I nipped into Starbucks for a well-earned break from my exhausting dog work.
A group of well-heeled students wearing the uniform of a private school stood before me at the till.
They were confident, articulate and rather engaging.
I was in awe of their astounding coffee expertise, way beyond the grasp of the average barrista.
I was deeply impressed until one boy said loudly to the group: ‘Do you know what he had the impudence to give me for my birthday?’
The others shook their heads.
‘He actually gave me £60.’ (I had no idea who ‘HE’ was but come my birthday 60 quid will do fine.)
‘Sixty pounds,’ he repeated. ‘And that’s just unacceptable’.
His scorn for the donor was manifest and demonstrated the gap in his expensive education.
He had no idea how hard some families work to take home £60.
He didn’t know it was more than a day’s pay for many people working long shifts in hard, grinding jobs.
He showed no recognition of the toil required and I suspect had never had to earn it.
That many retirees on state pensions must survive on little more than £60 per week had never been part of his life experience.
He clearly considered a tax-free gift of this amount to be an insult.
These were nice kids with good manners, no doubt academically bright, but there was a gaping hole in their education that could so easily be filled by gainful employment.
Sneering at a gift many hard-working families would welcome is not an attractive trait.
Over-indulgent parents may wish to take note.
