To think working class shows?

[MrsBonnie]

I work in a lovely school where they’ve all had very different upbringings to me. Very much working class here. Sometimes I think it shows with little things I’ve noticed.

Having sugar in tea, using a tumble drier, not having a cleaner, using the wrong glasses for different drinks (I.E using the same one for everything!)… what else am I missing that excludes me from the club 😂 sometimes I will mention something like the above and get “oh I never use a tumble drier” … then I just think oops have I said something weird there?

Sometimes I think they’re judging me with things I say and do but I hope not! I grew up being homeless at a certain point, council houses, single teen (but amazing) mum, a very specific type of circle. I feel like Mum did everything she could to get us out of that way of life, but I can’t help but feel I don’t belong sometimes. Or that I stick out like a sore thumb. Am I being daft? Imposter syndrome a little bit!

I'm thinking it's because if you can't dry clothes quickly in your tiny, cold council flat, you end up smelling musty and you get mould over the walls, but if you have a nice large house and garden/utility, this isn't a concern. At least that was the problem I had in those circumstances - which is why I bought a condenser the moment I moved to somewhere that had space for a freezer, dishwasher AND a tumbledrier.

God give me strength. Y are being the most unreasonable person on here this month!

What is working class? Someone from the 99% who own 1% of the wealth?

I met filthy rich (1% who own 99% of the wealth) and they dunked biscuits. Shock horror what a common thing to do.

Stop perpetuating the stupid class thing it was the 1% who created the concept.

What I see as a big difference is people ho at state school or have been through state school vs people at or who've been through public school. Massive difference in how they speak and behave because its learned. If only state schools taught like public schools....

I'm definitely middle class, don't have a cleaner and wouldn't be without my tumble dryer. My middle class aunt has sugar in her tea.

Except it's nonsense isn't it? @EthicalNonMahogany not liking the idea has likely nothing to do with class at all. Just because you don't like something and go, "eww" it's not necessarily linked with the class system 🤦

25 years ago there were plenty of working class teachers, a lot came through the grammar school system. I've never thought of teaching particularly primary, particularly middle class.

YES!

Really? And did you find it odd she also used a convenient machine to wash her clothes or vacuum the floor?!?

There are a zillion ways in which middle class people exert their ‘middle class-ness’, but it doesn’t necessarily come with judgement

A very subtle example in language ‘would you like to come to us from drinks on Friday evening?’ v ‘come over for a drink on Friday night’

@Lunar270
ive also got 2 washing lines 😂

Mmm I am bit confused. Are you worried you look working class? Those things you mention don’t denote working class to me - besides if someone was the type of person to judge people because of their socio economic status than they are the person I would C’s avoiding not anyone else.

Goodness no. How nouveau riche. Gold plating is for the French and the lower middle classes, dontcha know?

All the upper classes I know are stereotypically shabby posh. Sainsburys carrier bags lining their hunter wellies to keep the damp out, and oil paintings of their children standing next a horse, and slightly rude sounding triple barreled name sort of thing.

OP, I think you might enjoy the book 'Watching the English'. Rather than feeling self-conscious, you can have some fun spotting class signifiers. When I got together with my now DH, I assumed the differences between our families were because he was from the North and I was from the South. There was an element of that, but after reading the book, I could see a class difference too. It was fascinating! My DP and DPIL have become more similar in many ways as they're aged and society has changed since the book was written, but a lot of schools are their own little 'tribe'. Actually someone should do anthropology in different schools - it'd be interesting.

Nowadays use of a tumble drier has much more to do with how ecologically conscious, or just plain stingy, you are.

I’m not sure this is about class op it’s about your uupbringing and how it’s impacted you. If you were thinking this at uni and are still thinking it now

technically you are middle class, uou are in skilled employment, went to uni and are salaried. Middle class isn’t some posho exclusive enclave. It’s a huge swathe of the population

all your points about not having a cleaner, having sugar in your tea etc are not class related.

on a side note I don’t understand your comment on using the same glasses for everything, do you mean you drink wine from a tumbler or juice from a wine glass kind of thing?

I think debates like this only serve to reinforce the class system stranglehold or indulge a sort of British oneupmanship or downmanship - why we cling onto it is beyond me. Other countries seem to do just fine without it!

Using a tumble drier makes you working class? Never heard something so stupid!

I highly doubt that.

Exactly. Solid middle class here (which I can be equally proud of, so up yours MN) and all that is pure personality and choice.

"Having sugar in tea, using a tumble drier, not having a cleaner, using the wrong glasses for different drinks"

I had to really concentrate to work out if you were saying these things are working class or middle class. I'm middle class. Parents were working class who became middle class.

In my experience -

Tea with sugar - just personal preference. Not based on class.

Tumble dryer - not based on class.

Cleaner - more likely to have one in in middle class families but far from ubiquitous. We don't have one. Admittedly I'd like one!

Glasses - I own the "right" glasses but mainly use a tumbler for everything cold (except wine) and mug for anything hot. Tbh I don't drink anything like champagne often enough to notice the glasses being used.

I also couldn't tell you which of my friends do or don't do any of these things. Overthinking imo.

Having said that, I do think there are ways that people of different classes can stand out. But I don't really care what class someone is.

It’s still dryer, folks.

Just in response to those who don’t have space for a dryer - I line dry from February to October as long as it isn’t raining but we also have a heat pump condenser dryer stacked on top of the washing machine. Obviously I don’t tumble dry my wool and cashmere but as it operates at about 50°C it doesn’t wreck your clothes. It uses about 1.6kwh of electricity for a full cycle and as the operating temperature is low I can use it overnight on our off-peak tariff so that load costs about 17p. Highly recommended.

I always think of washing lines as WC, but I have no idea why

Maybe because tumble driers take up space and are a luxury to run

Tumble dryer. Not tumble drier. "Dryer" is a noun. "Drier" is an adjective.

I'm a middle-class pedant.

OP, I wouldn't give the other stuff any thought at all.

Just be yourself. You've got nothing to be ashamed of and you should be proud of the lovely upbringing you had and your mother. I used to be similar, I have a strong northern accent and quite a few colleagues, including my male boss used to love making jokes about it with negative connotations or sometimes outright ridiculous mockery. It used to make me seethe inside and I think for a little while I tried to tone it down. I would smile and go along with it so I didn't seem unreasonable, but I was conflicted inside as I had an amazing childhood, lovely kind, hardworking parents and wasn't ashamed of where I was from. Thankfully I thankfully threw that off and now don't care one jot. I'm very proud of where I'm from, my accent, my family upbringing. Judge people as you find them, based on kindness, as a PP have said and don't worry about anything else.

When I was growing up all our council houses had one of those pulley driers then everyone 'moved on' and they were removed, it's funny that they've now reappeared as the province of the 'middle classes', whatever they are.