What's the most pathetic way you've experienced classism in the UK?

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meestah_meelah@reddit

Already told this story on another thread but here goes. Worked in a seaside pub in the North of Scotland just down the road from Gordonstoun boarding school. They used to do equestrian events in the area so a lot of super posh people used to turn up (as in Zara Phillips level of posh), they couldn’t go into the main town’s pubs because they would get beaten up (which I’ve seen happen).

Anyway the pub had a rule related to the licensing about there being no children in the bar after, I think, 9pm. Anyway family calls up and books table for 9pm. Are told that children are not allowed in the pub after 9pm. Family turns up with children. Mums wearing one of those wee gilet body warmers, open neck white Ralph Lauren etc and is arguing with the manager that she wasn’t told that kids weren’t allowed in the bar yadda yadda yadda. One of the kids, a nine or ten year old girl pipes up in an absurdly pish voice “Are you questioning my mother’s integrity?”

Was pretty surreal.

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zwifter11@reddit

A while back I worked at RAF Lossiemouth.

I remember we would occasionally have a no flying day because Gordonstoun had phoned up and say they’re halving a music exam that day.

I can’t imagine the RAF stopping operations for the comprehensive school in Elgin.

Which pub did you work in? Burghead, Hopeman, Lossie or Findhorn?

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meestah_meelah@reddit

…seriously?

So that makes it okay to label all a problem does it?

If I'd had a bad experience with a middle class family or person and then decided they were all worthless and horrible, people would rightly call me on that. But it's okay to do it to the working classes and less well off?

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Charming-Clock-3651@reddit

What are you rambling on about? People don't want to live next to council tenants because you are more likely to get a bad neighbour, it's as simple as that. The only person labelling them all as a problem in this interaction is you

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LadyMirkwood@reddit

I'd normally argue the toss with you on this subject but I'm having a terrible week and just don't have the heart today. So I'll just say I disagree and leave it there

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Charming-Clock-3651@reddit

There isn't really an argument when it's statistic fact supported by data. You are 40% more likely to experience ASB if you live in a social housing area...

https://thebscblog.wordpress.com/2018/01/03/should-you-accept-40-more-risk-in-social-housing-research-and-recommendations-on-the-scale-of-crime-and-asb-victimisation-on-social-renters/

I worked at Henley for a few years on the bars down the far end (Remenham bit) and the absolute shit show of ‘do you know who I am’.

These people are as far as they can be from the action up near bridge and they all expected my staff to know what their tatty blazers and scabby ties meant: apparently every single one means they should get free drinks…

Thing is, all my staff were essentially them. They were all posh uni students earning some money to go travelling in the summer. It was great to see them realise that they are the worst people when they are customers. The amount of people treating them like shit who they knew was astounding to them.

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reciprocatingocelot@reddit

I firmly believe that everyone should have do to 6 months work in either retail or hospitality in their late teens/early 20s, as a kind of national service.

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LiliWenFach@reddit

Add to that commercial cleaning, so they can understand what it feels like to be utterly invisible or treated with contempt. I worked menial jobs (multiple jobs at once) from the age of 13 until I graduated uni. So many people weren't rude - I wasn't worthy of their attention. At all. In their eyes, the cleaner is just a step up from the toaster.

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Diligent_Farm3039@reddit

Got this a lot when working in a bar in Edinburgh when I was a student. People came in all the time, esp on uni open days and would brag that they were (or were going to be) students at *Edinburgh University* . Like yeah dude, so am I. Look around. So is everyone who works here.

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lesterbottomley@reddit

Could call it Community Service Industry.

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LadyOfTheMay@reddit

This is perfect for the layabouts that refuse to get a job. And I'm not talking about people who literally can't work, just those who could and choose not to, like my absolute bum of an ex.

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fluentindothraki@reddit

Call centre as well

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Ok-Football6675@reddit

My husband was doing a security thing many years ago and he had this bloke demanding he should be allowed in, and kept saying "Do you know who I am?" Hubby got fed up with this, shouted in a loud voice "Hey can anyone help this man, he's forgotten who he is"

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SatisfactionLoud2683@reddit

True story, I declined a chance to row Henley Royal because of the sort of people that go. Granted, I already had a massive chip on my shoulder in the opposite direction already, I was sick of the rowing types, the club hierarchy, the hypocrisy.

Why was there any separation at all that people thought they were entitled to cross?

It's hilarious people get cap for wrongly assuming they deserved to be above others, all the whilst you're unwittingly assuming some people actually rightly deserve to be separated and aloof!

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treeofoak@reddit

Surely in a modern context it makes sense to keep members of the ruling family separate from every Tom, Dick and Harry off the street?

Seriously. Monor royals can suck my fucking dick. Well done OP for making them feel super special - and apparently feeling super special yourself.

I live in Rutland, in a very middle class village, on one of the more expensive roads. The person living in one of the largest houses has a flag up. It makes me so angry. What is he scared of?

I try to understand where people are coming from, like you and acknowledge people are being weaponised.

But this guy is rich so I struggle to see his perspective.

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"I as an individual worked hard and pulled myself up by the bootstraps so fk everyone else and fk the historic structural causes"

I went to the same school as people like this. They did not even do the bare minimum required from them, like bringing a pen to school. They had the money for several cigarettes a day but not the money to buy a pen from the office too (which cost one fifth of a cigarette). The reality is that many did not even try and cannot claim society held them back, they chose to hold themselves back.

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merla_blue@reddit

They were kids

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red_porcelain@reddit

I think another aspect at play is how much children can actually be responsible for their choices. Theres a reason consent laws exist - because kids make bad choices all the time. And if theres no parent or even teacher who believes the child capable of making more positive choices, then they're sort of left to carry on. It's sad

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Harry98376@reddit

Not really - you just shouldn't mock someone for being educated, intelligent or cultured, just because you, erroneously, think that makes you some kind of successful road man.

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Tarmacsurfer@reddit

I was going to say something similar, the majority of the posts on this thread really show it.

My first long term girlfriend (early nineties) was a baroness, her dad was a count. He wasn't rich, just had a title. Worked as an estate manager for an Earl in the Oxford area. The amount of flak my partner got for her accent/language was unreal.

I'm a biker, she was essentially a well spoken rock chick. Her title never got mentioned (her dad told me, she hated it) but the judgement she got for being well spoken was eye opening. I got into a few spirited disagreements with people over the time we were together.

I've known a fair few other titled folk over the years through both work and social circles, as a rule of thumb the old money is just folks. No pretension, although they do frequently view the world differently to how most of us do.

That's just it though, people gonna people. It's just sad that we seem to be getting more and more tribal, judging others based on their tribes instead of seeing the individual.

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veryblocky@reddit

I grew up decidedly working class, but my parents were from the south east and moved to the north east shortly after I was born, and I developed the accent of where I was born. Presumably learning off my parents, I don’t know why the local accent never caught on. But regardless, in school I got so much flack for being “posh”, just because of how I sounded.

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chadgalaxy@reddit

I was told I was 'born with a silver spoon in my mouth' and I'm 'not proper Leeds' by a guy I worked with because I don't have a strong Leeds accent. Born in Leeds, literally grew up half a mile away from the guy, same upbringing, worked the exact same job, solidly working class.

I call this reverse-snobbery.

Ive seen it a lot in sports, where they criticise you for having nice things. For example, a new bike that’s a decent spec. Even when you saved up alot over the year to buy the kit.

Apparently they expect you to have old and naff kit.

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Important_Command643@reddit

I identified fairly on in my childhood that these were the people I was surrounded by. Like reading was a means to be ridiculed. So instead I spent my lunchtimes in the library or the art studio, practicing my craft and learning different sciences. I managed to escape the fate though

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LadyMirkwood@reddit

I'm working class and have lived on rough estates and I'll tell you exactly what's going on there.

Its a defense mechanism. They know they are looked down on, they know there are things they'll never do or experience and they expect life to always be a struggle.

Exactly. People use "cultured" to mean "familar with upper-class-upper-middle class High Culture" e.g. art you'd find in a gallery, ballet, opera, theatre, riding horses... But all kinds of sports, art, TV series, films, games are just as much High Culture. Food you eat out or make at home is culture. Accents, regional phrases, hobbies, slang, how you celebrate birthdays or special occasions - it's all culture. You'd need to be fairly beige and totally ignorant of the world around you to be uncultured.

To me, "well spoken" means someone is articulate and a good communicator, but I'm not sure thats how the commenter means it here.

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Harry98376@reddit

If you think ballet is the same as Strictly, then, by definition, you are uncultured.

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merla_blue@reddit

People who are secure in their education and tastes also enjoy mindless entertainment now and again, because they don't feel the insecure need to look down on anyone to prove themselves

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CicadaSlight7603@reddit

The BBC class survey ten years or so ago addressed this by dividing into emerging culture (rock concerts, rap, cinema etc) and trad culture (opera ballet theatre classical music)

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Thin_Pin2863@reddit

I'm from that background and it disgusts me. The people perpetuating that "culture", the ones who I was friends with growing up, have made it clear that they don't want to improve themselves, their opportunities or the opportunities for their kids.

Seen a few people on Reddit saying it's a no brainer to put child benefit payments into a Junior ISA for the future.

A few problem with that.

1) Some people really need this money, they actually have to spend it on their kids and so can't.

2) Some people aren't eligible for it as they earn too much.

So it's those assholes in-between who don't need the money (because they can invest it) but don't earn enough to not be eligible.

If you're doing that then just stfu. You're pissing both sides off.

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Front_Scholar9757@reddit

I personally don't have an issue what people spend child benefit on, as long as it does benefit the child (even eventually).

Good on people who have the funds to invest. The hard working middle man isnt the asshole, they contribute more than they take. Its those at the top who don't pay tax.

What does bother me is seeing scruffy, deprived kids with done-up parents, clearly spending money on themselves & not their little one.

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Prestigious_Elk353@reddit

my nine year old is usually scruffy because it’s how she chooses to dress, and she doesn’t give a crap about looking neat and tidy. some of the stuff she wears is obscure. you might look at her and think we don’t buy her good clothes. but i’m just happy she is independent minded and not focused on conforming in how she looks and with make up like some of her peers are already. longer she holds onto that the better in my opinion.

which is to say…scruffy doesn’t always mean lack of care!

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Front_Scholar9757@reddit

I'm sure there are scruffy looking kids with loving parents like you.

But I'm talking a bit further than scruffy... perhaps I should have said kids that look neglected.

Sad look behind the eye, unwashed, clothes they've outgrown, hair unbrushed, I've even seen little ones with rotten teeth. If they look like this but appear happy, fine. But if they have that sad look, while the parents sit on their iphones & ignore them, its clearly something more.

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hhfugrr3@reddit

Why are you upset that people get a benefit they're entitled to receive and save it for the kid's future? Sounds pretty classist to me.

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Strangely__Brown@reddit

For the same reason why I get upset people scamming the motability system.

It takes money away from the people who need it.

If you need it, don't take it. Benefit spending now exceeds income tax receipts for the first time in this countries history.

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hhfugrr3@reddit

Scamming motability is very different to receiving something you're entitled to get.

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FabulousPetes@reddit

I don't really think that's classist though? As if you can do that, it is a good idea.

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veryblocky@reddit

I thought the point of the benefit was to help afford the cost of a child? If someone can afford to invest it, then they likely ought not get the benefit.

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RealCopy5307@reddit

I don’t think saving Child Benefit is classist in itself, it’s literally an unrestricted payment, so people can use it however works for their family. The issue people are reacting to is more about assumptions, not the act of saving. Some families can afford to put it aside because their essentials are already covered. Others need to spend it straight away on food, bills, clothes, childcare etc. Both are valid. Where it can come across as classist is when saving is framed as the “right” or “responsible” thing to do, because that assumes everyone has the same financial flexibility, and a lot of people just don’t.

Also, there isn’t a clear line on what counts as a “necessity” anyway. Nappies and food, sure, but what about activities, days out, or things that support a child’s development or just give them a bit of joy? That’s going to look different for every family. So yeah, saving it is completely fine. Spending it is completely fine. It only becomes an issue when one is judged as better than the other.

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Strangely__Brown@reddit

The argument for higher earners not getting it is because they don't need it.

However you're saving/investing it then the by definition you don't need it either.

People have the option to not claim it and yet don't, and what's worse is they brag about it like it's a responsibile thing to do for your kids.

So as I said people need to stfu b/c you're pissing off both sides. The lower earners who need it and the higher earners who don't.

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RealCopy5307@reddit

I think you’re mixing up “not needing it to survive” with it having no purpose.

Saving or investing Child Benefit doesn’t mean it’s unnecessary, it just means it’s being used differently. For some families it covers immediate costs, for others it goes towards longer term support for the child like savings or future expenses. It’s still being used for the child either way.

Also, people not claiming it isn’t really how the system is designed. It’s a universal benefit with clawbacks at higher incomes, not something you’re only meant to take if you’re struggling. Claiming something you’re entitled to isn’t doing anything wrong.

And I don’t really understand what definition of “need” we’re supposed to be using here. If you start asking parents to prove whether they “need” it, that becomes a slippery slope very quickly. Is it just survival, or does it include stability, opportunities, future security? That’s going to look completely different from one family to another. If every benefit was only based on “need to survive,” very few people would qualify for anything at all. A lot of support exists to provide stability, not just prevent absolute crisis.

That's the real take home message of that comment, aye

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LogicalAardvark5897@reddit

They're saying that if you earn as much after tax as a shift leader at Pret, then you earn the same before tax too

Doesn't sound right

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I've never met someone of the upper-middle classes to upper-classes that were discriminatory on the fact people were Doctors. That still has massive respect.

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Fusilero@reddit

You should try going to an old private school and being a doctor. The sirs, ladies and minor baronets definitely look down on you, even if it's not the neurotic way OP described with the doctors.

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Funnily enough the CEng connects to whether you are on the approved list for professionals signing passport photos! Although I think in reality any UK engineer with a UK engineering degree would probably be ok.

It's the medical bubble, so few of them do things that aren't medicine in their lives. You can tell the ones that have. The amount of people in medical school from moneyed backgrounds that never worked a day in their lives and a) can't talk to people and b) have no idea what a hard day's work is like is astonishing.

Having said that your lot are no saints either! Having to work for a year technically unpaid to become a barrister sounds like peak Bank of Mummy and Daddy stuff

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Spiderinahumansuit@reddit

Yes, well, that's why I'm a solicitor. In times gone by, I'd be considered a particularly literate tradesman. I will note that most barristers' chambers guarantee earnings, at least to a degree, for their pupils, but getting the pupillage is absolutely the province of the Tarquins and Jocastas of the world.

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dario_sanchez@reddit

I've no met a Jocasta! Will have to keep my eyes peeled for that

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bookish1313@reddit

That’s a name?!?

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Underwritingking@reddit

I'm retired now but qualified as a doctor before eventually moving into professional indemnity for doctors. A lot of the people I dealt with were just ordinary folk, especially those who qualified back in the day when you could get a full grant to study medicine.

Some of the others though expected to be treated as royalty - even the ones who had been undeclaring their private income for years so they didn't have to pay as much for their indemnity.

"Did I say I was earning £100k pa from my private practice? Haha - I meant £4.5m. You'll still cough up though won't you? I know Elton John you know"

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Menyana@reddit

Oh Christ. I've experienced this as a child of cleaners.

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GeggingIn@reddit

A met a charming lady in Bath who was surprised that there was a House of Fraser in Glasgow.

Her was rationale was that it was unlikely that anyone up there could afford it.

Timely_Egg_6827@reddit

Hope you told her about the House of Bruar.

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zwifter11@reddit

Ah I used to pass that on the A9. Is there still a guy living in a tent at side of the road ?

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zwifter11@reddit

Her rationale was that it was unlikely that anyone up there could afford it.

In one job, we could claim back the cost of food eaten, when working away from the company site and had to eat out.

One Manager complained that one of our young guys had claimed for a steak, saying “he wouldn’t have ate that at home”.

hellopo9@reddit

I get positive reactions to my accent (RP, posh despite growing up in Wales) and it shouldn't be the case. While people made fun of it in school, as adult people spontaneously tell me I sound lovely and compliment it quite a lot.

Accent bias is a thing in the UK, hopefully it improves to become more equal.

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No_Stick_6120@reddit

Accent should be a protected characteristic in the UK

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SerendipitousCrow@reddit

I also feel the pain of having a posh RP accent but not having a posh upbringing. I feel like people prejudge me. Yet my parents are immigrants and I was raised by a single mother

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poxelsaiyuri@reddit

Ive been told I sound posh multiple times and people are shocked I live on a council estate, I grew up 3 streets away. I don’t understand why

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No-Relation1122@reddit

I have this too! Posh sounding, council house kid to a single mum, and lots of family because both parents remarried!

People are shocked I sound the way I do considering. Though I work with someone who is so snobby and classist, and I think she thinks I was dragged up and barely survived because my mum's rule as a teen was "don't lie about who you're with or where you are, and I'll ask few questions". I always accepted that and it gave me very clear boundaries of knowing if I wanted to lie, it probably wasn't a good idea. Her children seem to be chained to her and she wonders why they act up so much.

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hellopo9@reddit

Oh no I should clarify. I had a relatively posh upbringing (dads an uni lecturer, mums a teacher). Hence the accent despite growing up in Wales.

I got negative prejudice as a kid but positive as an adult. People think I'm more intelligent than I am "the way you speak just sounds smart".

My point is that we can better recognise negative accent bias by also seeing that we can benefit from other accents too. I know I benefit from it, even though I shouldn't.

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kalendral_42@reddit

Had a colleague make the comment (in shocked italic snobby tone) that she ‘would never of guessed I had a parent who was one of those people’ - my dad’s a Geordie. Felt like telling her to ‘gan & fook hersen’ (can’t write a Geordie accent very well, no way to get the tone/intonation right in text)

While at school (secondary 12-16) my teacher told me that as ‘a member of the [insert family name] family I wouldn’t amount to anything’ so she didn’t see the point in trying to teach me - I was very pleased at a school reunion to let her know all about my double post grad & MCLIP qualifications. Some people should never be teachers

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Dramatic-Ad-4607@reddit

Sounds similar to me living close to Liverpool with a “Scouse” accent tho

Was also told by my R.E teacher (the irony) in a posh school in year 7 that “you will end up on the dole with 3 kids to different men”

Saw him again and shouted over to him “alright Mr Craig do you remember me” he did and looked ashamed .. told him I’d been to uni I’m married to my husband of 16 years now (got married last year) and no children doing very well for ourselves.

At me all girls’ Roman Catholic secondary school, a teacher commented to the class that she didn’t know why she was bothering to try to teach us anything, as we’d all end up living in a tower block with multiple various children, of multiple various shades by multiple various men.

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EvilMonkey1965@reddit

When my son was working at his part time job in Scotland where he was at Uni (we live here now but that's not relevant) one of the girls there didn't realise that he was English and just thought he was posh because he spoke so nicely and was polite to everyone.

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zwifter11@reddit

I’ve experienced the same. They found it mindblowing that I talked in a polite way and pronounced words correctly.

I thought it was the norm.

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Routine_Ad1823@reddit

Yeah, I had a girl going on about how I was so lucky to come from such a privileged background (I'm not)... then she later let slip that her dad is a consultant doctor.

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veryblocky@reddit

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E420CDI@reddit

They'd be shocked that Harrogate exists (where I'm from). Middle class and northern.

The concept would be met with utter horror by Londoners.

Still, the joy of being both is that I can mix with people from across society, happily shop at Waitrose and M&S, and still be down-to-earth (despite what my plummy voice says).

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bacon_cake@reddit

In a former job I used to deal with a lot of second homers and I'd quote them lead times for their interiors. I'd say "That'll take about 3 to 4 weeks" and more than once had a reply along the lines of "Why does everything outside London take so long."

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blamordeganis@reddit

The Guardian? The newspaper formerly known as The Manchester Guardian? That Guardian?

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Phenomenomix@reddit

TBF The Guardian has pretty much forgotten its Northern roots. It has one Northern correspondent to cover from Liverpool up to the borders.

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Trebus@reddit

The former site of the Guardian's distribution in Trafford Park is round the corner from me & was knocked down & turned into Tesla offices.

Commercial_Reward_78@reddit

Having attended an East London comprehensive school, there were two things I’d never heard of before going to university. One was the concept of the “gap year” (none of my classmates did one, because nobody had enough money). The other was the game known as “soggy biscuit.”

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screwthedamnname@reddit

Even as a (probably lower) middle class student, it was so eye-opening to see how wealthy people lived. I was chastised by a friend for being in my overdraft and treated like I was too stupid to understand the financial reprucussions, and had to explain that I paid my rent myself and literally didn't have a choice but to go into the red sometimes (this was during covid so there were almost no part-time jobs going). Still a little resentful at that.

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ChoakIsland@reddit

Why didn't you just sell one of your Bentleys to cover it? /s

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Newveeg@reddit

I found it really hard to find a job at uni despite my efforts so I can def relate

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SensitiveElephant501@reddit

Was talking to a fellow fresher about music practice and he dropped that a guy at his school had been made to do his bagpiping on the golf course.

My school, dear readers, did not - you will be shocked to find - have a golf course.

When I enquired as to which establishment was his alma mater, he allowed that it was Harrow.

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kim_flynji@reddit

yeah basically this, grew up in rural highlands considered low middle class by rural standards - did a year of uni in geology at edinburgh uni (I dropped out, uni was not for me). and then a year of just working in edinburgh cause I had a flat already signed before dropping out.

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Narrow_Maximum7@reddit

I bet they were shocked by the price.

I see it a lot with people wanting a quote put up £250 per roll wallpaper but want the tradesmen to work for less than minimum wage

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notouttolunch@reddit

That's an interesting point, I want to pay them nothing until they've proven that they can do the job successfully to a good standard. After that I don't even query their bills! Reliability is where the value actually comes in.

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Narrow_Maximum7@reddit

If you pay £250 a roll then barter the price down to the cheapest on the table, you're getting a crap job.

I have had a woman in a multi million property tell me that she heard if you can piss you can paint, the return visit was hilarious when she wanted a report for her insurance company due to the damages caused by the Facebook decorator that was cheap enough for her.

If you want reliability, pay for a company that has history & a wait time.

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notouttolunch@reddit

Kent_Doggy_Geezer@reddit

As long as the pattern matching is perfect then they deserve the higher price.

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Fast_Bee7689@reddit

This her by any chance?

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Friends with the granddaughter of an earl, fancy boarding school and Oxford. She's the nicest, most down-to-earth person.

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haha! "sod it! Im living in the west wing now! "

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lesterbottomley@reddit

A much more scaled down version.

When I was an apprentice one group of apprentices got a good deal on a huge house due to knowing the landlord. They had as many bathrooms as people.

Without fail, if he goes to a working class or slightly middle class house, he's offered tea and biscuits, they chat and are pleasant. He said he loves doing any work for eastern Europeans as they are so hospitable and treat him like a person

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BeginningKindly8286@reddit

I put in a fitted wardrobe for an Eastern European family a while back, they gave me wine and beer when I was finished, and brought food to me without asking if I wanted any. They got my best work. I also got repeat business from them.

Ha! Keown! I remember seeing him at the Cowley Carnival in Oxford. He wasn’t officially doing photos, (he was doing MOTD a lot at the time), but he was accepting the growing crowd. Which is great!

Unfortunately he kept making snide remarks about how he was just there to spend time (smile) with his family, and all he wanted to (smile) do was have some quiet time with his (smile) family. I get a bit bad at the time but couldn’t shake his weird I hate this, but also really love it vibe.

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icebox_Lew@reddit

I did some work at someone's house once. The son only talked to me through broken English, his Mum nodded hello but averted her eyes like she wasn't allowed to talk to me, also I got the impression she couldn't speak English anyway. Doesn't bother me, I'm here to work. Anyway I'm working and the Mum is cooking in the kitchen, a very sour bitter smell fills the house like she'd burnt the crap out of something really badly. I remember thinking, "I'm glad I'm not eating that."

I finish the job and am settling up with the son, all of a sudden the Mum comes out with a to-go box and had made the meal for me! It was really touching, the way she handed it to her son and gestured towards me and made him give it to me, it really meant so much to her. Only time that's ever happened.

Just a shame it was burnt to a crisp and went in the bin, but it was a lovely gesture.

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BearComprehensive703@reddit

In Eastern Europe, traditionally, the pay for tradesmen/day workers includes all the meals while they work there, besides wages.

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chuckles5454@reddit

> a premiership footballer

Peach_Royal111@reddit

That's like actually insane, like literally not letting someone through a door is just clinically insane behaviour jfc.

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takesthebiscuit@reddit

I had the same experience when I lost my job years ago and decided to work as a delivery driver to fill my time.

Went to a few ‘posh’ country house cafe establishments and some of them were utter cunts to me

Like last minute order of some cakes since they ran out, I have box unloaded and ready to run in and the owner is like NO DELIVERY TRUCKS YOU NEED TO GO ROUND THE BACK!

She didn’t recognise me as a customer of many years, tossed her the box and fucked off never been back

Was it my mother?

She'd pull this shit because her life was so meaningless and full of wine. (+vodka)

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dismaldunc@reddit

yes, deffo yer mum, she had only lovely things to say about you! 😀

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pavulonus@reddit

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Agadoom@reddit

I'd have told her that I've got other customers who won't talk down to me for helping them, thank her for her time, and headed home 😂

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will2089@reddit

Hah. During Covid I worked collecting people who died for a Funeral Firm. I’ll never forget going to this grand great big house to collect a body. We parked in front, got the stretcher out and knocked.

Answered by staff who were very nice, I could see a nice big staircase and plenty of room.

Then a family member emerged from one of the side rooms and starts going off No no no. You cannot use the main door or staircase. You must use the servants staircase. I was like is this for real? We’re collecting your dead Mum and you’re telling us to use the Servants Staircase?

That ended up being round the back and much tighter. Took a good 20 minutes to get down it. Then they complained about the fact we arrived in a Renault Trafic and not a hearse.

It was surreal honestly.

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OrangeCushion256@reddit

So dead Mum is alright to depart the house one last time via the servant's staircase and exit, but god forbid she's conveyed away in a Renault? Wow, priorities!

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BillyJoeDubuluw@reddit

If that’s the reception I was getting to fix a radiator then I think my response would be “haven’t got the time to piss around pretending it’s still 1910 for such a small job sorry cock, get somebody else”…

Theu way you constructed this smetence is confusing

FlowRoko@reddit

Be extremely careful doing that, unless you know that you for sure want to end up as an academic, professor, or military history author, i.e. you are planning to do at the very least a Masters, if not a PhD in the field.

If you are planning to go into the armed forces as an officer it can be a good path for that, but those are really your only options if you do anything Military History/Security Studies/War Studies.

Like many degrees these days, it does not necessarily translate into a good field for employment. Huge part of why the discipline is still so dominated by the upper classes who don't really have to work for their money.

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LostinShropshire@reddit

This was about 15 years ago, I was working for the British Council abroad as an English teacher and I had been promoted to a coordinator role which meant I was being sent to run some teacher training. It just happened that the centre manager and a couple of other managers were staying in the same city that I was in for the training because they were running in a marathon there. We met up for a couple of drinks. The centre manager was new so asked a few questions about what I was there for and upon identifying me as an ambitious young teacher, happened to mention that he and the people around the table had attended public school. And then after a pause and some more thought ... they couldn't think of a single British Council centre manager that had not attended public school. It was all delivered as an off the cuff observation, but it was a clear 'stay in your lane / this organisation is not for your type'. Utterly ridiculous.

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ProfessionalSpeed947@reddit

I travel by bus to/from work because, you know, I'd rather pay for rent, bills and nice food, than a car.

It’s almost like they didn’t want young working class guys to do well and never provide them the opportunity to do so. I’ve always wondered what would happen if the best candidate at Sandhurst or Cranwell talked like he was working class? Would he get treated the same, based on merit?

I get it at least once a week, the amount of university graduates that can't believe they earn less than me, or dont live in as nice an area as me, a tradesman who only went to college. Had 2 neighbours complain about my van on my own drive.

Not sure if that's actually classism or people just being uppty pricks tbf.

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Portas30k@reddit

I've never understood people having issues with work vans, or estate with no work van rules. People need to work why be petty about the factthatthey use a branded van.

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bornfromanegg@reddit

Sorry if I’m being dim, but what’s the issue with work vans?

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Unlikely. I think everyone knows that tradesmen make a lot of money, unless they are someone who has never hired a tradesman.

Because I’m articulate and like nice things (being aware of and owning are 2 different things) there’s no possible way I know what it’s like to be skint. Small example, I don’t like Prosecco or Cava, I love Champagne, but can’t always afford Champagne (who the fuck can?) but a Cremant is cheaper than a lot of Prosecco’s and out shines them to me, is readily available in most shops and all supermarkets, but not liking Processco must mean I’m wealthy or well off…..

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Hour_Course_9876@reddit

Having worked in Hospitality for a long time the next question is-

Would you be able to distinguish between a Cava/Champagne/ Prosecco and Cremant in a blind test?

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Ok_Shirt983@reddit

When it comes to fizzy stuff very generally speaking, sweet = cheap, dry = expensive.

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Superb_Copy1644@reddit

Usually pretty good in truth, but always open to the exception. Had a really good bottle of Prosecco in Italy in fairness that whilst still feeling like Prosecco was fucking gorgeous, so perhaps the Italian’s keep the best wine for themselves.

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Hour_Course_9876@reddit

Then aren’t you just paying for the brand name?

Let us all keep in mind the difference between a ‘Champagne’ and a ‘Cremant’ is purely geographical, might be a few hundred meters differenceas they are both using the same soil/base grapes and split?

In the end, it’s all a question of marketing

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Superb_Copy1644@reddit

In theory yes, but remember 99.9% of all human DNA is shared. It’s that 0.1% that changes Steve Buscemi into George Clooney….

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Hour_Course_9876@reddit

Ahh I see!

Individual_Pass3933@reddit

I dislike prosecco too. Tastes like an auld tramps piss

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AnyOlUsername@reddit

My ex used to love Moët for some reason. Not the most expensive but far exceeding my acceptable price range.

He got super offended when I said it tasted like vinegar. Even though it does.

Salt-Method1731@reddit

I mean you don’t have dinner at midday do you? 🤣😭

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gotmunchiez@reddit

A dinner lady serves you lunch but you'd go to a dinner party in the evening. Dinner is too ambiguous which is why I prefer lunch and tea.

I asked her if she'd call a packed lunch a packed dinner and she said no, that's called a pack up.

I couldn't help being petty later on in the conversation and called her posh for saying sandwich instead of sarnie or butty.

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Specialist-Piccolo41@reddit

I worked as an agency engineer in the oil and gas industry for decades before retiring. To give an example a visitor arrived in my office and asked where was everyone. My reply: team building meeting. Visitor: Why are you here then? My reply: Agency scum and proud of it!

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MrsKToBe@reddit

When I was a teenager, I had a boyfriend whose dad was an absolute insufferable snob.

I lived on a rough council estate and neither of my parents worked (both were severely disabled) but when they did one was a clerk and the other a kitchen assistant. This man was a teacher- and I believe he didn’t even have a degree as he trained when teachers didn’t need a degree. He stopped me and my then boyfriend from seeing each other as he said I would end up ‘living in a squalid flat with five kids and no idea who the father was of any of them, and I would never get any qualifications and totally waste my life’

I think that attitude gets born from a genuine place; tyre kickers/window shoppers/the genuinely naive. It's - and I'm choosing my words carefully but possibly not accurately here - frustrating to work somewhere like that and spend lots of time dealing with people who have no intention or ability of buying. Especially if you're on commission.

I'm absolutely not saying these people are correct to be rude or make assumptions, but after a while you get a sense for these things and eventually you want to just open a conversation with - "Just so you know that cardigan is £950" to save everyone time and embarrassment.

But for the record - not excusing, just explaining. And everyone should do their best to avoid a Pretty Woman moment.

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SecretLecture3219@reddit

Yeah I get that , makes sense. Probably as I've been stung before , for my sins I like watches , not mega elite priced watches but a particular brand and as I consistently wear hoody and jeans and shit trainers it does take a little longer to get the service

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bacon_cake@reddit

Yeah it's shit. Humans and our pattern recognition eh?

I find Lidl’s quality standards are spiralling, particularly fresh vegetables. All well and good saving a couple of quid versus the likes of M&S but not if the veg is rotten within a day or two of purchase!

Depends on the number of varieties <5 not posh >20 posh

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el_farmerino@reddit

See now I want to come up with 20+ decidedly un-posh hummus varieties, e.g.:

Pie & mash hummus.
Jellied eel hummus.
Baked bean hummus.
Purple Monster Munch hummus.
Irn-Bru hummus.

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BorderlineWire@reddit

Monster energy (original) Hummus and Monster Ultra (white) Hummus for the healthy types

Frey Bentos Hummus

McNuggets Hummus

Supermarket own brand value range instant noodles Hummus

Special Brew Hummus, and White Lightning Hummus for the cider enjoyer

Hummus flavoured spread

Pouch of black market baccy Hummus

Pork pie hummus

Embarrassed_Ad1722@reddit

I've met a metric ton of people in uni who had the notion that because they studied law no one with one of the "common" degrees was supposed to be talking to them or breathe their air.

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BertBlenkinsop@reddit

I call this reverse-snobbery.

Ive seen it a lot in sports, where they criticise you for having nice things. Even when you saved up alot over the year to buy the kit.

Illustrious-Divide95@reddit

I went to have a beer with a mate in a pub I've never been in. It was a community pub (60s flat roof pub) near an estate and we had a pint and 5 men at the bar took a dislike to us.

The pub was empty except them and us.

We didn't sound particularly 'posh' but had probably a bit different to the group at the bar.

They started going on about how they hate the 'middle classes' and how they should all be 'got rid of' or shot. Kept indicating us. We had planned to have a few and a catch-up but left to go and drink somewhere else as it got very uncomfortable.

I’ve had people assume I’m posh because my grandpa owned his own stables; he was working class & illiterate (he was my hero) everyone assumed I also had my own horse (I didn’t, me & my cousins shared)

It is, but punching up isnt the same as punching down.

BRIStoneman@reddit

Tbf, dahl is a really cheap, quick and easy meal to knock up.

At risk of outraging 2 billion people who will tell me I'm doing it hideously wrong, you can make one from a tin of lentils, a tin of tomatoes and some oil; extra veg, season and spice to taste. Costs like £1.20.

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missyb@reddit

I know, it's more that (to me, northern girl) it's super middle class to be feeding/eating stuff like Dahl, tahini, etc. my husband didn't know what pesto was until we met.

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Tewd_Feesh@reddit

I work for a couple who own a small but very prominent estate, they live in the castle. They themselves are lovely. Super friendly, pleasant to be around, generous, but a little out of touch with what reality is like for the norms. Having now met many of their wealthy friends and acquaintances I can honestly say that while they are mostly friendly, MANNERS on the other hand ARE FOR THE LOWER CLASSES!

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Commercial-Emu6363@reddit

Worked in a private members golf club as a waitress in my mid twenties. Was asked one morning but two older well to do women, before any other staff were in, to move the grand piano to the other side of the room because the choir were going to be confused at that evenings performance. I politely explained I couldn’t move it alone but would ask the chefs to help when they arrived in an hour or so, that wasn’t good enough and I got shouted at for ‘teenagers never being willing to work hard’ and ‘girls these days always having bad attitudes’. Perhaps girls in their days were weightlifters who could throw a grand piano across the room 🤷🏻‍♀️ anyway the choir sheets went missing during the chaos of the piano move which meant they had to go home to reprint them in a rush. Karma has a way of working out

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notjuststars@reddit

The medical school I go to is in the North of England, I’m also from the North. Last year several students got in trouble for loudly complaining their patients had northern accents.

Oh this is a good one! I had some random old family member who would LOVE to tell anyone who would listen that she golfed with Des Lynam.

No one cares

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That-Chain-5139@reddit

AHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA thats hilarious!!🤣🤣🤣🤣

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Fullchimp@reddit

If you tell boomers that there are rumours about these people being gay, then refuse to elaborate, it’s good fun. If male, you can always use James Bond.

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Rumple-Wank-Skin@reddit

Roonie who‽‽

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VPackardPersuadedMe@reddit

Ally McCoist

That sounds like a pun name for a pornstar.

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pooinyourear@reddit

Alley McMoist

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VPackardPersuadedMe@reddit

Back Alley McMoisty

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phatboi23@reddit

Was he in big booty sluts 7?

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phatboi23@reddit

Tbh I've been bowling with Gordon Banks.

But he's local and does/did a lot for the local children's cancer charities.

Also I'm working class as fuck. Haha

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Narrow_Maximum7@reddit

They scream Bearsden.

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YragNitram1956@reddit

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Brave_Assumption6@reddit

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Forsaken-Ebb5088@reddit

😂

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rice_fish_and_eggs@reddit

Posh people sing about Jerusalem, this guy actually built it.

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Reddit__user_@reddit

If that photograph isn’t in any way a fabrication, just send him to Belmarsh.

He’s already been his own judge, jury and executioner.

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PennyyPickle@reddit

Walking through the centre of Oxford and accidentally brushed shoulders with some old bloke who was chatting to his friend. I apologised and he gave me a look of derision and called me uneducated and an uncultured tourist based purely on my Stoke accent. He was left quite speechless when my husband (born and raised in Oxford, hence why we were there) leapt to my defence and put him in his place.

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icebox_Lew@reddit

My (thankfully now ex) stepmother explaining how they were petitioning the council to put the low wooden barriers around the green space inside the horseshoe of homes to stop the neighbours parking on it and making it "look like council housing".

Even though they were council houses until Maggie sold em off. Sod the 2 car family neighbours I guess!

She was such an annoying Sussex woman who couldn't get to the end of a sentence without a few hand wringing "ooh", "erm", "aah"s.

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360Saturn@reddit

At university, professor asked "where did you holiday this summer?" The idea that you might have worked and not spent it travelling abroad for leisure wasn't on his radar.

Generally just when someone says "I'm just so busy right now!" and they mean with different leisure activities they themself chose to do or booked themself onto...

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bars_and_plates@reddit

I don't think this is really classism to be honest, it's just making conversation, it sounds like you made it awkward by not just saying "ah yeah I was working to pay off my student loans" or whatever.

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BearComprehensive703@reddit

I mean that's a bit over the top, most people in the western world take some summer holiday somewhere.

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LilaMFFowler@reddit

A friend’s mother in law (his wife’s mum) puts on this terrible plummy accent. Two glasses of wine in, and it disappears. As a family they’re desperate seem “posh”, which is ridiculous enough, let alone having a fake plummy accent.

I was talking about this to another friend in the same circle and snarking about how ridiculous they are, to which he said “oh well they don’t even live at the nice end of xyz London borough!”

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MikeMiddo@reddit

I went to a friend’s house after school once and the friend’s dad kept commenting on the way I held a knife and fork as it was not “proper”

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cerswerd@reddit

Yiiiiiikes. My mother asked a black woman if she was “full or part negro?”

Wasn’t said with malice, she’s just from another time and thought that was an acceptable word.

She couldn’t have just responded with a cordial “I’m sorry dear, I haven’t a clue” could she.

Welding up a balcony on a guy's house. Was a heatwave, south facing balcony on the south coast. He was off to Henley for the day (running theme of this topic!) and told me and my partner we could only drink water from the outside trap IF the sprinkler system for the lawn wasn't on.

How do you know it's the highlight of their life, maybe they just mention it casually

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vegatoni@reddit

After summer holidays in a uni seminar they made us go round the room and say where we were from and where we went on holiday. I said I was from south wales and went on holiday to west wales and everyone laughed.

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Sad-Highway-43@reddit

Not sure if this fits the brief but I live in a very working class area and had a health visitor come after my first son. She was an older lady and just generally very unpleasant but these are a few of the questions she asked me

are you private renting or local authority? (I owned the house)
do you know the father of your baby? Are they planning to be involved with the child? (I was married at the time)
what benefits are you on? (None)

There's absolutely nothing wrong with any of those things but she'd obviously made assumptions based on the area I lived in. She had no sense of humour and even gave me a stern look when I made a joke about knowing my own husband.

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merla_blue@reddit

One of my first year uni flatmates wouldn't walk with me because I was carrying a Lidl bag

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WhoYaTalkinTo@reddit

I worked in a call centre over a decade ago, in Liverpool, and I have a scouse accent (though I did use a bit of a 'phone voice').

I answered a call the usual way, "good morning, thank you for calling company, youre speaking to whoyatalkinto in Liverpool, how can I help?"

The extremely posh lady on the other end replied with "could I be put through to somebody who's not in Liverpool please?"

I was very young and was taken aback. I had no idea what to say and replied "... Why... Why is that?"

"I'd really just prefer to speak to somebody who isn't in Liverpool"

I said I could put her back into the hold queue or she could try calling again, to which she replied "ugh. Typical." And hung up.

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heckzecutive@reddit

I had to call out my in-laws for openly and loudly mocking my toddler daughter's accent. I'm posh and apparently it's "punching up" to laugh at my then-four-year-old for saying "grass" with a soft A.

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When I mention I went to private school and grew up a relatively wealthy Londoner, working class people seem to take that as a personal insult.

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yourshelves@reddit

I work in admin for a Russell Group University. I try to dress smartly at work. One day the Head of its Business School, clearly mistaking me for a new academic, came over to me with a, “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced”. When the colleague I was with explained I was in admin, the Head literally walked away from me.

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New-Process-52@reddit

Unrelated but i think England rugby team needs to be more working class to beat south africa rugby team

It feels mad reaching the age that your parents and grandparents had you/their kids. I'm still well within medically suitable childbearing age limits but I'm now the oldest any woman in my family has ever been and still been childless (at least up to my great great grandma, don't know about further back) by a wide margin. Meanwhile my partner, who is the same age as me and from a way more traditional middle class background, is still younger than his parents were when they had him!

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twirling_daemon@reddit

I’m reasonably sure I’m around the age my grandmother was when I arrived and she became a grandmother

I’m mid 40’s, childfree and muddling along 😂

I do have schoolmates that have kids old enough to be have made them grandparents, I’ve no doubt that several of them indeed are

That blows my mind

Shared with the couple that currently own David's Jewellers in Richmond that I had a somewhat uncomfortable experience with a passenger on a bus.

The woman scoffed, and said "That will teach you to take public transport!"

Then, #2, she also bragged about Harrod's being her old corner shop (the same Harrod's that was owned by a sexual criminal).

And she finally, #3, she lamented that when you buy [x luxury brand], it's very hard to go back to [commoner items].

All three comments within half an hour.

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invisibleredditor2@reddit

Apparently its cruel to go on holiday with teenage kids in a family room, simply because it has 4 bunkbeds.

Never mind the incredible experience of being able to take your kids on an international holiday!

Couldn't believe the snobbery of some people!

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Status-Mouse-8101@reddit

I won’t go into details but I’m a straight up working class girl, it’s pretty obvious as I’m too proud to adjust my accent, but I also happen to be a bit of a nerd. It’s pretty funny watching the middle class judgy types faces when they realise you might possibly be smarter than they are heehee.

Born into money types really do have a tendency to believe they are in the positions they’re in because they’re smarter and work harder than everyone else. Lots of you here will know that it couldn’t be further from the truth.

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SamVimesBootTheory@reddit

I work in a branch of of an outdoor clothing retailer and I think for me it's often just when people are just casually dropping fairly big money on stuff for holidays especially when it's ski season.

Biggest one was a family who came in and made a really big purchase including order form store and it was for a trip to Kilimanjaro.

Also once asked a customer where they were going and they went 'Oh only Spain'

Also once served a customer and turned out he was from Belgravia which had me feeling quite 'ok then why on earth have you come all the way down here then' (Where I work and live isn't exactly an affluent area)

Having to dress in chinos and a shirt as a kid despite the cool kids wearing labelled sportswear.

Dinner parties where the mums would try and outdo each other on literally everything, from the make of the crockery to the grades we'd attained in our various musical instruments.

Hiking and picnics, where everything from the way the sandwiches were cut to the type of hiking boots you wore were noted and judged.

Being laughed at uproariously at our rival family's house because I didn't know the right cheese for the cheese knife. Endless involvement with the local church and charities where you could show everyone how godlike you are.

And as we grew up, the competition over what we kids ended up as in our working lives - my mum is still embroiled in this competition even now.

There is nothing positive about any of this. The UK can be a horrible place full of horrible people who view everything as a vertical hierarchy and judge and place you before you've so much as opened your mouth.

If you've visited the UK and haven't experienced any of this, that's because it's never done to your face. Trust me, though, you will have been the butt of many a middle class dinner table joke behind the net curtains of suburbia.

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Fruitpicker15@reddit

Working as wait staff at Newmarket, a young lady and I exchanged a few words about the races then her mother cut in with "Darling please don't talk to the help"

Assholes like that have money but no class.

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MojoMomma76@reddit

Got told I’d never make it into senior management because of my (soft, Cheshire) northern accent. They were wrong.

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Toitsnoice@reddit

I’m from Liverpool so i get the usual ‘murderer’, ‘thief’, people moving away or making the steal your tyres joke.

However, the most pathetic way had to be when someone came into where I worked, and the place was really busy where you have to squeeze past people, and a woman, with a proper posh accent, asked me if we had any in stock, of them item she wanted, and I’d been asked this question before and we hadn’t. So I said oh no sorry we’ve ran out.

BearComprehensive703@reddit

I was just kidding buddy, wear your dungarees, I own some myself.

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NoCommunication7@reddit

Ah ok, what sort of pairs do you own? i've always wanted carhartt myself

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Consistent-Pirate-23@reddit

Someone at a previous job complained about me, when asked what the issue was “he’s from the north”

Cruise holidays are notorious for it, honestly they shouldn’t call at Tenerife it should be elevenerife. I’ve heard stories of people asking an entire shared table what car they drive and judging them for their answer

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Only_Tip9560@reddit

Had it from both ends really. I was born and brought up in a post-industrial town in the north with working class parents, however they were very much focussed on giving me a better life than they had so they got me into the local grammar school and to be a chorister at the major church in the nearby posher town and I went on to do a degree and PhD at top universities and still sing in my local cathedral choir.

In terms of being looked down on, I was in Oxford at a meeting and we had some drinks afterwards, the pompous twit of a professor who led the research group there was an ex-eton posh boy and refused to give me more than a taste of the wine until I had correctly guessed the country and grape variety (I am not into wine at all). Pathetic gate-keeping crap purposely designed to try and put me in my place. I just went to the bar and ordered a pint instead.

The opposite really, but I was visiting Arbury Hall in Nuneaton and I was introduced to the owner “Viscount Daventry” and he just shook my hand and said “call me Dave”. (Real name James Edward FitzRoy Newdegate)

Just a reasonably doe to earth guy with photos of his connections (major royals) on the piano.

Lives in a giant mansion though…

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rictay44@reddit

At college in the early 1960s I was doing double math - Pure and Applied Math as separate subjects - and Physics. I was heading for university to do a degree in mathematics. At the time I spoke with a thick South London accent. I was told in no uncertain terms that with my background (he meant London working class), the best career I could aspire to would be working in a Government statistics office as nobody is even going to look at me. The English class system at its worst.

Brave_Assumption6@reddit

The same can be said on the opposite side who only think powerful billionaires exist. Reddit comments often sound like they think 99% of the population live in poverty and can't afford anything, totally oblivious to the sizable middle-class (or suburban in certain other countries) populations.

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herwiththepurplehair@reddit

Most of the UK is middle class but there is a significant and growing issue over poverty. I’m not naive enough to think 99% of the developed world lives in poverty but I’m 10 years away from retirement now and things are definitely more difficult than they used to be. Since the global collapse of 2019 followed by Covid, standards of living for ordinary working people have most definitely been eroded.

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LesChicken23@reddit

This is properly niche, but I used to be a professional opera singer. Classism baked into every fibre of the music industry in general in a serious way. But the best one I've heard to date was during my first year at Conservatoire. After singing to my professor there for the first time they said 'wow, I did not expect that voice to come out of that accent.' I'm from up North.

I genuinely found it hilarious, I thought 'how bloody ignorant can you be?' However, when you think about it, it's really really bad.

I presented at my first academic conference last summer. The delegates came from all over the world but there was a disproportionate amount of 'posh' older British people because of where we were and maybe just the nature of the field.

I've got a regional UK accent. The number of times other British academics cut across me to tell me they couldn't understand what I was saying or to repeat something because "that sounds so funny the way you say it" was staggering.

Funnily enough, I had no issues whatsoever being understood by non-British delegates who were talking to me in their second or third language...

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qluin@reddit

just wondering what are the sort of fields that will have disproportionate representation from 'posh' older British people? PPE-related? Classics?

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One-Staff5504@reddit

Someone from somewhere in the south west telling me to “speak English” because of my Essex accent

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My mother was told by a playmate he was no longer allowed to play with her as her father was a bus driver and his father was a GP.

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Went for a job a few years back in collage as a hotel receptionist. The fella interviewing me sounded very posh and after the interview told me “you have wonderful manners and you are very politely which shocked me” (he said this like it was a funny joke I should of also found funny) “but I can’t take you on as your accent would be off putting when people ring the hotel in the future, I hope you understand” this was for a hotel in Liverpool and despite me not being a scouser (from over the water) and this fella putting out interviews for people in Liverpool were many have scouse accents but didn’t want those accents in his hotel made me do a double take.

Just told him “well best of luck to you” and left. That was when I was 19 I’m 31 now and remember changing my accent depending were I was and who I was around to sound more “posher” as I felt quite self conscious for a while.

Had me sounding like Mrs bucket for years lol

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Death_Binge@reddit

Some members of my working class family make fun of me for liking duck, prawns, and shallots. Posh food, apparently.

Alright, enjoy your beige food, dickhead.

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Zorolord@reddit

From a child who was around 5 or 6 years. I was picking my niece up front school. My niece said something about been hungry, and I said I make you something to eat or can buy her a sandwich from a shop. Then this kid said why dont you take her to McDonald's. I said because I don't have the money, she was like why dont you use a credit card. I said I dont have one (which is the truth) all this from a 5/6 year old child. Her Mother is soo stuck up when they live in a former council house, and think they're the b's and e's. The kids Father is lovely fella though, really grounded guy.

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Frosty-Gift-4403@reddit

People on Ryanair flights who bought priority seats being angry that practically everyone was in the priority queue.

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bars_and_plates@reddit

I come from a council estate and in my life I can't remember ever really experiencing classism in the top down sense. It has probably happened behind my back but I haven't noticed it.

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BearComprehensive703@reddit

They mean university.

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CompetitiveCall6466@reddit

A guy I know said “people who live in council houses deserve to live in council houses” I lived and live in a council house.

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Firepearlrabbit@reddit

I mean yes? People who dont have homes deserve to have that provided by the state? I am sure that's not what he meant but did he think it through?

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CompetitiveCall6466@reddit

He meant it in a bad way. I imagine he’s the type of guy who believes that billionaires are the smartest people in the world.

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riotlady@reddit

My dad dropped me off at my student accommodation in Oxford in his white van and someone had the porters come investigate because they thought he was robbing the place.

Oh no, colonial is even worse than northern!

And I've herd some of the northerners moved to the colonies.

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General-Bumblebee180@reddit

'oh, you're from the Antipodes!!'

Overseerer-Vault-101@reddit

So did my council housed local drug dealer as a kid. Grammar means fuck all except you passed the 11+ i got accepted to 2 but went to an EBD instead.

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The_Witcher_3@reddit

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Overseerer-Vault-101@reddit

Then say THAT then. What you said implies different.

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Worldly_Wafer_6635@reddit

You read it that way; I simply listed facts.

glorycock@reddit

The problem with a few of the replies here is that whilst technically some of this is “classism”, a lot of it is snobbery, in a Hyacinth Bucket way.
Old-school posh people are often not unpleasant like this at all.

Somebody that’s recently come into money might start being rude to waiters in expensive restaurants because they think that’s is how posh people behave, which could lead to one of the waiters saying, “That posh woman was really rude”, but actually the rude person wasn’t “posh” at all…

I used to sail when I was younger, hiring out boats from the club. I got bullied for not having my own boat despite the fact that all these kids ALSO sailed in the hired boats during the youth sessions- but they also got to sail on the weekends with their parents so I guess that them better??

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bshackleford@reddit

In school (a state comp mind you) there was a chance of going on a school trip abroad- you had to write an essay, and then pay something like £300. Only me and a few others were interested, so we formed a bit of a friendship when writing this essay.

During one session a girl (relatively new to the school) asked me ‘what does your father do for work?’ And I was thinking like what why do you care but told her ‘he’s a postman!’ And she just looked at me, started laughing, and said ‘and you think you can afford to go abroad?!’. I wasn’t particularly insulted because basically all of us doing this essay were from a similar background and her attitude didn’t win her any friends, I was just flabbergasted that someone could be so outwardly rude

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Scottish_Santa@reddit

Experienced some wonderfully mundane reverse classism? Today. I was shamed for having bought bottled water with my lunch roll 😅

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Long_Tall_Man@reddit

I worked for a company that was an "Old Family" firm. They were stuck up wankers and when the current top dogs house caught fire the joke round the firm was we were all suspects.

Anyway.

The local fire brigade put the fire out... It was in the West Wing, you understand.... And then he threatened to sue them because there were tyre marks on his lawn and handprints on his vintage car where the firefighters had pushed it out of the soon to be on fire garage.

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Alert_Mine7067@reddit

In my younger years I was at a house party, which after a few hours once the nightclubs had closed I think half of the town had come to this house. A friend from work was the host, and of course there was drugs. I went to the toilet to sniff coke in privacy, someone was inside, the door unlocks and out walk two girls, one of them in a posh accent, looks at me in my drug induced euphoria and says "And what have you been taking tonight?" I said "MD and coke, do you want some?" she scoffed and whilst looking down her nose said "Well we're taking pills" and they both walked off.

I house sat for people with a million pound home. They went out of their way to buy child sized milks to leave me exactly one even though it’s actually more expensive per ounce that way, and they had the most horrible fucking tea I’ve ever had in my life that I was allowed to use. All the other tea, just regular tea, I was not allowed to use. They were weird about me using their spices and oils and also didn’t want me to use their laundry machines for a three week house sit. Also not allowed to use their laundry family bathtub that children and dogs use. I wasn’t good enough. They had to feel higher than me in class. It was so gross

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escoces@reddit

Working away from home in one of the posh market towns around Manchester, staying upstairs in a centuries old gastropub.

My colleague and met downstairs for dinner, and as it was summer and warm he had on what was admittedly not a very formal t shirt for dining, something like a red Nike t shirt with a large logo.

In the middle of speaking to the staff requesting a table, a family burst in behind us and the mother in particular walked right in front of us and started speaking over us loudly demanding a table. My colleague and I just stood there not knowing what to say while the staff dealt with her first, and the woman turned to us with a very false apology looked him up and down and she said with contempt "i assumed you must be working here". It was clear she didn't think that at all and just thought she deserved to be seen before us. I think her husband and adult children looked embarrassed but it was a few years back so I may have misremembered that detail.

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FlakyCelebration2405@reddit

Not sure if it relates but when I'm particularly broke, I use cash.

There seems to be a time tax on cash users nowadays, if you want to use the self checkouts. I found myself stuck with a load of pensioners, waiting to use one of the two cash taking self checkouts once, whilst there were empty card only ones all over the place.

It sucked

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KoraLily@reddit

I teach a kid, he's 16, comes from a very wealthy background. Always has the latest phone, gadgets, multiple trips abroad etc.

One day he was throwing food across the canteen. A janitor asked him to stop. This janitor is one of the kindest people I've ever met, he would move mountains for people, genuinely loves his job and should have retired years ago but loves it so much. He isn't a cleaner, he maintains the school, helps organise new work being done across it, etc.

The kid turned to him and said "who are you to tell me what to do? You're just a janitor. All you do is move tables and stack chairs right?" This kid has also known this janitor for five years. The janitor didn't even report it, one of the canteen workers found me and told me what happened.

I was SEETHING. I was so mad I actually had to pass it on to another member of staff to deal with.

This kid has had other instances across the school but this one really stuck with me.

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biscuittattoos@reddit

Not sure if this counts as classism, but when me and my brother were younger, we were forced to spend time at our step mums nephews house. Like a play date but we hated it. He was an only child, very spoilt and had no friends, our step mum thought we’d get on though. It really just felt like a way for him and his mum to show off how wealthy they were compared to us. We were shown toys but not allowed to play with them ourselves, had to just sit and watch him play games but never our turn. He even had a huge wooden fort they’d built him in the garden that he went inside and got us to “attack” the castle from outside so he could throw stones down at us. The worst part by far though, was snack time!

They had this floor to ceiling kitchen cupboard that was crammed full off all the snacks you can imagine. I remember his mum opened it up and our jaws hit the floor. We’re both polite kids so we waited patiently while he mulled over what selection of sweet treats he wanted to take from it all. And then it was my turn, so I reached out for some space invaders that I’d been eyeing up in the middle shelf, and his mum slapped my hand away and then pointed to a cardboard box at the bottom of the cupboard that we were “allowed to choose from”.

It was the deadest selection of no frills, own brand, out of date, biscuits, bars and crisp flavours that nobody else wanted. We refused to go back after that

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HeverAfter@reddit

Wife got told she was upper class because she was wearing a striped shirt. That she didn't have the understanding of a lower class. She is not upper class.

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Menyana@reddit

How about we reverse the narrative?

My family picked on me for my entire childhood for not having much of an Essex accent. I don't know why I didn't sound like the rest of them. They called me posh and stuck up for it.

...Now I'm into cooking these days, and there is no way in earth I'm telling them that a few of my ingredients are from Waitrose. In my defense I couldn't kejap manis in Lidl.

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Timely_Egg_6827@reddit

Part of the reason I didn't get a job was I had a regional accent and had gone to a state school (noted on feedback notes). Civil Service in the 90s could be very snooty. I did work in one department and could count on one hand people above admin level who had come up through state system - much better now.

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Horror_Reader1973@reddit

Went to a ‘Your Horse’ event, snootiest, nastiest women I’ve ever had the misfortune to be around.

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MrBread0451@reddit

My manager saying how times are tough because he can't afford to go to take his family to Disney World in Orlando this year

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Rockky67@reddit

Went to a boarding school for a term (left after as I put my foot down about never going back because my grandad was terminal with a brain tumour and I wanted to be around). Was a fee paying private school but I got all those paid on a scholarship. The real classism moment was when holidays were approaching and the other kids were inviting each other in groups to stay at their homes. Not an option for me in my mum’s 2 bed flat above a butchers or my dad’s 30 foot houseboat.

Another one was weird middle class dining rules at my ex in laws. No tray tables in front of the TV for them.

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Steve_10@reddit

My wife once put lemonade into red wine and you'd have thought she'd just fed cat poo to the other woman!

Oh my dear, lemonade in RED wine... Only in white, surely...

This was someone who spent the summer on one of her families many yachts...

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EpponeeRae@reddit

But clearly not sailing around Spain!

Tinto de Verano is a classic drink and so delicious on a hot summer's day.

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Fun_Yogurtcloset1012@reddit

I once worked in a care home, there was one well known elderly man who was verbally abusive and a racist snob who believed everyone working there was beneath him. The stuff that came out of him was terrible enough that all the carers hated him and there were some elderly residents avoiding him. He even screamed out that everyone wants him dead. Correct, no one wanted anything to do with him.

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SnooStrawberries2342@reddit

Couple of weeks ago on the Apprentice the posh boy took the executive decision to do the voiceover for a product even though the ex-forces, accented Yorkshire bloke had been told he was doing it.

My mum grew up very poor in Hackney, East London in the 1970s. Like, her, her siblings and my grandparents all shared the bottom floor of a house while the neighbours had the top two floors. They shared a separate toilet with this family but had no access to the bathroom, only a tin bath that they hooked onto the back of the kitchen door. She left school around the age of 14 so has had very little formal education and didn't get the chance to be particularly well travelled.

Fast forward to the early 90s and her and my dad had ended up doing quite well for themselves and ran a successful off license. It was enough to send me to a private prep school. My mum told me one day she was talking to one of the teachers who, to her, sounded Northern. Anyway, she made a comment about him being from up north, nothing derogatory, just something really trivial. She said he looked at her like she was a piece of shit and said 'I'm Scottish actually. And I supposed that makes you a cockney?'.

Obviously I can see why that would get his back up but she said it made her feel really small. My mum isn't a bad person, she just wasn't very worldly at that point.

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OverTheCandlestik@reddit

I worked catering/front of house for a corporate event at a racecourse…technically not in the actual course but outside on the green.

It was posh and snobby and some super wealthy people there but thing is it wasn’t necessarily an invite only event or a private function but we were told specifically to keep an eye out for “people who don’t belong here” which tbf is a hard task as people dress up smart for the races.

I remember one of the organisers telling us to keep an eye out for cheap looking suits and shoes as that’s a telltale sign, their brand was only concerned with genuine posh people so keep an eye out for country squire looking folk.

But the marquee could be accessed by anyone 😭 and it was open so it was ridiculous that this particular marquee was off limits.

Ludicrous.

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fuckingsheryl@reddit

Not from the Uk, but I would like to say the first time I actually interacted with classism in London it shocked me. I knew about the history of classism in the UK but seeing is different than experiencing. I’m genuinely sorry you have to deal with that.

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CorkPrackling@reddit

I didn't get invited to a work social event because I was deemed "too posh" to go to a pub.

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officearsehole@reddit

I worked labouring for a local builder in the school holidays in sixth form and one customer asked me if I bought the waterproof jacket I was wearing from a charity shop as it had my (fee paying) schools crest, name and ‘Rugby Tour; Australia’ embroidered on it.

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Warngumer@reddit

Someone barged passed me while I was boarding a train and said in a very posh/RP accent something along the lines of "Yes, yes, out of my way", as if that was there whole justification etc. so they could get into the first class compartment before the rest of us could even get onto the rest of the empty carriage.

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EldritchSanta@reddit

The colleague who visited from London and freaked out because there wasn't a Pret a Manger to get their lunch at, and they might have to go to Greggs shudder

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EugeneHartke@reddit

At Uni I did some exam invigilating.

As the entered the exam hall. You told them all they were under exam conditions from now until they left the hall. Two posh boys decided this didn't apply to them and continued chatting. Sat down at their desk and condituded to chat whilst they looked through their papers. I wrote them up for it.

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Endless_road@reddit

Was at my neighbours party and a girl there asked if I went to the local private school, I said no, and she said it was probably because I was too poor. I was actually gobsmacked how someone could say that to someone they literally just met.

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idontlikemondays321@reddit

My neighbour’s mother actively ignores me and my partner when we’ve said hello and looks at us like we are shit when she’s visiting. Said neighbour was arrested last year with multiple police cars outside. I took great pleasure in giving mother dearest a little wave later that day when was collecting things from the house.

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WiganGirl-2523@reddit

Years ago, I was doing rehearsals for am dram. A snob said (in my hearing): "She sounds like a barmaid from the Rovers Return".

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Lazy-Letterhead-7203@reddit

I was on an internship with a scouse dude and the entire time when speaking to him I spoke with a scouse accent and said lad at the end of every sentence

pretty sure he was fucking pissed

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Worldly_Wafer_6635@reddit

Yeah, that's bad.

Scousers in particular don't like the accent being mocked.

My partner is a scouser, and at social events from my side, I feel like I am in a boat that keeps getting holes in it, and I am the sole person responsible for plugging them all.

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Lazy-Letterhead-7203@reddit

Yeah I was young and excited. I have never met someone from the North at that age.

Looking back I came across as a total douchebag and it was pretty pathetic.

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Worldly_Wafer_6635@reddit

Just to make you feel better, up north, we don't think much of southerners anyway.

So there wasn't really a high bar to meet anyway. 😜

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Master-Trick2850@reddit

I got put into a different class when we started a new school year

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