[gxnxcxcx]

> I've read far too many stories of people who don't clean up after themselves at a store or restaurant, justified by "no need - they pay someone to do this" or even "it's a good thing I do this otherwise you wouldn't have a job" to know it's simply intellectual ability.

That they can barely articulate a verbalized post-hoc rationalization* for that kind of behavior doesn't prevent them from lacking the minimum processing power needed to achieve awareness of how they are leaving ungreased the machinery of the commons. Into which they will keep being embedded, pulling levers left and right all day long.

Even a moderately zero-sum minded sociopath can be aware of the perks of investing a modicum of well-placed niceness; if for no other reason, just to avoid losing social capital.

* And probably a memetic one, hardly an original thought.

[eesmith]

Here's an account at https://notalwaysright.com/the-dunkin-duchess/396274/ :

> Our college study group meets a few times a week. They’re long sessions, three or four hours each. Whenever someone runs out for food, we all chip in a little extra so the runner doesn’t have to pay. Simple deal: “If you fly, I’ll buy.”

> About an hour into one session, one of the girls stretches and says she’s heading to Dunkin’ Donuts.

> Me: “Ooh, I’ll buy if you fly.”

> She stops mid-step and gives me this horrified look.

> Girl: “I don’t bring food to other people. Servants do that.”

The articulate reason for not bringing a cart is because their station in life is above menial work.

Regarding social capital, the story goes on and finishes with:

> The room goes dead silent.

> We’ve been doing this for weeks, with everyone taking turns, no big deal. But apparently, today, we’ve got royalty in our study group. She wondered why she was left out of any group meals after that…

Now imagine someone with money, who never had to clean up after others (and hires people to clean after themselves), and has little interaction with the working class. Why do you think they'll care about what the plebes think?

[JohnBooty]

Wow. Can you give some more geographical context on where this happened and where the girl is from? (Obviously, not revealing personal details)

I have known some rich snobs in my life, but I have never been someplace where a even the rich snobs would say something like that out loud (even if maybe they were thinking it)

[gxnxcxcx]

There's a minority of people wealthy enough to grease everything with money or really powerful connections. In a conversation involving people doing their own shopping and eating at places where you are presumed to take your tray to the bin I wasn't even thinking about them.

Those who lack that surplus wealth are "leaving money on the table", so to speak, by not caring about others. That's dumb.

And her pedigree or whatever gave her those aristocratic ways didn't save her from mild ostracism at the end of the story, so... That's social capital she left on the table. That's also kinda dumb even if she had enough money/power to enable god mode. It's even dumber if she didn't have it.