Probably just another newly minted 'Queen of Mean' returning from living abroad.

[manofthecoldland]

At breakfast this morning, my wife recounted to me an incident that occurred at the G.Mall grocery store yesterday.

   Its a long line. The woman in front of her unloads a  part of her very large cart assortment onto the small counter section and then pulls out a senior citizen booklet (for citizens 55+). The young lady politely asks her if she will go to the nearby senior citizens counter, since this is for small purchases and cash only, and there are many people in line.

   The woman replies, "No. Its OK." and waits to be serviced despite the request. The young woman politely repeats her request, with added explanation but the woman still balks and is adamant. Now my wife and the woman behind her (middle aged women of modest dress and simple appearance) chime in, giving verbal support to the young checkout lady since they've been in line a very long time. A row is growing and the line mood is against her since she is openly and contemptuously breaking the rules and now the social harmony as well. A guard intervenes. He and the others politely explain the obvious once again and ask her to comply and go to the appropriate line. 

   "She was a showy woman. A very expensive dress, high heels and much jewelry.... like the two foreigners' wives that nobody likes because they show off their husbands' money and look down on everyone else."  Now I get the picture and am beginning to see. These two 50+ women exhibit many of the classic symptoms of superiority complexes.

   Another guard is coming and the others in line are getting restive. She relents, and with a rant of dirty words, starts picking up things from the counter, literally throwing them back into the cart. A bottle breaks, the tossed eggs crack and start leaking. She pushes the cart out of the line and starts to strut away leaving it, but the bag boy and other line customers start calling to the guard, pointing out what she has done. The supervisor asks her to go upstairs with her, but she refuses. The two guards take her by the wrists to keep her from leaving the store and the supervisor follows as she is led upstairs to see the manager, despite her efforts to shake free while still throwing another verbal tantrum. She had destroyed property and was going to walk off after her hissy fit ...and that was not going to be allowed.  The other customers are relieved that the drama has ended and things can return to normal.

   We don't know how it turned out, but I hope she was made to pay for the broken items at least, since I'm sure that the episode taught her very little or will modify her attitudes toward others.

   I know that 'ako muna' is pretty normal here, but people who go from modest origins to sudden higher comparative wealth sometimes get afflicted with not only 'affluenza', but also also hugely inflated, unearned senses of ego and social superiority. I don't get to see that too often, where I live here, but every once in a while it rears its head for all to see.

Leonna Helmsley, the original 'Queen of Mean', arose from hat maker to million-heiress through marriage to wealth. She was famous for tyrannical behavior and is famous for her oft quoted statement: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes."  Of course, she was proven wrong when sentenced to 16 years for federal income tax evasion. (Only served 19 months, so I guess her wealth bought her some privilege anyway.)

I hope other expats don't end up like my buddy of 40 years, who, married a middle-class Filipina 20 years ago, brought her to the US and discovered that, when back here on vacations, that she magically transforms into a self-anointed member of Royalty. It was a 10 year marriage.

Whats the point?  People move abroad and change. When they come back, some no longer exhibit the same good manners toward their fellow countrymen as before they left. 

[Tukaram (Tim)]

Maybe it is just that store... we had a problem with an old guy at GT Mall a couple months ago.    The cashier had already started ringing up our groceries (we had tons).  This old guy pushes past my wife and tries to hand a few items to the cashier telling her to ring his first.  She kept telling him she was in the middle of our order and would have to wait until she was done.  He kept insisting he had a few items and to do his now...  She finally just pointedly ignored him and kept ringing us up.  He seemed quite unhappy about it ha ha

...but they have the best meat dept I have found here. 

[sonjack2847]

In the Uk we call it nuvo riche.