quiddities and agonies of the ruling class - a rolling new york times thread

"I already know you're a spoiled rich kid who owns our paper...but a picture with billy joel!! that crosses the line!"

observer staffers HATE billy joel

Nothing says hedonistic conspicuous consumption like chillin with Billy Joel.

He charges $3,500/hour for that shit.

Does anyone actually read the New York Observer?

what counts as "anyone"

ah:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Observer

The New York Observer asserts to advertisers that it delivers Manhattan’s most affluent, educated and influential consumers, with the average net worth of its readership exceeding $1.7 million and 96% of readers being college graduates. It has a paid circulation of 51,000.

the average net worth of its readership exceeding $1.7 million

what

yeah, seems low

it went up a lot when i stopped reading it

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/us/politics/28mica.html?

not a ruling class article but prob the single worst sentence I've read this month, rip nyt:

But getting even a small fraction of the 2.3 million people living along the rail corridor to ride trains may be difficult, state officials acknowledge. Separating drivers from their cars would be like forcing Mickey and Minnie Mouse to divorce.

job juggalos

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/business/26work.html?_r=2&hp

Wait does working 80 hours a week to earn $30k before taxes with a college degree really belong on this thread?

not really. that girl should move out of the upper west side though.

yeah you've actually managed to find an article about the kinds of problems and anxieties normal people have to deal with!

xpost well, probably.

yeah not really an offender for this thread but

Mr. Fierro, who calls himself an “aesthetic consultant,”

made me lol

There may be a hidden "quiddities and agonies of the children of the ruling class" angle in some of those stories

But I don't want to be too presumptuous

idk there's just enough cluelessness in that article, like "actors hold down odd jobs" is a sort of recent trend? no

ya i think u guys see it. its subtle but its there

comments on that one are pretty good

ya i think u guys see it. its subtle but its there

Yeah. Taking a second job so you can live in a hip, expensive neighborhood and take trips to New Orleans. Having to actually save money (by not spending $5 bills no less) to buy three airline tickets. Turning down a full time job with benefits bc then you wouldn't be able to go on auditions whenever you wanted.

they're still poor tho

I mean, that's not "Woe is me I bought a huge expensive house and now nobody will visit me in the suburbs" but it's still a "working class" profile that focuses on the whining of the privileged. If you can leave that bowl of $5 bills alone long enough to afford a plane ticket, things aren't that dire. It's just more like "Here's an article about how some people can't afford to do whatever they want all the time, sometimes because they would rather go on acting auditions than have a stable job and sometimes bc they want to live in hip neighborhoods."

idk not all of them are voluntarily not in a stable job...

True. And I'm sympathetic, mostly. Also empathetic - I could probably afford to save for retirement if I lived in a cheaper neighborhood (and I have two jobs!). I just see how this has elements of classic NYT q&a style reporting.

“Of course, it stresses me out not to have health insurance, but what is my choice? Work in an office and be unhappy? Being happy is a superhigh value to me.”

I'm not sympathetic at all. They all seem to be asking for it, to like it, even. Also, the amount of money they're making compared to the amount they pay in rent doesn't really add up. One person still has over $1,500 left after rent. Where does it go? They also all seem really employable.

Chick in the picture also has a very nice looking raincoat and boots. I guess it could be H&M or something that level but the coat looks kind of burberryish.

“Of course, it stresses me out not to have health insurance, but what is my choice? Work in an office and be unhappy? Being happy is a superhigh value to me.”

this doesn't actually sound so unreasonable to me!

but hey she's "living paycheck to paycheck" lol

anyway can we all just agree that the nyt is just really shitty at coming up w/ examples of people worth any sympathy

but I mean the ~idea~ of poor young people juggling crappy jobs, I mean they do exist, I can help them find some next time

HARK! AN EXPERT:

But beware: Too much multitasking makes it harder to sustain attention, according to Kirk Snyder, an assistant professor of communications at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, who researches the changing workplace values of Gen Y.

and BEHOLD! A BUZZWORD:

More college graduates are working in second jobs that don’t require college degrees, part of a phenomenon called “mal-employment.” In short, many baby-sitters, sales clerks, telemarketers and bartenders are overqualified for their jobs.

Hey, I can't afford a Burberry raincoat. I am no longer sympathetic.

Bartenders with college degrees! Well, I never!

an assistant professor of communications

wonder what that pays

I could probably afford a Burberry raincoat if I lived in a cheaper hood a d drank cheaper beer. NYT! Call me!

ya i think u guys see it. its subtle but its there

yeah atp i think taking actual real world problems - high youth unemployment/underemployment, declining wages - & using them as a pretext to profile aspiring actresses slash spin class instructors who live on the upper west side is quintessential nyt q+a

"It’s exhausting. Sometimes I just want to take a nap."

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_UMdxOpBQpdI/S7s9RxmxoPI/AAAAAAAADJU/wc1g8gli5DM/s400/coal-miner.jpg

work in an office; be unhappy

there u go, Lamp otm

This kind of calls back to the nyt articles where they were detailing how young people were making ends meet by living with their parents after college or moving back in when good jobs dried up.

However, they still had parents with pretty good jobs, iirc

i mean fair enough i work in an office which makes me a bit unhappy but i don't think that is a universal condition!

no offense, but "an actress; an assistant to dance instructors at the Circle in the Square and Juilliard schools; a baby-sitter; and a variety of administrative roles and as a spinning instructor at SoulCycle, an indoor cycling studio in New York" is not four jobs. It's a lot of stuff to be doing but it's not four career tracks. by that logic, I have like nine jobs right now

When in fact i really only have two or three

four if you count "ilx mod"

"Sometimes I just wanna take a ban"

I work in an office and I don't know if it's my optimal career, but a lot of office jobs are pretty good these days! Competitive edge benefits like on-site fitness facilities, flex time, ability to work from home occasionally, and a few other things are getting more standard in part of the corporate world.

yeah forks otm... like the one guy who managed the online vintage store AND ALSO was building an online pinata store? that is not two jobs; that kinda sounds like one job with two clients.

online pinata store is kind of lol-worthy