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Originally posted by samaka:
The people who are most concerned with class in any country are those who have suddenly come into money and don't know how to behave.

Class is the ability to treat everyone kindly and equally, whatever your background.

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Posts: 1626 | From: whatever, wherever | Registered: Jul 2008  |  IP: Logged | 

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Originally posted by Cheekyferret:
you can trust a street cleaner to look after the broom and cart and not try to take it home whereas you can't trust a tour guide with a tourist

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Posts: 30 | From: Giza | Registered: Jan 2010  |  IP: Logged | 

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Originally posted by Questionmarks:
In Europe there is also a class-system. Do you think an attorney, a doctor or a judge will socialise on regular base with for example a garbageman or a factory-worker? Do you think a bank treats the taxidriver the same as someone with a million pound on his bankaccount? Of course not. People prefer to go along with people who are more or less alike, they can talk and live on the same 'level'.
It's bullshit to state that Egypt has a class-system and Europe hasn't. The whole world has class-systems! They have had, they still have and they will have systems like that in future.
The only difference is that by law we are equal, we have the same rights and obligations, but people get treated different and we all more or less treat people different too.
I don't know each and everyones personal limits, but everybody sometimes meets persons that they don't want to been seen with ánd people we should like to be seen with. So, we are all making differences in treatments...

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Posts: 30 | From: Giza | Registered: Jan 2010  |  IP: Logged | 

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Originally posted by watchman:

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Originally posted by Questionmarks:
In Europe there is also a class-system. Do you think an attorney, a doctor or a judge will socialise on regular base with for example a garbageman or a factory-worker? Do you think a bank treats the taxidriver the same as someone with a million pound on his bankaccount? Of course not. People prefer to go along with people who are more or less alike, they can talk and live on the same 'level'.
It's bullshit to state that Egypt has a class-system and Europe hasn't. The whole world has class-systems! They have had, they still have and they will have systems like that in future.
The only difference is that by law we are equal, we have the same rights and obligations, but people get treated different and we all more or less treat people different too.
I don't know each and everyones personal limits, but everybody sometimes meets persons that they don't want to been seen with ánd people we should like to be seen with. So, we are all making differences in treatments...

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yes you are right. but i am talking about it in a more general sense. i guess in the uk its not as apparent and 'in-your-face as it is in Egypt.

i try and treat everyone equally with respect. manners do not cost a thing. simple things, actually thanking the shisha boy every time he changes the coal, or when a waiter fills my glass, instead of purposefully ignoring them. Coming from UK everyone is so nice with me, wants to be my friend etc.. but treat everyone else that is apparently 'lower' than them like ****. (btw i look egyptian 100%, this only happens once they find out that im not egy and have come from UK to live in Egypt. plus muslim to boot)

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Perhaps this is mixing up two things: being polite or well mannered and class related treatment. If an Egyptian does not thank a waiter for filling a glass or something like that, he is simply not polite. Perhaps he hasn't learned how to behave and is lower class himself.
There are no reasons to place yourself above another simply because of occupation or wealth, as long as both behave as they should, also in Egypt.
But, there is an angle in this; it happens that lower class people are approaching higher classes out of opportunistic reasons, not out of politeness. It's difficult to see the difference at once, so perhaps taking distance is an answer to something that might come. Again even when taking distance people can be polite.
To make it easy :Being a woman and higher class is also different. A woman is considered to keep distance and not to react on any approach, even not from higher classes. Cause that would degrade her to lower class herself
The rules for Western women are different, because being Western is automatically considerd as higher class, and talking to strangers can be forgiven because of the background, but at the same time it is a signal that you are far from their world...

Posts: 7202 | From: EU | Registered: Nov 2006  |  IP: Logged | 

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Originally posted by Questionmarks:
I guess it is because of a combination of factors:
- Every Westerner seems richer as the average Egyptian; they can afoord to travel, plus they are free to travel.
- Most Westerners seem more educated as the average Egyptian, education is on a higher level and more people are educated.
- Perhaps the colonial past still has influence, foreign populations have placed themselves above them for ages.
- The media. If you are born and raised in a country which is so different as your own country, and the media are covering Western movies, western music, western television, western football etc. you imagine yourself that all this is reality and this reality is on a higher standard as your own...
Perhaps more...

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Posts: 30 | From: Giza | Registered: Jan 2010  |  IP: Logged | 

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Originally posted by watchman:
telephonist

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Posts: 1626 | From: whatever, wherever | Registered: Jul 2008  |  IP: Logged | 

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Originally posted by Clear and QSY:

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Originally posted by watchman:
telephonist

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Telephonist. Now there's a word I haven't heard in a while (if at all). What do you mean by telephonist? A receptionist who answers phones (like in a doctors office) or someone who works in a call center perhaps telemarketing or customer service? I think there might be a big pay difference in these two jobs alone. In the US some telemarketers can make good money because they make commissions on phone sales.

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Posts: 30 | From: Giza | Registered: Jan 2010  |  IP: Logged |