So, Gawker started up this feature on "The Poors," in which they ruthlessly mock media encounters with those of us who don't have trust funds. Gawker might be interested in a recent front-page article by the Globe about the South Bay Center, the big ol' mall that is apparently a crossroads of class conflict.
The form of Sarah Schweitzer's article isn't the problem. Well, maybe the fact that the Globe put a story about a mall on the front page is … and the fact that she called Boston neighborhoods "balkanized" – which is pushing it if you've never been to the Balkans. That said, it's actually good news that the mall is bringing money into the city instead of sending it out to the 'burbs. An article like that might bring more business.

But the content is hilarious. Some of those interviewed were struggling with the fact that they can get what they need at South Bay Center, but they have to encounter "the poors" to do it. Schweitzer writes, "At Best Buy and Super Stop & Shop, Old Navy, and Home Depot, the city's black and white, rich and poor, Latino and Asian converge in pursuit of cat litter, artichokes, and air conditioners against the backdrop of the city skyline." (Oh, boy, if the Weekly Dig's Media Farm hammered on us, this is going to be fresh meat to 'em! We'd link to 'em, but their site is still dead and all.)

But fear lies underneath this multi-culti happy family that shops together and eats unlimited soup 'n' breadsticks at the Olive Garden. Some shoppers find "the poors" mighty distasteful:

A Quincy teacher, who declined to give her name as she shopped in Marshall's while waiting for her husband to buy a radio at Best Buy, looked around and whispered, "There's just too much riff-raff."

Riff-raff? Anyone who's used that word has obviously never encountered any real "riff-raff." And then there are the Whole Foodies:

Bridget Hirsch of the South End found herself stranded a few stores down from Stop & Shop with a cartful of groceries when anti theft devices locked the cart's wheels in place. "It's a little different than Whole Foods," she said.

Different? Has she ever encountered the "riff-raff" at Whole Foods? The really entitled Massholes with Louis Vuitton handbags who will flip you off if you get between them and the pre-cut vegetables? And they will steal your cart if you spend too much time sorting through the Ben & Jerry's for some Americone Dream. Oh, yes, sweetie, they will. And let's face it, a trip to Whole Foods is like having all the money in your wallet stolen, anyway.