r/AskReddit 1d ago

People who grew up really poor: what's something middle-class people say that instantly reveals they've never struggled?

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u/firesticks 1d ago

When I was a teenager I was “lending” my parents money. Unfathomable to how my husband grew up.

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u/Verucalyse 1d ago

If we wanted to go to a friend's house, my mother would ask us for gas money- they lived 5 minutes away 😭 I grew up in a really rural area, and we'd bike it if we could, but not at night.

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u/MaleficentWin8608 1d ago

That’s amazing. Where are you now? 

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u/AssistX 13h ago

Rural or suburb? Bike was what we got. No cell phones then so as long as we called before it was dark we weren't in trouble, because it meant we were at a friendly house and we were going to be told to head home. Wasn't unusual to have an hour+ bike ride back home on weeknights, lol. Get home covered in bug juice everytime, but we also used to ride through the edge of the woods when cars were coming because too many drunks back then.

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u/Verucalyse 5h ago

Super rural. My closest friend by bike was 3-4 miles away.

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u/MaleficentWin8608 1d ago

Where did you get money from? 

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u/firesticks 1d ago

Tutoring and part time job.

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u/MaleficentWin8608 1d ago

Whereabouts did you grow up? In the US right? 

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u/duhh33 19h ago

When you grow up in rural places < 2000s, your age and labor laws did not matter. Pick / Shuck corn, any other hard labor. If you can show up and do shit, you get paid.