How people handle weights says a lot about their character.

Just as it's a well-known telling signal of character to look at how people treat those below them in class, status, or power - and even more telling for how they treat those far below them...

I find it a telling signal for athletic integrity to see how a lifter handles moving & racking medium weights (25# - 55#) - and even more telling for those little 2.5, 5, & 10 pounders.

Do they take the weights seriously and use proper form - squat rather than bend over, etc? Or do they lose all form the moment they step out from the rack?

For me, when a habit is truly integrated and solidified, I use it many more times and places. It becomes part of my movement vocabulary. "This is how you hold weight, how you lift it, put it down, move it".

Of course the form is often different for different weights. I believe that squatting instead of bending over to pick up objects is almost always correct, so I apply it to tiny weights. But I don't need to hold them with 2 hands, brace them against my body, so I don't.

But, in the gyms I go to, I find it rare to see people moving even 45#s with good form. And the ones who do are visibly in the top 20% of fitness & symmetry of the people in the gym.