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!

A terribly well brought up M to U person I know refers to the radiator as an ‘aga’.

Can someone tell me what is wrong with having an aga? Also clothes on the bannisters is a weird idea. My DH has a working class background (now a PHD so makes no sense class wise). He will put clothes to dry in front of the electric oven. It is a constant concern. The oven is not on so has no heat. We have a utility room with plenty of light and a sheila maid. (pulley thing) and a whirly gig in the garden. Why would anyone with any common sense put clothes on an airer in front of a cold oven!!!!! Daftness in its most daft daftimosity

Yes, yes, yes.

I thought it was bigger glasses for red? More space for the bouquet etc?

Sorry, late to the party.

Yeah I worked with very middle class people, some things that stood out:
Sniggering at me calling a settee a settee not a sofa, commenting on the right way to hang a toilet roll, disapproving of microwave use.

Incredibly rude of them and just plain nasty.

I internally judge some things - I fully admit (anyone who says they don’t is a liar). But to snigger at someone is so unbelievably rude, that it blows whatever faux pas’ being sniggered at out of the water.

Yes OP working class does show unless you work incredibly hard and consistently to make sure it doesn't (aka Carole/Kate Middleton). My DM (UWC/LMC) has spent her married life trying to "pass" as MMC/UMC to her husband's sisters (think Jane Bennet with the Bingley sisters), it's actually a bit sad. She has achieved her goal to some extent I am more solidly MMC than my parents, but at the cost of crashing snobbery and alienating herself from most of her family and cousins.

Have you asked her why she felt the need to alienate herself from her family as well? Surely it wasn't necessary. Or did they not match the style/set she had chosen for herself?

I think she was embarrassed by them (which is terribly LMC isn't it ?) with their sugars in tea, instant coffee, sweet wine, processed food and in her eyes tacky and OTT weddings and parties held in Village Halls. We as children were taught to look down on such things, it's a hard habit to break.

it's actually a bit sad. She has achieved her goal to some extent I am more solidly MMC than my parents, but at the cost of crashing snobbery and alienating herself from most of her family and cousins.
It is sad but not unusual for the child of from a working class background once they become mc educated.

I have friends who've been degree educated and have turned their back on the people they grew up with, family included.

You can see the distasteful look in their eyes when they're around old family and friends.

It's sad because they're the lost souls faking it, not mc enough to be accepted by their new peers but feel to good to associate with wc people.

I've a Dsis who's qualified as an accountant. She's is our hyacinth she's is a great Dsis whom we love very much but when she is hosting her neighbours or colleagues we wouldn't attend. 😅

My Dbro who's very well up financially through trade work is as wc as you can be. He reads rag newspapers and drinks beer while flying business class.

Thirdly my friend who was my best friend growing up, she's totally changed and uses phrases like "the dregs of society" etc.

We as children were taught to look down on such things, it's a hard habit to break. 😓
Maybe volunteering for a charity in an area with deprivation would help you break those perky habits.

You'll see beautiful people who have warm hearts.

It's a very narrow minded view but not uncommon.

The sugar in tea thing is definitely a more WC thing in my opinion and I actually had this di

Posted too soon!
I actually had this discussion with friends years ago.
I'm from a WC background and everyone I knew had sugar in their tea.
Years later, I went to university, met a very MC husband. Gained very MC friends and no one has sugar in their tea.
Can't believe I'm writing about this nonsense. Maybe I'm obsessed with class! 🙈

😂 all I imagine is tight and old fashioned with your middle class description of drying methods. Hilarous

'A terribly well brought up M to U person I know refers to the radiator as an ‘aga’.'

Haha, reminds me of the woman I worked with who called her glass porch 'the orangery'

I find it odd that in a society which is extremely laid back about cans and 500ml bottles of fizzy sweetened drinks as a routine, everyday thing (a can has about 10 spoonfuls), that people having a bit of sugar in a hot drink are considered the strange ones.

I help run a homeless shelter from next week through tother end of March. Since leaving home at 18 I have never lived outside an area of deprivation. What that has to do with anything is beyond me. What I am talking about is for example thinking (not saying) that drinking white wine with or beer with steak or cocktails with dinner is a bit uncouth. I fail to see how helping out in the shelter is going to challenge that.

Because it spoils the drink, that's all. I don’t like fizzy drinks either on the whole, occasionally breaking out for a diet coke (absolutely no other variety). l think there must be a rule of diminishing returns on having multiple spoons of sugar in a drink but that's another matter.

I find it odd that in a society which is extremely laid back about cans and 500ml bottles of fizzy sweetened drinks as a routine, everyday thing (a can has about 10 spoonfuls), that people having a bit of sugar in a hot drink are considered the strange ones.

I don't think society is any more relaxed about fizzy sweetened drinks than adding sugar to your tea.

I assume that it's the same people drinking fizzy drinks and adding sugar to their tea!

I don't like many fizzy drinks and we didn't have them as children ( we couldn't afford them ) I only use them now as a mixer for any alcoholic drinks. I'd Rather have water.
Gave up sugar in tea as it tastes better without.
Still managed to become overweight as an adult eating and drinking other things that are bad for you though!

I’d say you’re all working class because you’re all working. None of them are better than you, you’re all on the same wage! Don’t let it get you down just different lifestyle choices. I live in housing association but won’t use a tumble drier, we generally drink everything from a plastic beaker unless we have guests!

Consuming a lot of fizzy drinks is also a class indicator?

We only ever had water with meals.

And an Aga isn't a class indicator so much as an indicator of wealth nowadays. Although maybe 30 years ago it was different as Aga-ownership tended to be associated with large draughty farmhouse kitchens.

Will not be spending a y of my time trying to obliterate my working class roots. Why would I want to? I'm a teacher who is quite happy to call people out for their prejudices- staff and pupils. Talk of working hard to 'escape' were not uncommon. Don't know which Austen heroine I am but Mrs Ferrars,Lucy Steele or Loose Lydia I'm not. 🤣Love Jane Austen.