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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think working class shows?

795 replies

MrsBonnie · 23/10/2022 21:00

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!

OP posts:
ICanHideButICantRun · 01/02/2023 12:09

How do you think the upper classes dry their washing?

Snappyfrog · 01/02/2023 12:24

I’ve just done the bbc class calculator and it’s a load of nonsense. Bought me out as elite….I’m as working class as they come living in the midlands and do not identify with any of the elite factors. I can only think it’s out of kilter these days due to the monetary factors. Household income of £100k is far from ‘elite’ I doubt many of our friends would have less.

ICanHideButICantRun · 01/02/2023 12:26

newnamethanks · 30/01/2023 13:25

My mother used to send our washing to a laundry. All the big stuff, bedlinen, towels, etc, only small items washed at home. A tumble drier was unheard of. Now, sadly, laundries are gone. Unpacking the freshly laundered, starched and ironed linen was a treat. I'd happily chuck out washing machine and dryer if I could do the same.

When was it she was doing that? Did she ever have a dryer afterwards?

JudgeJ · 01/02/2023 12:40

Snappyfrog · 01/02/2023 12:24

I’ve just done the bbc class calculator and it’s a load of nonsense. Bought me out as elite….I’m as working class as they come living in the midlands and do not identify with any of the elite factors. I can only think it’s out of kilter these days due to the monetary factors. Household income of £100k is far from ‘elite’ I doubt many of our friends would have less.

Of course after reading this I had to have a go and I'm also 'elite', God bless the National Trust card! Nothing on there about tumble dryers though so it can't be very accurate. I may have to miss the pub quiz now, wouldn't want to betray my alleged place in society.

Snappyfrog · 01/02/2023 12:44

Snappyfrog · 01/02/2023 12:24

I’ve just done the bbc class calculator and it’s a load of nonsense. Bought me out as elite….I’m as working class as they come living in the midlands and do not identify with any of the elite factors. I can only think it’s out of kilter these days due to the monetary factors. Household income of £100k is far from ‘elite’ I doubt many of our friends would have less.

Brought* typo....I might be working class but I'm not uneducated 😂

Pinkdafodils · 01/02/2023 14:18

I’ve just done the bbc class calculator and it’s a load of nonsense.

Exactly. In fact the whole 'class' concept is ridiculous and outdated!!

AdoraBell · 01/02/2023 14:54

Where is this calculator you speak of? I’d love to know where it places me, especially as my sibling - born and raised in a council flat in Hackney claims to be upper middle class 🤣🤣

MingeofDeath · 01/02/2023 14:57

I like a bit of honey in my tea on occasion so am definitely wc scum

SharonKaren · 01/02/2023 22:56

MingeofDeath · 01/02/2023 14:57

I like a bit of honey in my tea on occasion so am definitely wc scum

Even if it is organic locally produced honey?

MingeofDeath · 01/02/2023 23:57

@SharonKaren
From my own hives Dahlink

MingeofDeath · 02/02/2023 00:00

Perhaps I'm old school but I don't associate class with money but with certain values and attitudes. I could win millions on the lottery but would still be wc.

AllOutofEverything · 02/02/2023 01:26

@Snappyfrog If you have an income of £100k you are not working class as they come. You are a high earner.

AllOutofEverything · 02/02/2023 01:28

antelopevalley · 31/10/2022 19:58

There are 67,000 holiday homes in the UK

And 67 million people living in the UK.

fUNNYfACE36 · 02/02/2023 02:30

Class is not defined by money or job.You can quickly spot an aristocrat who has fallen on hard times, or someone who is 'nouveau'

Dyslexicwonder · 02/02/2023 06:25

AllOutofEverything · 02/02/2023 01:26

@Snappyfrog If you have an income of £100k you are not working class as they come. You are a high earner.

Are you British ? Because very few Brits would agree with you. David Beckenham earnes multiples more than £100,000 he is still working class.

Snappyfrog · 02/02/2023 06:50

That is household income, not individual.

And I (partially) agree with others, income/money doesn’t automatically equate class anyway which is why the BBC calculator is rubbish as it puts so much emphasis on income, and has a fairly average cut off point.

My partial agreement is because yes a lottery win wouldn’t have a jot of impact on class. But job/income must be a factor as otherwise we are saying there is zero ability for social movement. If someone WC works up and gets a professional role and then mixes in those circles, has widened experiences and in turn outlook, and enjoys differing hobbies/pastimes now in reach due to their increased disposables then how can they not be considered MC? Or even UMC in some cases.

UC and aristocratic however are born into classes.

Thesenderofthiscard · 02/02/2023 08:36

WC here, but in an 'educated' profession full of toffs who need something to do all day. I have a regional accent, I'm fairly well spoken and no-one every seems to think I'm WC. Maybe that's because they haven't seen the tumble drier in my kitchen...

Thesenderofthiscard · 02/02/2023 08:40

'@Snappyfrog If you have an income of £100k you are not working class as they come. You are a high earner.'

Having a job that now pays that doesn't change the fact I grew up on an estate, with teen parents, a dad in a manual job, a mum working PT in a manual job, no holidays, car, house phone, no new clothes, no new toys, electric run on a 50p meter... very happy childhood BTW, these are just the economic facts.

My experiences, outlook, morals are those of a WC person I would say. My kids however, they're deffo living a MC life with 2 professional Uni educated parents,

Thingshavebecomeweird · 02/02/2023 09:12

Snappyfrog · 02/02/2023 06:50

That is household income, not individual.

And I (partially) agree with others, income/money doesn’t automatically equate class anyway which is why the BBC calculator is rubbish as it puts so much emphasis on income, and has a fairly average cut off point.

My partial agreement is because yes a lottery win wouldn’t have a jot of impact on class. But job/income must be a factor as otherwise we are saying there is zero ability for social movement. If someone WC works up and gets a professional role and then mixes in those circles, has widened experiences and in turn outlook, and enjoys differing hobbies/pastimes now in reach due to their increased disposables then how can they not be considered MC? Or even UMC in some cases.

UC and aristocratic however are born into classes.

They are quasi, but the children definitely become MC. Happened to my family.

Two of three generations to become UMC, from my observation.

AllOutofEverything · 02/02/2023 10:01

@Thesenderofthiscard I agree it changes your outlook. I grew up in a very poor family. But your and your kids life will be way different from my or my kids lives. That is also a fact.

AllOutofEverything · 02/02/2023 10:03

Dyslexicwonder · 02/02/2023 06:25

Are you British ? Because very few Brits would agree with you. David Beckenham earnes multiples more than £100,000 he is still working class.

Show quote history

There is two things. Culturally what class you are seen as, and economically. Although most class analysis put celebrities in a class of their own as there are different cultural rules for them.

Belladonna208 · 02/02/2023 10:17

Well these days frequently using a tumble drier is a sign of great wealth given the price of fuel...or utter disregard for the environmental impact, depending on your perspective... whether that's working class or not depends on your perspective, and where would you put people on holiday in a nice part of England who use the launderette machines???

A utility room now, that's properly middle class - although growing up we lived in a flat with a scullery which served pretty much the same function....

Do agree with the poster who said at places like Oxbridge (and some pretentious other Russell Groups), not to mention the employers and other organisations they dominate, they have a million subtle ways of letting you know you're not in the club though. It's everything from banging on about their ponies and where they used to holiday as kids to the fact you might not know your cake fork from your salad fork let alone how to pass the port....!

myfaceismyown · 02/02/2023 18:38

I just had a little throw back memory about class. My DM and her siblings were privately educated. She and her sister went to one of the most well known girls private schools. (the one with the lovely cloak). My much missed beloved aunt married an older UC playboy who burnt his way through any money they had earned (or inherited) between them and died young. She was made of strong stuff and took a job on a supermarket checkout. I have such affection for her, as she worked tirelessly, and was never aware of anyone's class, she judged everyone on merit and with a twinkle in her bright blue eyes. She would be on the checkout in vintage silk scarf and real pearls and an outfit she had bought from a charity shop. When she retired she volunteered to help others. She sums up real class to me.
This does not answer "does working class show" but I think it does show that some people are just classy!

winterpastasalad · 02/02/2023 20:10

I watched Stacey Dooley's Sleepover and in quite a few separate episodes the MC people mocked Stacey for her class. The worst was the landed gentry family, they kept making reference to her name/accent/home town and laughing... According to MN the UMC are so incredibly lovely and would never point these things out.

larchforest · 06/02/2023 21:49

AllOutofEverything · 02/02/2023 01:26

@Snappyfrog If you have an income of £100k you are not working class as they come. You are a high earner.

Money does not buy class.