8 poolside behaviors that reveal someone's class without them saying a word

I'm at a hotel pool in LA watching two families occupy the space completely differently.

One family has claimed multiple chairs with towels and bags, kids are running and yelling, parents are on phones ignoring them, and they've turned the pool area into their personal territory.

The other family has two chairs, their kids are playing quietly, parents are reading but watching their children, and they're occupying minimal space while being fully present.

Same pool. Same afternoon. Completely different approaches that signal entirely different class backgrounds.

Pools are fascinating social spaces because they strip away many class markers—everyone's in swimwear, nobody's dressed up—but behavioral class signals become even more visible.

Here's what reveals someone's economic background at the pool.

1) How much space they claim

Working-class and newly wealthy people often claim excessive space at pools. Multiple chairs per person. Towels spread across several loungers. Bags and belongings scattered to mark territory.

Upper-class people take minimal space. They use what they need without expansion. Their belongings are contained, they don't spread out to claim territory.

This reflects different relationships with scarcity and abundance. People who grew up without access to nice pools claim space when they finally have it. People who've always had access don't need to establish claim.

I've watched this pattern at pools across California. The families claiming the most space are usually the ones least secure in their right to be there.

2) Their awareness of shared space

Upper-class people are hyper-aware that pools are shared spaces. They keep voices down, control their children, and minimize their impact on others.

Working-class and middle-class people often treat pools like extensions of their private space. Loud conversations, unsupervised children, and general disregard for others' experience.

This isn't about rudeness. It's about whether you grew up learning to navigate shared luxury spaces versus treating any leisure space as a rare opportunity to let loose completely.

People who've always had access to nice pools understand the social contract of shared amenity spaces. People who haven't internalized those norms yet often miss them entirely.

3) What they bring with them

Working-class families bring everything. Coolers full of food and drinks, multiple bags of belongings, elaborate setups that turn a pool chair into a base camp.

Upper-class people bring a book, sunscreen, and maybe a single drink. They don't need to bring provisions because they're comfortable leaving the pool to get what they need or simply going without.

This reflects different levels of comfort with spending money at venue prices versus bringing everything to avoid additional costs.

My family always brought full coolers to pools growing up. It never occurred to me that this signaled anything until I noticed my partner just buys a drink when they want one.

4) How they supervise children

Upper-class parents are quietly attentive. They're watching their children without helicopter hovering, intervening before problems escalate, and keeping kids' behavior from affecting others.

Working-class and middle-class parents are often either completely hands-off or intensely hovering with no middle ground. Kids run wild or parents are constantly yelling across the pool.

This difference comes from cultural capital about childrearing in public spaces. Upper-class parents were taught that children should be controlled without being conspicuous about the control.

Working-class parents either don't have that training or are actively rejecting it as too restrictive.

5) Their relationship with pool staff

Upper-class people treat pool staff with polite distance. They make simple requests, say please and thank you, and don't demand special treatment.

Working-class and newly wealthy people either ignore staff completely or make excessive demands. They treat service workers as either invisible or as personal servants depending on the setting.

This reveals comfort with service environments. People who grew up with service understand the social contract. People who didn't either dismiss workers or overcompensate with excessive demands.

I've cringed watching people bark orders at pool staff or completely ignore them. Both behaviors scream unfamiliarity with service contexts.

6) Whether they follow posted rules

Upper-class people follow pool rules even when they seem arbitrary. No glass containers. Shower before entering. Designated areas for children.

Working-class and middle-class people often treat rules as suggestions that don't apply if nobody's actively enforcing them. They bring glass, don't shower, and let kids use adult areas.

This isn't about rule-following personality. It's about whether you internalized that rules in private amenity spaces are real boundaries versus seeing them as class-based restrictions that don't apply to you.

People who grew up using private pools learned early that rules maintain the amenity for everyone. People who didn't often see rules as unnecessary restrictions.

7) How long they stay

Working-class families camp at pools for entire days. They've claimed space, brought provisions, and they're extracting maximum value from access.

Upper-class people come for an hour or two. They swim, relax, and leave. They don't need to maximize time because access isn't scarce.

This reveals different relationships with leisure and scarcity. When pool access is special, you milk it. When it's routine, you use it for as long as it serves you and move on.

My family would spend all day at community pools growing up. My partner goes to their apartment pool for thirty minutes and leaves. Same activity, completely different approaches based on how scarce the experience feels.

8) Their comfort with luxury amenities

Upper-class people at nice hotel pools look completely at ease. They belong there, they've been in similar spaces countless times, and nothing about the setting is remarkable to them.

Working-class and newly wealthy people either overcompensate with conspicuous consumption or visibly don't know how to navigate the space. They're either too loud and entitled or awkwardly cautious.

People comfortable with luxury are invisible in luxury settings. People uncomfortable with it either perform belonging or signal discomfort through hesitation.

This is the most telling marker. Watch who moves through a nice pool area like it's unremarkable versus who treats it as a special occasion requiring different behavior.

Final thoughts

None of these behaviors make someone better or worse. They're just markers of different upbringings and relationships with access to leisure spaces.

Understanding these patterns isn't about judgment. It's about recognizing that class shows up in unexpected places, often most clearly in leisure contexts where formal markers are stripped away.

Pools are particularly revealing because swimwear eliminates clothing as a class signal, making behavioral patterns more visible.

If you recognize working-class patterns in your pool behavior, you're not doing anything wrong. You're just navigating spaces that you weren't trained from childhood to occupy.

If you recognize upper-class patterns, you're not superior. You just internalized norms through repeated exposure that others didn't have.

The challenge is that these behavioral patterns affect how others perceive and treat you, regardless of your actual economic position.

Someone with money who behaves with working-class pool patterns will be read as lower class. Someone without money who has upper-class pool patterns will be read as belonging.

That's not fair, but it's real. Class is partially performed, and pools are stages where the performance is particularly visible because other props are removed.

I still catch myself in working-class pool behaviors—claiming too much space, bringing excessive supplies—despite having been around upper-class pool culture for years through my partner.

The patterns are deep. They don't disappear just because you understand them or change economic circumstances.

But awareness helps. You can choose whether to adapt behaviors or lean into the patterns you grew up with, knowing either way that the pool is watching and cataloging class signals you might not even realize you're sending.