I ate the free "cheetos" (unfortunately, they were actually peatos), the free breakfast, used the occasional paracetamol tablet, got too drunk at parties and ate half the canapés, said hi to the cleaners, couldn't work out why everyone was so into snowboarding, failed horribly at networking, had an android, lived in the needles and shootings part of the Tenderloin, was just over the obese BMI when I left, and have never had my teeth whitened.
I think those things are markers of the upper or upper-middle classes in the US, and if you're not from the US or from any other class, you don't have them. I haven't had to worry about bounced paychecks for a decade. My parents, solidly middle class, could have handled emergencies like a missed paycheck by dipping into their savings.
Funny story: the main investor at my previous startup was a multibillionaire, one of the richest men in Canada (via his captive VC fund). He came to visit us maybe 3–4 times, and each time he'd make a beeline for the goldfish crackers in our canteen.
> What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca Cola, too. A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the cokes are the same and all the cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.
I get the point of the quote, but it's not entirely true today. setting aside the existence of "premium colas", there is a higher tier of coca cola: the one that has actual cane sugar and is imported from mexico. if you order a coke at a nice restaurant, you will likely be served one of these. the imported version isn't prohibitively expensive, but it is uncommon to see poor people pay a premium for soda.
Back in 1975 that wasn't the case. But I guess it's another tiny symbol of increasing American inequality since then, we have special Coke for rich people now.
I think those things are markers of the upper or upper-middle classes in the US, and if you're not from the US or from any other class, you don't have them. I haven't had to worry about bounced paychecks for a decade. My parents, solidly middle class, could have handled emergencies like a missed paycheck by dipping into their savings.