Bum

Sometimes I think I resist getting a job just to see how other people treat me. On the whole I don't think it actually makes any significant contribution to my decision, but it is interesting to observe other people's reactions. It's amazing how many people don't seem to realize that people are themselves no matter what they're earning. People will tell you all kinds of noble-sounding things, but when it comes down to tin tacks, they treat you much better if you're earning a "respectable wage" than if you're working a menial job or not working at all. Society's attitudes toward income level, towards "class," filter down into individual minds. When I was earning good money and bore the evidence of it on and around my person, I wielded much greater power over others. I don't know what combination of respect, jealously, obsequiousness, and automatic association of means with authority comes into play in the minds of people when they are confronted by such a person. It certainly speaks volumes about their nature.