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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

work snobbery?

92 replies

BackToBasics · 08/02/2010 12:31

Do people really look down upon people who are in jobs that don't reconise you as being "educated"?

I have noticed this a few times on MN and i find really irritating. If everyone when to University and got qualifications and went on to a high paying, top job, who do they think would serve them in the shops, empty their bins, clean their drains, make their sandwich for lunch, clean their place of work etc?

People in these type of jobs are a very valuable part of our society and for people to look down on them is just plain snobbery imo. Not everyone wants to have a perfectional job believe it or not. Some people actually choose to work elsewhere and are perfectly happy with their choice. It seems the attitude of some people is that person who has served them behind the counter must somehow have failed or not tried hard enough and is stuck in this "awful" job serving the public

One quote about shop assistants from a poster last year, which is partly why i rarely come on here now is "It's hardly a career choice for the educated."

OP posts:

WhereYouLeftIt · 08/02/2010 16:07

Not read the whole thread, so apologies if I'm repeating what's already been said. To go back to the OP, you started by asking -

"Do people really look down upon people who are in jobs that don't recognise you as being 'educated'?"

I'm sure some twunts people do look down upon those who they consider have menial jobs, but I expect it's more usual to look down on the jobs themselves, recognising them to be too much hard work for not enough money.

Most people know that all these jobs must be done or "it" (society as we are presently arranged) will all fall apart, but there's probably a lot of being thankful that they've been able to find easier better-paid work than these jobs. And with that thankfulness maybe a little embarrassment at being thankful, which could be interpreted as "looking down" at those jobs? Just a thought.

posieparker · 08/02/2010 16:12

Of course some people who have the opportunity and the motivation to get a great 'career' look upon more lowly folk with some snobbery but I'm not sure it's a true reflection of MN.

MorrisZapp · 08/02/2010 16:21

The most open snobbery I see in this line is the waves of distain that vibe off sales assistants who sell expensive stuff for a living - posh cosmetics, jewellery, clothes etc.

I'm quite scary and usually they will be nice to me, but they speak to my sister (who dresses very scruffily and wouldn't say boo) like complete shit.

It goes both ways - people are up themselves for all sorts of reasons, and having a posh brand name written on their chest is reason enough for some.

sungirltan · 08/02/2010 16:27

morris - oh god i soooo know what you mean? their behaviour brings out this kind of defense snobbery in me which goes like this 'eugh, where does she get off looking down on me - she's only selling makeup!!' an attitude i would be ashamed of myself for unprovoked iyswim

MorrisZapp · 08/02/2010 16:50

Well exactly. I remember once the sales girl in Oasis (hardly Armani, love) giving my sister evil looks, and I wanted to say that's a future nurse you're looking at you rude little bitch.

Having an orange face, violent highlights and a nasty scowl do not entitle you to look down on anybody, and if you do, I'll do it back to you in spades.

I'd rather dress in rags and treat people with respect than wear subsidised flashy clothes and act like I'm better then others.

sungirltan · 08/02/2010 16:53

morris - yah seen it many times i'm afriad. also it reeks of judging other's worth/right to good manners or service purely on looks/attire - which is a bit narrow minded and ignorant imo

Fluffyone · 08/02/2010 18:31

I just smile quietly to myself. I have an MBA and had a career in local government. I took voluntary redundancy from my management position because I wanted more leisure time, and could afford to live on less.
Having had a think about part-time possibilities locally, I decided to set up as a private (fully insured etc etc...) cleaner. This is because local office jobs pay about £8.50 - £9 per hour, but cleaning the "posh" houses I can get £11 per hour. I also work as a clerk to school governors in a few schools, which means some evening work and some working from home.
Yes, I think there is a lot of snobbery about the jobs people do, and a lot of assumptions made, here and in other areas of life. That's not my problem though.

Bonsoir · 08/02/2010 18:33

Fluffyone - while I fully respect your choices, in particular the choice to work fewer hours, more flexibly and with less responsibility to others, can't you get a job tutoring that would pay 2 or 3 times the hourly rate you get cleaning?

FioFio · 08/02/2010 18:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

SchrodingersSexKitten · 08/02/2010 18:35

How about this: a woman I used to work with referred to the cleaners who cleaned our place of work as 'maids'. And she was not joking.

Bonsoir · 08/02/2010 18:38

There is nothing wrong with the word "maid", is there?

FioFio · 08/02/2010 18:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

sungirltan · 08/02/2010 18:42

fluffyone - good for you - sounds like a good move.

i had a second job cleaning holiday chalets a few years back. actually it was great fun (no one to mind if you stick your ipod on and dance around), stress free, i didnt have to dress up, i met lots of people and the hours were good.

SchrodingersSexKitten · 08/02/2010 18:43

Oh, Fio and Bonsoir are you joking? I thought maid was awfully 19th century, suggesting waiting on ladies in bonnets in the drawing room. Not cleaning the staff loos. Just thought it terribly archaic and outdated. Maybe that's just me.

Bonsoir · 08/02/2010 18:46

I don't think all cleaners are maids, but I have nothing wrong with the terminology. The 21st century abounds with maids! All those Filipinas, Sri Lankans etc...

tethersend · 08/02/2010 18:56

I don't think you can buy 'cleaners outfits' in Ann Summers, though...

Fluffyone · 08/02/2010 18:57

Bonsoir, I have done Adult Education tutoring in the past, one of my past-life jobs was IT trainer. I got fed up with the poor facilities to be honest. I do still do a little bit of "IT for the terrified" on a 1-1 basis. The reason I settle for earning a little less money is the flexibility. I like to go to various interesting horse-related events around the country in the summer. My cleaning clients are pleased enough with me to be very flexible. The horse events are planned well in advance, and so I can work the schools meetings around them. I don't have children at home, but I can see how this sort of employment would work really well for mums.

I forgot to mention that I'm also a landlady, but I might dump the properties soon. See the "no DHS" thread...

posieparker · 08/02/2010 19:37

Everyone I know that has a maid views them as beneath them, cleaning and doing the jobs that the, let's call them, expats refuse to do! The people I know in this country who employ 'staff' call them staff/housekeeper/cleaner unless they're from asia and then they're called maids.

Ivykaty44 · 08/02/2010 19:52

this story makes me smile

nancydrewrocks · 08/02/2010 19:58

I agree that "Maid" is a peculiar term to use when in the UK but overseas it is commonplace.

Every new expat balks at referring to their "help" as the maid and starts with the intention of calling her the housekeeper but when you are calling the "maid agency" and looking at homes with "maids quarters" and getting "maids insurance" and your own help refers to going out with the "other maids" you give up, although to be honest I have never been entirely comfortable with the term.

nighbynight · 08/02/2010 20:42

But housekeeper is a different job from maid. I would say cleaner, I think, unless the person lived in.

LouIsOnAHighwayToHell · 08/02/2010 21:37

I work as a nanny and I spend a lot of time defending my job. I know that people look down on me when I say what I do but as soon as I mention that I have multiple degrees they always ask 'why don't I do something better?'

lovechoc · 08/02/2010 21:53

workplace snobbery will always be around. I've witnessed loads of it. I tend to be one of these people who talk to anyone, from the bottom of the organisation upwards. Then you get the 'what are you talking to them for?' look off your colleague...

I have also met loads of well-educated people who don't have an ounce of common sense but they look down their noses at others...swings and roundabouts, really.

YANBU.

Hulababy · 08/02/2010 21:57

I think, in real life at least, people do see you differently depending on your job.

I know that people I met now (newpeople who don't know me) regard me, in terms of job, much more lowly than in the past.

I was a teacher. I now work as a teaching assistant.

They definitely see the TA job as less professional, and are suprised when I have a degree, and even more so qhen I explain am actually a qualified teacher aso.

Ivykaty44 · 08/02/2010 22:48

I have been asked a few times what i do and replyed "as little as possible"

Why do they want to know - to know me better or judge me on what I do for a living?

So until I know someone better at times I just don't asy.

Just like we way up someone by how they look we do way up someone on what they do as a job.

Only once did it really really wind the other three people up when I refused to say what I did, with my standared relpy they asked 5 times. I wonder though what it says about them - whay was it so important?

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