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!

OP it's because you said "very much working class here" I and others thought you were talking about the school, but you were actually talking about you being working class, so I can see how people have got confused. Anyway. Just to add another angle, I grew up relatively poor but middle class. MC because of parents' level of education, aspirations for us children, etc. But nothing to do with money at that point (they became better off later)

Definitely imposter syndrome. You are there for a reason, so look past archaic societal structures and work on your confidence :-) If anybody judges you about your background, it says more about them. P.S. I know both working class and middle class people who do all the above. You do you and enjoy your sweet tea!

What makes one truly middle class is drinking gin&tonic. Also, horse riding. Equestrian sports somehow are very expensive in this country and associated with the middle classes and moneyed people, whereas in Europe even the plebs can ride horses for cheap.
Skiing is also middle class (aprés ski, anyone?) Tennis too. Driving those monstrous Discovery 4x4s as well.
Shopping from Boden, the White Company, Kath Kidston and Emma Bridgewater is mc.
Worrying about your children’s protein intake and generally worrying about their diet is also very mc. Having labradors. Private schools. Daddy’s trust funds. Being bookish (Harry Potter, anything by Dickens and the Brontes), frequenting the theatre, private music lessons and generally monopolising the arts is very mc. Pushing your children to be creative even if they aren’t naturally.
Spending summers in Dorset, Cornwall, Cotswolds, Somerset…travelling there …. yes you’ve guessed it..by a 4x4 and taking the labrador too.
Shuddering at those who say tomayto instead of tomaato. I could go on..

MNs obsession with class is astounding.

I agree

I'm not from the UK originally and find some of the comments on here absolutely astounding and quite comical actually...!

Ps we have a tumble drier but I prefer to hang up the washing outside. Wonder what 'class' I belong to

Ha we had to do a similar thing at my red brick uni, so cringe.

I'm delighted to have learned the difference between 'drier' and 'dryer' on this thread because I don't usually make mistakes like that, and have been making that one.

I'm very MC, didn't realise tumble dryers were a class signifier, and, while I use racks most of the time, would like to know how to get towels soft without a tumble dryer. Should I be using fabric softener? I never do, so not sure quite how effective it might be...

Good! We're the only class with nothing to be ashamed of.

In my adult life I have never had a clothes line and always use my dryer. It is a convenience.
I do, however, have the proper glasses for every kind of drink and find it really dreadful to have to drink water out of a mug or be given coffee in a glass - just awful.
I grew up in a household where there was breakfast, lunch and supper (dinner only VERY formal, mostly with guests). There was no snacking at all, ever.
Our parents were both degree-educated professionals and my siblings and I were all privately educated. We can all cook very well (from scratch) and are all polite and considerate.
Or mother grew up in a household that was often abroad and always had a minimum of a cook, housemaid and laundry maid, plus, when abroad, nannies and drivers in addition. I think she may have married "down" 😉
No idea what that makes me in the demography.

@DennySaid my aunt once taught me to shake them so hard and they’d come out nice and fluffy. But never any softener or they won’t be absorbent anymore. Ps. I’ve learned dryer v drier too! Fancy a teacher making that mistake. 😄

I just asked my tumble dryer if it was middle class or working class. Apparently it's a bit of a family outcast and is only one generation removed from nobility!

Bit of an awkward conversation actually, it got quite uppity and started lecturing me on the assumed entitlement of the bourgeoisie.

In the end I just had to wave breezily that I'd be back in 1hr 20m to get the towels and we can continue talking then.

Dreading going back to the utility room later, feels like after years of working well together, the whole social dynamic between me and tumble dryer has changed. Feels like discussing social mobility with domestic white goods is fraught with pitfalls.

Can't help noticing that the car had a bit of attitude just now also... both him and the tumble dryer have Bluetooth capability, so have no doubt been talking, the pricks.

At least the hand blender doesn't have the ability to communicate. I definitely don't trust that little bastard. Why, just why do you spray my soup all over the tiles!! Lack of a decent education no doubt and doubt it even knows what an ISA is...

Anyway, feels like I've opened Pandora's box. Terrifying.

Monoprix your post is spot on.
I am fairly middle class but my staff team at work are working class- their lifestyles and interests are just very different to mine and I don’t think they aspire to have mine! If anything- they find it quite odd!!
I also don’t have a tumble dryer- we dry our clothes in front of the aga 😳🙈

We’re at a pretty expensive private school and all the parents I know have a tumble drier, the subject comes up because it’s so easy to shrink the sports kit. Yabu if you think tumble driers are working class 🤣

But yes, many teachers are from working class backgrounds now. The salaries are ridiculous.

Just be yourself. People prefer genuine people. If you're anything else, you'll always get found out. Be proud to be working class.

Ah, thanks - that's really helpful, will try it!! Now you mention the fabric softener / absorbency thing I think I had heard that before somewhere. Good to properly learn that.

Glad I"m not the only one making that mistake. Off to look up 'flyer' and 'flier'.🙂

Unless people give reasons as to why they do x y or z, it’s hard to say whether they’re putting you in a class box or not. I’ve known both working class and middle class people to use tumble dryers. I’ve never used one due to lack of space and energy costs.
Staff rooms can be odd, judgemental type places and some will watch to pick up on info about others. I used to hear snarky comments about sugary snacks which led to a fashion of bringing in berries as snacks rather than choc biscuits. After a few months there’d be something else in vogue for health reasons.

If you want to confuse the class watchers, wear eccentric mismatched clothing, talk about wellies and family heirlooms whilst dunking your Rich Tea in 3 sugared Earl Grey.

I grew up working class. We didn't have a tumble drier or a washing machine! Every had to be lugged down to the laundrette.

Now solidly middle class, with a, shock horror, tumble drier! Just the same as literally every middle class person I know.

The inverted snobbery on here is palpable.

Oh my goodness I forgot one. One time I had 4 crumpets for lunch. I wonder if I’m giving myself away with that one. But it was clearly the most uncouth thing one could ever have done 😂 I had nothing in the house that day (I’d normally have a sandwich, crisps and fruit / yogurt) so substituted the extras for more crumpets. It was an absolute travesty.

Me to.

Oh I’m sorry. I thought “very much working class here” meant the school or the area the school is in.
The last paragraph I took to mean that you have come mainly from a middle class background and are afraid that your working class colleagues are judging you without realising you were originally from a working class background.
I don’t know why I read it that way now that I’ve looked at it again. It isn’t badly worded.
They are probably not judging you for those things and if they are, they’re just being arseholes.

YABU to act like this matters.

My mum used to work for this upper middle class pompous guy who wiped bogies all over his desk 🤮 he was disgusting.

One of the big issues with "social mobility" is that working class people who have done well in roles/professions dominated by the middle or upper/middle classes, feel they have to essentially reinvent themselves to fit in - so the culture doesn't really change as everyone still seems the same - the working class people are hidden. I am from a working class background myself and I have been guilty of this, in particular I have changed my accent, and I have often felt the same as you - that people can tell I'm common and that they must be laughing at me. But now I'm older I recognise the futility of that - working class people who have done well should be proud to be working class, particularly if they are clever and skilled enough to have done well professionally, until we can all be like that, nothing will really change and true social mobility won't be realised.

@MammaPee love that way of looking at it. Thank you.

Thanks for being honest

I often have crumpets for lunch if I'm working at home. I come from a working class background but now I earn 6 figures in the City. No-one gives a fuck what I eat for lunch, or if I eat lunch even (well, except me, I like to eat lunch lol).

Seriously OP, stop overthinking this. You either work with a bunch of Hyacinth Bouquets (in which case, enjoy winding them up!) or you're very insecure. What matters in life is being a decent human being. The rest is just noise.

I think the thought behind is is that some people have larger houses with a separate room to dry clothing.

We live in a 3 bedroom semi and I don't like putting my clothes on a clothes horse as everything is so small anyway.

Now if I had a larger house, I would love to put up a clothes horse as it is better for the clothes than a tumble dryer among other benefits.