Often on forums (and in real life too) you can stumble upon people, mostly young people, who are interested in what the word "mercantile" means. The meaning of this word is easy to explain: from Italian and French, it is translated as mercenary, commercial, prudent, petty. Even 25-30 years ago it was almost impossible to meet mercantile people in our country. Probably, the Soviet upbringing and the imposed belief that all people are equal affected. However, it was. It is today that every person has a lot of opportunities to become richer and more successful, but in those days, in order to be rich, they needed to be born, that is, to be the heir of some statesman or a descendant of a noble person who did not lose his fortune.
For a working-class man, the path to luxury was ordered. But no one complained, everyone worked, honestly earned a living, and few even suspected that interpersonal relationships can be built based on personal self-interest. Moreover, any more or less mercantilethe man was despised, ridiculed. It is enough even to recall the hero Savely Kramarov in the old Soviet comedy "Big Break". Of course, he worked just like everyone else, but for the sake of an extra penny, he was ready to hold a large, heavy water bottle, even on a dare, as long as he had enough strength.
Today the situation has changed radically, and a mercantile person is no longer considered an outcast of society. On the contrary, the inclination to haggling is actively welcomed, because it is believed that only by knowing how to trade and bargain can one, if not get rich, then, in any case, not live in poverty. Nowadays, everyone is looking for a benefit for themselves in everything: the state appoints a ridiculous minimum wage with crazy taxes that go for no one knows what; private employers seek to profit by any means at the expense of employees; banks issue loans at unrealistic interest rates…
And what can we say about interpersonal relationships, when a mercantile girl seeks to marry a "major" or, even worse, a rich old man, just not to work and live happily ever after! From childhood, she was “hammered” into her head that the husband is obliged to earn a lot, and the wife to spend a lot. And such a thing as “feelings” is all from the realm of fantasy and fairy tales about Cinderella. The same can be said for friendship.
Rarely anyone today will be friends "for no reason." Any mercantile person will not even look in the direction of someone whose we alth is lower than his own. And if you ask such a “friend” for a loan, then he will either not give, or give, butat such a rate that it would be cheaper to apply for a loan from a bank. Yes, and such people are friends only as long as the friends are doing well. If trouble happens, a mercantile person will not provide help, even moral. It doesn't benefit him.
These people are extremely prudent, self-serving, stingy, greedy. True, most of them prefer to call themselves frugal. The paradox is also that the richer a person is, the greedier he is. Sometimes it comes to the point of absurdity, when he even feels sorry for himself to spend an extra penny, not to mention someone else. He is literally "wrapped" on the benefits, like Uncle Scrooge from the famous cartoon. So money is money, but do not forget that, besides them, there is simply life that tends to pass by or break off at the most inopportune moment. And in old age, it suddenly seems that, apart from bank accounts, there is nothing more to remember.
