[ericthered]

A giant may be scraping to get by, but he'll never be poor, at least not the poverty of an oppressed lower class. Small fractions of their living expenses can buy servants, agents, and so forth among the smaller folk. They also have the ability to wreck the city basically any time they feel like, so you can't treat them horribly. Their small numbers will allow them to coordinate well. They are few enough and prominent enough that individuals will be well-known among their neighbors. These are not the features of an oppressed and down-trodden class.

Now, I can totally see them dressing in rags and going to bed hungry, but they'll still be minor nobility, and while you can't afford to fill his belly, you can at least assuage his ego by using a respectful title. The guy could kill you in an instant if he wanted to, and he spends more money in a day than you make in a month.

I can still see high tensions about just how much they should or shouldn't be making though.