LOUIS BURKE | Culture | CONTACT
The sky’s the limit for Betoota Heights dad Gerold Gonk (52) who has cemented his status as a middle class man by using a coaster at home.
Having made his money in construction, Gonk states he has always seen himself as a working class fella but his private use of a coaster in his own home while no one else was there really does suggest otherwise.
“It’s a hot day, I don’t want it leaving marks on the wood!” stated Gonk in what would be a great impersonation of a middle class person if he didn’t mean every word.
“I’m still working class at heart mate, it’s just sometimes – wait sorry, did you all take your shoes off before coming in?”
Gonk states he has used coasters all his life, citing years of collecting coasters from pubs and RSLs across Australia but it has only been since he moved to an aspirational suburb that he started using reusable coasters in his own home.
“They protect the table and they are made from recycled wood, I think that’s pretty working class, reusing something and they were only $20 each!”
Friends of Gonk claim that their mate’s transition into the middle class has been gradual but the insistence on coasters has settled it once and for all.
“He started calling his front area The Den and then one day he talked about this anniversary thing he was doing called High Tea?” stated Billy Fry, longtime friend of Gonk.
“Next thing I knew, he was holidaying in a place that wasn’t coastal Queensland and we are all under his new coaster regime.”
