15 Things That Scream “I’m pretending to be Upper Class”
Put your guest bag and your Gucci belt away and pay attention. All right? If you care if someone thinks you're rich, you're not that rich, so let's be honest about this. Here are 15 things that scream, "I'm pretending to be upper class." This is the third and final part of the miniseries, so let's get started. Welcome to A Lux.
Number one: Public displays of wealth. Showing off your wealth typically is a good sign that someone isn't wealthy. Rich people don't need the status boost; they already know they're rich. You'll never see them with the tags still attached to their clothes. They don't need to flex. We see you with your big wad of one-dollar bills posting on the gram, but please know that among the rich, if you can carry it and count it, you don't have that much. Pay attention to the folks that make it a priority that you see how much they're spending. It's an easy-to-spot sign that someone is playing pretend and will likely go broke soon.
Number two: When the bag costs more than how much money you've got in your bank account or wallet. Two things worth discussing here: one, did you buy the bag yourself? This is an honest question. Or did you just catch him cheating, and this was your way of moving things along? The second one has to do with keeping up with the Joneses. Why go into debt to get an item just for social status? People go to the extent of spending real money on fake products in the hopes of getting some status. You know it's fake, and as long as you carry it around, the status will never be real, no matter how much you try to front.
Number three: Clothes that scream brand name. True wealth is discreet; they don't want the attention because they don't need it. The only reason a brand name is visible is for others to know what brand you're wearing. Luxury companies use people who try to seem rich as walking billboards for their products. And before you mention celebrities, know that most of them not only get the products for free but are actually paid handsomely to walk around in public wearing visible brands. This is why all really rich people seem to dress boring from the average person's point of view. It's not about the display of wealth but about the quality of the fabric.
Number four: Luxury clothes but bad skin or teeth. Health is a general indicator of how well someone is doing, and the skin is the window of it all. Good nutrition, proper hydration, and exposure to sunlight are tells that someone is taking care of themselves. The only light that pretenders usually get is neon light. Alcohol consumption, oil fumes, and smoking all contribute to a decaying exterior. Actual wealthy people not only care for their own well-being, but they can afford to fix the small things bothering them. They get their teeth fixed, the hairy mole removed, their nails trimmed, and so on. Lower-class individuals actually live with illnesses because they either can't afford to fix them or they're scared to do it. How many are walking outside with rotten teeth? Here's a good rule in life: nobody cares that brand on your clothes if your breath stinks.
Number five: Fake columns on your house or a Versace gate. You know you're about to walk into a pretender's home when the gate you walk through looks like this. Very few things are more Eastern European than these Versace gates. These are people who usually build homes so massive they can't afford to heat the entire place. They add architectural elements that don't work well together. Some things are covered in goldish paint, but even if it was real, it would still feel inappropriate. It's the same with the cheap, mass-produced furniture that imitates royal interiors. They're the ones who usually have bright green or orange wall paint. That's what happens when you try to emulate the outcome without taking it one step at a time to develop an understanding of how these things work.
Number six: Taking out loans to go on vacation. Going into debt is bad enough, but borrowing money to go on holiday, to buy a new TV, or to show it all off is a bad sign. Most humans will do stupid things just to get laid, but financial bankruptcy has to be one of the worst. If she's impressed by the money, what do you think is going to happen when she realizes you don't have any? You'll be out there working night shifts just to cover rent. You're the one still left with the bill. There's this quote attributed to Mussolini, of all people, that pretenders keep sharing on social media that says, "Better to live one day as a lion than a lifetime as a sheep." What a load of nonsense, especially if you want to live a long and successful life. These people apparently don't know that most lions die young, torn to shreds by more powerful lions.
Number seven: Over-inflating the value of your possessions. First of all, don't call your three-bedroom house your estate. Stop pretending you paid full price when you got it at a discount store. Stop pretending the ring is actual gold when in reality, it's gold-plated and you got it off AliExpress. They can tell from a distance your chain isn't real. This continuous need to over-inflate and lie about your wealth is obvious to people who actually know how much things cost.
Number eight: Name dropping people or celebrities that go to the same gym as you do. If celebrities go to the same hairdresser or barber shop you go to, and you're not making the kind of money they are, well, you're overpaying for the service. High-class pretenders love to name drop in casual situations about how they've been in the same room with so-and-so, but these people don't know who they are. They've got no idea you exist. They do this in the hopes that some of their status will rub off onto them.
Number nine: Not fully refilling the tank at the gas station despite driving an expensive car. How are you going to put ten dollars worth of gas into a fifty-thousand-dollar car? But people do it. They would rather go four times a week to the gas station, burning through gas just to get there. I should add just so they can keep some cash on hand. Pay attention to the details; an always dirty car is also a dead giveaway. Some people might wait for the rain instead of going to a car wash. You can tell based on the junk they keep carrying around with them in that expensive car.
Number ten: They never finish anything and it's never as deep as you think. These are the people who know the quotes from books but have never read the book. It's all surface and nothing deep. They never allow themselves to be immersed in knowledge because they find it hard to focus. They'd rather scroll brainlessly through TikTok, stalk celebrities on Instagram, and play pretend. They all have "entrepreneur" in their bio, but there is no business. Their LinkedIn is empty since graduating high school. You can't call yourself a CEO if you're the only person in the business. All they do is talk about what they're going to do. There's always this big opportunity coming in soon, but check in with them over the years and there's always a new one they're pursuing. You could hand them the real tools of change, and you know they would still pass. It's costing us over a million dollars to create the Alox app, with most of the cost being paid toward industry experts that create the content you get to digest, and people still complain about the app being 99 a year. If you go to alux.com/app, we are literally giving you over a million dollars worth of value for less than a hundred dollars a year. That's why some people grow exponentially while others remain stuck. You fail to see the value and you don't do the work.
Number eleven: When the pie is divided into too many slices. You've probably encountered this in real life. You see the 20 dudes pooling money just to get one bottle service at the club. Then there's the theater of it all, where one behaves like wealth despite the circumstance. If you're from Sweden, you might be familiar with the term "vasknig." Too many people trying to squeeze in a single car just like clowns do instead of grabbing a taxi or an Uber. When you try to take a picture in first class and then go back to your seat in economy, people pretending to be upper class don't think others will ever notice, but this kind of behavior is in everything you do, and it stands out to the actual rich.
Number twelve: Having the latest iPhone but with a cracked screen. It's the same with having a nice car and riding around with visible damage. Your bumper is broken and your check engine light has been on for 12 months. High-class individuals take care of their possessions because they never go for the cheaper iterations. So investing in repairing them is actually the go-to option. This is why you see old British folks riding around in the same Range Rover they purchased when they were young, and in the case that repairs aren't an option, they'll replace that item swiftly.
Number thirteen: Changes the way they talk to sound smarter or pretending to be right even when you know you're not. You can tell someone is pretending to be upper class by the fact they keep acting like they're always correct when the facts are against them. The difference between sounding smart and being smart is, I don't know, if you're upper class. Admitting to not knowing something doesn't make you seem less smart; it actually signals an interest in growth. But most people grew up with public education where they were taught that unless you had the correct answer, you're going to be labeled an idiot. So in order to avoid that, they use overcomplicated words to give off the impression of knowledge. They talk fast with fancy words in the hopes to confuse you long enough for you to not question the arguments that they're making.
And speaking of speech, number fourteen: Overcompensating with overly formal language and mannerisms. These are the people who use complicated words without realizing they're not even using them in the right context. Those pretending to be high class usually have a limited vocabulary, so they rely on clichés more often than not, mispronouncing phrases, brands, or city names. It's almost a theatrical performance when they try to live up to this makeshift identity that they're trying to put on. And just to call them out, people pretending to be upper class raise their pinkies when they're drinking coffee or tea because they think it makes them look posh. It doesn't, and it never did. It's actually a myth. The closest thing you'll find when you look it up is that people in France's 17th century used to use this gesture to let others know they have syphilis before engaging in sexual acts. In the attempt to be professional, one can often forget to be human. No need to clutch your pearls while gasping when they let you know that they ran out of salmon.
Number fifteen: They jump on trends and play it off as history. Do you know how many people say they're allergic to gluten but have been eating pizza and bread their entire childhoods? Almost all of them in most cases they're self-diagnosed. Just because something is trending, just because you hear about some celeb that had a panic attack, it doesn't mean that the slightest amount of stress you're going through is one as well. People love to be dramatic about themselves. The difference between the pretenders and the actual high class lies not in the lack of truthfulness but in the desire to be seen as similar or part of the group. Even if in this case, you're labeling yourself with a mental or physiological handicap. Always be wary of people who flip and switch and then try to play it off as if they've always been this way all along. You've met a bunch of these people throughout your life.
What are some things that scream, "I'm pretending to be upper class" that should be added to this list? Write your experience down in the comments. And as a bonus, do not ask what things cost. Not only is it perceived as rude, but among high-class individuals, one should only inquire about the price of a good if the intention is to purchase it or negotiate it from the current owner. There's too much emphasis on who's the bigger spender that people fail to see the value beyond money. We rarely tell jokes on this channel, but since it's only the true A Luxors left at this point in the video, we'll make an exception and share one with you today. It goes like this: two rich guys meet each other and notice they're wearing identical neckties. One asks the other, "Well, how much did your necktie cost?" The other says, "Four hundred dollars!" The first guy gets super excited and yells, "Ha, suck it! Mine was 500!"
And this right here is the kind of mindset that pretenders have, where they would rather feel like they're winning from a competitive perspective despite losing on what's actually important. Hopefully, you've learned a thing or two in this piece today. And if you've watched the previous two parts of this miniseries, write the word "cost" in the comments. Let's see how many of you have watched all three. Thanks for spending some time with us today, A Lux. We're so glad you did. If you found value in today's video, please give us a like, hit that bell icon to never miss an upload, and hey, don't forget to subscribe!