Money For Nothing: Do we want too much?
I'm curious about what people think about the following:
A friend of mine and I were at a very informal dinner party in suburban Virginia and an interesting conversation came up. A guy who was dressed okay was trying to chat up my friend. They had blown through the usual trivial fluff convo and had come around to jobs. He asked her what she did for a living and he told her and, of course, she asked him the same thing in return. Anyone who knows anything about DC and the whole Metro area, knows this would be a standard Beltway Questionnaire inquiry, whether you like it or not. Usually, you meet people who work for think tanks, Congress, government, government contractor, K Street, start-up, etcetera. The job he said wasn't prestigious or particularly lucrative but it was an honest day's pay for an honest day's work, which is just fine but wouldn't mesh with her lifestyle goals. I knew that but he didn't.
Anyway, after he told her what he did she said very simply and without even a hint of condescension: "Oh, that's nice." If she had been acting, she'd have gotten an Oscar. No furrowing of the brow, no cocking of the head, no flinch of any kind. He got a little indignant at her for this reply; the words chosen, I think are what caused him to become defensive! After a brief exchange trying to clarify a reply that I don't think needed much he said it made her seem and I quote, "superficial and golddiggerish." Yeah, all this because she asked him back what he did and didn't do a cartwheel when he told her. I backed her up after the conversation because she thought she was in the wrong and I thought she wasn't. She felt really bad for the rest of the evening regardless.
I see way too many women (and men) settling, in every sense of that word, in regards to a mate AND themselves. Why wouldn't you want to be at your absolute best for yourself and future husband or wife? And I don't mean this strictly from a monetary sense either. Wanting someone with good value systems, character, morals, family background, and education is the right thing, or is it?
Are some women's or men's standards too high or are they right they need to be?