First world problems

Okay, so I know this is a little bit of a rant, so let me just say that right off the bat. I don't really need any help with it, but I just have to get this off my chest.

I really wish people would stop responding to complaints or problems people have with the phrase: "First world problems."

And what they mean is you are so privileged that your problems or complaints aren't valid or don't matter.

It just pisses me off so much. Like okay, so I get from your perspective you see that I have an apartment in a specific community and think that I'm privileged, but you don't know my life or my problems or what anyone is going through. Am I experiencing homelessness? No. Does that mean my issues with my property manager or whatever aren't real or a problem for me? No.

It's not the Olympics of pain. My problems don't have to be worse than yours or anyone else's to be real. And like I said, you don't know what I or anyone else is going through on top of that problem that you perceive is a "first world problem" to invalidate us.

Yes, I am grateful for the things that I do have. It doesn't mean that I don't also have problems that I deserve support for.

End rant. Note: "you" throughout is general you, not anyone here specifically. This rant is inspired by a comment on a thread in a Facebook group that is for members of the large apartment community I live in. The complex, which has 4000 residents, recently started a "valet" trash service that is required, and we have had numerous problems, including trash NOT being picked up, meaning it piles up in the hallways. I have zero interest in living in a place where trash is stacked up in the hallways with nowhere for us residents to put it (because they've locked up our dumpsters). So yes, it's a "first world problem" but it's no less a problem.

There are many people who have yet to have the insight that two wrongs don't make a right. Hense things like "reverse discrimination" and a confusion between revenge and justice. Anytime anyone devalues a human being or their problems, it devalues us all in my opinion. Sorry you are being subjected to that kind of thing.

Geez. Trash piling up is by definition a third world problem. As in undemocratic.

Thank you, Yaowen. I appreciate the validation.

Right? The fact that we are concerned about trash pileup in the hallways and attracting rodents and insects (when we already have issues with infestations in different parts of the complex) is a perfectly legitimate concern. And it's further legitimate that we converse about it in the community group since our administration doesn't actually answer or return calls to the customer service line and there is such high turnover - once we get one person's ear they quit and leave and we have to find a new person who will try and do something to help fix problems.

Next time someone says that I'm just going to be a jerk and accuse them of working for the complex, lol. Oh absolutely it's petty, but these people deserve it for being rude and invalidating.

I mean if you don't want to hear it then leave the group or keep scrolling. Ug. But seriously they aren't even petty problems. Trash pileup and cockroach infestations are not little, insignificant things. Most of the concerns people post and ask for community help with are legitimate. The only things I have seen that are ridiculous are (1) the guy that hates dogs that complains about them peeing on the grass. I understand not everyone likes dogs and I make accommodations in elevators and lobbies when someone says they are allergic or afraid. I try to be very accommodating and polite to my neighbors. But it's freaking grass and the wildlife are peeing in the grass too, friend. He's just hateful and complains about dogs no matter what. If they peed on gravel dog runs, he'd complain about it.

This wasn't posted in the group but the other petty thing I heard someone say once is that they won't plunge their own toilet. So anytime their toilet gets stopped up, they call maintenance to have them come plunge it. Really? I try not to judge complaints, but that one was over the top.

For the most part it's normal and valid complaints and concerns about disputes with neighbors and people asking how to deal with excessive noise or smoke, and recently the trash problem. People also ask questions about packages getting stolen a lot because we have issues mostly with Amazon Prime dumping packages in the mailroom, which is not secure and has big signs saying not to leave packages there. I think stolen mail is a valid complaint.

Anyways, yeah, like even that person who said she calls maintenance for toilet plunging, I didn't say anything or invalidate her. You can think something without saying it. OMG! Novel concept, right?