I wanted to complain about one of the checkmarks on the “Are you Spoiled?” Meme, that was going around, and it didn't seem fair to comment on other people's “Are you Spoiled?” without seeming willing to make the same confessions myself.
Long list of questions copied from a bunch of people
Do you have:
( ) your own cell phone
( ) a television in your bedroom
( ) an iPod
(x) a photo printer (An all in one inkjet that also does photos.)
( ) your own phone line
( ) TiVo or a generic digital video recorder
(x) high-speed internet access (paid for by the kids online school)
( ) a surround sound system in bedroom
(x) DVD player in bedroom (I assume the laptop counts, I've watched quite a few DVDs on it.)
( ) at least a hundred DVDs
( ) a childfree bathroom
( ) your own in-house office
( ) a pool
( ) a guest house
( ) a game room
( ) a queen-size bed (Nope – a KING-sized bed, yes)
( ) a stocked bar
(x) a working dishwasher (It *mostly* works)
( ) an icemaker
(x) a working washer and dryer (Actually the dryer doesn't work that well, but the washer does, so I'll be generous.)
( ) more than 20 pairs of shoes
( ) at least ten things from a designer store
( ) expensive sunglasses
( ) framed original art
( ) Egyptian cotton sheets or towels
( ) a multi-speed bike
(x) a gym membership (YMCA. Paid for, once again, by the kids school.)
( ) large exercise equipment at home
( ) your own set of golf clubs
( ) a pool table
( ) a tennis court
( ) local access to a lake, large pond, or the sea
( ) your own pair of skis (Actually I did own my own cross-country skiis as a kid. Not anymore.)
(x) enough camping gear for a weekend trip in an isolated area (I have tents, sleeping bags, and even a camp stove, I could get by with a lot less for just a weekend. Finding somewhere isolated withing driving distance is much harder.)
( ) a boat
( ) a jet ski
( ) a neighborhood committee membership
( ) a beach house or a vacation house/cabin
( ) wealthy family members (I say no. This could be unfair, my grandfather was *very* comfortably well off by the time he died. He was also frugal, and had a great many grandchildren, and it says family *members*.)
( ) two or more family cars
( ) a walk-in closet or pantry.
(x) a yard
( ) a hammock
( ) a personal trainer
(x) good credit
( ) expensive jewelry
( ) a designer bag that required being on a waiting list to get
( ) at least $100 cash in your possession right now
(x) more than two credit cards bearing your name (not counting gas cards or debit cards)
(?) a stock portfolio (I have some mutual funds, does that count?)
( ) a passport
( ) a horse
( ) a trust fund (either for you or created by you)
( ) private medical insurance
( ) a college degree, and no outstanding student loans
Do you:
( ) shop for non-needed items for yourself (like clothes, jewelry, electronics) at least once a week
( ) do your regular grocery shopping at high-end or specialty stores
( ) pay someone else to clean your house, do dishes, or launder your clothes (not counting dry-cleaning)?
(x) go on weekend mini-vacations (I suppose convetions count even though I only go to local ones, and hardly ever pay for a room?)
( ) send dinners back with every flaw
( ) wear perfume or cologne
( ) regularly get your hair styled or nails done in a salon
( ) have a job but don't need the money OR
( ) stay at home with little financial sacrifice
( ) pay someone else to cook your meals
( ) pay someone else to watch your children or walk your dogs
( ) regularly pay someone else to drive you
( ) expect a gift after you fight with your partner
Are you:
( ) an only child
( ) married/partnered to a wealthy person
( ) baffled/surprised when you don't get your way
Have you:
( ) been on a cruise
(x) traveled out of the country (Out of which country? I'm from Canada, I live in the States, I've never been anywhere else.)
(x) met a celebrity (Big name SF writers and filkers)
( ) been to the Caribbean
( ) been to Europe
( ) been to Hawaii
( ) been to New York
( ) eaten at the Space Needle in Seattle
(x ) been to the Mall of America (Lived in the Twin Cities for three years, and took my kids there to play regularly every winter.. I *didn't* shop there.)
( ) been on the Eiffel tower in Paris
( ) been on the Statue of Liberty in New York
(x) moved more than three times because you wanted to (as opposed to losing your house or being evicted) (I've moved lots — never been evicted… *wanting* to move happened only once, however.)
( ) dined with local political figures
( ) been to both the Atlantic coast and the Pacific coast (in any country) I went to Florida once, but never got as far as a coastline. I have been to Vancouver's coastline, although I don't actually remember much.
Did you:
(?) go to another country for your honeymoon (Which country? I spent my honeymoon at my in-laws house. The same country I married in.)
( ) hire a professional photographer for your wedding or party
(x) take riding or swimming lessons as a child (Swimming, also took riding in college – but didn't manage to attend many classses.)
( ) attend private school
( ) have a Sweet 16 birthday party thrown for you
If you have 40+ you are spoiled.
I have 18 if all the ?s count. I'm probably not even in danger of maybe one day becoming spoiled.
So, having established that, I would like to say that I utterly resent having “good credit” on this list. I have good credit because I have gone without, rather than living beyond my means. That isn't even sort of maybe being spoilt. That's being responsible.
There are a number of other items I find very iffy…
A college degree with no outstanding loans. What's spoilt about having worked hard and payed those loans off?
Swimming lessons listed on par with riding lessons seems *really* strange… my high school had a swimming pool, and everyone in the school had to take swimming as part of the regular PE program… riding lessons, however, were exotic and expensive.
Vistied another country: Being a Canadian who has visited the United States is no big deal. For Canadians it's cheaper and easier to get to another country, than it is to get to the other half of one's own country, and frankly, a good deal less interesting.
Moving due to job transfers hardly strikes me as being spoilt.
The *size* of the “sweet sixteen” party is surely more to the point than that you had one?
Multi-speed bikes… it's pretty impossible to find any adult sized bikes around here that *aren't* multi-speed. Owning a bike doesn't seem particularly spoiled… especially when you use it in place of, say, a second family car.
I would also like to point out that my printer that does photos came “free” (rebate equal to total price) with my last computer… doesn't everyone get their baseline inkjets free nowadays? I haven't actually paid for a printer for over ten years now, I think. So if I'm spoiled its because I get new computers faster than my printers die, not because of the printer itself.
The credit cards seem a bit beside the point as well. Anyone with good credit can pick up as many cards as they want. I have good credit *because* I never charge anything can't afford to buy outright anyway, so whoop-de-do on owning three cards. The second card is for places that don't take Discover (like everywhere in Canada) and the third is for business purposes, and neither is used more than two or three times a year.