Wise words

[RedSionnach]

Mike Rowe is probably my favorite celebrity. This is one of the reasons.

[BK13]

Thanks for posting this, Red. I'm at kind of a crossroads in my life, I'm a land surveyor, but there are essentially zero opportunities locally (I have a spreadsheet with nearly 100 contact reports listed), and when I do manage to find some (temporary) work, I'm going backwards wage wise. So either I find a different path so I can stay local, and still see my four year old son and a girlfriend that I'm pretty fond of (she doesn't realize that she's way too good for the likes of me), or take a job in Montana/Wyoming/North Dakota where I can make pretty good money (both in base wage and OT) and if I'm lucky see them every month or so.

The girlfriend want me to try flipping houses with her, and while there is definitely opportunities to make some money, there's also a real chance of losing your ass if you get into something beyond your abilities. And a fairly recent divorce has pretty much wiped me out financially.

[ChrisK]

Thanks Red. That why I love Mike too. He just hit the nail on the head.

[mustang347]

In a thread awhile back I was talking about my wife setting me up on "play dates" with her girlfriends mostly white collar husbands and how it never works........

 

These guys talk about still paying student loans, not getting what they were lead to believe they were going get salary wise, not being able find a job in there niche.

 

Then they start talking about there big cookie cutter house, fancy car and fancy vacations.

 

Then comes the question................ and what do you do. it's funny cause after I tell them I'm a regional Maintenance manager for a large chemical company they kind of question how I have what I have.

 

 

In the interest of not embarrassing my wife I bite my tongue.

 

 

 

However.... I have got to where I'm at from hard ass work. I don't feel entitled by any schooling i have received. I live with in my means and don't have 12 credit cards almost maxed out to maintain my "lifestyle", I get up before most and am still working well after they have headed home.

 

I and many other fellow blue collar brothers have earned skills that will allow to work and have a career as long as we want to.

 

With out a doubt, I think there is a sense of white collar workers are better than blue collar workers. That's fine just give me a call when your furnace won't work, your family is freezing and you have no idea where to even begin.

 

Sorry for the rant, Mikes video was great and struck a chord with me I guess.

 

i know everybody is not like this, but I seem to run into a bunch of them.... 

[1R954Baker-hvac]

Very true.... the work is out there...

[regopit]

Mike Rowe is a great guy. I have seen and talked to him, his parents live about 15 minutes from my house. He grew up in a blue-collar neighborhood. Most of the people worked for Bethlehem Steel mill, the GM plant, Baltimore Gas and Electric, GE and Westinghouse. Most of these places are gone now and most of the people have move on too other jobs. Therefore, when he speaks about the trades he’s not just blowing smoke. Thanks for the post Red.

 

Mustang347 I feel your pain. My wife works at one of the local collages. After a few heated discussions at parties, she tells me that it is best that I stay home. I guess you cannot call the Dean of the, I forget what department a FUCKIN BUFFOON!   

[ChrisK]

It is funny, I was sitting in the lobby waiting to get into hearings this morning and I read Mustang's response.  I have a pretty crappy attitute after the last two years of my life but have learned that the only thing that matters is those educated more than you deserve more than you.  Yup guys...suck it.  That is the awesome attitude I see from people now adays.  I love telling people, yup...I finished High School with a diploma.  This past year I went through a pretty painful divorce.  I was with my ex-wife for 21 years (not bad for a 43 year old) when out of the blue she left.  I was left with a first and second mortgage, car payment and perosnal loan.  I worked A LOT last year.  I was assaulted at work, over worked, put my wanker on the line (for real- sriously close calls) while working regular duty and details. I made over 10k in over time over the summer so I could refinance my house without ANYONES help (to inlcude my parents).  I am the oldest of four boys and am the go to brother and moved out the youngest and never took money from my parents when I left.  I really worked hard.  I was able to refinance my house, put my dog through months of treatment (he stayed with this sinking ship) and this year...I met a wonderful woman, bought a truck and people think I am overpaid. They dont see that I make a decent check but for me to get anything extra, I have to work my (excuse me for saying this...I dont like to swear) my Lily White New England Ass off to get what I have.  People only see what you have not what you have to DO to get what you have.  To that I say....kiss my ass.  And dont let the fumes from my truck over power your white colar, patheticly weak, always entitled never thankful asses.  I dont hang out with people that dont know me because always want to give me crap...where did YOU get that?!?!?!  They figure...middle class public servant.  What they dont see is in order for me to make great money after 15 years I have to take extra shifts, be away from loved ones and friends and work to get it.  I just dont have the temperment for it any more.  So my advice for anyone that works for their money...walk away. Smile. Thank God for your fortune and health and the ability to go to work and apply your passions to something that offers a hard earned pay check  and remember that that pompous douche probably has a pretty unhappy pathetic, over educated life he is paying for while hard work is working for you.  At least for now until Obama and the rest of the entitlement generation finish screwing up the middle class.  Then we can all move. Cause God alone knows we wont be able to afford our houses then.

[ChrisK]

Sorry, didnt mean to rant

[mustang347]

There is something inside some us, not all but some of us blue collar or not that drives us to not settle. To go out and get it. To not stand still, to keep moving forward no matter what. Above Chrisk is a living example of that. I respect and admire people like that.

[regopit]

Sorry, didnt mean to rant

Rant on brother.People need to here the truth.

[RedSionnach]

I think most of the problem lies with our education system. Even when I was in school, much of the propaganda that kids are fed is that everybody can be the boss, a CEO, the president. That with "the right" education they will never have to do physical labor. They fail to tell kids that someone still has to do the actual work, that there are more people building the cars, offices, drilling the wells, harvesting the raw materials, than there are overpaid CEOs.

When some of these folks hit the real world, after paying for or going into debt for "the right" education, they find out those jobs are mostly non-existant. Some have the attitude that they basically paid for that dream job, and dont want to "settle" for anything below them.

[Highdesert Splintermaker]

Chris:

 

From personal experience I can say, an occasional rant is a good thing.  If you've read some of my posts on this forum, you already know what I mean.

 

Hold your head up and don't let any venue where political correctness is the rule suggest you do otherwise.

 

You sound like a person of integrity, a quality that is it's own reward and brings peace of mind.  Good for you!

 

A lot of those around us, especially those who have little or no ability to do anything with their own two hands, desperately need something to boast about just so they can feel worthy in your presence.

 

In the final analysis we aren't judged by how much and how expensive our possessions are but what we've done with what we have and what God gave us. 

 

Keep in mind, never be afraid to make a fool of yourself by simply being yourself because, people who mind don't matter and people who matter don't mind.

[Conductor562]

I was one of those "too smart for their own good" type of kids. I'd dick off all week, never do my homework, and ace the test. It drove my teachers crazy.

When they'd give me some speech about college I'd just laugh. Even at 16 I could look at the job market and see my best opportunity was in the industrial arena where jobs were unionized and seniority was the key. I theorized that every day spent in college was 1 more man ahead of me on a seniority roster.

My teachers were appalled by this notion and went as far as telling me I was fixing to waste my life. Being hard headed and confident in my assessment, I began looking for work. I got a laborer's card to pay the bills while I tried to get on the RR. I knew people on the RR and knew they were going to be hiring a bunch of people. I went, took all the tests, actually got the highest score they'd ever had, and went to the top of the hiring list. You had to have 2 years full-time experience to be eligible and I got hired the 2nd month I was eligible.

There is nobody on the roster who is younger than me in age and older in seniority, meaning I will someday be #1. At 30 years old I bought the biggest house in town, my wife doesn't work, we have 4 kids, and trade vehicles every 3-4 years. We take nice vacations, and there is nobody I went to school with who makes more than I do less 1 guy who is a chemical engineer, but had to move to Texas for a job.

All and all I feel my gamble paid off. There was a little luck and a lot of answered prayers that helped me along, but nobody ever prospered without that.

I've lived my life how I wanted to live it. I did what I wanted to do and I walk through life carrying no regrets. A lot of being good at life is about self awareness. Knowing your own strengths and more importantly, your own weaknesses. Learn to make those strengths work for you, and learn to compensate for your weaknesses. Go where they take you, and don't 2nd guess fate. Play like hell with the hand you're dealt. Like the song says, know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em.

Sometimes life needs to be taken by the balls. When that time comes, you'd better have your gloves on.

[Pennywise]

We've had the same problem in the UK too with government and society dictating that the only route that all children should be looking to is the degree level education, for the best paid jobs etc. so much so that kids that shouldn't ever have gone to university do and come out of the system with some weird and wonderful degree in hamster petting or a more sensible one psychology!,with no real job prospects as the job market is flooded with the same people, then at the same time they look down on the vocational jobs that they now think are below them because they have the degree. Attitudes have definately changed over the years, I started out in the camp of you will do A levels you will go to university and then get a "good" job, then at around 16 I discovered vocational work and saw that people where looking at these types of jobs on a new level as the shortage was so great the guys who where left doing say plumbing and plastering where earning a fortune! And you can't do much more to climb the social ladder quicker than to earn a fortune. So I left my private boarding school and went into becoming an electrican, I'm now a home owner, pretty much can't be made redundant and have skills I can take anywhere. I think I came away with more than most of my friends , as a lot are barristers, solicitors, civil engineers and architects, they earn more than me but socially we are all on the same level now. Though now looking at it I don't want everyone doing what I did otherwise rates will have to drop lol.

[Conductor562]

The tides will eventually turn. Universities are slowly pricing themselves out of business. My cousin has a $75,000 debt for a business degree. He works for the state and make 1/3 of what I do.

[Highdesert Splintermaker]

Pennywise & Conductor:

 

It sounds like both your lives just go to prove that the system isn't always right but, more importantly, that when you pursue what you feel most drawn to, stay with it, and do it well - it pays off. Not in just monetary rewards but more importantly in satisfaction as well.

 

You're right about the cost of a college degree these days. My daughter-in-law had student loans to become a landscape architect. After graduation she spent the next four years working for the State of California paying off most of her student loan debt. She and my son married while they were still in school. About the time her student loan was close to being paid off they started having kids. Six kids later, and she is home schooling them, and just in the last couple years they managed to finally pay off the last of her student loan. My son has a good job with the Ca. Dept. of Corrections.     

[NicholasShetley]

Luckily I am getting my tuition paid for by a state program. It would have been about 15,000 for two years but all I have to pay for is room and board and whatever else is needed.

[TylerDama]

I was one of those "too smart for their own good" type of kids. I'd dick off all week, never do my homework, and ace the test. It drove my teachers crazy.

When they'd give me some speech about college I'd just laugh. Even at 16 I could look at the job market and see my best opportunity was in the industrial arena where jobs were unionized and seniority was the key. I theorized that every day spent in college was 1 more man ahead of me on a seniority roster.

My teachers were appalled by this notion and went as far as telling me I was fixing to waste my life. Being hard headed and confident in my assessment, I began looking for work. I got a laborer's card to pay the bills while I tried to get on the RR. I knew people on the RR and knew they were going to be hiring a bunch of people. I went, took all the tests, actually got the highest score they'd ever had, and went to the top of the hiring list. You had to have 2 years full-time experience to be eligible and I got hired the 2nd month I was eligible.

There is nobody on the roster who is younger than me in age and older in seniority, meaning I will someday be #1. At 30 years old I bought the biggest house in town, my wife doesn't work, we have 4 kids, and trade vehicles every 3-4 years. We take nice vacations, and there is nobody I went to school with who makes more than I do less 1 guy who is a chemical engineer, but had to move to Texas for a job.

All and all I feel my gamble paid off. There was a little luck and a lot of answered prayers that helped me along, but nobody ever prospered without that.

I've lived my life how I wanted to live it. I did what I wanted to do and I walk through life carrying no regrets. A lot of being good at life is about self awareness. Knowing your own strengths and more importantly, your own weaknesses. Learn to make those strengths work for you, and learn to compensate for your weaknesses. Go where they take you, and don't 2nd guess fate. Play like hell with the hand you're dealt. Like the song says, know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em.

Sometimes life needs to be taken by the balls. When that time comes, you'd better have your gloves on.

From the perspective of a young person that is just entering into a trade it is really nice to see that real hard work is (can be) the right path a oppose to formal four year schooling. 

[regopit]

OK let me weight in here on my feelings about education and the trades. I graduated from high school in 1976 jumped in a VW bus with my girlfriend and two friends and took off two see the country. We drove from state to state; picking up whatever jobs we could to put gas in the bus, food on the table and a place to sleep (I think you would be hard pressed to do something like that these days). Married my girlfriend in Las Vegas at the tender age of 18 and learned a lot about people and life. Therefore, after living like Gypsy’s for a year I came back home with a wife and about 50 bucks in my pocket and no job.  I figured I would go work for my Dad and uncles but they did not have enough work to hire me and keep everyone else they had working. I was lucky to get a job with the local utility working in gas construction digging ditches. Home construction started to pick up so I would work for my dad whenever I could.

 

The Skill set that I've learned over my life are irreplaceable. Working for the family, I learned all phases of home building and remolding and took over the business after they retired. Working for the utility, I started out digging ditches, pipe fitting, running heavy equipment, welding, welding on live gas main, and retired after 35 years as a crew leader.

 

I have paid off $300,000 in medical bills that came in after my first wife passed away and the medical insurance ran out (There goes that beach house always wanted) and it only took me 15 years but I did it. Put my daughter through college bought vehicles, pay my mortgage, and do just about anything I what to do. All of this on a 12^th grade education. Was it easy? Hell no but I took responsibility for my family and myself and worked my ass off and to make it happen but if the bottom fell out tomorrow I could get a job in the trades doing something.  

 

Let’s face it not everyone is cut out for college and not everyone is cut out for the trades but college is not a guarantee to a good job making big money. I feel lucky that the three kids that went to college are all working in the field they went to school for and are making a living.  Pick what you want to do, learn it and be the best at it that's all you really can ask for.