I waited and I waited for help but all the rich people just stared at me and kept eating.

[hunter]

99. Some were fearful they would lower their own status if they helped a lowly server.

I've met a few very wealthy people who leave 100% tips, people who clean their own toilets, drive ordinary cars, change their own tires, stay in ordinary hotels, invite clerks and housekeeping staff to lunch ask them how things are going, expect and accept honest answers and pick up the check, people who pay every last person who works for them excellent salaries and wages and treat everyone with respect. But those are a rare sort.

There are too many people who are wealthy because they are fearful assholes without empathy, people who only care about appearances and what they can take. They can't feel like winners unless they are surrounded by others they see as losers. If they are in a place like a fancy restaurant or country club where they mean to be seen then they can be especially nasty.

Some of them, maybe all of them, were waiting, watching, to see what kind of loser would help the loser on the floor, and the rest were afraid of being labeled losers.