Class system in canada
Sep 16th 2013 | 3:21 am
#46
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 13,402
From: South of Calgary
Re: Class system in canada
I worked on a big engineering and construction project in the head office of a Canadian oil company, and as you would expect, the offices were occupied by fastidious engineering types and rufty-tufty construction managers.
There was also, however, a thrusting young company lawyer assigned to the project and his office was the epitome of every TV legal drama you'd ever seen... green leather chair, big expansive oak desk, framed diplomas on the walls, volumes of leather-bound books in the bookcase and even a very large globe at the side of his desk. I don't know for certain, but I'd bet my house that it was an opening one that would have a crystal decanter of fine Scotch and some hefty crystal tumblers inside.
There is an institution in Calgary called the Petroleum Club, which is as close as Calgary comes to London's gentlemen's clubs - all oak panelled dining rooms and leather Chesterfields under big portraits etc. Costs a fortune to be a member there. I've worked in the oil industry for years and never been a member of any clubs like that... no surprises, but it was the lawyer who had a membership and who guested me in the only time I went.
There was also, however, a thrusting young company lawyer assigned to the project and his office was the epitome of every TV legal drama you'd ever seen... green leather chair, big expansive oak desk, framed diplomas on the walls, volumes of leather-bound books in the bookcase and even a very large globe at the side of his desk. I don't know for certain, but I'd bet my house that it was an opening one that would have a crystal decanter of fine Scotch and some hefty crystal tumblers inside.
There is an institution in Calgary called the Petroleum Club, which is as close as Calgary comes to London's gentlemen's clubs - all oak panelled dining rooms and leather Chesterfields under big portraits etc. Costs a fortune to be a member there. I've worked in the oil industry for years and never been a member of any clubs like that... no surprises, but it was the lawyer who had a membership and who guested me in the only time I went.
When I was taking my transfer exams, they treated me as an associate, despite the fact that I was not a lawyer, nor was I an articling student. They introduced me as such at functions attended by other lawyers.
Some of those other lawyers refused to speak to me upon learning that I was not a lawyer or an articling student in Canada, despite the fact that I was a solicitor in England. At subsequent functions they were happy to speak to me as I was then an articling student or a lawyer. Bizarre.
As I have said before, I find the entire legal system here very strange. I knew very few English lawyers that were married to lawyers. The only ones I knew that had done so were barristers. I know very few lawyers in Calgary that, if married, are not married to lawyers. Typically, the parents are lawyers too. As I am sure you can imagine, social events are a barrel of fun, usually spent discussing law, at which of their cottages they spent the previous long weekend, or where their live in nanny has taken their child(ren) recently when they discover that I have children. I am not a frequent attendee.
The Petroleum Club sounds similar to the Ranchmen's Club.
Sep 16th 2013 | 4:08 am
#47
Binned by Muderators
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 11,708
From: White Rock BC
Re: Class system in canada
As usual, my world seems to be completely different to everyone else’s. I see the social strata as:
1% do not work.
98% work for a living
1% do not work.
As someone said, it’s not what you do; it is that you do something. Each person’s labour is equally valuable in this sense. It is what you contribute to society that matters, not who your daddy is.
Class means a different thing. A poor man who says thank you to a waiter and leaves a decent tip has class. A rich man who is rude to a waiter and does not leave a proper tip has no class regardless of how much money he has, which school he went to, how many acres are owned by the family trust or how long ago one of his ancestors shagged a royal.
How someone holds their (knife and) fork says nothing about their value as a person.
1% do not work.
98% work for a living
1% do not work.
As someone said, it’s not what you do; it is that you do something. Each person’s labour is equally valuable in this sense. It is what you contribute to society that matters, not who your daddy is.
Class means a different thing. A poor man who says thank you to a waiter and leaves a decent tip has class. A rich man who is rude to a waiter and does not leave a proper tip has no class regardless of how much money he has, which school he went to, how many acres are owned by the family trust or how long ago one of his ancestors shagged a royal.
How someone holds their (knife and) fork says nothing about their value as a person.
Sep 16th 2013 | 4:31 am
#48
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 21,578
From: Somewhere between Vancouver & St Johns
Re: Class system in canada
As usual, my world seems to be completely different to everyone else’s. I see the social strata as:
1% do not work.
98% work for a living
1% do not work.
As someone said, it’s not what you do; it is that you do something. Each person’s labour is equally valuable in this sense. It is what you contribute to society that matters, not who your daddy is.
Class means a different thing. A poor man who says thank you to a waiter and leaves a decent tip has class. A rich man who is rude to a waiter and does not leave a proper tip has no class regardless of how much money he has, which school he went to, how many acres are owned by the family trust or how long ago one of his ancestors shagged a royal.
How someone holds their (knife and) fork says nothing about their value as a person.
1% do not work.
98% work for a living
1% do not work.
As someone said, it’s not what you do; it is that you do something. Each person’s labour is equally valuable in this sense. It is what you contribute to society that matters, not who your daddy is.
Class means a different thing. A poor man who says thank you to a waiter and leaves a decent tip has class. A rich man who is rude to a waiter and does not leave a proper tip has no class regardless of how much money he has, which school he went to, how many acres are owned by the family trust or how long ago one of his ancestors shagged a royal.
How someone holds their (knife and) fork says nothing about their value as a person.
Manners cost nothing.
Sep 16th 2013 | 4:49 am
#49
limey party pooper
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 10,000
Re: Class system in canada
As usual, my world seems to be completely different to everyone else’s. I see the social strata as:
1% do not work.
98% work for a living
1% do not work.
As someone said, it’s not what you do; it is that you do something. Each person’s labour is equally valuable in this sense. It is what you contribute to society that matters, not who your daddy is.
Class means a different thing. A poor man who says thank you to a waiter and leaves a decent tip has class. A rich man who is rude to a waiter and does not leave a proper tip has no class regardless of how much money he has, which school he went to, how many acres are owned by the family trust or how long ago one of his ancestors shagged a royal.
How someone holds their (knife and) fork says nothing about their value as a person.
1% do not work.
98% work for a living
1% do not work.
As someone said, it’s not what you do; it is that you do something. Each person’s labour is equally valuable in this sense. It is what you contribute to society that matters, not who your daddy is.
Class means a different thing. A poor man who says thank you to a waiter and leaves a decent tip has class. A rich man who is rude to a waiter and does not leave a proper tip has no class regardless of how much money he has, which school he went to, how many acres are owned by the family trust or how long ago one of his ancestors shagged a royal.
How someone holds their (knife and) fork says nothing about their value as a person.
The part of England my family comes from is much derided for being low class but frankly we are a damn sight more classy than most.
