Stuck in a "Blue Collar" status while doing "White Collar" work. Need advice on how to gain respect and grow.

[VividHare]

i everyone, I’m a young woman working for a large company. My situation is a bit complicated: On paper, I am classified as a 'blue-collar' worker, but in reality, I perform 'white-collar' tasks and responsibilities.
Because of this status gap, I am constantly being belittled by my colleagues. They mock me and don't take my work seriously. It has reached a point where even the office staff (like the tea server) ignores me while serving everyone else. I am excluded from meetings simply because of my 'blue-collar' status, even though the topics directly involve my work.
I am a confident person and I really want to improve myself, but I feel like my career is rotting here because no one supports me or values my contribution. I feel invisible and stuck.
How can I break this cycle? How do I demand the respect I deserve, or should I just start looking for a way out? I would appreciate any advice or similar stories. Thank you.

@VividHare I think some issues in your post may well get lost in translation and interpretation when viewed through a British prism.

Do you have a family member or a mentor that you can speak to? Someone who can give you better tailored support?

Best wishes.

Are these people you worked with in your previous "blue collar role", so they've seen you go from being one of them to being a higher level in the same company? It's either jealousy or what we call in the UK 'tall poppy syndrome' - some people don't like others becoming too successful and want to cut them down to the same level.

I once worked in a large organisation where a senior member of staff in one of the professional departments had worked his way up from a job as a security guard. He'd done the relevant training and professional qualifications and risen to senior management, which was the role I knew him in. But some of my colleagues who'd known him since he joined still made comments about him being "Nick from security". I don't know if it affected the way people actually interacted with him, but in private some of them seemed to feel sore that he'd progressed so far.

So I can understand the situation you're in, although I can't suggest any ways to deal with it.

Why would they be jealous when you weren’t successful in getting the role on a permanent basis?

We don’t. It sounds like a local cultural difference to the UK. It’s very hard for anyone not from that place to explain to you why things work the way they do where you live. You need to ask someone who lives there and understands the local culture.

From a general perspective, if people aren’t treating you how you want, assert yourself, complain or leave. I don’t have enough context to advise which one might have more chance of working.

The terminology is American. An associates degree and blue collar/white collar….but a tea server? Surely this is just fiction.

Ok, let's look at it another way. If your face doesn't fit, you could save the planet and the person who held your coat would get the praise

Unfortunately, current employment means that you cannot look at whether people will fit into your team or not, just on what can be measured.

If the rest of the staff are so unpleasant and unreasonable with you, leaving is your best option, go for a job that you think you'd do well and prosper in.