Hating People Oblivious to Their Privilege Rant

Why do so many fucking people on Wall Street come from rich and privileged families? It's so disgusting. I have meet quite a few people who are not even aware of how privileged they are having their parents pay for 300-400k in boarding school and undergraduate tutition for them. They think they eanred that job as an analyst on Wall Street in IB or M & A but in reality it was their priviledged background that got you your job. If i could throw some of these people out the tower and get paid for it and not go to jail, especially the white girls on Wall Street, i would do it in a heart beat.

 

Not just this guy. I've heard it from people at all levels of the firm. At the lowest level my classmates who did IB over the summer have all complained about how privileged a mindset many of their peers had(while being oblivious to it). The highest ranking person I've had echo the sentiment was someone on the board of a mid-tier BB that I met at a diversity recruiting event. This guy stated straight up that "we like to hire people with [x backgrounds] because a lot of these kids.......they're not there these days".

It sounds like it's actually gotten worse in some ways and that a lot of target school kids have an extremely entitled attitude paired with a complete obliviousness to how entitled they are.

 

Judging by the fact most CEO's have a disdain for affluent, entitled workers, what did you do to keep the peace in your life getting to where you are having to deal with these people every day of your career?

 

I know what you mean. I don't think it's specific to finance necessarily, I think people in general often lack appreciation. It takes a lot of self awareness and discipline to really keep perspective. Everything is relative right.

For instance 90% of what we have is luck if you think of it from the perspective of just being born in the US... in a nation that provides free K-12 education, student loans from the department of education, strong financial institutions that provide these types of employment, etc. I understand that you find it frustrating, but this site isn't going to give you much sympathy... think of the demographic you're preaching to. Rich and poor alike can be that way. People are just hypersensitive towards the wealthy...

 

i feel like you would throw me out of a tower because i was lucky...seems a little harsh.

life definitely is NOT fair...may parents paid for my undergraduate degree, i paid for everything after that and worked every summer since I was 15. i think i was definitely privileged, but don't you think it's a natural thing to try and help your family and friends as much as you can?

is it possible that even with a privileged background it takes a ton of work to be successful and land a job. So it's a combination of hard work and privilege?

 

In my experience, it's pretty easy to tell who grew up in a privileged family vs. who had to really work to get to where they are. Growing up in a lower income home makes me appreciate my finance job more than most privileged people can imagine. But you can't criticize people who grew up with a silver spoon in their mouth. If you were born into that situation you'd take advantage of it too.

 

Agreed but there are times where the privileged people look down on those who are not. Happens all the time in the suburbs and the amount of elitist mentalities in the industry do not help the public perception. For instance, I went to one of the more "white-shoe" firms and when I had said my non-target school I was given a look by the banker that seemed as though I took a shit on the floor. I've also noticed that people from ivies seem to be VERY cliquey and seem to know everyone from their peer schools.

 

That is exactly my point!! Your kids along with most everyone elses on the street benefit from "YOUR" hard work. They didin't earn that privilege, you gave it to them. Boarding school, private university, proffesional connections That is the problem in America. The perpetuation of upper and upper-middle social class privilege. Well not all, 90-95% of all high paying jobs 100,000+ (not just in finance) are filled with indaviduals who come from the upper and upper-middle casses. I do not come from money and it is the shittiest thing in the world to know working just as hard as some who comes from money that the field will always be tilted in their favor.

 

The kids didn't earn that privilege, but as one's parents, I earned the privilege to give them a fair amount of a step up and to have things go well for them. What your saying is that poor black people who came from slavery, or poor people that descend from immigrants, don't ever deserve to have a better shot than the rich landowner that started out wealthy. If there can't be a step up because of your parent's hardwork, then what's the point?

 

I can symphatize with you as someone who (relatively) got the short end of the stick until after college. I grew up in the projects in the midwest while my sadistic piece of shit of a dad left and made 100k+ in the 80s & 90s. I was fortunate to get the last laugh and the experiences I had motivated me to be the very best I can be. At times it feels like the world is so fucked up when there are con men who scam their way to the upper-middle class while others are stuck in lower class for generations (how is a poor mom going to teach her kid to get a top tier education?). You just have to keep pushing because eventually you will get in the industry and have a quiet 'fuck you' to your coworkers when you get the top bucket bonus. Nobody likes a brown-noser ivy kid during bonus season and it has been my experience that non-target grads are fairly well represented at the MD/VP level.

 

The issue with this argument is that it is endlessly reductionist. It is obviously true that people who went to boarding school have a leg up relative to those who don't. But you (conveniently) stop there.

Take your argument to the logical extreme - you have significant privilege over countless other people as well. Say you grew up middle-class with two parents - you are privileged relative to Americans who grew up in extreme poverty. Say you grew up in the US in extreme poverty - you are privileged relative to people who grew up in extreme poverty in south Asia. This goes on and on.

The reality is that there isn't some mechanism that can miraculously level the playing field. People play the hand they are dealt and do the best they can from there. Perhaps you should find a career path (on wall street or not) that is attainable to you and gives you contentment.

 

There is not some mechanism, you are correct. And even though i know this battle of have vs have not has existed since the begining of time, i still don't know how to make peace with it even though i know i can do nothing about it.

 

There is actual a proven formula for happiness. It is having what other people do not which is deemed superior by the standards of society relative to your peer group. For instance a Wall Street guy will feel successful at a dive bar but less so in a meeting with his senior managers and peers who make more money than him. NOTHING in this world is more high status than Wall Street. My intrinsic motivation to work in the industry is i know it makes me a better human compared to people who do not work in the industry and i will gladly work 100/hr weeks for the satisfaction of holding my nose up to damm near almost everyone when i leave the office.

 

Ha.ha.ha. "Better human" lol. So let's get this straight - you whine about it being unfair for some people to have privilege, but your motivation to go into banking is to have that privilege and "superiority" over others? What a fucking joke. Why don't you get off your high horse and actually put those 100 hrs/week into breaking into the industry instead of going on your woe is me spiel online.

 

To be honest though, i think it is important to people to vent how they genuinely feel about Finance becuase how else are you suppose to become enlightened on a matter if you don't share it openly. Yes, i get alot of shit with my posts but it is helping me see things from a different perspective in that it is possible to make it on Wall Street if you don't come from money.

 

I was raised in the trailer park. I know how hard it is to come from literally nothing to being "something". The privilege of some is real. But honestly, I don't hold their privilege against them.

In some ways it makes people less successful in the long run.

Several of those people never had to make $120 feed a family of five for a month. I do. Most don't know what its like to go a night without food. I do. Most don't know how hard and complex the actual world is for all types of people. I do.

Hearing about 100 hour weeks in IBD and people's surprise or disdain. During high school I worked 40 hours a week, while maintaining my GPA and extracurriculars. And often would be from the house from 5:30AM to 10:00PM only coming home to sleep for a year. The same happened in college (still to today).

Just because people start at an easier platform doesn't mean they will beat me in the financial game of life. Just means I have to use my own advantages to level the field.

"It is better to have a friendship based on business, than a business based on friendship." - Rockefeller. "Live fast, die hard. Leave a good looking body." - Navy SEAL
 

You should hold it againist them. Not really though. I don't know. I guess the solution is dealing with an underlying constant that inequality will always exist and the best one can do is learn how to make peace with it.

 

If you're fresh out of college, and you lose a gig to a guy with a shiny resume, enabled by his rich parents, sure that might be the universe's fault.

But if you lose a gig to a similar guy when you have two years of work experience, there's a big chance that it might be your fault.

Privilege gets your foot in the door, but it can't take you all the way. Only hard work can do that.

"Be the Disruptor, not the Disrupted" - Clayton Christensen
 

you should check out tumblr.com, there's a great community there that discusses victimization and privilege. they make you check your privilege every time you login.

 

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