The negative stigma of blue collar work/working with your hands

[spin]

If there's a stigma, Its self inflicted.

Parents want their children to do better, to live better.


So it's a natural consequence that in this country think of the blue collar jobs that have been around for Generations as less than what you should shoot for.


Like any other idea, lots of people twist it into something negative.

 

[Phr3121]

The negative stigma of blue collar work/working with your hands. Hollywood paints this picture of people who work with their hands being low class and living miserable lives.

Well, Hollywood and anyone else who thinks that is full of shit. Blue-collar workers are the backbone of America, always have been and always will be. Much like NCOs (Non-commissioned officers - Sergeants) in the military. I come from the other side, white-collar worker and officer. Nothing moves in America, or the U.S. Army, without blue-collar workers and NCOs. White-collar workers don't build shit and officers don't win wars.

 

[NZbetterthanOZ]

Blue collar/tradies are much much happier people at the end of the day. Nothing beats a good honest days work using your hands, actually doing real man stuff. Beats sitting in an artificially lit office looking at a screen all day. I hear that office workers have lower testosterone levels as well. Nah fuck that. No amount of money can strip me of my dignity.

 

[Konquest]

Well as much as you guys are bagging on Hollywood, keep in mind that both Nick Offerman and William H. Macy have been on the cover of "Fine Woodworking" magazine for their excellence in the craft, Skeet Ulrich well-respected furniture builder, Jeremy Renner has made a fortune flipping houses and doing much of the work himself, and in the last week or two Chris Pratt milled a large fir tree on his property with an Alaskan chainsaw mill for him and Offerman to make a dining table and chairs. Building things from raw materials gives a primal sense of satisfaction that even people with the ability to sit back and have everything done for them inevitably recognize some day.

 

[tmnpothead]

I respect the hell out of blue collar workers. I see guys working out in this heat everyday and I don't see how they fucking do it. My job right now is blue collar work but its easy work just kinda gross. hopefully will be getting my nursing license soon enough.

 

[tmnpothead]

Well as much as you guys are bagging on Hollywood, keep in mind that both Nick Offerman and William H. Macy have been on the cover of "Fine Woodworking" magazine for their excellence in the craft, Skeet Ulrich well-respected furniture builder, Jeremy Renner has made a fortune flipping houses and doing much of the work himself, and in the last week or two Chris Pratt milled a large fir tree on his property with an Alaskan chainsaw mill for him and Offerman to make a dining table and chairs. Building things from raw materials gives a primal sense of satisfaction that even people with the ability to sit back and have everything done for them inevitably recognize some day.

Lot of masculinity from the set of parks and rec

 

[franklinstower]

I just started watching Kobra Kai on Youtube and they got this guy who seems to be a handyman of some sort and can't help but think of the negative stigma of blue collar work that our society seems to have. Hollywood paints this picture of people who work with their hands being low class and living miserable lives.

I'm in the trades and people who do this kind of stuff make decent money. The numbers don't show much, but these guys pocket a lot of cash from side jobs.

The most well off people I know are tradesmen. Not only that, there's a severe shortage of them.

I have deep respect for people that have skill in a trade. These trades are filled with men and women who can get shit done on the ground in the real world. I am sometimes even astounded by these people. The stigma around it is just plain stupid.

The only thing I wish for blue collar workers would be some exposure to adult continued education and philosophical ideas and such just to expand the mind a bit. Many blue color workers take part in self education also like my dad did.

 

[MMA since 1993]

Well as much as you guys are bagging on Hollywood, keep in mind that both Nick Offerman and William H. Macy have been on the cover of "Fine Woodworking" magazine for their excellence in the craft, Skeet Ulrich well-respected furniture builder, Jeremy Renner has made a fortune flipping houses and doing much of the work himself, and in the last week or two Chris Pratt milled a large fir tree on his property with an Alaskan chainsaw mill for him and Offerman to make a dining table and chairs. Building things from raw materials gives a primal sense of satisfaction that even people with the ability to sit back and have everything done for them inevitably recognize some day.

Knew about offerman having his own woodworking shop, and pratt looked in his natural element in the house building scene in the new jurassic movie.

Didn't know about the rest though.

 

[Konquest]

Nick Offerman is an interesting dude. Kind of an accidental TV/Movie star. I'm sure he considers himself a builder who acts rather than an actor who builds. He's written books and articles for magazines on some pretty technical aspects of furniture building, and filmed a video series on building canoes in the traditional cedar-strip method. In the last couple years, he's also build wooden gazebos and bridges around the campus of the University of Illinois. This is all while he was on TV and in movies. But yeah, he's single-handedly trying to make trades trendy and viable (it's all he talks about in interviews and on talk shows), and certainly challenging the trope of "Elite Hollywood liberal who looks down on blue collar work."

 

[MadSquabbles500]

I myself fix computers for a living and also do web design as a second income. I'd be considered white collar and I can tell you it takes a real good amount of brains to be able to fix and repair computers and the same goes for coding. I went to college for electronics and computers. Got a degree, got my A+ and a bunch of other computer certs so whenever anyone in the blue collar industry looks down at me I just shrug because I know my services are needed. I've said it time and time again there will always be a need for individuals in this world to be able to fix computers of all kinds. As our lives become more dependent on electronics the more people you will need to fix and service those devices. Also I am certified by Apple directly to fix all their iOS and OSX devices and I see about 7-8 people over the course of the day with an Apple device that is physically broken or has a software problem. I'm confident in my job security

My father is a blue collar worker. Works for the largest office furniture installer in the United States in that of Empire office. Is a member of the NYC District Council of Carpenters. He's been with them since 1983 and is currently a foreman. He said there is decent work now for those looking for blue collar work in NYC. I don't think blue collar jobs are going to go away but they aren't going to be the way they were a good 50, 40, 30, 20, and even 15 years ago.

do you own your own shop? Can you fix game consoles?

 

[plataoplombo]

I personally have never seen a blue collar worker be looked down upon. I think any negative view is from the way the look. They are always dirty and grimy instead of clean and nicely dressed. There is a lot you need to know if someone wants to become a good tradesman and not get themselves killed. At the local CC here, with about 4-5 classes and some job training, you can be an electrician. Also, some people are made for school and some are just made for working with their hands. It just depends on the person and how they market themselves.

 

[MaxMMA]

People look down on blue collar work because most of the trades are

1. Hard as fuck, both physically and skillwise.

2. You probably aren't going to ever break over 50-60k a year unless you are really damn good at your trade, own your own business, or are lucky enough to land a union gig.

I worked as a skilled tradesman for over 5 years and I can say that sitting in an office blows that shit out of the water.

I would prefer blue collar work if all I wanted to do was go to work, go home, eat/sleep. Working with your hands is more rewarding and the day goes by much faster than sitting behind a computer.

However most people want to get off of work and go do other shit besides laying around recovering from working in 90 degree heat all day.

 

[bufetadanacara]

There is blue collar, as in labour and there is blue collar, as in tradesmen.

My friends who are millwrights and electricians all make about $100,000 per year. Not bad.
My friends who are true blue collar labour types, make significantly less.

 

[esant707]

I'm an electrician and I think the worst part about blue collar work is the mentality of some of the people on the job sites. Not saying ignorance or racism doesn't exist everywhere else but it gets old seeing shit bags go back and forth writing racist or just immature stuff in the outhouses. Makes you feel like you are working around middle schoolers

 

[NZbetterthanOZ]

I'm an electrician and I think the worst part about blue collar work is the mentality of some of the people on the job sites. Not saying ignorance or racism doesn't exist everywhere else but it gets old seeing shit bags go back and forth writing racist or just immature stuff in the outhouses. Makes you feel like you are working around middle schoolers

Wtf that's the best part about being a tradie. Saying and getting away with shit that office workers get fired for. Crudely drawn dicks on job sites never get old.

 

[mooseman17]

I’m sure it goes both ways where blue collar workers call white collar workers pussies while the others call them dumb. From my experience it’s usually people that do hard manual labour and entry level clerks that rip into people. Rarely do I hear skilled tradesmen or successful white collar professionals chirp the other.

 

[Chesten_Hesten]

The Blue collar workforce ain't what it used to be:

 

[bushman505]

Wtf that's the best part about being a tradie. Saying and getting away with shit that office workers get fired for. Crudely drawn dicks on job sites never get old.

Drawing penises with a bunch of low IQ low paid racists...sounds fucking awesome.

 

[Fedorgasm]

Blue collar work is great. There's really only 2 downsides..

1. You'll never get rich doing it. This is a BS reason but these idiot millennials have all grown up being told that they are special and can do anything they want in this world, so they all expect things to lead to riches. These idiots won't get rich in their white collar jobs either, but they don't know that yet.

2. You're fucked if you get injured. Even if you get that workers comp or settlement, in the long run you still come out a loser.

Outside of those 2 things I think blue collar work is great.

 

[HunterSdVa29]

pt is being made weird, but I feel you

If we guided more kids towards trades in HS, we'd have A) lower costs for college tuition as it wouldn't inherently be necessary, and B) less people majoring in ridiculous things that won't get them a job. But b/c so many people look down on trades or manual labor type things, everything thinks they 'have' to go to college.