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 think we must have committed a terrible faux pas on our first trip to the US this year then.
DH bought a travel washing line and at our nice hotel in Yosemite we strung up our wet washing across the balcony.
Must have looked like the Clampetts! 😆. But it was practical, it dried in no time!

We stayed at an average hotel in Laguna beach which didn’t have a big enough balcony so guess where we put the line there? We strung it up inside. 😂. Many of our clothes would shrink in the tumble dryer so we only use it for knickers and underpants, nightwear,
socks, pyjamas, towels and bedding at home, and some things which we know don’t shrink like schools shirts and trousers.

We found the US to be a bit less environmentally aware than in a lot of Europe. i have no idea why people WOULDN’T dry their clothes outside in a warm climate. It seems to waste energy in both the running of the tumble dryer, and in the production of them. Come to think of it I don’t remember seeing any wind farms either.

Oh, the irony of being called elitist on a thread about the differences between being working and middle class! Despite the horseshit we’re expected to teach about “British values” being opportunity and meritocracy, people in this country are obsessed with the class system, which is the very epitome of elitism. Demanding an elite (as in high standard) education system is not elitist.

I agree with OP about the tumble drier, 'eco' lifestyle definitely tends to be more MC than WC, but the 'having a cleaner' depends on how much time/money you have to do it yourself, right? I mean, working full time means less time available to clean your own house, but can be full time, paid badly and still have to clean your own house. Money is not an indicator of class.

Please tell me people aren't using a tumble dryer when the weather is perfectly fine outside. 😫

Please tell me people aren't using a tumble dryer when the weather is perfectly fine outside

I'm not, but the weather has been mild and sunny in the SE of England, not so elsewhere. Also people have to wash clothes when they can which is sometimes at night.

I'm mc (I think- still working class though according to some definitions on here) but do my own cleaning because my cleaner left for Czechia at the beginning of the pandemic. Then we were all working from home so it's awkward to get someone else. Plus I got into a routine of it. And it's good exercise.

US Tumbled dyers have better settings than the ones we buy here, they have a cool setting which doesn't shrink anything and a fluff that takes out creases.

Many places in US do not allow outside drying you can be fined by the HOA.

I have a cool setting on my tumbler. But it takes hours to fry anything, so l never use it.

Ha, I used to do that, primary school aged, on my little bike with a note, "Dear Vera, Please let Marion have 20 Regal, they are for me ..."

We have a tumble dryer and a washing line. We dry the clothes outside whenever possible and use the dryer during the night or in bad weather. I thought most people did this. When living in places with no garden I would dry clothes on radiators or use an airer.

My grandparents were definitely working class, as were my parents. However, they both were first in family to go to university and my Dad became an accountant. They always struggled with being the wrong class in the business world. My Dad's colleagues frequently seemed to look down on him a bit snootily while his old family thought he was 'up himself'. Really sad as it isolated them.

I had I suppose a MC childhood with basically WC ethics. My first husband was privately educated but his friends and family thought I was 'common'.

FWIW, no cleaner, but also no sugar in tea and a tumble dryer! Confused!

What's strange about this post is it's exactly what everyone I know does (including me) but it seems to be a minority view.

@Iwantmyoldnameback Thank you, I thought it was just me.

I once knew a very grand old gentleman (ex Eton and The Guards) who took five sugars in his tea! It was a long time ago, I was but a girl and am now a grandmother, and he was pretty ancient at the time so it may be a modern upper class thing about sugar. I was charmed because he used to raise his hat to me as though I were a proper lady whenever we met in the street (I was about 12/13 at the time). He was a neighbour, lived alone, and my mum used to invite him round to tea occasionally.

It shows with BIL, DH will say something like hello/hi and BIL responds “alright bruv”, and he says he’s middle class.

So have we decided if having a tumble dryer makes you middle class or working class?

Round here the ones who don’t actually have money are the ones who put on huge balloon and present displays on birthdays, posted all over Instagram.

Dress their kids in designer labels “logos everywhere” and girls especially spotless and hair covered in ribbons and bows like dolls.

The ones with professional parents don’t really make much of a fuss over impressing others nor put so much thought into outfits.

I feel like the lower working class spend their money on outward displays as that’s what they value and want to impress people, the people who are better off seem to like spending on their home, travelling and enriching activities for their kids.

For example certain parents I know will have their kids in head to toe Oilily, Moncler jackets etc but would never think of visiting an art galleries or any exhibitions for their kids.

I keep my distance, and I’m actively looking for a school with less of these.

I’m not saying middle class people don’t spend on clothes, I’m middle class and I do. The difference is I might buy my kids a lovely wool overcoat which is pricey and get on with it. It looks good and you can see the quality.

They’d buy a jacket plastered in logos and then do their best for everyone to know.

I feel people who are actually successful have a confidence to them and rise above status item competitions which is what I think the designer clothes are all about here.

Sorry but it just seems to be the chavs who don’t even have a good career who concern themselves with this, but wait for them to open their mouth and they’re rough AF.

Yep that was me back in the 1980s, going round the road to buy fags at 8 years old. Very much WC!

I grew up working class, had my first child at 18, me and hubby proceeded to be 'lower class' had another 2 kids plus a bonus nephew(lives with us) now in our 30's in the current climate id assume we are middle class. My personality, traits, outlook on the world or the way we bring the kids up are not any different than when we were poor. I really dont get the hype of the 'class system' its all just living to other peoples expectations. What does it matter if you use a tumble dryer or have a cleaner.
I also dont understand the need for approval from anyone else, live your life not theirs. Aslong as the people in your household and happy and healthy thats all that should matter.

It's not what you have or don't have.
It's what you say, your accent and the big giveaway - holding knife like a pen. Sorry!

It's not what you have or don't have.
It's what you say, your accent and the big giveaway - holding knife like a pen. Sorry!

Yes.. that’s what I’m waiting to be enlightened on

@EmeraldShamrock1 I don’t know if I’m WC or MC, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it because I don’t care what other people think of me and my upbringing. I’m just grateful that my upbringing has moved on from homelessness and council estates to me being a homeowner with a uni education and a profession. I can afford things for my kids we never had growing up. We didn’t have a washing machine let alone a tumble dryer. I stand by the fact that people worrying about it are self conscious. Worry about money, don’t waste time worrying about “class”.

I'm very working class. In fact I grew up in children's homes etc. I am doing a master's degree in social research methods, so I've spent an awful lot of time on the subject of class. Outside of academia I don't much feel it matter to myself, although ofc that doesn't extend to how others view it. But I absolutely do have sugar in tea as it's vile without it 🤣