“They Don’t Eat Leftovers”: 56 Ignorant Middle-Class Phrases That They Need To Rethink

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Sam Vimes' boots again.

"I got a car for graduation! What did you get Rinso?" "I got kicked out"

I can't count the number of people I've seen that complain about all the perks the poor get: free medical, free food, free housing. They have no understanding of what it takes to qualify for these things and what you have to do to keep them. I always ask, "If these things are so wonderful and important to you, why haven't you quit your job and applied for them then?" People finally shut up then.

I'll eat your leftovers, your rightovers, heck even your middleovers. I'm not picky.

My "new clothes" each year came from the previous summer yard sales.

Saying someone being poor is bad with money is like saying someone falling off a cliff is bad with gravity.

Oh, if only...

Public transportation isn't readily available in all cites. Our transportation system s***s where I live.

Wait, you guys are getting choices?

The only savings I have is what's required to keep my checking acct open at the credit union.

The only way one can "just quit then" (and don't tell me you haven't had days when you've wanted to go to your boss and hand over your badge and leave, all without saying a single word) is to already have another job lined up. That's when you realise that, for the most part, you're nothing special. Just yet another person looking to exchange time for money, just like everybody else. You know, the place I work, there are girls with degrees. Okay, often in dumb subjects like hairdressing or whatever, but there are only so many people needed to do those jobs, so these girls who did a couple of years at college and might be good at it, turn up at 4am to spend the next eight hours putting cherries on cupcakes, because that's the job that took them on and when you have bills you don't get to be choosy. So "just quit then", nice dream, terrible reality.

No, dear, I don't. I grew up with the mindset of figuring out my problems by myself because others were........unreliable at best.

Many people devote a large chunk of every paycheck to real estate. It's called "rent".

Actually, I do that with toilet paper 😬

How is that a middle class and not an upper class thing?

I mean..... it depends on what has been sitting in said tupperware and how long. Once I totally forgot about a container of beef stroganoff and it ended up pushed juuust far back enough in the fridge that I couldn't see it, so out of sight out of mind. There was no way I was releasing the abomination in that container into the world by opening it.

They say money can't buy you happiness..maybe not, but it makes life significantly easier!

I remember in high school my friend asking where my family was going for vacation. I said nowhere? And she let out a big sigh , and was like ugh we're going to Belize..again.

Ah, good one. I resemble this remark.

The local church I would see do this on Thursdays. Haven't seen it happen at all this year. Times are really tough.

Also, poor people can usually eat the same thing day after day because that's what they do. I have a friend who can't stand to even eat leftovers because they're something she ate the day before. But I remember getting a can of Crisco, some salt, and a 5-lb bag of potatoes and having fried potatoes for every meal until the potatoes were gone. If I told someone that, they'd ask me how I could stand to eat like that. The other thing in eating is that poor people don't make "balanced" meals a priority. They can't always afford to have three or four different things to eat at the table. One item is what they'll eat and that's the meal. I still find myself doing that today. I'll eat plain hamburger with ketchup and that will be my supper. Nothing else. No veggies, no dessert. I had to keep a food diary once and the doctor wouldn't believe what I would put down for meals. He thought I was lying about what I ate every day.

Expecting someone to co-sign is d**n cheeky - the business wants to make the loan but expects someone not involved with the purchase to back the loan anyway? This comes across as "We'll make sure we get our money but we'll still hit you with extreme interest rates because you're poor". Cake-ism?

At least in the UK, you are automatically enrolled to put money away if you're employed. There may not be much in it, but it's better than nothing. You're screwed if you're self employed though

I hated those "tell us where you went on your summer vacation" the teacher asked when school started.

I am 50, and I have never been able to afford a car. I do live in a place with good public transportation, so before I got too disabled I could get a lot done with that (though it did get more and more difficult/exhausting over time). Now my primary transportation is only what is covered by my Medicare health insurance, which is so inconvenient and tedious to deal with that I only use it for unavoidable medical appointments. I do use Lyft, but as little as possible (mainly to take cats to the vet) as I need to save the money for other things. (No, the cats aren't optional, they keep me hanging on.)

Our city does curbside "large item pickup" twice a year and it always amazes me how much perfectly good stuff gets thrown out that could be posted for free on FB Marketplace and go to a good home. Some of it is junk, but lots of it is perfectly good, just dated.

Yeah okay what comes in the working class? You can count on my time as a firefighter and my mom was a union grocery store worker but we managed to live a decent life in a five bedroom 2.5 bathroom house with a fridge and cupboards with food. Had cars and a motorhome.

Ask my parents? One was going to run me after graduation had I not moved, the other I was grateful to get a box of groceries once in a while to survive college. I STILL can't abide the taste of ramen...

I worked in a bank and saw firsthand how hard it is to take things off auto-pay, short of closing your checking account. I swore I would never have anything on auto-pay, no matter how much it saved me.

Do I *ski*? Take a good long look at my body and ask me that again, slowly. 😂

That's not always possible, especially if something unexpected comes up like a car repair.

That might work when you are still young. There will come a time when you no longer have parents who can help you. Or, your parents might need your help instead.

When pharma commercials say, "Ask your doctor if Fhqwhgads is right for you." Ah yes, "my doctor," who is a person I know and can afford to talk to. We golf together.

If I got asked to lunch and said it was because I had no money, people would tell me, "Oh, it's only $5. Surely you can afford that!" People don't understand, when you say you have no money, you have NO money. Not yes, I have a couple bucks in change in the car, or yes, I can pull it out of my a*s. I mean I have NO money, as in ZERO, ZILCH, ZIP. It's the 1st, I've paid my rent, my bills, and gotten gas and groceries and for the next four weeks, I have NO money left over for ANYTHING!

Yeah, that'll drain your pockets fast! Don't get me started on Uber eats and other app delivery services. Have never used them, never will.

I'm reaching that point in time where my fridge is 20 years old (and I've replaced the door gasket and both thermostats), my stove is 25 years old (and the propane regulators are shot), and my washer and dryer are 15 years old (and fortunately mechanical and, thus, easily fixed). Also, my car is nearly 20 years old. I hope they don't all go at once.

I took two city busses on my own as a kid to get to school , I remember showing up soaking wet and freezing after waiting in the rain. I always envied my friends who came with their parents in a warm car.

Paper towels in my house were only for cat puke or big messes.

Pudding was for Christmas or the occasional Sunday, only.

The saddest part is that adults who never had braces are viewed differently. This is especially an issue for women. In order to appear polished and professional, society expects clean, straight white teeth. It's not fair for all the kids out there who didn't have that from their parents. I don't agree with it, at all. I'm simply pointing out the way things are (a lot of the time).

Touche' This definition has definitely changed in the last 10 years.

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Poor people don't have big lawns that 'need' them anyway.

"We don't like Walmart because of how they treat their employees, so we shop at Whole Foods instead." How nice you can afford to do that.

"This one time, at band camp...."

Nothing middle class about a pool. In ground? Rich. Above ground? Poor. No pool? Middle class.

Pretty normal in European countries. And of course visiting a foreign country is easier here too.

No, I'm sorry, it's not middle class. I'm doing well now, but my 20s and early 30s were a mess. I pirated nothing. I did without.

There are two sorts of middle class. Those who came from middle class backgrounds, and those who rose there. It's the second lot that are massively insecure about money and the prices of things. If you got into a home and it is tasteful Laura Ashley, then it's middle class. If you got into a home and the host points it out and, worse, starts talking about the price, then they aren't from a middle class background.

In the US, that's how we keep our BS credit score high.

My mom was a SAHM, which is why she and my dad always thought I was such a failure. Why couldn't I get married and stay at home all day and take care of kids, why couldn't a husband support a wife and kids on one salary, why didn't I just go to college to get a good job so I could buy a house, how hard can it be to get a job - just walk in and give them your resume? If you can't do any of that, there must be something wrong with you. We did it, why can't you?

Another very NOT middle class thing

I was an adult before minivans existed.