# Young inner-city males and work **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 30, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103 "2012-08-30T02:52:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/61 "2012-09-01T20:17:52Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > …housewife… Wait, what? You mean staying home to raise your kids because it would cost more for daycare than your salary isn’t contributing to your household? ETA - and you see me at yoga on Thursday mornings because I work Thursday evenings. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/62 "2012-09-01T20:27:12Z")
I see yoga classes that I’d like to enroll in offered at 10:00 AM on weekdays. Good luck finding something on a weekend around here, though. The other day I decided it might be cool to take intermediate swimming lessons. Don’t see it happening anytime soon, though. They are all offered on weekday mornings. Obviously there’s someone able to attend these things. But man, is it annoying. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/63 "2012-09-01T20:52:07Z")
When I was a grad student with night classes and an odd-hours job, I was a ten AM jogger. It’d make me laugh how yuppie I must have looked- blonde 30 year old jogging through a gentrifying neighborhood in the middle of the day. > [@Zsofia](#): > > Wait, what? You mean staying home to raise your kids because it would cost more for daycare than your salary isn’t contributing to your household? No, of course it is a contribution and a perfectly valid choice. But for some people, it can also be an alternative to the 9-5. Keep in mind that not every housewife has kids in the house. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/64 "2012-09-01T21:09:57Z")
I’m a full-time homemaker with no kids (unless the cat and the bird count). We’ve found by experience that general household functioning, being able to see each other on occasion, etc., works a lot better if I’m working part-time or simply home full-time. My husband assures me that in his opinion, I do my share for the common good around here. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/65 "2012-09-01T21:25:47Z")
Yoga bitches have it too easy. Making them take Pilates would serve them right. ---
**Author:** ![kwimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@kwimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kwimby)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/66 "2012-09-01T21:31:49Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > The rich ones waste their time away at nightclubs and resorts rather than on the street corner, but qualitatively it’s the same thing, just on a different scale. There are guys willing to live on 10k a month if it means not working, and there are guys (and gals) willing to live on 1k a month if it means not working. Why is one somehow worse than the other? Because the former are likely not considering easy, potentially unlawful ways to make up the difference? “Qualitatively” money buys stuff. Nobody is “willing” to live on any less than they have to. How they come by it is another question. Crime does pay - at least until you get caught. Long term planning is not a big factor when poverty is the primary motivator. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/67 "2012-09-01T22:09:22Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > The very poor loaf around in apartments packed with family or friends That’s a good reason to hang on the corner right there. The other day I had a friend help me move some scaffold, it was sticking out the back of his van. As we passed the block, cries went up: Give me a job partner! One guy started following us down the road. Damn I wish I had the money to give someone a day’s work here and there. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/68 "2012-09-01T22:52:49Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > I’m a full-time homemaker with no kids (unless the cat and the bird count). We’ve found by experience that general household functioning, being able to see each other on occasion, etc., works a lot better if I’m working part-time or simply home full-time. My husband assures me that in his opinion, I do my share for the common good around here. 🙂 You don’t need to apologize for being a lulu. I’d do it too – we’d all do it to – if we could swing it. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/69 "2012-09-02T05:43:32Z")
“lulu”? Granted, we aren’t doing as well financially as materialistic MIL thinks we ought to be, but for the most part, we’re content with our standard of living, and while money’s certainly important, other things (such as having a reasonably peaceful and functioning home) are at least as much so. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/70 "2012-09-02T05:46:05Z")
Humble apologies for the duplicate post. I have no idea how that happened. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/71 "2012-09-02T05:52:38Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > I assumed it was worst than that : the father being also the grandfather. I thought that was rural whites? ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/72 "2012-09-02T07:05:57Z")
So really what this thread proves is that people will look at other people they know _nothing_ about, and just make up a bullshit story about how those other people are bad people compared with the good people as represented by the person making up the bullshit. Yeah, I already knew that. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/73 "2012-09-02T11:15:47Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I thought that was rural whites? Young “inner city males:” shooting dice and fighting with straight razors Hispanic males: sleeping while crouched under a saguaro cactus White rural males: “He followed me home Pa. Can I fuck him!?” Let’s keep these straight, people! ---
**Author:** ![kwimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@kwimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kwimby)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/74 "2012-09-02T11:55:17Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > …people will look at other people they know _nothing_ about, and just make up a bullshit story… Yeah, looks can be be deceiving. The old can’t judge a book by its cover and all that, right? Then there’s the one about “…looks like a duck…”. Correctly evaluating some things without all the facts sometimes takes a certain bit of reading between the lines. Demographic data and crime statistics help too. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/75 "2012-09-02T12:39:13Z")
> [@kwimby](#): > > Yeah, looks can be be deceiving. The old can’t judge a book by its cover and all that, right? > > Then there’s the one about “…looks like a duck…”. Correctly evaluating some things without all the facts sometimes takes a certain bit of reading between the lines. Demographic data and crime statistics help too. _Who says_ it’s correct, though? Have you never made an assumption that turned out to be wrong? People make wrong assumptions about _me_ all the time. I’m skinny; people assume I’m a drug user. Because everyone except drug users is either fat or muscley, right? Anyone over 30 and scrawny is a junkie. Yeah, I’m sure you could use “demographic data and crime statistics” to support that argument, too. ---
**Author:** ![kwimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@kwimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kwimby)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/76 "2012-09-02T14:06:21Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > _Who says_ it’s correct, though? I don’t believe correctness has been attributed in this case. The between the lines part has been discussed and evaluated to some extent. So in your case, are you saying strangers approach you with offers to by illegal drugs, or what? I for example, often assume extremely thin women I see must be anorexic. I don’t offer to buy them a cheeseburger, it’s just something that goes through my mind in passing. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/77 "2012-09-02T14:43:23Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > Humble apologies for the duplicate post. I have no idea how that happened. Yeah, must be nice to have the kind of time to post everything twice. Instead, I have a _job_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/78 "2012-09-02T14:53:24Z")
> [@kwimby](#): > > I don’t believe correctness has been attributed in this case. The between the lines part has been discussed and evaluated to some extent. > > So in your case, are you saying strangers approach you with offers to by illegal drugs, or what? I for example, often assume extremely thin women I see must be anorexic. I don’t offer to buy them a cheeseburger, it’s just something that goes through my mind in passing. Yes, drug dealers home in on me, when I’m in the bad part of town. Also cops. I’ve had people, quite a few over the years, who told me (after they’d got to know me) that they’d originally thought I must be a chronic drug user. That’s what happens when you’re teenager skinny long after your teens in a society where overweight is the new normal. Which is my point: why assume the worst about people you really know nothing about them? Being on the street during working hours means _nothing_. You really can’t extrapolate anything useful from such a tiny amount of knowledge. Yet people believe that they really do know for sure that these “inner-city males” are up to no good. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/79 "2012-09-02T15:21:08Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > Yeah, must be nice to have the kind of time to post everything twice. Instead, I have a _job_. > > 😃 (swat) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![kwimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@kwimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kwimby)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103/80 "2012-09-02T16:24:21Z")
Newsflash: People stereotype. Because there _are_ certain “types.” Sure it’s not always accurate or correct. Welcome to the real world. Let’s just say as a theoretical experiment, if it was possible to somehow quickly and accurately survey every single stoop-sitting young male found in all the run down bad neighborhoods across this country and properly determine their status according to type, be it employed/not, criminal record/not, out-of-wedlock children/not, etc. What % would you guess applies to the OP’s stereotype, or not? 50/50? 60/40? 80/20? Go ahead - take a guess. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-inner-city-males-and-work/633103.md?page=5)