of the ladder, I don't think there's any reason why you couldn't be friends.

It'll be more difficult. Some struggles will appear foreign, even a bit petty, to both parties. Some customs and expectations will be difficult, and it's difficult keeping a friendship running with vastly different lives and schedules. But with a deep enough kinship or common interest, it's entirely possible.

 

[Artina89]

A lot of the people that I went to university with were (and are) affluent, and I got on with them just fine. How much money they had never really came up to be honest, not even when we went on nights out together and it came to splitting the bill.

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

No. Hell no. Money changes people, especially if they're born with it already. I had this when I use to have a best friend, he was rich, was becoming successful, I was poor, and the opposite. Up comes the day were i get to the depression stage, and ive been depressed to the point of almost killing myself, self-loathing and being very pessimistic, Rather than help me, said best friend suddenly thinks im a useless burden and only befriends me now (by his own words) out of pity. He doesnt sympathise or try to assist me emotionally because he lives in a coddled culture where he gets everything he wants and becomes a massive abusive douchebag because of it, To the rich we're just stepping stones for them to step over, tools for them to make money, And if your depressed because you live in a shitty terrible life, you're ungreatful... Yeah!

Fuck, that's rough dude, sorry to hear that. But I think that friend was maybe kind of a jerk and it wasn't just the money. People can live without the same hardship and still be understanding of it. Others fail to be understanding of it and I think said friend just fell into that group.

Not to say wealth doesn't make some difference due to how someone grows up, just don't think it's the final word on the matter. Though I'd understand if someone burned by it once tends to avoid rich people after that.

 

[FalloutJack]

I would say that it happens about as much as it does not. That is, it's probably on a bell curve as to whether the rich and poor get along or don't. Depends on the people.

 

[chuckman1]

It depends on both of them.
But I doubt I personally could relate in any way to a billionaire. Rich friends can be fun and all but the rich and poor have different mindsets. In the US the rich generally think your income earned is what you deserve and higher income=harder worker. They forget that day laborers, the hardest workers in the country are the poorest. On the other hand, poor people tend to see things more up to fate. "It's not my fault I grew up poor" so this will be a conflict of interest.

It's a problem where either side could easily become hostile in the friendship.