I think the story probably would have benefited from a more specific approach just because it would have made the cast all the more memorable and amusing — purely from a writing standpoint, even, never mind its social context.

The story is brilliant and clearly a little tongue in cheek, she is as much making fun of her own middle class artistic pursuits as anything.

Pointing out societal differences DOES NOT make you a snob, it just means you call it as you see it and there’s nothing wrong with that, I didn’t find it offensive in the least.

And I have to say, GarterSnake, you come off as extremely petty and somewhat of a snob yourself, she didn’t submit the story for you to critique, she hasn’t come to your “writing class” and neither has anyone else so it might be best for you to keep your condecending comments to yourself.

Also it’s totally patronising to assume what people will or will not be offended by

It’s remarkable that people get upset because you called someone who dresses low-class, lives in a low-class manner, obviously has no job or respect for typical moral and ethical standards, and clearly has very little money “low class”.

Next thing you know people will get upset when you call those things that sit on your desk and compute things “computers”.

Everyone in this world comes from a history of classism, it’s no use throwing a dramatic attention seeking bitch fit every time it’s mentioned. I myself come from a country with such extreme forms of classism (India) it would make you dizzy, right from having my dad kicked out of his family because he DARED marry a lower class farmers daughter and so much more I’d need years to talk about it. It happens. And yet I don’t find the “references to classism” offensive or disrespectful in the least bit. I could even sense a feeling of fondness that you had for these characters and vice-versa. I can imagine life for people like Garter Snake, it must be pretty dull. I wonder what he/she does at the theatre when *GASP* there are references to *GASP* classism… or on television, or in music, or on the radio, or in the papers (we already knows what he/she does on the Internet)… I mean if you have the sensitivity of litmus paper to acid then you probably shouldn’t be surfing entertainment websites or heck, anything for that matter, stay at home – because such levels of radicalism really never helped anyone.

And Garter Snake talks about the ‘sense of entitlement’ in this story while telling other readers to, and I quote, “Oh, please, plmno. You might want to brush up on your reading comprehension skills, as you seem to have missed the point. Nice try, though”. I can’t believe how judgemental that statement is, looks like someone has an overrated sense of entitlement over their comprehension skills and (LOL) writing skills. What a hypocrite! Look, anyone can learn to write and speak English perfectly – that does not make you any less of an asshole.

This is definitely one of my favourite stories among all the MVW sites and honestly Lisa, don’t let miserable unaccomplished in real life losers like Garter Snake tell you otherwise. He/she is just a nasty piece of work, one has to just look at the OP-hating, judgemental comments he/she posts in almost every story on this site. It’s probably because that’s only fulfillment Internet losers get as they have no real life.

Maybe no one says it here because they’re so busy criticizing everyone else, but thanks for the entertaining read!

Because I failed to acknowledge wrongdoing is not to suggest that I believe myself incapable of error– I simply wasn’t persuaded by the vague, contradictory criticisms which amounted to little more than accusations of bad etiquette (“Thou shalt not note or imply that lower classes exist”).

“Do you think the underlying tone would have been different had she been a 1st class dealer?”

Inevitably, since the “tone” that my critics allude to is my very mention of lower-class behavior. Get rid of the lower class details, and the objectionable “tone” is thereby erased.

Had the story been slightly different, where I was lower on the class-totem pole— a middle class girl living with Ivy League drug dealers — would anyone had squawked about my “tone” if I’d mentioned that Galoises cigarettes were chain-smoked, or that I walked into the bathroom to find a 50-year old man named “Llewelyn” naked before me?

Of course not, wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow.

The real question is: why is the acknowledgment of differences in social class considered the last taboo?

You think I’m smug & bigoted because I acknowledge class? I think you’re smug & bigoted because you consider it too loathsome for polite people to talk about.

Lisa, with respect maybe it’s time to empty your full cup, if you cannot see your opponents view, and re-fill it slowly. How can you be so closed to criticism? It’s not the words themselves that are the problem, it’s the tone. You’re a great writer, and this was a lovely well written story except for the tone of superiority it had at some parts. I have nothing to do with America or Britain and their classes, but I got the same feel that GarterSnake did. It just came across as you keeping your roommate at a distance because of her class more than her behaviour. Do you think the underlying tone would have been different had she been a 1st class dealer? I don’t think you meant to come across that way just as much as I don’t think GarterSnake is projecting anything or being a turd (to address the people that said so), so see it as constructive criticism, especially if it turns into a many people debate.