A worker surveying the drinkware at his place of work says that the position of the glasses is a telltale sign of knowing if you have co-workers who “grew up in a different tax bracket.”
The soupcon of class warfare came from TikToker NaturallyUnhinged (@naturallyunhinged), and it received more than 1.3 million views in just two days on the platform.
With a caption stating, “IYKYK,” the short video shows cabinets with mugs and glasses in them. The on-screen caption also reads, “How to tell your co-workers grew up in a different tax bracket.”
@naturallyunhinged Ifyky #oldpoor #poor #brokeliving #poverty #storebeansupsidedown #coworkers ♬ original sound – NaturallyUnhinged
It then shows rows of glasses neatly put away with the rims facing up, then pans over to show mugs in the same position.
Viewers of the TikTok video shared their thoughts in the comments.
“Maybe I grew up in a different tax bracket because I don’t get it,” one shrugged.
Someone else explained, “Yes those of us who didn’t grow up with cabinets full of bugs and dust store our cups right side up so the moisture can evaporate.”
Another refused to use the method to evaluate the financial background of their co-workers as they disagreed with putting a glass face down in the first place. They pointed out, “I will NOT be putting the part of the cup I drink out of & put my mouth on, face down on a shelf when idk how long or how often it gets cleaned.”
Someone else pointed out, “Most [valid] point I’ve seen yet but i think i rather take my chance of that than drinking dust.”
“So y’all don’t rinse out the cups before drinking out of them,” another queried.
The matter of whether to store glasses upside-down or right-side-up is certainly debatable, and even the Martha Stewart website weighed in on the question in an October 2022 article.
“Dust can collect in your glassware—even in cabinets—which is not something you want to have to worry about every time you pull out a cup,” the article counsels. “With this in mind, you should store most types of glasses with their rims down, if they’re sturdy enough, says Clare Langan, a culinary producer and home cooking expert.”
One commenter arrived at the same conclusion about the TikToker’s co-workers but said they saw a different meaning in the glasses.
They wrote, “At first i thought u meant the matching glassware lol,” to which the creator replied, “You know…. That wasn’t my thought, but [it] is an acceptable answer !!!”
Finally, one commenter noted, “Or some people worked in a restaurant and it’s healthcode to put them upside down.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok comment.