I have the best conversations with random strangers in stores. I was just chatting with this woman in Target about how our kids turn into spoiled rotten terrors when we take them to Disneyland. She said her friend took her kid to Spain and the kid was perfectly behaved. The kid was on a grown-up chosen vacation (I.e. just like in the old days when we kids didn’t get a choice) and acted appropriately. But when we take our kids on the vacations of THEIR dreams they totally revert to brats.

Then the woman said, “And I know it’s because I grew up poor and so I’m spoiling them!”

And I went, “ME TOO! And thank you for saying that because everyone in California pretends they come from money!”

Which was totally a thought I didn’t realize I had until it burst out of my mouth.

But I DO think there’s been a trend, especially in the last decade or so, for people to act like they’re more glamorous than they really are. In the middle of a recession. In what was once, not so long ago, farmland. For instance, our local mall was recently renovated. It was really nice before and it had good stores, a mix of upscale and midscale, but still had a Forever 21, you know what I mean? But NOW… it has mood lighting and (faux I’m sure) marble-top tables in the foodie food court. I asked one of the sales girls in a store why they remodeled (because again, it was still nice before) and she said, “Oh, you know, our clientele expects a certain standard.” I was in Old Navy, on our way to McDonald’s in the foodie food court. I’m your clientele lady.

And I couldn’t help it, I rolled my eyes.