Yuppie Time!

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i. "dressing dumb" to disguise my yuppie ways.

ii. getting a custom salad mixed by hand at the corporate feeding troughs in midtown.

iii. hanging my living-room mirror on a slant.

what are your yuppiest habits?

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

a slant in which plane?

― mark s, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Working at a dotcom. Though that's downwardly mobile these days. I put a four-figure lunch bill on expenses once.

― Tom, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Having my mobile on vibrate. I don't want to be part of the common people who all seem to show off they have a 20 quid Nokia with Bob The Builder ringtone on it. I am merely jesting of course. My yuppiest habit? Wearing clothes that sometimes appear in Vogue magazine. That happened quite a bit in the *good old days*, now I wear clothes that you will see in Smash Hits.

― Helen Fordsdale (nathalie), Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

tom, how in the hell did you rack up a four figure lunch bill?...unless the beard IS like spider-man's symbiotic costume and you have feed him separately...

― jess, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i. z: (bottom = 0; top = 3.5 floorboards — bistro stylee)

ii. yes. working in a dotcom in a bad habit. tho about the lunch, i assume you assured your CFO that 4-figure lunches would not be a habit. now i must know: what did you eat (please don't say mcDonald's)??

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i, myself, have no yuppie habits...as i am a horribly retro-grade 1992 slacker type even with my high paying, fast-moving "career"...

― jess, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Jess: I was a very junior partner in this effort, and it was in pre- beard days. We went to a very expensive restaurant for a leaving do and two senior people spent about three hundred pounds on rare brandies. My meal plus drinks was 'only' about fifty quid.

― Tom, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ugh, I'm sure I come off as a yuppie in so many ways for the last couple years. I currently work in the marketing department of a huge law firm, I dress conservatively for work, and do well for myself. My apartment is nicely decorated, and I like to eat at nice restaurants. I don't carry a cell phone, however. What makes you a yuppie, anyway? Your clothes? Your values? What makes you not one? What you do on the weekends? How many tattoos you have? How many drugs you take? How crazy a sex life you have? Or how immature, sloppy and irresponsible you are?

My ex-boyfriend works at an art supply store on the next block from my office. I used to go in once in a while to see him, and he told me his coworkers would ask "who's that yuppie guy that comes in to see you?" The irony is I'm probably far less conservative than many of these trust-fund kids working as shop assistants while pushing 30. Making a decent living allows you do actually do some of the fun things you'd like to do. And sleep on something other than a futon. And eat something other than noodles every night.

OK, to answer the question, maybe putting on a jacket and going to an expensive restaurant is a little yuppie. So sue me.

― Sean, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(dear lord. i used to cringe when i worked in an office supply store in my collegiate days in philly and would routinely hand a $600 mont blanc fookin PEN to rich center city banker and lawyer types. as my stomach cried out for a crumb of bread. bastids.)

― jess, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

and to answer it sean, i think you pegged it with "values," which is still pretty nebulous. i am all about the money, don't get me wrong. i just break out in a rash if i have to "dress up." tis a personal thing. (oddly, this is only for work. i love putting on a suit on occasion to go out to dinner, etc. my yuppie-ish ex said i "filled it out nicely" too, whatever that means.)

― jess, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes, Tom, the dot.com is no longer a sign of yuppiedom. I don't consider myself yuppie-ish (no cell phone, car lacking a/c) but Hank would argue that traces of a questionably yuppie past linger on me. He would probably point to an excess of lawyer/politico friends. I would point to my NPR-fetish. Together we mock yuppieism by drinking cheap local beer and having more furniture on our sagging porch than in our living room.

― Samantha, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't know. I spend my parents' money when they let me on clothes and food (but I have no income yet so it's excusable). And I'm really boring.

― Maria, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(maria you would be a yuppie-in-training, if you weren't FIBBING ROYALLY on that last statement.)

― jess, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

yuppiedom = a subtle ratcheting up of material expectations. passing by a 2nd story loft decorated in the style of what baudrillard called "conspicuous austerity" and sighing "oooh, someday..."

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The most Yuppie thing about me is that I live in Hoboken NJ, which looks like a J. Crew catalog a lot of the time. I like living here, though.

― Lesley Higgins, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't think I have any "yuppie" traits or "plebbie" traits. I got a bus when I could have walked once.

― jel, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"The most Yuppie thing about me is that I live in Hoboken NJ"

and you know, its funny, becuz outside of the greater nyc metro area, i think hoboken still has this reputation as the birthplace of sinatra and broken down sleazehole. when my ex and i were *briefly* contemplating moving there, my mother thought i was insane. she also thought i was insane when i said i could afford it.

― jess, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, Hoboken has changed. A co-worker once asked me what I had in my windows as the last time she was in Hoboken she saw only sheets hung up in them. A lot of the industrial buildings have been turned into fancy apartments.

― Lesley Higgins, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, I like nice food, nice clothes, and the like -- but don't need yuppie money or manners to have those things.

But the answer has got to be taxis. Love hailing them. Love riding in them. Love getting a receipt, all that.

― suzy, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

and you know, its funny, becuz outside of the greater nyc metro area, i think hoboken still has this reputation as the birthplace of sinatra and broken down sleazehole.

Actually, when I still lived in Princeton* the common belief was that North Jersey (Hoboken and everything else) was just a great big slum. My father couldn't believe how yuppified it was until he helped me move into my apartment three years ago -- I'm not entirely convinced that he's convinced my mother of the town's true nature these days.

As fer myself and "yuppiehood," the fact that I'm legally allowed to put "Esquire" after my name pretty much ensures where I fall on that divide. Would that I had the paycheck -- what's the fun of having the presumption of yuppieness if there's no yuppie paycheck? Hee!

* whether Princeton is greater NYC metro area or greater Philadelphia metro area (as if Philadelphians were in a position to think anywhere else typified goomba singers and sleazeholes, but I digress) is another debate altogether, the sorta think real New Jerseyans rack their brains over on cold winter nights ;-)

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"(as if Philadelphians were in a position to think anywhere else typified goomba singers and sleazeholes, but I digress)"

a-friggin-hem. ;)

― jess, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Suzy's pinned it: taxis rather than buses. Otherwise I think I'm lacking any yuppie traits. I did once pay almost £100 pounds for dinner but it was on an unusually civilised stag do.

― Richard Tunnicliffe, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

RE: Hoboken: My father couldn't believe how yuppified it was until he helped me move into my apartment three years ago -- I'm not entirely convinced that he's convinced my mother of the town's true nature these days.

Try visiting Hoboken's little cousin Jersey City just to the south. No Starbucks (yet), no baby strollers blocking the sidewalk. My motorcycle gang rules the town.

― matthew, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't do oil paintings anymore because they would smell up my harbourfront apartment with the fantastic city skyline AND lakeside view. I'll spend four dollars plus on a good cup of coffee and not feel bad about it. I own far too many shiny aluminum candle holders. I've considered taking up yoga. If Nine West is having a sale, I'll buy an 'extra' black purse for a slightly different look. I buy decorative pillows. I find a neutral colour scheme more soothing than boring. I would put green growing things in black earth on my dining table. I'm thirty and not pining for kids. I work for a bank. I'm continuing my education by going to Uni on wednesday nights. I buy my lunch every weekday. Other things too numerous to mention.

― Kim, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Kim, you're refreshingly unapologetic about all this!

― Sean, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hey, wow. I guess I am. Maybe I should be more apologetic though - I mean, on one hand I totally I feel as if I deserve to live well as I've been completely financially independent from my parents for over ten years, have more than doubled my income in only the last five, and previously have done some pretty exausting and menial jobs just to get by - but on the other hand, I feel more than a little lucky to be where I am, life has gotten much easier - so I do get little dings in my conscience when I see someone less fortunate. Sometimes I wonder if my yearly donation to the United Way and other charities in general, is just a gesture that mainly makes *me* feel better. Still, I like that I can do nice things for my mom now, because she would never spend the money on herself. Also I would totally change that oil painting thing in a second if I had more space.

― Kim, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Only a yuppie when it comes to food. Token vegetarian items at gentrified "grille" type places are my main diet staple. It's sad.

― Brian MacDonald, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

*points at Brian, laughs* No, anyway. ;-) I find it interesting but understandable that Kim notes her increasing salary, because I guess I actually don't track or care about that all that much. Mine has changed some over the moons, but not radically upward. That said, it has been increasingly supplemented by various freelance work. Which is good, as otherwise I couldn't afford all these DVDs. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I have a job interview tomorrow!

― Maria, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I am the least yuppie type person in the whole world ever, sez I.

― DG, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm a total white trash kid, so...not much. Probably buying too many clothes.

― Nicole, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

My angry inspection of coffee and stern refusal of so many brands.

― Mike Hanle y, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The art on my walls and my choice of fuckpuppet

― anthony, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I have a 4 figure bill to pay on my corporate Amex this month and when I got my first month's salary in my current job, I took my sister to dinner at Browns on Albermarle Street to celebrate, although I suspect it's more of an Old Money restaurant than a Yuppie one.

― Madchen, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Probably buying expensive top of the range gadgets when much cheaper equivalents (often half the price) would be more than adequate: My PowerBook G4 titanium laptop (used mostly for web surfing and note taking in lectures), My £700 Sony DVD/5-speaker Dolby Digital hifi (I own 2 DVDs, and one of those is a music album (Super Furries), my top- of -the-range minidisc walkman (And I paid extra to get it from Japan months before its EU/US release date), my £50 pocket radio, etc etc.

That's enough showing off for now.

― Graham, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

My job is yuppie enough, and the way I dress for it. Aside from that I'm not very yuppie at all...

― Paul Strange, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

suzy: "yuppie manners" = ?? i'm imagining putting big oiled-up golf loafers on dinner table, snapping suspenders, throwing down the business section and tossing a squash ball into the living room for the dog to get, all while wife does breathing exercises and "help" irons cheap khaki chinos. i.e. BAD manners. which i'm kind of into.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

My income grew dramatically in the years after college. This caused me more guilt than anything b/c my first real job gave me more pay than my mom has ever seen in her life. I hardly felt it was justified. My current job pays about 10K less than my last, pre internet bust one, but I don't feel badly for this. That last job sucked and I've learned, in general, you pay in other ways for that increasing salary.

― Samantha, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I did not get the job because I cannot get from my house to the ice rink in five minutes when I live 15 minutes away and they want me to teach lessons immediately after school. So I will babysit and beg. Does this make me more or less yuppie?

― Maria, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Tracer: yuppie manners = that vacuous, unemotional-but-'up' kind of behaviour that makes you wonder if you're surrounded by robots with middlebrow tastes and 'uncontroversial' opinions. The 'do-they-go-to- the-toilet?' tribe. Pure torture I'm afraid.

― suzy, Thursday, 11 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

yikes. the people you don't want to show up first at a party but who inevitably do and there you are, trapped in smile hell

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 11 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I just lost a ton of weight by not drinking and have been a clothes shopping fool of late. Just ridiculous. I buy far too many cds and more books than I can read. I recently got a cleaning lady to come in twice a month and I spend too much on haircuts. I'm a late-blooming offensive yuppie scum, but I do have lovely taste.

― dan, Thursday, 11 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

two years pass...

yuppiedom = a subtle ratcheting up of material expectations. passing by a 2nd story loft decorated in the style of what baudrillard called "conspicuous austerity" and sighing "oooh, someday..."

haha, busted

― Mary (Mary), Wednesday, 25 February 2004 19:13 (twenty-one years ago)

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