Class isn't always directly related to income though, innit. The wealthiest man I know is also the most working class man I know.

My best friend is from a family with a much lower income than my own but he is by far the most typical middle class person I have ever met. Piano and violin lessons, tennis club membership etc.

aspirations of middle class that though, remains working class himself

like fuck is it.

That was my point

Think i was the only person in this thread trying to get myself bumped up. (going against the grain makes you cooler)

i couldn't go back to working 9-5 - in any job its a fucking ball ache grind,

I have worked in mixed class business for years now, and I can tell you know, not a single one of the people doing manual repetitive taks for 9 hours per day for £6 to £8 per hour are happy in their jobs or the way things have turned out for them in life.

They are struggling to get by, unfortunately most of them are just low educated people that can be basically trained or they are just fuck ups who cannot do anything harder in the day than cleaning a pipe because there lives are so intrusive and insane they cant focus on anything harder.

I wish we could pay them more but it is not economical, most of them are glad of jobs because they have some self respect and dont want to be on the dole.

Thats what I call working class, life is how it is and it will never change, its difficult and tough with unrelenting stress of money, keeping a job and providing for a family.

It is not I am being paid 45k and I am so poor because my friend is being paid £55k or life is awful because I only had 1 holiday this year.

The sad thing is some of these guys are in their 40's and I can absolutely see no way they can live on their wages and there is no way they can ever earn any more realistically.

When I see the "feed your family of four for £50" in Sainsbury and i think that is nuts, I know exactly what it is aimed at.

I wasn't brought up on that level of stress but in terms of social climbing, my first real salary at 27 was more than my fathers after 30 years of his career. Thats is the difference between working and middle class.

I only regret being brought up in a working class family was the lack of career aspiration and drive instilled in me as mentioned above, all that was drilled into me was to just to get a decent steady career, no risks.

I would have made a great surgeon but that kind of career path simply didn't exist for me it was inconceivable, no child decides to be a doctor, the potential is supposed to be spotted by the school or the seed planted by your parents.

I have done OK now, but I was extremely lucky to be in the right place at the right time with the right skills, a 1 in a million chance.

If I followed my working class advice, I would have stayed in Toshiba for the steady career which shut down 2 years after I left.

i wish you wouldnt do this hw. i cringe, and im not being horrible, but i seriously cringe.
thats just 'poor people by numbers' mate.
Your are becoming a parody of yourself, you have done well, but how well?
home owner yet?
super car yet?
brand new watch yet?

sorry mate, i love you near enough to be homo, but you need to stop and have a little look around and breathe in.

Same in toshiba, old school production lines, worst job was the box packer, all they did was open a flat packed cardboard box from its flat position to square and open. That was the lowest job in the plant, you got that if you failed soldering or failed using a electric screw driver or component insert.

I did my placement year in university designing TV's down there and a guy was doing that job, when I went back there 2 years later he was still doing it.

I always feel terrible when I see someone working in a fast food place or the like and I go in there when on business and for instance I come back 1 year later and they are still working there (obviously I can only remember people of unique appearance) same with hotels when I am working abroad and go back to the same place year after year. I forget that is not a temp job or something during a uni break, but their life.

Some people do not even know that kind of work exists, I do feel far more grounded from doing a little and seeing that kind of work, when I make my living tapping a few keys on a keyboard and thinking of stuff.

ok, my bad. i just find it hard when people feel sorry for people when they aint got fuck all themselves.
how you know the cardbord box maker dont go home every night to a loving wife and children who love the life out of him, and he embraces every waking moment when hes not working, with his family?
do you do that, or do you just count your money and visvim items?