So you had a car (with faulty AC, WHAT A TRAGEDY!), a laptop, regularly updating smartphones and a house.

I suppose you just have overly-high expectations from life. Your situation isn't "poverty". Even by 1st world country standards.

I've never experienced real poverty. Poorest I've been was the first month working at my first job. I had spent most of my money moving there and I think I had about 200€ on my bank account at the beginning of the month. Had to be frugal for a while but it was manageable.

Oh sorry, didn't meant for it as a complaint. Was just sharing life stories.

I think when someone is making a movie or TV show they don't want to have anything that distracts from the story, so they only show clean lines, clear surfaces, and new enough items that their disrepair or dirtiness is not taking away from the story.

My experience was pretty poor compared to my peers, but I was actually homeless for a period so I think I was legitimately below the standard of the time. That said, rich people pay cleaners to make their house look good. They have good storage solutions, new items, and throw away and replace anything that looks bad.

Did you think this inspirational comment would bring a ray of sunshine to their day?

Perhaps, let them know that things are better than they think and that they'll look at the life ahead with renewed optimism?

Telling people that living comfortably and being able to have the things their neighbors have is an unrealistic expectation is what has allowed the wage gap to grow over the decades. Don't expect more, just be a slave to your job, and appreciate that you can eat, even if it's Ramen 4 times a week.

Looking through their post history, they don't seem very concerned with being inspirational. Mostly being antagonistic, and racist of about romani people.

My parents split when I was a baby and my mom always seemed to end up with some asshole who didn't make much money and she didn't work. I'd get yelled at for using a whole can of tuna and pasta was pretty much a nightly dinner. The only time we had things like Burger King was when they'd have their $1 whopper deals.

Now, I work in a factory and live in someone's garage but at least I'm not living paycheck to paycheck. I can buy what I want within reason but with my upbringing it's pretty hard to ever justify spending more than $500 on a single item. Upgrading my computer is the only time I spend that kind of money and I can justify it because it's my main source of entertainment.

Completely off topic... I saw a comedian in Arizona (USA) who said that his family was so poor that the family car didn't have air conditioning installed. They didn't want anybody to know that they were poor, so they would drive around with the windows rolled up.

I prefer the low income parts because, generally speaking, poor people are better humans than rich people.

Not ghetto but simply very basic, rural living.
The house I grew up in did not have indoor plumbing. The toilet was outside in an outhouse, just a plank with a hole in the middle above a cesspit.
My parents were split up and my mother got the absolute minimum pay and my father wasted his wages on alcohol and women. So there were few luxuries during my youth.

Today I'm 41 and I'm BARELY above that level of poverty. If I lose my job for whatever reason it's back to that kind of life.

That was in the '80s in Western Europe, by the way.
Today this situation has become a lot more rare but it's not gone yet.

Have you ever lived in the projects?
As a (former, but still) poor person, living there is... challenging. Your opinions of your fellow humans regularly have to be adjusted, especially if you're prone to being an optimist.

I grew up in a lower middle class family. I know there were times when money was tight (like the couple of times my dad was laid off) but we lived in a relatively nice house in a quiet neighborhood and I never worried about where my next meal was coming from.

My wife, on the other hand, grew up dirt poor in rural Missouri. They lived in run down trailers or houses with no AC and ate lots of venison -- from deer her dad shot -- with hamburger helper.
She never had a lot of toys and spent most of her time playing by herself. Her childhood sounds very lonely to me but I think she learned to be comfortable being alone. In fact, being alone with a book is one of her favorite ways to relax.

If you don't have access to a vehicle out there then you're stranded because there is a whole lot of nothing for miles in any direction. So, when she turned 16, she got her GED and went to work full time so she could buy her own vehicle and get around.
She's pretty frugal, which I appreciate about her. But she will NOT eat venison or hamburger helper.

Sometimes people don't know they're being a dick until you tell them. If they keep it up after that, you know that's exactly what they were going for.

Growing up, I lived a lower middle class life. Now, I can only eat once or twice a day and still pay my bills. My parents are in the process of a divorce and selling the house and when that’s done I’ll be homeless.

My life has never been like the image of poverty, but money has been very tight my whole life. We live in a rundown and neglected suburb, but it’s certainly not a ghetto or slum. I did get some toys growing up and played in sport leagues and very rarely went on trips to places. After I turned 10, money got way tighter for my family and most of my comfort and luxury has come from working and buying my own stuff. Luckily my parents are too prideful to shake me down for money which is normal for other poor parents to do to their kids around here.

I don’t think there’s too much a middle class person has experienced that I haven’t, but I’ve spent my adult life so far by spending as little on my day to day as possible so I can afford to go out and enjoy life. Last week, I went to a fancy indoor gokart place and ate at a restaurant after with some friends and another day I went to street festival. This week, I’ve eaten 7 times total and haven’t gone anywhere. Eventually I’ll leave this overpriced shit hole, but I’m trying to hunker down and not shake anything up while The Orange Emperor reigns.

From my experience, the inverse is true. The only truly poor people I've met were very rude.