Social status clashes Downtown? (Pittsburgh, Butler: high school, living, club)

[nachoz]

I visited downtown Pittsburgh recently and I was surprised with the different social statuses that are interacting in that environment. I saw very professional business suit people, the Donald or Ivanka Trump type, walking the streets alongside or around people wearing wife beaters, tattooed up, and pants hanging off their butt with their underwear showing. I also saw a few crazy people yelling.

To me, this seems to be nothing but bad news for the business suits. I bet it is very tempting to take a "big gulp" of soda and pour it all over their fancy suit or screw with them in any way imaginable. I bet the suits would take it and keep walking because a criminal record or an arrest can be the end of their job. For most professional jobs, background checks are done and arrests need to be explained. On the other hand, if you walk around with you pants falling off, you probably have nothing to loose. Hassling people downtown might be the highlight of your day.

Is the peace kept downtown between the members of this wide range of social status? Are there unwritten rules or agreements like "if i ask you for spare change you better give it to me or there will be trouble" or "dont make eye contact with me"? Do the suits have to stay on and stay off certain streets?

Pardon me if this is a weird question, I am foreign to big city downtown environments.

[mountainlove]

nachoz - first off i love your handle, and nachos. for real.

i've never really seen anything like you've described play itself out (dumping big gulps, messing with suits, etc). people are generally there to do their thing like waiting for a bus, shopping, or going to/from work. it is part of city living to come across a wide variety of people.

i also think some of your comments are coming from the assumption that the lower class people are there looking for trouble, and i haven't really seen that.

only folks i've kept clear of are - some of the crazies that you mentioned (though they're usually harmless - just crazy) and larger groups of high school kids (not the CAPA kids but more hood kids) who i have seen start some problems over the years.

generally downtown is as fine as anywhere to be, and the police presence is pretty high.

[steindle]

What a totally bizarre post.

- Yes, people of different social classes are able to be near each other without poor people compulsively dumping the Big Gulps they are inevitably drinking onto one of Pittsburgh's many Ivanka Trumps.
- No, there is no "unwritten rule" whereby poorer people violently extort money from the wealthy Downtown. I think you're making the easy mistake of confusing modern Pittsburgh with a movie about London's East End in the 1890s.
- The suits can walk wherever they want since, again, it's a contemporary American city and not some sort of Warriors-style dystopia.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by nachoz

I visited downtown Pittsburgh recently and I was surprised with the different social statuses that are interacting in that environment. I saw very professional business suit people, the Donald or Ivanka Trump type, walking the streets alongside or around people wearing wife beaters, tattooed up, and pants hanging off their butt with their underwear showing. I also saw a few crazy people yelling.

To me, this seems to be nothing but bad news for the business suits. I bet it is very tempting to take a "big gulp" of soda and pour it all over their fancy suit or screw with them in any way imaginable. I bet the suits would take it and keep walking because a criminal record or an arrest can be the end of their job. For most professional jobs, background checks are done and arrests need to be explained. On the other hand, if you walk around with you pants falling off, you probably have nothing to loose. Hassling people downtown might be the highlight of your day.

Is the peace kept downtown between the members of this wide range of social status? Are there unwritten rules or agreements like "if i ask you for spare change you better give it to me or there will be trouble" or "dont make eye contact with me"? Do the suits have to stay on and stay off certain streets?

Pardon me if this is a weird question, I am foreign to big city downtown environments.

This is a very weird post and question. I'm going to guess some kind of mind altering drug was used during the posting

[Hopes]

Since Pittsburghers tend to be very tollerant people, your question will seem weird to most.

[Blackbeauty212]

I had to read this 3 times to try and make any sense of the question.

Anyway the only problem downtown among the public is those damn kids at the Wood Street T Station...I don't know what it is about that corner but HS Kids from all over the city love to come down there and sit around looking to start fights....Last time I was down there waiting on the 91 Butler Street police had to consistently show presence to keep the kids in order...

Outside of that I've never seen any hostility between the public downtown.

[BrianTH]

Yeah, there are a few kids who get into trouble with each other, but that's pretty much it.

I'm not saying this is necessary to keep the peace, but it doesn't hurt there are cops all over the place.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by steindle

What a totally bizarre post.

- Yes, people of different social classes are able to be near each other without poor people compulsively dumping the Big Gulps they are inevitably drinking onto one of Pittsburgh's many Ivanka Trumps.
- No, there is no "unwritten rule" whereby poorer people violently extort money from the wealthy Downtown. I think you're making the easy mistake of confusing modern Pittsburgh with a movie about London's East End in the 1890s.
- The suits can walk wherever they want since, again, it's a contemporary American city and not some sort of Warriors-style dystopia.

Yes, this scene plays out daily in downtown pgh

[nachoz]

It is good to hear it is peaceful and not as bad as it could be. I am accustomed to office parks where you are there because you work there and you have something to loose if you act like an idiot while you are there.

Anyone can go to downtown for any reason. It's not hard to imagine someone who is angry or nasty taking out their aggression on someone who would not fight back, maybe looks like a past boss or authority figure, or maybe someone they feel needs to be knocked down a few notches.

It's not hard to imagine people going down there just to screw with others for fun. Doing things like stepping in front of them and not letting them pass on the sidewalk. Throwing a big gulp on them and saying "oops, sorry". Trying to pick fights to see others squirm. "You can't say Hi to me? You think you're better than me because you are wearing a suit?".

It was odd seeing the range of people. It looked like both extremes of "have" and "have not" were represented.

If you have responded, do you work downtown or spend time downtown during the day?

[hornet67]

Originally Posted by nachoz

It is good to hear it is peaceful and not as bad as it could be. I am accustomed to office parks where you are there because you work there and you have something to loose if you act like an idiot while you are there.

Anyone can go to downtown for any reason. It's not hard to imagine someone who is angry or nasty taking out their aggression on someone who would not fight back, maybe looks like a past boss or authority figure, or maybe someone they feel needs to be knocked down a few notches.

It's not hard to imagine people going down there just to screw with others for fun. Doing things like stepping in front of them and not letting them pass on the sidewalk. Throwing a big gulp on them and saying "oops, sorry". Trying to pick fights to see others squirm. "You can't say Hi to me? You think you're better than me because you are wearing a suit?".

It was odd seeing the range of people. It looked like both extremes of "have" and "have not" were represented.

If you have responded, do you work downtown or spend time downtown during the day?

Have you actually EVER encountered the type of behavior you are describing; or is it something you read, or viewed in some wacko movie?
"Not hard to imagine people going down there just to screw with others for fun" Huuuuh?? I will admit that I have not worked downtown for almost 10 years, but have social mores descended that far? Methinks not.
Is this a valid post, or an attempt at trolling?
I guess that anyone emerging from the Duquesne Club better be locked & loaded!