Dealing with snobs

By MARIA DANIEL

It’s unfortunate that most people who fervently admire those they think are of a higher class or social standing aren’t content just to copy their idols, they often also feel the urgent need to put down anyone they see as a threat.

If you are stuck in a room of snobby wannabes who take great pleasure in making you feel bad, there is a strategy to help you cope:

Develop ISC

Snobs are insecure people who feel they’re not quite good enough as they are. If they were happy with themselves, they wouldn’t be so desperate to compete, right?

To insulate yourself from nasty remarks, the first thing is to develop an Indelible Superiority Complex (ISC). Tell yourself 10 times every morning and evening that you are tops, and you will believe it.

Monkeys face snobbery too.

Secure in the knowledge that you are just as good as anyone you meet, the posturing of snobs around you will no longer affect you. After all, you are just as good if not better than them.

Play The Game

If you are forced to spend time in the world of one-upmanship, you might as well enjoy yourself by spinning outrageous tales and seeing how long you can have everyone going.

When the ladies talk of doing all of their shopping in Paris, mention quite casually that you like French perfume but you’ve heard real connoisseurs prefer shoes from Milan. If the gents are boasting about buying a beach house in Bali, ask if they’ve considered Marbella.

You can be sure someone will be catty and ask when you were last in either place. It’s your choice whether you laugh and admit you were only teasing at once, or whether you egg them all on with fantastic stories of buying overcoats in New York at breakfast, shawls in Cairo at lunchtime and villas in Portugal in the evening before collapsing into giggles and confessing.

Turn The Tables

When the talk is about whether pink diamonds are better than blue diamonds or next season’s luxury car model “only’’ going for the price of a house, admitting you are entirely uninterested in such things will stun the average audience of snobs.

You can take the high road and talk about the rich joys of ordinary blessings like nasi lemak and a really good chicken curry, or the pleasure you get from cooking up a meal with friends.

Alternatively, you can really stir things up by saying you can’t think why anyone would want to waste so much money on things that don’t really matter.

Throwing the gauntlet will cause one of two things to happen: they might agree, which means you can have a good chat about things everyone likes to do. Or you will receive sneers.

But while you have the protection of the ISC, these won’t dent you. Also, stirring up the group by declaring you won’t play the snob game is a great way of meeting the people at these parties who aren’t snobs and who are really worth talking to.

The Star