Are we spoilt? First world problems

Wilma you will gave gathered that I am privileged enough to have a cleaner - just the one!

I have just been having a first world problem with my printer which is behaving badly and I was getting very irate (not helped by DH saying 'just how much ink are you wasting?') and thought 'I just can't be bothered with trying to do this'.

Then I thought about what I was trying to print off which is an address for donating money to send for food parcels for Syrian refugees who have nothing.

Puts it in perspective.

Pencil and paper was invented before printers and I will use that instead.

Not virtue signalling btw - just explaining where I think kitty was coming from in her OP.

At least the peacock wasn't in the shower, that could have been messy. I do feel privileged when I think of how things were for my parents, in comparison we have been very lucky. I think the only items in the home that go wrong and throw me into a paddy are the washing machine and my ipad. Would have been the hoover too but recently got the Air Ram with the hand one too. Now there's privilege!

I did notice that kitty

Well Quizqueen you win tonight's award for The Most Smug Posting on GN.
If you'd bothered to read most of the other posts, instead of wading in with your own take on it, you would have realised Kitty's OP wasn't about privilege,you,or your parents working their socks off and stashing money away, or gloating over what you've achieved. It's reflecting on how petty one feels when 'something' we feel we can't live without konks out, malfunctions ...whatever.
I fell over on Sunday night whilst walking the dog. DD had to drive me home.... I felt like shit with a throbbing knee, a bag of frozen peas on it, and when I switched the tv on it didn't work. I burst into tears, then realised how stupid and selfish I was. I have a modest bungalow with all mod cons, I fell over having been walking in beautiful countryside for pleasure, not to fetch water for the next day, and I could, and did retreat to my comfortable bed, and listen to the radio uninterrupted by the sound of rocket fire. My little problems fade into insignificance compared to a woman in Aleppo, Sudan, Somalia.... need I go on?

Wills - thank you for so precise and clear a reality check!

Wills, spot on in what you say, and it's nothing to do with "striving" or "not striving", sometimes it's an accident of birth, the way the cards are dealt, fate or whatever you want to call it that shapes the opportunities we have or don't have in life. Even the most disadvantaged in our western world are still "rich" by comparison to many in other places. I don't think kitty wasn't boasting at all merely reflecting on just that.

kittylester who on earth needs 3 showers? Spoilt, yes you are. I would have loved to see the Peacock on the hottub.

There is an explanation of my 'need' for 3 showers above, maddy.

I was upset with Quizqueens post it is so untrue, privilege is so much more about opportunities , who you know, what path life takes you down etc etc so much is 99% out of our grasp or control
What you wrote QQ was not only smug but untrue and upsetting
Opportunities come to some not to others some people just spent a lifetime trying to get through I have three children the one who worked by far the hardest at school and has the most qualifications is the one who has struggled most with privileges in adulthood simply, though what life has thrown at them

I have to climb in the bath for my shower like you Culag I have a big old house with no central heating but I m so bloody privileged compared to those living on the streets, to refugees, to the poor people with their homes burnt down I wouldn't want much more than I ve got but I wish I had more to share out

I loved the peacock story I d have been so happy to find one on my hot tub ( never been in one of them probably can manage life without that experience)

But getting back to the original question yes I think we are over privilege in the so called developed world i think the balance in the world is getting bigger and I also think the ''rich' world needs a big old jolt The new generation is growing up to be pretty spoilt I think every kid should do a years voluntary work at 16 to teach them ' how the other half live'

Violette, you must be in the same region as my mum. Water restrictions are no problem to her, we lived in Hong Kong when we had water for 4hours every 4days.not much loo flushing then Eirel. We also didn't have bottled water so lots of boiling and filling bottles every 4 days.
However, we were very lucky. A lot of the Chinese had to use standpipes and I remember the queues being horrendous.

To answer the OP - yes, we are very privileged and we can easily lose sight of that at times - doesn't make us bad people, but I think it is good to practice 'gratitude' and remind ourselves. Because of social media, we can also feel bombarded and overwhelmed by appeals to mee tht eneeds of others and this can sometimes make us shut down a bit emotionally, no matter how good hearted we may be. The problems and the injustices of our world at local, national and international levels are so many, so complex and so beyond our ability to 'fix' that compassion fatigue can limit us. I don't have any answers - other than 'trying to do my bit.' Recent widely reported tragedies have been met with such kindness and goodness - they have shown that most of us have it in us to want to support others.

As for QuizQueen .. Well, I have been so bothered by her ignorant and self-satisfied post, I had to leave this overnight to stop myself from raging at her ... and can't quite manage not to even so ... As others have said, the 'winners' in our society often benefit from connections, inheritances, networks of opportunities ... they are very LUCKY.
I grew up in difficult family circumstances on a council estate and 'worked hard' to improve my own lot in life. For 9 years I lived and worked in deprived areas when my husband was a curate and then vicar. By choice, I have worked in schools where children are from challenging social backgrounds. I see that many people who are deemed to be the 'underclass' of society are wonderful, salt of the earth people who would give the shirt off of their back to a neighbour. There are so many who have just not been lucky enough to be born into privileges of any kind. I won't drone on, but grrrrr!

kittylester who on earth needs 3 showers? Spoilt, yes you are
Rather rude!!

Now, I still have the problem of my printer to sort out this morning ....
Asked for one page of a series and it churned out all of them, as soon as I pressed stop it stopped then started again from the beginning. I daren't turn it on again while DH is here.

ps we do have another couple of printers somewhere, unconnected - three printers for one house!!

he just asked me to turn the printer on again

wait for it - getting ready to print - again ...

it won't cancel

First world problem

First world problem - yes, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. As for having 3 showers, that can be for a variety of reasons - as has been explained.

I have 3 bathrooms (oh the horror!). When we bought this house it had a very old unusable bathroom, first day was spent with my DH ripping it out and installing a new loo and bath. We then extended the house and put in a new bedroom and an en suite shower room. We used to have lots of visitors so we extended into the roof space and put in another bedroom and en suite shower room.

We didn't come from privileged backgrounds (I grew up with an outside loo) just consider ourselves very lucky to have had the health and opportunities to improve our situation.

Finally cancelled before it churned out about 79 pages instead of the 1 I requested and the 1 DH requested!!

Now I have some paper to cut up into shopping lists, only printed on one side.

Jalima

We only have 2! One on the study and one, unconnected and possibly broken, in the back of our wardrobe!

The one in the study also has mind of its own. I changed the ink the other day and it very kindly printed out the last 2 items that dh had printed. It then did the same in the middle of the night which was a bit disconcerting!

DH is neurotic about the paper and ink we use so I wait till he's not around to print recipes etc.

I suppose now I am going to be told I'm an abused wife - actually, I just cba to listen to him countering about it again.

countering chuntering!!

We still have our old one which was very temperamental plus one belonging to DD somewhere in a cupboard which she left here.
No-one wants them in the First World. It's cheaper to buy a new one than buy a set of inks, which is not right.

Why do we always think that if anyone is well off, whether in global, local or family terms they should not have problems or ever be irritated and saddened by them?

Hey Pamela I was in HK when we had water for four hours every fourth day we had to fill up everything in sight I had a young baby it would have been 67-68 I remember the dirty nappies ( no throw always then ) being a complete nightmare

I don't think anyone else well off doesn't have problems or is saddened or irritated by them but I do know for an absolute certainty that money can often help with resolving a problem. Not all obviously but if my dishwasher broke, I can just go out and buy a new one - that reduces it as problem doesn't it?

Kitty, I may be wrong but I don't think Lilyflowers remark about "the check your privileges brigade" was aimed at you. Your OP made me laugh and I think most who have posted here recognise that we get irritated by our first world problems.

....and there are many problems where money is irrelevant. loneliness is one. I remember being told the importance my grandmother always placed on having a network of friends and relations who helped each other in every way in the early years of the last century. Living in poverty in one of the poorest parts of London this kind of mutual help and co-operation was essential before the advent of the welfare state.

Now we have the welfare state we leave this support to the state. The result is loneliness, dependence on paid carers and the poor care provided by local councils