I do think that people hate seeing others succeed, but also I think that there is a weird attitude towards class in the UK, as people can be quite nasty to anyone seen as stepping outside of their class roles.

As a guy with a "posh" accent, I worked part-time in a supermarket during my masters degree. I used to receive barbed comments from coworkers about what I was doing and how I "must think I'm better than them", while at the same time I received a lot of snotty comments from middle class shoppers about how I was "just a shop worker".

I never "showed off" about what I was doing, but simply answered honestly when asked; 'Oh so are you here full-time?" "No, I'm studying for my masters degree" After a few months I kept a fairy low profile and just clocked in and clocked out.

The one aspect of this unpleasant situation that always made me laugh was that, if you work in a service job and have a posh accent, insecure middle class shoppers will try and put on a posher voice when talking to you, as if to try and be better than you.