How Come Wealthy People .....

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How Come Wealthy People .....

..... get almost everything free?

They get free entrance into clubs, have all their drinks bought them, and often get served for free in restaurants. And yet they can afford it more than the rest of us.

I understand the free drinks bit, for the venue is delighted to have them gracing their premises. It attracts other business. But there's something about wealthy people, that makes you not want to charge them.

We have a number of fairly wealthy friends, and they all have the same aura about them. We were at a dinner party last night with four other couples. One couple have a house with seven gardens. It's a great party house. He's a stockbroker and has his own business. Another couple have just sold their £700k house and bought a £1m dwelling. Their business makes and sells signs and traffic lights and such like. Another friend owns his own advertising agency, while the host also works in the city and they have a fantastic house.

It wa a fantastic night! Everyone was on top form and the banter just kept coming. We just kept laughing and laughing. Yet halfway through the night the conversation turned to my writing and my books. Those that haven't read them expressed an interest in reading them. And so I went out to the car (we got a cab back and picked the car up ion the morning) and dished out some copies of my books for free.

Why did I do that? I charge all my other friends, so why not these friends? I have to pay for the books myself, of course, I don't get them for free.

All I can think of is that it would perhaps have seemed cheap to ask for money, even though they can afford it a lot more than me.

What is it about wealthy people that makes us not feel like charging them for labour or merchandise?

you didn't charge me and I'm not rich

 

I just think people with a lot of money don't think sometimes. It's habit. They wouldn't blink at the price of a book so they wouldn't think to ask for money for ones they gave away (add to that the constant fear of patronising someone by offering to pay for something that was meant as a gift). In any other situation the person you were offering the book to would automatically realise the cost involved and offer to pay - that way you wouldn't have been faced with the awkward situation of actually asking for payment, which of course you're unlikely to do because it's so awkward.
Probably to mix with the rich, get in with tthe good crowd, so you can ask for a favor later. I don't care who you are, whether a bum from the street or Oprah, I'm charging you the same price. (although I really don't have anthing to charge for...) Give me the beat boys and free my soul! I wanna getta lost in ya rock n' roll and drift away. Drift away...

Give me the beat boys and free my soul! I wanna getta lost in ya rock n' roll and drift away. Drift away...

True Poet J, but you actually have that same aura about you, and you don't even know it. Do you think Mother theresa ever paid for ANYTHING? She could blag flights, hotel rooms, anything! You could do the same. Besides, I wanted you to read the book. That was my payment.

 

I disagree Lou. Most wealthy people I've met are wealthy BECAUSE they never bloody pay for anything. Some are tighter than two coats of paint. Karl, if you offer to give books you can hardly expect payment. What you SHOULD have done is get in first and nonchalanty tell them them that you got a real good deal from the publisher and they only cost so and so. Personally I would never take advantage of a friend like that and would INSIST on paying the full retail value (shame on you Jude). As it happens not all wealthy people ARE that mean. Last week Fred and I offered to take Jack Clement to lunch. (Fred is almost permanently skint so it really meant 'I' was paying). When I pay I have no restraints and order what the hell I want, (it's invariably quite expensive). but when the bill came ($98 + 16% tip), and I took out my wallet Jack wouldn't hear of it and gave the waiter his credit card. We took him home where he invited us into his studio, played some of his compositions for us in our own free concert, gave us copies of his CD's and signed them. He said he hadn't enjoyed himself so much in ages.

 

In my experience, Seriously Wealthy people get so because they are pretty good at giving stuff away and have cottoned on to that from a pretty young age. They are in fact experts at it and do it in a more targeted way than your average 'nice' Joe. The way human nature works, the more you give, in general, the more you get back (even if you don't expressly call in favours). Invariably what you get back tends to be more than the original giving. Think back to your experiences. In their company it is infectious. Karl, perhaps you will be invited to more mega parties worth more than the cost a book.
There's a peculiar British taboo about money disparity, related to class. Everyone knows exactly where everyone else is pegged on the financial ladder, but it is considered extremely bad form to draw attention to the difference between people, because when we are with people we should, if being polite, try to ignore any difference in status between us. It is therefore quite bad form to draw attention directly to how much richer you are than someone, or indeed how much poorer. By Karl suggesting that people pay for a book, he would be drawing attention to the fact that he needed the money in some way, when he knows his dinner companions would not need the money in a similar situation. So, to escape the acknowledgement of disparity, he gave the books for free, thus allowing everyone to continue to pretend to be unaware of the differences in wealth between them. that's my reading, and I'm sticking to it. Cheers, Mark Brown, Editor (on leave), www.ABCtales.com

 

----The way human nature works, the more you give, in general, the more you get back---- You're living in a different world than that in which I live, Jerry.

 

"Hey, everyone, as we're on the subject and everything, I've just written a book actually" "Oh Really, what's it abo..... where the hell did he go?" [five minutes later] "Right, that's one for you... and one for you, and one for you..." "Gee, thanks" "that'll be fourteen ninety nine each then plea.... where the hell did they go?" [sound of engines starting and car doors slamming, then a window is opened] "Hey!!! You touch it you own it pal!!! I know where you live!"
I think Mark hit the nail right on the head there. Offereing to pay would draw attention to the fact that I don't have sheds loads of money. The "payment" will, of course, come in other forms, possibly not even imagined. (Jude can take advantage of me any time she wishes).

 

It has nothing to do with wealth, Karl and Mark (did you see what I did there, huh?) it is more about circumstance. Karl could have been at a party of beach bums and the same thing would have happened. He would have had to hand out his books FOC. (Unless he is totally devoid of manners). You can't charge for your book in those circumstances. Go to a reading and you can charge all your mates. I did. Even worse, you can't give away any freebies for fear of upsetting those who have paid! The obverse situation is this: before christmas, quite by chance, I was in contact with fey_mouse (remember her?) and she asked if my chapbook was still available. I sent her a copy as an xmas pressie because, not only did she sometimes plug my stuff, I also admired her and Richie for taking off to the wilds of a Scottish Island and eeking out a living, living the life they wanted. A week later I received a postal order covering the cost of the book and the postage. Which kind of brings me back to Karl's original point, in a reverse way. Nah, it doesn't. If she had been at the last abc do , I'd have charged her too! Muhahahahahah!

 

Don't go near that 'credit card' link in my post above, this PC has become infected with a program that turns certain words into links to it's own site! You may end up being invaded as well. And it's pissing me off big time. Thankfully I'll be back on my own machine in a few days, which will mean I'll only have to contend with having to log back in every time I touch the keyboard.

 

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