What to do about uppity neighbors??

[airbrushguy]

I have an older rig and while I maintain it well and it looks alright, I still run across similar problems from time to time. Since I have done many upgrades to my RV and it has a lot of features that the newer ones don;t come with i like to remind those people gently in conversation that 1. I have a lot of things they don't and 2. I am in the same park, having the same good time they are and did it for about six figures less than they did and that makes me a much smarter guy than they are. That said, I make plenty of money and could have one of those nice shiny rigs if I wanted to, But i much prefer a fat bank account to a flashy paint job.

[DMTTRANSPORT]

Maybe I should take a ride over the hump and report back....?

[Maverick50]

Originally Posted by cbilodeau

I think you should play the game.

I have friends I see in Florida during the winter with motorhome at least 3 times the price of mine.

I show them respect, I have good comments on their motorhome and I take the figure of a Beta and not an Alpha.

You have to make them look like if they succeeded and you did not but would have like to.

I am far from my retirement but I have a 800 000$ home nearly fully paid, no depts at all, money at the bank but I spent only 40000$ on my motorhome that I repaired and refresh completly. I know putting good money on a motorhome is not a good investment for someone my age.

But I will never play the game of these friends telling them how much money we make and how big our house is at home. They evaluate me on what they see and I think it is fun like this. I enjoy playing this game.

One of them last month in Florida was in each sentense telling us how much he spent on this and this, presuming we can not afford those things. He did that for many weeks. On the last week, he told me he wanted to take his retirement at 55 but that it would not be possible because of the two kids, the motorhome, the rent for the motorhome indoor parking, etc.

He probably think we make low salary and are poor and he will never know because he is not interessed by our lifes. He wants us all to be witness of his success.

Last summer we spent two evenings listening to a man from Israel. He spent all these hours to do only one thing; show us how much money he makes. I had tons of questions about his country, the language, the war ambiance, etc. So we had a good time. But he asked us no questions at all. He wanted witnesses of his success.

After he left I told my kids and wife that this guy does Facebook travelling. He travels only to put pictures on his Facebook to show the world how much money he makes. He had spent a total of 4 hours visiting the Grand Canyon while we had spent 5 days. Maybe this neigbourg is a Facebook traveller? Your motorhome is no good for his Facebook and the people that witness his success on Facebook.

See it as a game. Each individual has its own evaluation of what is Success. In a Karate dojo the teacher for my kids looks at me like if I was soft hand but I was in the military before.

Last year, in New-York city campground (or New Jersey city), I met a guy from my province. He was comparing his 500000$ brand new motorhome Allegro Bus 2014 to mine and he told me: You know Carl, I took the right decisions in my life I guess to have such a beautiful motorhome. He was there beside his ugly wife with no kids. I was in front of him with my five beautiful kids and my super beautiful wife and I did not tell him but I understood "his planet was quite small".

They both retired very early, having no kids. They are full timer, no house only a motorhome 500000$ and the army retirement revenues. I did not tell him but I like having five nice kids, my big 800 000$ home, fully paid cars and motorhome. But for him he was success and I was not. 400 millions people have 400 millions ways of seeing what is important and not.

I became friend with this guy and we had good conversations. We have to deal with our neighbors like they are. But in each subject he had to be on the top. For example: He said - You were in Florida last winter, we went in campground name xxxx and it was very good. But it is 1200$ a month too much for you. You should go at..... I did not tell him but we have been in the last two winters in the most expansive area of Florida, the Keys where we paid from 2100$ to 3100$ a month. We don't go there because it is expansive but simply because my wife is 101 pounds and if the weather is cold, my trip will be finish (we travel 8 weeks on summer and 4-5 weeks in the winter). So I prefer to take no risk. The keys are 5 degres hotter in Florida than anywhere else.

In my opinion, 95% of the population have Trouble of the personnality. There is a list of the various troubles availlable on the internet. This means that it is nearly impossible to have friends.... unless we make compromises. And for me in USA it is even more difficult because most people I meet there believe in gods and it affect greatly the level of any subjects.

You are not alone, welcome to the club.

HA HA HA! AND WHAT GAME DON'T YOU PLAY?

"But I will never play the game of these friends telling them how much money we make and how big our house is at home. They evaluate me on what they see and I think it is fun like this. I enjoy playing this game."

"I have a 800 000$ home"

"but we have been in the last two winters in the most expansive area of Florida, the Keys where we paid from 2100$ to 3100$ a month."

[cbilodeau]

Originally Posted by airbrushguy

I have an older rig and while I maintain it well and it looks alright, I still run across similar problems from time to time. Since I have done many upgrades to my RV and it has a lot of features that the newer ones don;t come with i like to remind those people gently in conversation that 1. I have a lot of things they don't and 2. I am in the same park, having the same good time they are and did it for about six figures less than they did and that makes me a much smarter guy than they are. That said, I make plenty of money and could have one of those nice shiny rigs if I wanted to, But i much prefer a fat bank account to a flashy paint job.

I think 2 millions famillies lost their home during the 2008 recession. If you have the money, it is difficult to be reasonable and not buy a shiny motorhome.

When you make big money you think you are rich but you are not rich. You are only a "pocket full of money". It is very easy to spend it all each month. Your pocket is vulnerable in many many ways: Ben Laden, recession, health, etc.

When you have a net value of 2.4 millions dollars and more before retirement you are rich and independent.
When you have a net value of 2 millions dollars and more at retirement you are rich.

It is very difficult for most of us to become really rich. In my opinion, less than 1% of the "pocket full of money" will be rich.

Most of the RV owners probably pay their rig twice just because of the interest on the mortgage. If you buy it used and use Youtube and IRV2 to fix it then you pay 1/4 of the normal price.

[cbilodeau]

Originally Posted by Maverick50

HA HA HA! AND WHAT GAME DON'T YOU PLAY?

"But I will never play the game of these friends telling them how much money we make and how big our house is at home. They evaluate me on what they see and I think it is fun like this. I enjoy playing this game."

"I have a 800 000$ home"

"but we have been in the last two winters in the most expansive area of Florida, the Keys where we paid from 2100$ to 3100$ a month."

You've got me.

I am not rich. I don't work for the government so I have to plan my retirement. I simply show here that I am not poor but It doesn't show when I am in my car or my motorhome. Nobody on IRV2 knows me so...

[birddog2you]

My simple response to people like that would be " I use to complain about having no shoes, until I met a man with no feet. Kinda puts a different perspective on shiny paint.

[Tha_Rooster]

Originally Posted by Murf2u

"What to do about uppity neighbors?"


Just ignore them, pretty soon they'll be inside posting on RV forums about THEIR neighbors.

That's funny no matter who you are.

[cbilodeau]

Originally Posted by birddog2you

My simple response to people like that would be " I use to complain about having no shoes, until I met a man with no feet. Kinda puts a different perspective on shiny paint.

My brother last year told me : you are weird.

I saw him only to times in the 16 years I have been married to his sister.

He said: you have no cellular, an old car. Everybody has a cellular and a recent car.

I then explained him his sisters had 80000$ in her bank account ready to be transferred on a retirement fund just that day. She could buy a new car if she wanted. She has many credit card totally paid.

Then 6 months later he told his sister over the phone (he sees her each 5 years) that he had been working like crazy since he met me. He has 400000$ dept. He his 41 years old. He told her we are not weird. He his an accountant and he said that the way we live is simply fantastic. To be able to travel and do home schooling with 5 kids for 14-15 weeks a year was a real dream.

[jondrew55]

I was out this weekend in my new rig for the first time. Even though it's more than a year old love you looks brand new and my campsite was pretty prominent with little vegetation or tree coverage. While it's not a half million dollar rig it would not be bragging to say it was probably one of the newest, nicest ones in this state park. Lots of snowbirds came by to say hi, and with only one exception they got to the "how much was this?" question. I generally don't like to talk about how much I pay for stuff, but I'd tell people when they ask. Everyone was really nice and I heard lots of good stories. I was very clear that I probably shouldn't have spent this much on this rig but i don't care. I probably can't retire for a long time for other reasons and my wife and I love traveling in our RV with our daughter. Hopefully we're busy creating her favorite childhood memories while having fun ourselves. I don't look down an anyone else's stuff. Especially people who can live on the road full time while we have to steal time from our work lives. I'm thinking maybe the OP misunderstood something and took it as being "uppity". Like someone else said, just move on. Life's too short

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by Steady_Rest

So true, when the subject of romance came up with the young people at work, these three points, before everything else, was the only advice I offered. Except with the modification that it is not how they treat you now, watch how they treat others. Seldom see it stated.

Thanks for adding that! It does go right along and is so true!

[1ciderdog]

Originally Posted by cimplexsound

For now the problem has seemed to resolve itself. They are staying in their Motorhome and out of people's hair. In response to some of your posts. We have several older motorhomes and several half a million dollar rv's in the community here. The quality of or how expensive a person's RV is not important to me. We have a lot of very poor and very rich people here in Pahrump. What matters to me is the people not their RV's and that neighbors treat each other with equal respect. Because it is the people that make up the community, not the machines. The problem was that these new tenants were running everyone else in the park down because they have a $200.000 class A Dutch Star. They were bashing all of the residents because other RVs are not as good or nice as theirs. Including some of my very good neighbors who have lived in the same spots for over a decade. We also have a ton of fifth wheels in the park. They seem to be very popular around here. Fortunately I think our new neighbors got the message that we want peace and quiet and no gossiping or bashing the neighbors in the park. The park has returned to its peaceful and quiet self for now. I hope this helps better explain the situation. I usually never post this kind of subject, but the new neighbors were a real problem for a couple of days, disturbing the peace, so I desperately needed some good advice to help resolve this issue. So I give the moderator permission to close this post to any further comments, and thank you for all the input.

Thanks for the update. Seems that many posters missed it.

[530ktm]

Originally Posted by 1ciderdog

Thanks for the update. Seems that many posters missed it.

That is because few people actually read anything in detail, just want to start banging away on the keys.

[UTTransplant]

I always told my kids that you can't tell how much money people have, only how much they spend...

[raineman]

Glad things worked out. In the future, playing the "he said, she said" gossip game will only lead to a similar situation. Just steer clear of gossipers and don't give that high school mentality stuff any credibility anymore. We are adults right? Just don't play the game. If you don't gossip, you won't have to hear others gossip.