I get the intentionality behind wanting to build and maintain certain standards, but this is a genuinely shitty take, especially when you’re looking down on someone who is out here working with their hands and earning an honest living. The fact that you have Esquire attached to your name doesn’t make someone else’s hustle beneath you. And some of you wouldn’t tolerate half the nonsense you spew on this app if the same energy were directed at you. You’re entitled to choose your friends based on compatibility, shared interests, values, and even professional alignment. Nobody is obligated to be friends with anybody. But reducing someone’s worth as a potential friend to their profession, where they live, and how much financial value they can bring to your life is not having standards. It’s elitism dressed up as intentionality. What exactly makes you think a woman who does nails, lashes, or makeup has nothing meaningful to contribute to a conversation? Is her life experience automatically less interesting because she doesn’t practise law or medicine? Does working from her parents’ house mean she has nothing going for her? And the irony of calling someone a potential liability simply because of her occupation, before even getting to know her, is quite something. You’ve already decided she’s a financial burden based on absolutely nothing she has done to you. You say friendship should be symbiotic, and I agree. But reciprocity is not the same as professional usefulness. Some friends will refer clients to you, some will exchange services with you, and some will simply be there to listen, laugh with you, challenge your thinking, or make life a little less lonely. Their value as human beings and friends is not determined by how conveniently they fit into your professional network. Also, the assumption that a woman who does nails or lashes has nothing to gist about beyond difficult customers is honestly embarrassing. You can have a law degree and still be the most intellectually shallow person in the room. Education, profession, and income do not automatically translate to depth, character, or good company. And let’s be honest: if your friendships are primarily about what people can do for you professionally, then what you’re describing sounds less like friendship and more like networking with the emotional benefits stripped away. By all means, choose your circle intentionally. But please stop confusing having preferences with having superior human worth. You can decide someone isn’t your kind of person without turning their honest livelihood into a punchline. There’s a difference between knowing your worth and believing other people are beneath you because they don’t have what you have. This take misses that difference entirely.