I’m beginning to think some people are more out of touch than ever before, am I being oversensitive or what?
A few recent examples:
Colleagues miffed at their exclusion from the council tax ‘rebate’ and ‘energy payments’ whilst living in their detached 4/5 bedroomed country houses
Partners colleague stating “how glad they are they own their home outright” whilst talking to worried renters.
Being asked by a neighbor if I’d be interested in buying her friends £350k bungalow, in cash. She knows we want to get on the housing ladder, but really?!
What examples have you heard recently?
Edit: guess I actually mean tactless, rather than out of touch
42 comments
I’d love to be out of touch but I can’t afford it.
A genuinely out of touch person has no idea how out of touch they are, and therefore can’t answer your question.
Do any of your examples really represent being out of touch? #1 is just a wanting a benefit others will receive (must admit I thought everyone was getting the £400), #2 is just poor social skills or they’re insensitive, #3 she probably just thought that she might as well ask, the worst outcome is you say no.
Some of these people sound more tactless than out of touch.
‘The reason that young people can’t afford a house is that they don’t scrifice enough, my kid bought a house’ Neglects to mention kid had a trust fund from a wealthy relatives will and he and his partner stayed rent free in his house for two years while their parents paid for everything for them, food. Clothes, while they saved every penny.
My dad keeps telling me to stop “pissing about” paying my mortgage every month and just pay my house off. I owe nearly £70k.
I’d only say the second one is out of touch tbh. With the first one, having a 4 bed detached house doesn’t mean they have a load of money – I have a 3 bed detached and I’m on £21k a year. 4 bed detached houses where I am are around £250k so depends where you live with this one
If the neighbour knew you were looking to buy they probably just thought they’d let you know about the property, they wont know what your financial limits are etc
But yes there are plenty of out of touch people about, although they won’t know they’re out of touch!
My BiL asked me if the cost of living ‘had really gone up’?
The guy literally hadn’t noticed 🤯
I’m totally out of touch. I only learned who Ed Sheeran is a few months ago when my friend asked me to house sit and look after his dog whilst he and his girlfriend went to one of his concerts.
An entitled friend booked a wedding in Rhodes and then got upset at how few of his friends would be able to attend when sending out invites, knowing full well how much a lot of us are struggling financially at the moment.
I work at a company with a large age divide: there are people in their 20s, and people in their 50/60s with few between.
I avoid meetings now because most chit chat is summarised as “I strongly dislike my £70k company car, I’ve only just paid off my extension or garden room, only have £1m in my pension, can’t afford a fourth holiday this year”
I was introduced to some lad at a house party a couple of months ago. I introduced myself and he said, ‘My mates call me Mo Salah’.
So I said, ‘Good to meet you Mosalla’.
He was like, ‘You don’t watch football do you haha’.
I was moaning to a colleague that people in her role in our company have a better promotion path than is available to the rest of us. She informed me that she and many other junior staff in that role are on fixed term contracts.
I’m in that weird place where you feel broke in that you can only really afford to live, and have minor fun like going to the pub, and things like holidays or home improvements or fulfilling even the smallest dreams feel out of reach. But at the same time you know you would have so much further to fall and still can’t really identify with choosing between heating and eating or relying on food banks and yellow stickers. So at the same time I feel out of touch, because I really don’t understand how bad it can get, and yet struggling myself.
Occasionally Mrs Red and I say out of touch things but then realise what we did wrong.
A couple from recently include, ‘we skipped the starter home phase and bought a five bed house’. I reminded her ‘the starter home phase’ is a dream for many.
We both had to stop saying we were going to ‘just Rhodes’ on holiday recently as most people would love that while secretly we thought it was a bit naff compared to Jamaica or Aruba etc.
At least we recognise it and change accordingly?
That bungalow question is odd. What difference would it make to the seller if you paid 350k cash or with a mortgage? They get 350k either way?
But yeah, these people seem a tad out of touch to say the least!
“You just need to save, I did. Oh and I had 30k inheritance”.
Ok, now continue saving without the 30k.
I know I lack sympathy for people who work high paid office jobs when they continually moan about their jobs, but that’s because I worked in the NHS and tbh I couldn’t stretch it that far. It also meant that I could never really vent about work because I’d just get “oh, I could never do that” or “omg that’s so sad/gross, stop”. So when they complain about the cost of living or something on their comfy 100+k salary, I’m not listening.
My dad is retired and assumes basic wages match average house prices these days. Like they did when he outright bought his house on a year’s wages in the 70s
My old flatmate, who owned the flat, would moan about his mortgage and bills constantly. While I paid him rent.
When I was younger, my boss pointed out a block of luxury flats near the office and suggested I should rent one, as they are “only” £2,500 per month. I politely explained to him that to even barely afford it he would need to more than tripple my salary.
I don’t think I am, but my in-laws definitely are.
We were round the other week and my FIL mentioned that there is no longer a “Man of the Match” in the PL, rather a “Player of the Match” and I think he found it amusing in a “PC gone mad” kind of way.
* Wife’s grandfather’s fiancée (long story, don’t worry, she’s old) said, *”Oh, is that what woke is? Is that woke?”* in a moment of genuine confusion.
* MIL then announced, *”I think that’s the transgender agenda.”* I did not get a follow up on this.
Very odd.
‘Well **I** was able to buy a house, and I worked nights and did overtime and did it on my own! It is possible.’
He lived with his parents rent free while saving up his deposit, didn’t have to pay for food either. Got a job working at the same company his dad did. They gifted him ten grand to help out. Then he lectured me about how it makes more sense to buy a house rather than a flat.
‘If this cost of living crisis gets really bad, I’ll just move back in with my parents.’
Said by my well-off mate to me, a person with no contact with their parents. Out of touch, no, tactless, hell yes.
My parents are completely out of touch. Had to remind my dad that he paid the same amount for their house; a 4 bedroom detached in a lovely little middle class town, as I did for my house; a 1 bed end terrace in the outskirts of Dewsbury.
My brothers, girlfriends gran has just written her will.
One sister is getting the house.
One sister is getting the holiday home.
3rd sister (my brothers girlfriend) is getting £25k “plenty to put a deposit down on a lovely house”
From a colleague to me: “you pay £1400 a month in rent? That’s insane, my mortgage is £600 and my parents gave me the money for the deposit on the house”.
Thanks Adam, I had no idea that all I had to do was get my parents to give me £30k
I had a colleague say to me a few years ago, while I was buying my first house in my 30s, after scraping together a 5% deposit, getting the developer to pay stamp duty, and using help to buy, that it would be easier to just build my own place like she did! Um, no.
Woman in Waitrose today was loudly expressing her delight at Truss winning the leadership contest, and then complaining to staff about everything being so expensive.
Reddit makes me feel out of touch. Talking about bills and not affording it and all that. Seems like everyone on Reddit’s below the poverty line. Meanwhile im a first year degree apprentice living alone having a pretty lavish lifestyle on the south coast. The only financial thing I worry about is affording a house and not retiring early like I want. I can’t tell if it’s just that everyone on this sub and others like it compete to be the most hard done by and I’m actually normal, or if I’m actually really really well off and don’t realise
The railway strike and 2 of my mates complaining that they havent had a pay rise. I mean, u work 3h a day, 5h sit in a van (as they have explained it to me), no formal education is needed. And u ve been on 40k+ a year for last 4 years. So they went to strike too.
I know plenty of people from my last work place who are on 16-18k pa and they will never go on a strike because they can’t afford to lose 2 paid days in a week because of increasing financial pressures they face.
Am I out of touch?
No, it’s the children who are wrong.
I had to go and collect some drink from a company locally, paid in advance and had the owner moaning to me that he has just had to pay almost £1,300 for an oil and filter change with a quick inspection on his Bentley Bentayga, my car isn’t worth that much.
That’s twice my monthly state pension.
You’re out of touccchhh I’m outta tiiiiimee but I’m outta my head when ya not arooound
Fairly out of touch and aware.
Our (Me and the Fiance’s) date for financial freedom is mid November. That is the day we get married and the day we suddenly have about a grand spare every month that we no longer have to save up.
We will then go on a 3 week honeymoon to Boston/New York/Cruise around the Bahamas where she will spend her 30th Birthday.
But how have we afforded this? Well. We both have normal jobs, about £50k a year between us. Modest terraced house. No kids. Don’t really like avocado on toast. We bought most of the hotels, plane tickets etc. mid-pandemic when it was dirt cheap.
>!Oh, and thanks to a generous inheritance we have no mortgage at all.!<
Just the general attitude that the younger generation has nothing to complain about because we didn’t live through a World War, usually coming from people who also didn’t live through a World War
I was at my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary a few months ago, and one of the old boys from the local church mafia started talking to me. He told me how hard he had to work to buy his first 4 bedroom house at the age of 30, and that these days it seems like all anyone needs to do to get rich is just buy any old house and sell it after a few years. It’s that easy!
Last weekend I dined with a couple in London whose combined income exceeds £500,000 per annum. They pay someone to mind their dog when they go out. The woman’s handbag sells for £4,000.
When I made chit-chat about the economy, fuel prices and inflation, the couple made comical remarks, as if it was humorous to them, as if it wasn’t real or something they identified with.
Tell me more about this Ice Bucket Challenge I’ve been hearing about
It’s more the old people/grandparents saying ‘our salaries use to be a lot lower’ when you talk about house prices
I’m about to have a baby. We live in a 2 bed flat so there’s enough room for now.
The amount of people that have said to me “you should really think about buying a house now you’ve got a baby coming you know!”
Yes thanks for this, I think about it every day doesn’t mean I can magically afford it yet does it you absolute donkey!
The wife of my MD actually uttered the words “things are going to get tough for everyone. We’re having to stop our cleaner and gardener”.
Oh no. What a shame. AT LEAST YOU CAN STILL BOIL THE KETTLE SHARON!
I am probably pretty out of touch in my living situation. Disabled/hearing impaired, live with my Dad who doesn’t charge me anything in terms of rent, bills, food and is retired with a large private pension. We live in a small 2 bedroom bungalow and the energy bills are 60% less than the national average as well.
Basically saving up 90% of my income to either potentially buy a place in the future or save money in case I cannot work. But on the news I often see the state other disabled people and other people are in and do think I am very lucky to have my Dad be willing to put up with me and pay for me. But he often says it is the least he could be doing as life is absolutely brutal now compared to when he was younger and will just get harder in the future, if he doesn’t help me now I will just have no chance in the future like most people.
He also helps my brother and sister out financially who both have their own houses and jobs earning £40k plus. So I guess I am a little bit out of touch with the rest of my generation because my Dad isn’t at all out of touch with how difficult life is now with property prices, bills etc.
I am not out of touch, but my rather wealthy best buddy is! We were out shopping, went into a furniture store and I spotted a £7,500 price tag on a sofa. I exclaimed quite forcefully about how incredible it was that a sofa could be that expensive – she said, “What do you mean, that’s quite normal!” After I finished spluttering and acquainting her with how much a normal sofa is, I started to wonder how she would cope if her circumstances changed.
Another time I was laughingly telling her how I cut my sons hair (I am not a hairdresser), bleach my daughter’s hair and provide childcare for my granddaughter. She quite seriously queried why the kids don’t go to the hairdresser’s and why doesn’t my daughter get a nanny? She was also mystified as to why I give lifts to my family rather than telling them to get a taxi.
Mind blown.