Strain on relationships
Jul. 13th, 2022 03:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitoutI’m fine! This isn’t about me. At all. Seriously.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-13/how-to-talk-with-family-about-money-tips-for-discussing-inflation
I mention this, because … Well, let’s look at some quotes!
Most of the article is about family dynamics, but the last couple paragraphs are about socializing with friends. This is a _completely straight faced article_ about how inflation might lead to a damaged friendship as a result of disagreements about whether one can afford to go shopping, go out, go to restaurants together.
“It’s the responsibility of both parties — a friend who may be pinched by inflation less, and one who may be more — to clarify if inflation has changed their financial comfort levels, according to VerWys. Shopping trips, nights out, and restaurants that may have once felt affordable to both sides of the friendship may no longer. Asking about affordability, and respecting the answer, is increasingly important.
“Friendships are never built on money, but they can fall apart because of money,” VerWys said. “If somebody’s truly a good friend of yours, they don't want to put you in an uncomfortable position.””
_Literally_ a chunk of people are _still_ not eating indoors, and we are already to Bloomberg pieces about navigating the toll of inflation on friendships because of different sensitivities to inflation.
We’re definitely in the roaring twenties. Just not sure what precisely that roar means, much less what caused it, or what I should do in response to it.
This is _not_ a slam on people who are eating at restaurants indoors with people they don’t live with and going out to music shows, etc. We do! Also, this is _not_ a slam on people who won’t do some or all of those things. I have friends who are in that situation! Just. I would have thought that the skillset that let us still have friends after the last couple of years would be useful in a money context as well? I’m clearly delusional and retain a greater degree of optimism than I realized.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-13/how-to-talk-with-family-about-money-tips-for-discussing-inflation
I mention this, because … Well, let’s look at some quotes!
Most of the article is about family dynamics, but the last couple paragraphs are about socializing with friends. This is a _completely straight faced article_ about how inflation might lead to a damaged friendship as a result of disagreements about whether one can afford to go shopping, go out, go to restaurants together.
“It’s the responsibility of both parties — a friend who may be pinched by inflation less, and one who may be more — to clarify if inflation has changed their financial comfort levels, according to VerWys. Shopping trips, nights out, and restaurants that may have once felt affordable to both sides of the friendship may no longer. Asking about affordability, and respecting the answer, is increasingly important.
“Friendships are never built on money, but they can fall apart because of money,” VerWys said. “If somebody’s truly a good friend of yours, they don't want to put you in an uncomfortable position.””
_Literally_ a chunk of people are _still_ not eating indoors, and we are already to Bloomberg pieces about navigating the toll of inflation on friendships because of different sensitivities to inflation.
We’re definitely in the roaring twenties. Just not sure what precisely that roar means, much less what caused it, or what I should do in response to it.
This is _not_ a slam on people who are eating at restaurants indoors with people they don’t live with and going out to music shows, etc. We do! Also, this is _not_ a slam on people who won’t do some or all of those things. I have friends who are in that situation! Just. I would have thought that the skillset that let us still have friends after the last couple of years would be useful in a money context as well? I’m clearly delusional and retain a greater degree of optimism than I realized.