What Happened To That First World Education?
I’m British, with the accent, working in an office in the USA. We’re sitting at a meeting table a few minutes before a presentation, and some of us coworkers from different floors are catching up.
Coworker: “[My Name]! How have you been?”
Me: “Oh, same old, same old. A few things here and there, but all first-world problems, so it’s all good.”
Another coworker, whom I have not met before, from the same floor as [Coworker], chooses this moment to join in the conversation.
Other Coworker: “It must be nice for you to have made it to America and have first-world problems.”
Me: “Beg your pardon?”
Other Coworker: “First world problems, because you’re in the first world now.”
Me: “I was just using a phrase. I simply meant I have some problems, but none of them are worth getting too concerned about.”
Other Coworker: “Yeah, because you’re in the first world now!”
Coworker: “[Other Coworker], what do you think the first world is?”
Other Coworker: “First world is America, second world is Canada and Europe, and third world is everything else.”
Before I can say anything, the boss arrives, and we settle down for the presentation. [Coworker] leans in and whispers to me:
Coworker: “Don’t worry about that one. Can count the brain cells on one finger.”
