Talking about college and future plans at work isn't easy. Save for a couple of managers, nobody at my store has gone to college. Except for the other kids my age I work with, none will go to college and few will find a stable, fulfilling career that they love.
I can't lie too much. I tell them the Big Ten school I'm going to and the difficult program I've chosen. Immediately comes the jealousy for most of them. And then the guilt on my part for telling them...but they asked! They usually congratulate me, wish me luck, tinged with a hint of jealousy and awkwardness, and then it settles.
Tonight I had a different encounter. Tonight I was met with an "oh, you (sic) spoiled. You got the Naperville state of mind" from someone who has been working part-time at the store for four years since graduating, and lives with a roommate who has a baby and likes to party. How do you respond? I don't even remember what I said. I was so mad at being lumped into the mass stupidity and reckless over-financed teenage wasteland that is my hometown.
If only she knew that my Dad started at the same entry-level job that she has now had for four years, worked his way up to night shifts at this same grocery store, and finally went full-time as a supervisor to pay for college. If only she knew that my mother came from a poor single-mother family and paid for her degree on her own through work and scholarships. If only she knew that the reason I'm as privileged as I am now is because my parents were smart, motivated, and had the drive to better themselves. Not because I'm from Naperville.
Jealousy of others' success won't get you anywhere. My parents certainly weren't jealous.
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