Coruscation

The compulsion to upgrade (and seeking positional goods and services) is most glaring in cities -- particularly New York and Los Angeles -- which are filled with the upwardly mobile who relocate in search of upgraded opportunities surrounded by savvier, richer, trendier people. These transplants are constantly trading up not just their jobs but their group of friends. Everyone in New York and L.A. has had this experience: you make a plan for dinner with a buddy, which he cancels with a lame, last minute excuse ("I'm just exhausted"). What you both know is that he got a late-breaking better offer. He upgraded his dinner.