“Are you a Preferred Customer?,” asked the hard woman working the late shift at the hotel counter. I was checking in and there was no one else waiting.
Red Carpets and Platinum: Travel and Privilege
Monday, October 4th, 2010B&B Breakfast Classism
Saturday, July 24th, 2010It was the usual chit-chat among strangers encountering each other over breakfast at a Seattle bed-and-breakfast: “where are you from?,” “how’s the weather there?” Three middle-aged couples and a 20-year-old son who immediately set off my classism alarms. The first red flag was his face, a sneer usually seen on sulky teens much younger than him. While the rest of us oohed and ahhhed at each food item presented proudly by the proprietor (berry scones with homemade jam! eggs with local tomatoes!), he appeared deliberately unimpressed, as if he’d seen it all before. I took an instant dislike to him, thinking “spoiled boy.”
