ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Stigma of Being "Blue-Collar"?

My 2 cents worth,
I finished my schooling at 17 and had School Certificate.
Qualifications don't really mean a lot over here, just a willingness to learn new skills and having the right attitude is what matters here.
On the subject of being labelled as Blue-Collar, I suppose I am, but at the same time, we wouldn't be still going into peoples homes if we were as boorish and nasty as the stereotype suggests.
One thing that I am particularly proud of is the fact that, if I have a small DIY job to do at home here, I can do it and will not have to pay someone else to do it!.

Don't sweat it. At least you have a job outside the Ivory Tower of Academia.

Worked my way through school as grocery clerk. Got grief from fellow students - "why work? Just take out loans." No thank you. At least I can put food on the table while you starve.

Got grief when I changed job intention from teacher to police officer about "working for The Man" (Who pays teacher's salaries, folks? Hmmm?")

Got my Bachelor's in '89.

Got job as tech geek.

Got laid off.

Got job as Firefighter. (HS/GED; Ability to read and follow simple instructions)

Get grief about being BC - why am I doing this job? Tell 'em I chose this line of work. Just like being an electrician.

I like looking back at the end of the day, and saying:

"I made this"

All the computer weenies can shove it. Yeah, they make more money, but $$ don't make you happy. And Computer code doesn't keep you dry at the end of the day, or power your espresso machine, or your computer (DUH)...

[war story]Of course, on the flip side - Got asked by one of my FD bosses "what are you wasting your time on that stuff for?" while studying my electrician correspondence class one evening.

Get this - He digs sewer trenches as his side job with the Laborers, and takes great pride in never having attended college.

(So even a BC can rag a BC. I mean no 'fense to 'em, but a ditch digger bitching about a guy certifying as a spark? Get real.[/war story]

Hey Doug,
We all must have made it!.
No exemplary(sp?) quals here, mate.
I'm a Station Officer in the local Fire Brigade and I have 2 apprenticeships under my belt, both of which I have learnt HEAPS from.
You just can't disparage good old Apprenticeship training, one thing I do know, is the fact that, you grow through your so many thousands of hours (and Night classes!) training on and off the job.
Collectively, I've done 22,000 hours of training to get to where I am now and I am darned proud of it, no middle or upper Management is going to take that away from me!.

Vermont is second only to Maine for second homes, the effluent answer up to the affluent for a living here.

i'm well aware i'm living in the largest disparity in the history of man, where the 'ive got mine, go get yours' mentailty precludes the reprehensible blue collar

so be it....

I graduated with a BSEE in 1960 and received my PE shortly after.I worked for 36 years for a large corp(designing,testing,managing other engineers and technicians in commo and radar systems) and my decisions and work efforts were respected until I made the announcement at my retirement dinner that I had my EC license and that I intented to work as an electrican.The words out of my immediate directors mouth was "it seems to me that you are going backwards".That attitude reinforced my decision to retire and join the ranks of the blue collar.
I always contented that I made a better techician than I did as a manager/engineer.
If being blue collar means putting in a underground service,roughing in or trimming out a residence/small business then I am proud to list myself as one who can look back at the end of the day and be satisfied at my accomplishments.
Chris

I finished my associate degree in industrial electrical maint about 2yrs ago. I have been working factory maint for over 10yrs and i have one thing to say I love what i do and enjoy the satisfaction of say I built that or I made that machine come to life. They can keep the office jobs and suits.

My wife just said the other day man iam glad i have a husband who knows how to fix things we save alot of money. However that honey do list is growing agian.

One thing i learned long ago from dad. Find something you enjoy doing who cares what others think your the one who has to do it the rest of your life and its alot easier when you enjoy it.

And if it weren't for us blue collar's these big wigs wouldn't know what to do. Look at the black out situation last month. You think they could have fixed all the problems heck no they help help what are we going to do.

Every time I have to deal with those whiney yuppies with degrees that no business would hire and those who get thier kicks by complaining about anything and every thing, I just raise my price. Sooner or later those worthless parasites have to have some one fix something for them- they are too incompentent to be able to do it themselves.

the jist being diversity nesparky?

one is certianly less venderable being well rounded and handy vs. an exclusive expertise in this economy.

besides, manufacturing craps out (or gets NAFTA'ed) long before the service industry

So it's wrong to stereotype us "blue collar" guys but it's ok to do it to the "whinny yuppies". Ok

Good Point Scott, IMO you get what you give in this world.

I seem to be much different then the rest of the posters here.

I did not finish High School (kicked out for good reasons) I have no GED, no degrees, son of a farmer turned plumber, I guess I am the lowest of the blue collar workers.

Does this bother me, not in the least, I am proud of doing an honest days work, and taking responsibility for my own actions.

Part of being white collar seems to be knowing how to pass the buck.

I do not care what the white collar workers think of me, what I do care about is how my coworkers and guys like your selfs think of me.

I have always gotten respect from other blue collar workers and my family, what more do I need?

I was recently working at an office building and while I sat in my truck having my 30 minutes or less lunch I watched the office workers come out and jog, ride bikes (dressed like they are in the Tour de France) and I thought what a strange thing to do, work hard at lunch time.

At Dot.Com's we worked at, the employees where always very busy playing with beach balls and riding razor scooters, now they are on the street trying to find a job that pays more than minimum.

I will stick with what I do, even in the biggest slowdowns I have always found work.

Bob