Maybe you need to go back to Seattle where you’ll feel better with “your own”....
Where I now live, there is Wal-Mart. It means all the income levels and cultures mix. It allows you to see, on an every day basis, what you just naturally avoid seeing in the city. But there are not as many successful people out here. If you make $15 an hour, you are doing REALLY well and are envied by most of the folks out here.
Then there are those that own their own businesses here, the farmers, and guys like me that commute to Louisville or Lexington and are still in the “Seattle type” environment.
I worked for a company in Louisville on a short term contract that had a problem I’ve never heard of. To wit, they set up call centers in small towns because they can be cheaper because the acceptable income levels are lower than in cities. This is pretty common practice. I’ve worked with call centers for a number of companies here and in Seattle.
But here are their two problems when trying to set up a call center in small town, rural america:
1. They gave up on drug testing job candidates because too many people fail them.
2. After a few years, they have burned through every employable person in the area via turnover. They find themselves needing to move to a different area and repeat the process. It is so bad sometimes that they lower the standards for deplorable work habits, etc. where they will just fire someone with the caveat that they can’t come back for x years.
Who would try to go into an area like that to acquire highly skilled people? Not me. I even thought that it would be cool to go to eastern KY and teach high school graduates (and maybe even work with the high schools) computer developer tools. Everything from SharePoint development, MVC, C#, etc. Then I realized that it would be too much of an exercise in futility based both on average IQ (caused by a number of factors), self esteem, personal perception, goals, etc. The ONLY motivation for going into those areas is the same as going into India. Except for India it is a national pride issue, and the candidates are highly trained and motivated.
You can find the same situations in large population centers, but there are just so darned many people that you can just ignore the “riff-raf” and focus on those that come to the game ready to play.
“... just ignore the “riff-raf”...”
You sound like you and the woman this story is about would get along just fine...
You need to get out of the south and leave us “riff-raf” to oursleves...
I live in flyover country and are quite happy about it. Family has lived in this county since 1889. I traveled for a living for 30+ years. Have seen a lot of small towns. Want nothing to do with cities.
” In Seattle, the various income levels and cultures don’t really have to mix. It’s a big place. Some shop at Bellevue Square and others shop at Costco, while others shop at Wal-Mart”
Meaning you could segregate yourself from the lower class by choosing to shop and live in higher income locations.
Welcome to realty. It’s invigorating once you get over being slapped in the face by it.