User "NeckBeardDiscordMod" (points for the user name) asked:
What's a 1st world "problem" that's a 3rd world luxury?
And yup! There's a lot to unpack here.
Food Tetris
tetris GIFGiphy"Having to Tetris the fridge because you ordered too much food and the fridge is full of left overs." - Nospamkhanman
"Which you probably end up throwing away a few days later as it gone bad or doesn't taste good anymore." - lzwzli
"So many people just throw whatever onto a plate in the microwave and if that doesn't work consider it bad leftovers. It's sad."
"Some of my favorite tips: hamburgers and many other meats can be done quickly and decently in the microwave, but wrap them in a soaked napkin or paper towel first. They stay way moister."
"Barring that, wrap in foil with a splash of water or broth and put in the oven."
"Mashed potatoes, reheat on the stove with a splash of half and half to rejuvenate them."
"Most fried foods spring back up nicely with a quick re-frying, or if you don't want to do that, high temperatures in an oven for a few minutes (convection is best if you have it available). Even french fries, which get nasty and mealy when old, can be reheated this way."
"Breads take on a new life when toasted. This even goes for things like day-old biscuits. Cut it in half and give it a good toast on the internal sides and you're prime for another great sandwich." - Mitosis
Imperfect
Bell Pepper Cooking GIF by MypenleaksGiphy"Here's one that blew my mind: imperfect vegetables. Imagine a grocery discarding a pepper for having too many bumps or a banana for having to many brown spots."
"Meanwhile here I am with my crinkly green peppers and bananas that are 40% brown patch. (But our avocados are like .20cents US)" - corvusaraneae
"Hey good thing is that here in France, this is changing."
"They are starting to sell "ugly vegetables" in supermarkets much, much cheaper than the "good" ones. I tried, so for 0.75€ I got four ugly peppers, ugly beans and an ugly onion hahaha well they were as good as the others!"
"I would have paid 5€ at least for a "perfect" version of them. They taste all good and become all ugly in my stomach. So well. Hopefully this will become more and more the norm." - meteorpuppy
Hot Water
chris evans shower GIF by VideolandGiphy"I would say not enough hot water to take a long shower because the tank in the heater is 'too small.' " - vaspat
"I lived in a former communist country in Eastern Europe. Same problem. Also the bathtubs are 1/2 the size and everything uses coal heating."
"I nearly froze to death because the thoughtless landlord went on winter vacation and cancelled coal delivery, leaving me to freeze." - LunarRatGrl
WHAT not IF
Confused David Rose GIF by Schitt's CreekGiphy"It's what are we going to eat tonight, not are we going to eat tonight." - j*rkitwithrightynewb
"Do you want pizza? No. Chinese? No. Salad? No. Want to go to the grocery store and get stuff no make dinner? No. Ugghhhh there's nothing to eatttt!!!!" - wishyouamerry
"It's so real though. Like we have to watch our intake and do sh*t like exercise just to avoid getting fat."
"Obesity is one of the biggest killers in the 1st world."
"Our bodies are designed to eat foot when it's available because we've got 100,000 years of evolution telling us to, because who knows when we'll eat again. It sucks and "just eating less" goes against our basic instinct." - slurmz-mckenzie
Halfway Great
Vietnam GIFGiphy"I live in Ho Chi Minh City. It's dense. We don't actually know how many people live here, but it's somewhere north of 10 million."
"I don't currently live in poverty, but did for a few years when I was getting a company off the ground."
"A lot of people live 3 people to an 8 square meter (80 square feet) room. The room has to also fit a kitchen, a bathroom, and a mattress (yes, just one)."
"We struggle to find places to keep clothing. Oh, and dishes. Both of those things are very affordable compared to renting/buying a bigger place to live."
"Moreover, since the older generations have survived famines and conflict, there's a tendency to never throw anything away. Heck, I'm an immigrant here, and just a few years of lesser hardship have made it challenging to discard things!"
"I guess it's just a symptom of things being halfway great."
"We can afford more than we have space for now, but are still haunted by the memory of being able to afford neither things nor space. So we accumulate things." - Saigonauticon
If I See Single Ply
Toilet Paper Poop GIF by Paper PooGiphy"I was born in Eritrea (country on the Horn of Africa) and when I was a kid I would alternate between living with my grandparents and my mother ( my father moved to the US on a student visa shortly after I was born)."
"My mother was a teacher and the government would send her to to indigenous villages that had absolutely no running water, electricity or anything of that sort."
"On the flip side my grandparents lived in the capital city where they had indoor plumbing but the "toilet" was a hole you would have to squat over and then manually dump a bucket of water to flush, and afterwards you would wipe with an old newspaper."
"At the time, I thought this was the epitome of high-class living."
"After my father finished school and got his US citizenship he was able to bring me to the states when I was 9 years old (2003.) Since then I've became Americanized as f*ck and if I ever go to your house and I see single ply toilet paper I will judge the f*ck out of you." - Philly73898
Not A Monolith
Jesse Pinkman Reaction GIF by Breaking BadGiphy"The thing is, the third world population isn't a monolith. Like every country, there are wealthy, mid-class and poor. The wealthy and upper-middle class people probably have all the luxuries these comments mentioned and more."
"But there is also the poor class, people still living in super dense housing area. Like I'm talking 'the streets are barely 2m wide' dense."
"A good proportion of my country is still very underdeveloped infrastructure-wise. We don't have drinkable tap water, a lot of places (even in big cities) don't have reliable hot water, until like 5 years ago electricity shutdown was a regular thing here etc." - whoatemycupoframen
Life Or Death
star tv hospital GIF by HotstarGiphy"I live in a very bad 3rd world country. I'll explain some of the problems we experience."
"We no longer have petrol. We must wait about 6 hours or more to fill up petrol at the station."
"Our local currency has devalued by 20 times making things sooooo much more expensive."
"We have no medicine. Not even Panadol anymore."
"Electricity cuts off for about 16 hours a day (I live in an upper middle class house). The problem here affects all people of class."
"Imagine going to a hospital and there being no electricity to do an operation. No matter how rich you are you can't get many medicines that are life or death." - Countbat
Road Construction
mine hunt GIFGiphy"I was once told this story by a coworker."
"This guy is driving this contractor from Africa to the office. They get stuck in traffic due to road construction, and the guy turns to the contractor and says, 'This is something else, huh?' "
"The contractor replies, 'This is amazing! In my country the roads are falling apart because they're so old. I wish we had road repair like this where I come from.' "
"It completely changed the guy's perspective on road construction. It may still be an inconvenience sometimes, but now he has an appreciation for it he didn't have before. It definitely opened my eyes the first time I heard the story." - TorinKurai
Hopefully this was little jolt to reality for us. Some of us have no idea what a third world country is really like - and some of us don't realize we're already living a life much closer to "poverty" than we are to "wealth".
One Redditor asked:
Rich people of Reddit that were poor before, how did money solve your problems and what new problems have appeared?
Through the Cracks.
"Went through childhood in the foster system and fell through the cracks, ended up homeless a few times. Anyways I am not a 1%er but I do make more than 80% of Americans (yearly salary wise)."
"Money relieved me of stress. When I go shopping I don't check my bank account before I make a purchase, I have insurance so I am not afraid to go to the dentist or doctor, going out with friends is fun because I know I won't be financially struggling from a night out. It ultimately bought me a level of stability I never was used to and I am incredibly grateful."
"My 'new problems' I wouldn't call problems, home maintenance, car upkeep, bills, etc. I am grateful those are my main worries these days." SpookyCritter
Downside:
"I can now buy good gifts for my friends/family."
"Downside: now I cant get them crappy gifts." WhiteHairedWidow
Just poor....
"Not rich currently but due to my work skills I have been both flush with cash and scraping by. This position changes every so often."
"When I had excess, forget it level of money, my immediate needs were taken care of so I could focus on other things/take on new projects."
"People don't realize that when you don't have to worry about:"
- "Food for the next month(s)"
- "Basic household bills for the next month(s)"
- "Fuel for the car"
"you are so free to spend your energy on other projects and learn new things."
"For me, the issues that having that much disposable income is the temptation to spend it. Lifestyle creep and keeping up with the Jones' will destroy people if the cash flow ever gets interrupted. Without that cash flow you can't afford you mortgage or your new car. I avoided it, luckily. Many others have not."
"I bought a small house and a nice 15 year old truck when I had the money and then I stopped. I put my money in the bank/invested it. My monthly stay alive cost is under 1K. When the good times end, I still keep the lights on working a low paying job." Routine_Condition
Fawning service industry people.
Giphy"Fawning service industry people. Waitstaff, hotel, retail store people. It's embarrassing sometimes because I don't know how to react."
"I have a sister who is middle class and three kids. I'm relied on to provide certain expensive things for the kids. Once in a while is fine. It's fun. But because I have no kids, she thinks there should be a constant stream of fun activities and gifts coming from me because "what else are you spending your money on." the-camster
I can go to whole foods.....
"Grew of middle class, until 12 years old, then mom had a stroke and parents lost family business and was essentially piss poor broke. I think parents sheltered my brother's and I from it a lot. Always had something to eat but always moving around different homes, xmas presents consisted of socks, underwear and candy bars. It sucked during high school. I was jealous. Went to college, got a job, and so did my brother's. My brothers started doing well and started supporting our parents. I ended up going to med school. Getting through residency. Still paying off massive loans but now in a place where I don't have to worry about my car breaking down, I can go to whole foods, I can buy friends and family dinner without thinking about it. I can pay for my parents dental work without thinking too much about it."
"I can invest in stocks, invest in a good home, maintain the home and my cars and even make money on my house by investing correctly."
"The biggest difference is that. Now I can make financial decisions that on their own make money for me, with real estate and with investing. And the ratio of this easy capital games money only gets better every year."
"When you are poor you own nothing and the only way of making money is to work but if your paycheck cant support your lifestyle it is very difficult to break cycle." gnfknr
Payoffs....
"We weren't really that poor but we lost a good part of our income and the biggest problem is I cant spend money without stressing about how many hours I will have to work to pay it off." AdaLovelaceKing
The 1%...
"Not "rich" by 1% standards, never been "poor" (I always had a support system, even if I had no money myself)."
"That being said, the number one thing I noticed is holidays aren't as stressful, because money isn't an issue. Shopping for presents is relatively easy, because I'm limited by creativity, not weighing "how ashamed am I going to be to give this crappy gift to someone vs how much do I want to eat this week."
"The main problems come from being in that place where "enough" is never enough. As long as I watch my spending, I can mostly buy the occasional thing I want, but I don't have enough that I can buy "whatever." It's also a dilemma when it comes to helping out my friends. I don't have enough that I can afford to solve (or really significantly impact) my friends financial problems, while at the same time I want to be generous/helpful when I can."
"On the gripping hand, it becomes easy to be taken for granted or even worse, taken advantage of. Springing for the occasional meal can easily become being expected to pay for restaurants that are more expensive than I want to be going to in the first place. You want to nip that crap in the bud real quick."
"But I have a lot of friends who are literally looking through couch cushions for gas money. At the same time, if I gave them gas money all the time, I wouldn't be able to pay my own bills. So it sucks to sit there and have to figure out when I can actually help vs when I'm lighting myself on fire to keep someone else warm." JesterBarelyKnowHer
Missing You Much...
Giphy"Kinda the opposite here, was fairly wealthy living in a large single family home, now living in a 250 sqft trailer. The biggest thing is probably not having the time to be able to enjoy ourselves. Working 7 days a week just to make ends meet isn't fun. Before, we could go anywhere on a whim and not have to worry about missing out on the money."
It. Is. Heaven.
"It is hard to overstate the joy of having a RELIABLE car, with gas, with insurance, that I just take to a guy if something needs to be fixed. It isn't brand new or fancy, it's just a car I can trust."
"It. Is. Heaven."
"New problem; my nieces and nephews hit me up for money whenever they have some sort of travel event they found that they want to go on. Sometimes the answer is no and that often causes hard feelings." picksandchooses
Stay Calm...
Giphy"Can't say I'm rich but for my age (22) I'm wealthy. I always had to think a lot before buying anything, having money makes it much easier. I don't have to say no to my friends when they invite me for something because I don't have the money, always so embarrassing."
"Still I'm always afraid I lose it again and I end up being poor again. It's a constant anxiety." xDariius
"One thing I can say for sure though is I will never take normal things for granted ever again. How I miss having a dishwasher and a clothes washer and counter space. I miss having an oven big enough for a tray of cookies. I miss having more than one bathroom in the house. If I were to ever have these things again, I'd never ever look at them how I did before, I'd be eternally more grateful than I ever had been." Reddit
Necessary, not sufficient
"In the German language there is a saying that goes: "Geld macht nicht glücklich, aber es beruhigt ungemein." It translates to: "Money doesn't make you happy, but it calms you down immensely." It seems to be really true."
Retroxyl
There's no going back..
"Money allows me to not worry. It doesn't make me happy, but it frees up my mind to BE happy, because I don't have to spend time worrying about how I'm going to pay the next bill."
"Lifestyle creep is a very real thing, if you're looking for a "problem." We've gotten used to this level of money, so if it were to go away, it would be a pretty big problem pretty quickly. Our bills have risen along with our income."
scottevil110
"I can now buy good gifts for my friends/family."
"Downside: now I cant get them shi**y gifts."
WhiteHairedWidow
Just never seems to be enough...
Giphy"I can afford the good toilet paper now. The only problem is, I'm still not rich enough to have someone wipe for me."
Ejgee
Outta the woodwork
"What new problems have appeared: people suddenly become very friendly if they need money and they stop being friendly if you don't loan them (more). Also loans are gifts in their head."
AleanderGG
"I am in a similar boat. Trying to help my sister out of credit card debt, I have been buying them groceries. Hoping they would put the money onto the credit card. Later I learned with all the money they had "saved", her husband went out and "invested" in some new trading cards. However i try and help family it always seems to backfire."
jumpingjehosophat
Unlimited vices!
"I couldn't afford beer and now I can."
SailorTodd
Easy, but not simple
"If you obtain a large sum of money in a vacuum (metaphorically, not in a Dyson) then yeah having money is not a bad thing and can't be construed as such. The reality though is that generally large amounts of wealth are obtained through a huge amount of work which almost assuredly brings problems. That being said, problems like work/life balance, managing people and so on would be preferable for almost anyone over wondering how you are going to pay your rent or bills next month."
deanvancity
The long con is doable
"Basically, money is a safety net. I feel like I can buy my way out of problems fairly easily. Also, not being poor bring economy of scale on everything... like, I can cook a meal for 4 adults with $7 because I have all the staples in my pantry."
XavierWT
NO MORE BRATS
"I have to make sure my kids aren't entitled little brats and don't grow up to be entitled, awful adults."
needs_more_zoidberg
License to chill
"Went from extremely lower middle class (where I didn't carry insurance because I couldn't afford it, and could never pay all my bill in any given month) to 1%er. The biggest difference is bar none the loss of that fear and shame. My wife is an incredibly empathetic sympathetic person but she came from money and doesn't understand the feeling. The stress, shame, and sleeplessness that comes from not having money just can't be explained unless you've lived them. Not having that feeling, just knowing I can buy what I want (with in reason, don't confuse the 1% with the .01%) is one of the greatest changes in my life. Having come from almost nothing to where I'm at now there are no problems. The problems I face now are totally first world problems, because money."
Igotnoclevername
Level up to Robinhood powers
"I can give now. We support youth development causes in our town, but more importantly, we pay "scholarships." This is when you are signing your kid up for something cool, and you pay 2-4 times the amount, so the poorer kids can do it too. This was my childhood. My best friend was rich, but his parents really respected mine, and they also loved me. Every cool thing that came up that I knew I couldn't afford turned out to be just "free!" My friends mom paid double for everything, and neither I or my parents ever knew until she had passed."
JuliusVrooder
There are some problems here we never quite considered.
Do you have similar stories? Let us know in the comments.
