She deserved that insult

[Natalia Evans]

Warning: This story may be insulting if you are from the UK.



My mother and I went to London in September 2004. My mother and I spent a day in Hyde park and we went to the Kensington Palace. We did the audio tour and there were all these apartments there and my mother stops a lady who works there asking her who lives in them and she says Diane's family lives in them. I ask how much they have to pay to live there because I was trying to figure out how much it costs to live in London since I heard it's really expensive. The lady says "Are you deaf, they're royal, they don't have to pay." I also found out they don't work either to live and I ask how do they afford to pay their bills then, water heat electric, etc. and she said they don't pay for any of it and I said so it's all free for them. I also found out from her all the taxes pays for the the royal families so no wonder London is expensive because of the prince and queen and their royal families. I say to my mother "Wow, it's like paying for the welfare."
The ladies eyes open wide and her mouth and my mother pulls me and says "C'mon Beth, time to go," and we leave.
I didn't understand why she had the reaction and my mother told me it was an insult to the British. I still didn't understand why it was an insult and my boy friend had to explain to me welfare is poor people, the royal is rich and I said if they have so much money, they why do they use other people to pay for them to live when they can pay for their own bills and he told me it's not how their country works.
Do I feel bad for insulting the woman? No because she was rude to me acting like I was dumb. Hello I'm an American, we don't have prince and queens and the royals so of course I didn't understand the royal stuff. In our country every one has to pay to live. If you're rich, you pay too. Your house maybe paid off but there will still be electric bills, cable, internet, phone etc. They even pay for their own servants and maids.
And of course we have programs like welfare, section 8 and low incomes for people who don't make enough and there is Medicare and social security.

I'm sure my mother also thought the lady deserved the comment I made because of how she was treating me so she never said anything about it nor ever told me I insulted her until she was telling the story to my cousin in Montana this past May and I asked her why the reaction and that's when she told me it was an insult and I asked her why and she said didn't know why either. She said it just is to the royal families. My cousin thought it was funny too.

[Lemon Aguilera]

the roayl fam pays for it with their big ears and having to be in the public eye all the time. like celebrities.

[Calandale]

Yes, it IS like welfare.

Then again, that's what inheritance is
all about. Give to the undeserving.

[Natalia Evans]

I meant money, sorry. I thought celebrities pay for their own houses and their own bills too. I do see they buy expensive homes and all because they have so much money.

[Calandale]

The royals OWN the palaces.

[Natalia Evans]

I figured they have probably been paid off a long time ago by their ancestors. I didn't think of it till later.

[Pyraxis]

Yes, it IS like welfare.

Agreed. 

No insult to Spokane Girl, but that comment is classic autism naivete at its most hilarious.

[garmonbozia]

From what I understand, the British and also people of many of its former colonies (not including the US) regard the royal family as a living national treasure.  Being an American, that's beyond my comprehension, but I'm willing to respect it if I ever visit.

From what you describe, I'd say the lady deserved to be offended, not for her reverence of the royal family (just part of being from where she's from), but for her attitude toward you.  If you'd have managed an insult about something about her personally (e.g. her appearance, scent, physique, etc.) it would have done just as well.

As for royalty being like welfare... that reminds me of the time I was in a grocery store and got behind an unusal shopper.  I'm a government worker, so I won't be getting rich off my current employer and I do have to be careful, but that's okay because at least I earn every bleeding red cent I have.  The lady in front of me at the checkout line had a shopping cart loaded down with snow crabs and some weird kind of vegetable (probably bok-choi).  The lady had that nose-in-the-air look about her that you might expect from a snotty rich person, so I'm thinking "Okay, don't know what a rich person is doing in this redneck part of town but I suppose she's got just as much right to be here as I do."  Then she whips out her credit card.  That didn't seem so unusual, because I used to have an American-flag-themed credit card.  (Chose that particular design during the whole post 9/11 patriotic frenzy, "America, fuck yeah!" and all that.)  Then I remembered how a store clerk once warned me that my patriotic credit card looked very similar to a welfare card.  The lady paid for her groceries and then got cash back, not a round number but her remaining balance down to the cent.  Folks, that wasn't any fucking credit card she had.  That was a welfare card.  I still eat ramen noodles sometimes, and that bitch was buying snow crabs, lots of 'em, WITH MY FUCKING TAXES!  Sorry, but I thought people on welfare were supposed to try to find "high-mileage" foods that give them the most nourishment for the dollar.  Holy shit.

[Calandale]

In a sense though, you came across as the
classic ugly American. Visiting, without understanding.

I can understand her reaction. Still...in IS like welfare. 

[Natalia Evans]

The lady might not have known I was from the USA despite my mother's accent. She might have thought I was from her country too because I do have an accent, some people think I'm from Australia, few think England, lot of people think eastern USA. The lady might not have known I was with my mother and thought we were both alone. But I wonder what she thought when she saw my mother pulling me away like I was a child. But asking me if I'm deaf seemed rude to me. For god's sake she is an employee at the palace, employees are supposed to treat their customers with respect, no matter how dumb they're acting. Maybe UK has different rules in employment. In the USA employees are to treat their guests and customers with respect. (I dunno if it's the law but seems like all places are like that because they want business, if employees are always rude to their customers or guests, people won't shop there, stay there, eat there)  If they fail too, people can complain about it to the manager by saying this employee was rude to them. Bam they will get a talk about it by their boss.

But I do know now an NT wouldn't make that comment I made unless they are rude people. And I thought my condition didn't effect me on the trip.


Sometimes I try to imagine how the lady felt. I can imagine she thought I was rude and not knowing it was an innocent remark. if I were a child, she probably think, 'kids, they still have learning to do' and my mother probably wouldn't have pulled me away from her saying it's time to go. She might have just apologized about it and the lady would have said "oh no problem it's fine" understanding children don't mean to be rude, they're innocent people. Teenager, same reaction a grown up would get. People seem to expect teens to be like grown ups too by knowing every rule in the social book and all. Well they're the size of adults now so it be hard to tell they are still kids and they're seem to be expected how to behave like adults. Even my brothers were mistaken for being young adults when they were in their early teens because they had men bodies, facial hair, body hair and their voices have already changed.

[renaeden]

But I do know now an NT wouldn't make that comment I made unless they are rude people. And I thought my condition didn't effect me on the trip.

Sometimes people laugh because I make comments that are obvious but no one else would dare to say.

[Natalia Evans]

People laugh at my honesty usually. In the UK I'd probably get crap about it since things are different over there. Look at the reaction that woman had when I made the remark. They even have different social rules and different whats rude and whats not rude. In the UK, before you eat, you have to wait for the host to take their first bite before anyone else eats. I read that online but didn't even know they had such a rule there when I was there. I wondered how I appeared in the restaurant when I start eating once my food was served. I wonder if I got looks lol. Some waiters and waitresses knew we were from America because they'd ask us where we're from because of our accents so they probably didn't take our rude behavior personal. I bet they thought, 'Americans,' or 'they're Americans, they probably don't know our custom.'


I even crowded a woman in Hyde Park that same day and I didn't even know I was in her personal space. I was just looking at the map and she happened to be standing next to me and I just walked up and looked at the map too along with her. When I said something to my mother it scared her because she didn't know I was right there and after I walked away she said "How rude" and my mother said "I'm so sorry. She doesn't understand personal space, I'm trying to teach her that." and the lady says "I'd say not."

[Calandale]

In the UK, before you eat, you have to wait for the host to take their first bite before anyone else eats.

Considered proper manners in the US,
as well.

I even crowded a woman in Hyde Park that same day and I didn't even know I was in her personal space. I was just looking at the map and she happened to be standing next to me and I just walked up and looked at the map too along with her. When I said something to my mother it scared her because she didn't know I was right there and after I walked away she said "How rude" and my mother said "I'm so sorry. She doesn't understand personal space, I'm trying to teach her that." and the lady says "I'd say not."

And again. HOWEVER, she was at least as rude
as anything you did (indeed more so) to mention
it.

[Tesla]

You were being ignorant, not dumb.  Ignorance can be just as annoying as stupidity, even more so at times.

[Dexter Morgan]

Fuck royalty