When I was 19, after having gotten out of a youth shelter I spent a year and a half figuring out what I was going to do so I could move out of the ghetto. I essentially flipped a coin and went to a technical school that was about a fifteen minute walk from me for HVAC. The school wasn’t totally useless, but looked good on a resume. I guess it means a lot to a potential employer that you went into a few k of debt for a few basic bits of knowledge. Ultimately, I did HVAC because it was always going to be in demand. Electricity seemed a bit scary and oversaturated. Plumbing seemed dirty and boring. In retrospect, I should’ve gone for electricity. Good money and not as difficult as HVAC.
I never had a blue collar lifestyle. My dad has always worked white collar jobs, and I wasn’t a country boy or a wigger. Blue collar work isn’t for well-adjusted dudes. It’s for alcoholics, divorcees, dadless men with anger problems. I wouldn’t really internalize this, despite stereotypes, until I was immersed in it. I got a job right out of trade school. And, if I could have still kept that job, I would’ve. It wasn’t harsh on the body, the guys I worked with were intelligent and kind. It was a grey collar gig. But I bought a house, and had to get something closer with less travel. Since then, I have really ameliorated in my skills. Mechanical, electrical, plumbing, everything. But it all isn’t worth it due to a few things that you just don’t get told about.
You see, these days, everyone and their grandma will tell you that the trades are great to get into. Little to no debt, great earning potential, don’t need to waste years in college, and you don’t feel like a pansy ass in your line of work. It’s very affirming to your male ego when you come home smelling like shit covered in dirt, cuts, and maybe bruises. Also some tone on your muscles.
But the downsides really do outweigh the upsides. Not sure if there is any line of work that will make a man more cynical. I’d say the worst I’ve ever felt in a job was working in the food industry. I’ve never really been harassed by someone in blue collar work, it’s just their attitudes and the way they go throughout life. The food industry, though, you’re always a few steps away from someone with a coke problem. Watch out because they’ll try to make it your problem, too.
Nah, blue collar guys ain’t like that. They’ve got issues, but they mostly let those issues shine through their attitudes. Anyway, let’s get to those few things that nobody really mentions.
Dog Eat Dog World
I was never a pro-union kind of guy (until I got into the trades). That’s the meme in the south. Ironically, that’s why so many of their skilled trade jobs are taken by Mexicans (AKA, scabs for white union workers). Trade jobs basically function in a throw you to the wolves sort of way. You are very lucky if you get a job where your boss(es) both want to train you and also won’t let you get eaten alive. Every skill takes calluses to grow, emotional and physical, but most jobs whether HVAC or anything else, you are hired to be either as good of a tech as possible or, and this is how most men end up, as big of a bullshitter as possible. Being a good tech is secondary to being a good bullshitter. Topple this sad reality with the fact that no one wants to train you (because they aren’t unionized) because they don’t want you taking their job down the line. Or just being more unwanted competition.
Why does it have to be this way? I can’t tell you how often I have to see bullshitting, lying, excuse-making. It’s because of needless competition. There is no rest from it, and likewise, no reward. It is a battle against all. It prevents the young and old from benefitting from one another’s company and suffering. No one wants to teach the young bucks because they’ll get too wise and take the old farts’ jobs. I’ve seen this in my own experience time after time after time.
But unlike a salesman, a tradesman/tech/whatever doesn’t make commission. He gets paid an hourly rate that most of the time just doesn’t meet how much of his life and time he puts on the line. Endless hours, needless stress, constant lying. Can’t recall how many times I’ve seen some dude make an excuse for why we couldn’t get something done, why something wouldn’t work. Saying “Well, I’m not sure about that. It could be…” We can’t be confidently unsure these days. We can’t feel secure in dealing with something tomorrow. We are rushed, and in rushing, nothing is ever done properly. Why do we do it? I don’t know. It’s not something I’m very wooed by. Pride is a helluva sin.
Pain, Misery, Regret
These jobs will kill you. Whether it is the chemicals you breathe, the constant heat, the climbing up precarious heights, the long hours, the attics, the constant back-breaking, or the constant stress, there is an additional load of stress that you don’t get paid to burden yourself with. If you go to university and luck out on a job that focuses on the subject you have so much love for, it doesn’t matter how modest the pay. You have a great job, now. In the trades, you get paid to do the shit that people don’t want to do, and most of the time, the pay isn’t enough. There’s a reason these jobs are populated by fatherless dropouts with a criminal record and bad attitude. They can’t get $30/hr anywhere else and likewise the bossman knows they need that job bad, and they’ll do anything to keep it.
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