A few days ago, I watched a YouTube short by Jordan Petersen about how we use power and wealth in our interactions with other people.  It resonated with me because I encounter his example in my own behavior all too often, despite m my generally generous nature.

He tells of a wealthy woman who bought eggs from a street vendor.  He asked $0.50 per egg, but she said it was too expensive and talked to him down to half that. He said to take all the eggs you want because he hadn’t sold any that day and needed the money.  Later in a high-end restaurant, she has a very expensive meal with a friend of hers and includes a $50 tip with a $250 tab.  Why the difference?

Petersen’s  point:  We exert power over the powerless and are generous to the wealthy and well-off. He doesn’t say why, and the reasons are probably a complex mixture of social behaviors embedded in our innate character and nature. But he does offer an alternative:  In contrast, he talks about a man who, when buying from people who are poor, and he would give them more than their price. When asked why, he said because it’s a way to disguise charity as dignity. Good point.

I’ll need to remember that next time I feel like skimping on a tip or bargaining with someone who needs money more than me.

But there is a bigger question here he does not address, so relevant given our modern divide between the 1% and the 99%.  Why the ostentatious displays of wealth?  Why do so few with so much ignore and even disparage the less fortunate?  What in the hell is with that?

.