Are the richest the meanest?

After blogging about revolutions, poverty and social inequality last week:

• The more wealth amongst the few, the more likely the revolution by the many
• If the poor are revolting, find out the reason why

I was intrigued to spot an article about a refuse (garbage) worker and their experience of wealthy versus poor areas on their pickup round.

Ex-binman shares stark difference between collecting rubbish in rich and poor areas

His comment is that the poorest areas were the most supportive of the bin workers whilst the wealthiest were the meanest.

”I was surprised by the generosity and kindness some people showed us - we'd be out in the sun or working a heatwave, sweating and struggling, and so many people would come out with cold drinks and ice lollies, pushing them on us and making sure we had something to drink.

“They'd tip us too - but it was always the people who looked like they had nothing that did this. I couldn't believe it, especially at Christmas, we'd get loads.

“I didn't know you could tip a binman until I started working for the council; our binmen were always done before I woke up so I would never see them and never gave it a thought. When working though, there were there were some areas we'd get to later in the day and these people would always be waiting, forcing their money on us.

“I would never expect a tip for doing my job, especially when people are paying council tax which is expensive, but it was always a nice bonus and when you're lugging mountains of rubbish about - it felt good to get that recognition and kindness from people.

“We'd done this particular area, which was very working class and not at all wealthy, before we went to a really rich area and because we'd had tips from people with less, I assumed we'd get something from the rich people but we never got anything.

“My colleague just laughed at me when I mentioned getting a tip or a drink in this area. He then told me about the time he and one of our other colleagues helped a Premier League footballer.

“I won't say who it was, but he had all this excess rubbish and recycling to get rid of and they helped him sort it out and took it all away when it wasn't their responsibility to do that. He just said thanks and walked off.”

He concluded: “I'm not saying you have to tip, I'm really not, but it was a shock to hear a millionaire who got extra help didn't even bother with the gesture of a tip when people who are struggling to get by would ply us with drinks and snacks, then give tips on top. It was really eye opening.”

The only thing I will add is that I used to live next to a multimillionaire rock star from the 1970s, who is still doing well, and I just remember the local taxi driver telling me that he never tipped and often avoided paying.

Just goes to show that the wealthiest stay that way by never leaving any money on the table.