![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.idoljewelry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/2009-10-jn-harrods-gold-jewelry-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIn my home I was raised to be unafraid to go to new places and try new foods, things, etc. Usually that has included going to places that are not necessarily in accordance with my social-economic class in the states. We just bring out our best clothes, proper manners, and the green and we are welcomed in. So I was completely astonished, and baffled in a sense when I experienced firsthand the clear cut class division in London. I particularly felt it when a couple of us went inside Harrod\u2019s, which is perhaps the most expensive store in England.<\/p>\n
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Harrod\u2019s, if you don\u2019t know much about it, is currently owned by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) a company whose worth is at $60 Billion. Harrod\u2019s, however, was first founded in 1849 by Charles Henry Harrod making it the oldest and biggest high-end department store still in existence. ( For a more detailed history on Harrod\u2019s visit http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/10103783)<\/p>\n
A group of five from my program ventured into Harrod\u2019s after making our way to Hyde Park. The stores geographic location is just a couple blocks away from a little place called Buckingham Palace, perhaps you have heard of it. \u00a0The exterior of the Harrod\u2019s building is very palatial, I even wondered if it was a state palace or something of the sort because it flies about 35 flags from around the world on its roof. I was soon corrected by my friend Pat, that the building I was staring at was none other than one of the most exclusive shops in the world. As we walked into this so called Harrod\u2019s it became immediately apparent that this shop was made of money and produces a lot of money. In a sense it reminded me of going into the Belagio and Mandalay Bay hotel\u2019s in Las Vegas, therefore it didn\u2019t impress me so much.\u00a0 Unlike the Belagio or the Mandalay Bay what became increasingly apparent was the discrimination that occurred by the employees of Harrod\u2019s to people\/ customers within the store. I have never before in my life been blatantly ignored like I was last week. The employees literally took one look at me and my clothing and turned away as if I didn\u2019t exist. It felt very odd, horrible, and vicious all rolled into one feeling.\u00a0 I stopped by the men\u2019s shoes section just to gage the prices within this exclusive store, and to my amazement the simple looking loafer I picked up cost \u00a3850, in American terms that\u2019s roughly $1,270 for a pair of shoes. Now if your eyes popped out at that figure do you imagine mine when standing in a room full of those prices? I know I don\u2019t understand the concept of being rich because I have never been rich, but it really sickens me to see such pretentiousness just to show your higher status amongst the community.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/reneenicholsreview.files.wordpress.com\/2008\/09\/harrods-metropol-21.jpg\")
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So after I had this horrible encounter with wealth I decided to look into just who exactly works in Harrod\u2019s and why do they feel that they have the right to look past me? To my surprise these sales associates win the same exact salary as sales associates in Macy\u2019s or Nordstrom from back home in the states. They win roughly about $24,000 a year.(http:\/\/www.harrodscareers.com\/page\/benefits_and_rewards<\/a>) \u00a0It amazes me that even the people who clearly are not part of that social economic circle feel that they have a granted right to treat others the same way they are treated. If there is one conclusion from this entire experience it is that I will never understand how wealth is equated to respect and the right to abuse people. People who genuinely believe in these two traits have a completely wrong way of looking at life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In my home I was raised to be unafraid to go to new places and try new foods, things, etc. Usually that has included going to places that are not necessarily in accordance with my social-economic class in the states. We just bring out our best clothes, proper manners, and the green and we are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":433,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6680,1],"tags":[1351,1011,15127],"class_list":["post-3268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2010-jamie","category-uncategorized","tag-class-struggle","tag-harrods","tag-wealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/433"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}