Most Americans used to be treated with a bit more class

When I was growing up, our family moved from New York to Long Island, where I entered seventh grade in a beautiful, new school. In those days, to my young eyes, what separated the wealthy families in town from the rest of us “ordinary folk” were two reliable signs: wealthy families had a weekly cleaning woman, and every two years, a new car would appear in their driveways.

Otherwise, the families in town all seemed pretty much the same. Oh, a few kids had fancier bikes or more sweater sets, but it never took on any importance. I did homework with a girl who lived in a sprawling Tudor-style house, but I also played with a friend who lived in a small apartment and shared one bedroom with her two sisters. I thought their bunk beds were “cool.”

While the very wealthy have always lived differently from the rest of us, I now seem to be aware of an ever-increasing trend in America that separates those who are affluent from the rest of us apparent in everyday activities.

When you take an airplane, for example, not only are the seats and food an obvious difference, but so is the check-in process. First class is whisked through with smiles and help; the rest of us stand in long cattle lines and hoist our own luggage onto the check-in scales. Even in coach, the seats in certain aisles that afford additional leg room, and were formerly available on a first-come, first-served basis, are now sold at an additional price. Business and first-class travelers are so desirable that after several years of cost cutting, airlines are now investing in celebrity chefs for their transcontinental flights, while those in coach are lucky to receive a small bag of peanuts.


Banks have always catered to their wealthier clients, but Chase recently announced it will open several special banks in high-profile towns for the exclusive use of its big depositors. These special banks will feature Persian carpets, imported wood paneling, drinks and libations and your own personal banking consultant.

Fashionable department stores that formerly had helpful salespeople throughout the store, comfortable restaurants or tea rooms serving affordable meals, gift wrap, coat rooms, floor walkers ... now have only a few of these services on their most expensive “custom, to order” floors. In the rest of the store, even high-priced items are often jammed together. You search out what you want, lug it to a fitting room, then wait in line to pay for it at wherever you can spot a cashier.

Wealthy individuals can still receive the type of service formerly available to all of us by calling in advance for a personal assistant to help them shop.

Another change that particularly riles me is the pricing of theater tickets. Formerly, there were set prices for different areas of the theater. (In the good old days, it was $1.20-$1.80 for the balcony, $2.40-$3.60 for the loge, and $4.80 for an orchestra seat). Now, I know prices go up with the times, but today tickets are priced according to what the traffic will bear, and a new hit musical can command $200-$300 per ticket!

Perhaps nowhere is the discrepancy between the very wealthy and the rest of us more in evidence and more dangerous to our democracy than in the proliferation of lobbyists in Congress and the costs of political campaigning, which has led to the development of “super pacs” and the theory that a corporation is the same as an individual.

To those who say we are better off than many countries, I would certainly agree. But that isn’t really the important question, is it? Are we better off here, in America, than we used to be? Are more of our citizens better schooled, better housed, with better health care and a more satisfying lifestyle than before? That’s the $64 question we need to consider. (For the youngsters reading this column, $64 was the top category in an old-time, popular radio quiz show in the 1970s. Imagine that!)

- Article by Jean Cherni, founder of the retirement advisory service, Senior Living Solutions. Contact her at jeancherni@sbcglobal.net or 15 The Ponds at Hotchkiss Grove, Branford 06405.

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