If Claire was 46 instead of 26 this wouldn't be an issue; I may know (about) what my coworkers make (really, I have only the barest clue), but I certainly don't know what they did before this job or what their wealth plans are for their life after. I work with several people who own their homes and I never wonder how they could afford to do so on "what must be" their current salary; there's the simple, sweet assumption that at some point they made enough and saved enough to afford a down payment over the years, when at my point in life I simply haven't (or haven't been able to) - of course, with yet added on the end of that.

On the other hand, I'd say to Claire that there's a wide space between "assuming a coworker's parents help them pay for housing" vs. "assuming a coworker's parents help them pay for housing and also somehow had enough money and leverage to help her get her current job." Why would the two be so inextricably tied? As an outsider, such an assumption would feel like a giant leap.

I know a waitress/hostess who goes to several, several music festivals a year - I assume her parents help her pay for those, (in a trickle-down sort of way if not directly - i.e., by helping pay for her housing so she has money to burn on music festivals, if not giving her money for the festivals themselves) but I'd never think her parents got her her job, too.