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 provide household staff with tools to enable them to do their jobs. So I have a tumble dryer and a clothes line and an airer but I have no idea which they use for what as I don’t get involved in laundry. Nor could I give a rats arse how anyone else dries their pants. The middle middles and below worry what others do and think and this thread is evidence that is a totally pointless endeavour. The aristos (and proper upper middles) do not. Like sugar in your tea? Fill your boots. Want to drink coffee out of a pint glass? Who gives a damn? If you burn yourself you might not do it twice. Or you might. Don’t care.

Caring about what others think is the real class signifier IMO.

I hear you, OP. I grew up very working class but went to uni and now live to all intents and purposes quite a middle-class life.
But at uni and in my career (a very middle-/slightly upper-class one, traditionally and still to a great degree), I have always been able to tell the differences between me and those raised middle-class.

Middle class people don’t mind working class people unless you want to marry one of their (grown up!) children or come to one of their dinner parties. Then you’ll learn the meaning of the word ruthless….

Ain't that the truth

Ain't that the truth

Teacher here and working class. Don't notice which teachers are to be honest. Only time is my relatability to other working class families (parents of children I teach). I sometimes understand the struggles they have better than other members of staff- purely because I've experienced it first hand. I was a free-school meal child, council estate born and we often used food banks.

Grew up in a council house
use a tumble drier
know which glasses to use
don’t have sugar in my tea (only drink peppermint tea now)

I must be an imposter

Something occurred to me today as a class signifier. Middle class people assume that institutions like schools and the police are there to help. Working class people do not.

I guess I've still got my working class roots 😂

I wouldn't bank on that ehb102. I know some very jaundiced lawyers, teachers, medics, who have little trust left in such institutions. This country has been eviscerated by successive non-investment by those responsible for maintaining them.

Dear Bonnie, we are retired but financially doing o.k. I never had a cleaner, use my tumbler only for towels, and have lots of glasses I use for all kinds of food and drink and other stuff. I have no sense of class whatsoever and you too should get over that weird idea 😘

Your being a little daft/imposter syndrome...... Act like you own your space & you soon will......
Similar background, worked in lots of schools....I don't see it yet some do...
Maybe I'm just not looking but I think not.

I'm similar, Oxbridge educated after a simple upbringing (not sure whether it would be classed officially as working class or middle class, but borderline). I did face some snobbishness and snide comments. But most people don't care. The one thing I really learned from Oxbridge was self-assurance. Act like you belong there, even if you don't know the unwritten rules.

@Medoca I would never refer to my class IRL as it is normally obvious when you meet someone. On here nobody can tell who you are unless they decide to go back through all your old posts, which may then give away enough information.

It enhances it for me. Loads of it.....

I'm obviously very common

YANBU because it's how you feel. You need to change the way you feel about yourself, where you come from and the way you live because of it. I was born into a very working class family and left school at 16. Didn't go to university until I was a mature student. For the last 30 years I've worked in an environment where many of the people I meet have very different backgrounds from mine. More privileged. Live in houses with big gardens where they (or their cleaner/housekeeper) can hang their washing out to dry. But you know what, my background has made me resilient. It's also helped me to empathise with some of the very disadvantaged people I also encounter in my work - and very importantly, has made me refuse to accept 'less than' good enough for any of the kids that might be impacted by my work. Be proud of who you are and the strengths your upbringing has given you xx

Some of this is just personal preference rather than someone’s social status, some of it upbringing to and extent which is sometimes linked to class but not always.

I have never owned nor used a tumbled dryer. I have a degree and work at a university. I do not like sugar in tea, I like it black and plain. I would never eat four crumpets in one sitting, just the one or possibly two if as a “meal”. However, I am fairly certain if I was to be placed into a “class” it would be working class.

I’m very much working class, in fact I’m from one of the poorest areas in the country. A lot of people I’ve worked with over the years have been very much not working class, but apart from being told I sound a bit common, nobody has batted an eyelid because I’m good at my job and that’s all they care about.

I have sugar in my tea (and coffee), I use my tumble dryer, I use the same glass for everything and I definitely don’t have a cleaner - I wish!

if anyone ever did have an issue it’s definitely a them problem, not a you problem!

In my opinion, you’re over-thinking this.

Ha, I think there is a huge swathe of teachers who are working class / lower middle class. Certainly where I live it isn't considered a largely middle class profession. I also think class has no bearing on whether one uses a tumble drier or not.

Again, dryer.

A ‘profession’ is traditionally middle-class by definition.

Certainly where I live it isn't considered a largely middle class profession.

That’s a contradiction in terms. A profession (as distinct from a trade or industry) is middle-class, which is why ‘the professional class’ is occasionally used as a synonym. There are only middle-class professions!

Ah, cross-post with @BretonBlue

Grew up with very WC parents, who did well, moved to a MC area. However they remained very WC (smoking, rubbish diet, read The Sun, watched the soaps etc) but wanted me and my siblings to be much more MC. I remember it feeling a bit weird as a kid growing up, we lived in a nice house in a nice part of town but were nothing like our neighbours, which in itself would have been ok if my mum and dad were ok with it, instead of constantly almost being snobbish towards us for being more like them and NOT being like the neighbours - probably not explaining it very well.
I always remember thinking (& still do if I’m honest) you can tell if someone’s a bit posh by if they have cheese boards at Christmas 😂 this wasn’t something that ever featured in our house

Sorry, how is having sugar in your tea working class? Do they have different tastebuds?

I think the people who worry about this kind of thing are often just self conscious people who worry a lot about their own identity and how they fit in to the world. A lot of us couldn’t give a shit about all this class stuff. It’s 2022, the world has changed.