‘What have you stopped being a snob about?’ – 21 people who realised they’ve been missing out by being judgemental

It’s easy to decide you’re better than something and get a bit snobby about it, but what if your condescension means you’ve actually been missing out?

Reddit user iffyClyro raised this point on the AskUK subreddit by posting this thoughtful question:

What have you stopped being a snob about? I’ve never really had the luxury of being able to turn my nose up to things, grew up quite poor depending on shops like Farmfoods and Shoe Zone.

Worked with a guy once that had never been inside a Poundstretcher or any similar shop, really sound guy but admitted he’d spent pretty much his whole life looking down on shops like that until a change in circumstances.

Had a mate that used to get proper weird about going for a McDonald’s in a foreign country but honestly I’ve never really seen the harm in it.

And lots of people chipped in with the things that they’d done a complete 180 on, like these…

1.

‘People who go on holiday just to sit in the hotel/resort/beach. All of my holidays growing up were cultural/tourist experiences where we were always visiting a museum or art gallery or shop or some cultural/historical site or other. When I started booking my own holidays as an adult more recently, I nearly always planned to be scuba diving. So I never saw the point in flying all that way or travelling just to sit around.

In more recent times though I’ve had weekend or longer trips where days or long periods of a day were spent basically just existing in a place that isn’t my home city. I began to see a value in having times of my life where I just existed in a time and place without expectations or plans.’
–MatthiasGould592

2.

‘My first (currently only, but I hope not last) all-inclusive package resort ‘sit by the pool’ holiday, I expected to be bored.

But it turns out that it’s a ‘make no decisions’ holiday. That’s the actual luxury. At no point do you have to choose what to do, where to eat, etc. You just sit, then you just eat, and then you just sleep. For this mother of teenagers, an epiphany.’
–Loose_Acanthaceae201

3.

‘I’d also add for foreign McDonalds, they often have items you won’t find in the UK. Like McDonalds in India has a MASSIVE amount of vegetarian stuff like the McAloo and McPaneer burgers. I’d totally smash those happily.’
–MatthiasGould592

4.

‘My wife stresses me out with how little she knows about the car and then I remember, for her it’s just an appliance that gets her from A to B.’
–iffyClyro

5.

‘Wetherspoons. I’m averse to their politics, but I have no objection to their free wi-fi and endless cheap coffee, or nipping in for a cheap pint on the way home once my regular’s closed for the night.’
–Pharmacy_Duck

6.

‘I tolerate people who rate Mozart over Bach and have learnt to laugh inside at their opinions.’
–Prestigious_Emu6039

7.

‘Music and films. As a teenager to early twenties I was one of those annoying people who thought it really matters what you listen to and watch. I remember going to university and being aghast when chatting to someone and I asked them what music they listen to and they said ‘whatever is on the radio’.

Now, I don’t really care. People should listen to and watch whatever they want. If it’s something I don’t rate, what does that matter. They probably think the same about something I like.’
–Otherwise_Koala4289

8.

‘In my late teens I got really into world cinema and kind of made that my personality for a while. Cringe.’
–iffyClyro

9.

‘Keeping the house hoovered all the time. I got a cat and dropped my hoovering standards as the cat hates the noise. And he’s the boss.’
–Glittering_Vast938

10.

‘As someone who avoids social media – TikTok. I used to assume it was just attention seekers and young people jumping on dancing trends. While that’s still true, there’s actually some quite good stuff on there. My algorithm is all ideas for hikes/day trips, language learning, and things tailored towards stuff I want to learn and that can actually benefit me.’
–youshewewumbo

11.

‘Supermarket budget brand goods, they are almost (or sometimes exactly) the same as the higher priced own brand. And I’m OK with that.’
–im-hippiemark