self entitled middle class??

[sweetsoulsister]

As an 'out of towner' can people explain why the middle class in this fine city of London feel they are so god damned righteous?

I'm standing in a queue with my children at the local swimming pool, and judging by the car park, it's busy. We go in and join a long queue. A couple of the families in front of me take their turn at the counter, turn around in disgust, and pace back and forth, argue with each other and work themselves up into a frenzy. Assuming they are going swimming I ask what has happened with the pool. One of the ladies says, 'The pool is at capacity and if we want to go in we will have to wait until someone leaves,' her voice rises another octave and she continues, 'This is completely unacceptable!!'

Really? Unacceptable? If you were the first family in the pool and it got too crowded because they let everyone in would you just suck it up because it's unacceptable to let everyone in?

This is not the first time I've encountered this outrage and it always seems to be what I've deemed the 'self entitled middle class...'

Explanations please???

[Lineainmonetsgarden]

Great post pigeon. I'm also from another country, probably mc, and have been raised to question, 'challenge' and even intervene when faced with a a bad or bureaucratic situation. But not jut for me and my loved ones but to look out and step up for others who experience a crap service or situation too. This can't be too bad, surely?

On the other hand, I can see that there is shit loads of competition between the fancy mothers at dc's pre-school. And arrogance! Bags of arrogance. They are probably mc but a different group of mc than I am familiar with from London. They love flashing their diamond jewellery at play dates and coffee mornings and certainly look down on you if you don't drive a BMW, VW or Audior don't live within the 'right' postcode. Sad, really. But obvs not all mc are like that.

[fluterby]

I don't really think of it as a class thing. But certainly round here there seems to be a fairly dense population (i.e. a lot of them) of haughty, serial complainers. The sort of thing would be only paying half the price for a haircut because their dc wouldn't sit still. It does have its advantages though. If anything slightly irritating happens at the school where I might have thought about saying something, someone will invariably have complained before me, so I don't have to annoy the teacher myself.

[Misspixietrix]

Oh believe me. I live in one of the most non-middle class Cities. Being a self entitled twat isn't reserved for just the middle classes in this area! In fact 8/10 its the middle class type that are the politest! :)

[magimedi]

Alpacalypse (love your name) that was a great post - I'd forgotten all about that book, but you bought it all back & made me

[tess73]

They weren't middle class
Middle class in London go to David Lloyd, Virgin active or another private club with pool. Not the local free for all with "queues"

[AlpacaLypse]

magimedi why thank you!

I'm slightly ashamed to admit I stole it off one of dd1's friends Flickr account. Had been getting very bored of being DeepRedBetty...

[bodygoingsouth]

you know you have lost the plot when you actually identify yourself as being part of a class.

bizarre.

[Littleen]

Don't think it's anything to do with class! Yes they were being unreasonably annoyed, but these things happen. Slightly ignorant to blame that on whichever "class" they belong to. The class system is ridiculous anyway.

[Pigeonhouse]

Why, bodygoingsouth? My home society isn't particularly class conscious, but as soon as I moved to England I realised I was living in a society which was much more so, and - although I am a foreigner, and as such don't 'count' in class terms the way a native would - my accent, choice of clothes, the interior of my house, the name of my child etc etc were certainly being 'classified' by other people.

Class exists as an active thing in the UK today - why pretend it doesn't?

[bodygoingsouth]

Pig it really doesn't figure in RL half as much as it does on mumsnet or in the media generally.

my main point is I have never, and have no friends, who care two hoots about what car each other drives or what you call your kids because that's so desperately shallow and silly.

sure there are daft twats who do judge but the vast majority of the British population are just getting in with it.

there arnt really too many Katie Hopkins around bless her.

[AmberLeaf]

All the debate about class classifications aside, I think I know the sort of thing the OP means.

I have encountered people with that kind of attitude, it's a this isn't acceptable to people like us sort of mentality. I have seen it in various scenarios. Some people expect to be treated differently and get pissed off when they have to shut up and put up like everyone else. In those situations, it is people who are MC, that said, there are arses of all classes. You just get all the 'OUTRAGEOUS' type comments from the MC ones.

[AmberLeaf]

I disagree that the MCs would go to a private gym/pool.

Some might, but certainly not all.

[Fecklessdizzy]

Alpaca Forgotten about that one - total classic! I wonder if we've still got it somewhere ... ( Wanders off to spend the next three hours looking )

[bodygoingsouth]

do you know who I am attitudes are just simply rude. The difference might be one person saying the words while another punches then into your face.

[Dromedary]

I've met a fair few snobs

[Pigeonhouse]

Body, I disagree. I find class issues come up a lot in day to day life - God knows, it's not possible not to think about class when you look at the number of public-school-educated men in the current cabinet, which social classes are overrepresented at the top journalism and the media, why opera- and theatre-goers are overwhelmingly middle- and upper-class, despite tickets for premier league football matches costing as much or more, which social classes are most likely to be at elite universities etc etc.

I also think that it filters into a lot of people's decision-making and aesthetic choices, but that some of the time they aren't aware of what forces are making them choose a name for their child or sign them up for an activity. Why is Carole Middleton a figure of fun in the media? Why can we be fairly sure that Zara Phillips and her husband wouldn't have called their baby Princess Tiaammi?

I think the only difference with Mumsnet is that class is talked about openly and quite frequently, whereas in the real world, it's more an implicit underpinning.

[Mim78]

Sounds to me like someone having a bad day. Could happen with any class, location IMO.

Maybe she is fed up with the lack of facilities in their area - I suppose that might be a London issue potentially - that where they live everything is always full/ has a queue? But that is just me making up a scenario I guess.

[Caitlin17]

I was going to mention apostrophes.

[FixItUpChappie]

AIBU in making sweeping assumptions based on some sort of jealousy based chip on my shoulder?
Yes, yes you are.

Hoppinggreen. I agree. ^^ This about sums it up.

[AmIIndecisive]

OP - If they were as you say "middle class" I am sure they would be a member of a private health club (no capacity issues or mingling with Joe Public) and not need to go to a public swimming pool.

[WhereIsMyHat]

Nah, middle class definitely attend the council run pools around here, it makes them feel 'down to earth'

I so know what the OP means, we live in a borough that has parts that are very middle class and people do get like this. It's quite impressive as it usually gets them what they want. I love seeing it, very entertaining. My gym is the best, people complain about the feel of the towels, the speed of the hand driers.....

[Crowler]

I view going to the council pool much like going to the library.

[bodygoingsouth]

in names I have to say I find calling your children Chardonay and Kianu as pretentious as calling them Maud and Columbus but I suppose my point is I really don't care.

the rich elite like the royals will always be free loading if us.

the poor will also always be with us needing help.

the rest of us just shift inbetween.