'White-Collar Workers Shouldn't Dismiss a Blue-Collar Career Change' (msn.com)
- Reference: 0180584906
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/26/01/15/145254/white-collar-workers-shouldnt-dismiss-a-blue-collar-career-change
- Source link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/white-collar-workers-shouldn-t-dismiss-a-blue-collar-career-change/ar-AA1UeBlC
At Crash Champions, a car-repair chain that has grown from 13 locations in 2019 to about 650 shops across 38 states, service advisers start at roughly $60,000 after a six-month apprenticeship and can double that within 18 months, according to CEO Matt Ebert. Directors overseeing multiple locations earn more than $200,000. Power Home Remodeling, a PE-backed construction company, says tech sales professionals earning $85,000 to $100,000 could make lateral moves after a 10-week training program.
The share of workers in their early 20s employed in blue-collar roles rose from 16.3% in 2019 to 18.4% in 2024, according to ADP -- five times the increase among 35- to 39-year-olds.
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/white-collar-workers-shouldn-t-dismiss-a-blue-collar-career-change/ar-AA1UeBlC
Why? (Score:2)
So they can be treated as even worse than they were as an office drone? I mean, it isn't like they were treated that well as an office drone. The offer to treat them even worse is not that appealing.
Even today most of the people I know in various trades tell their kids it's better to go to college if they don't want to get treated like crap by their employers. One master machinist, over a decade of experience turning out stuff at a level CNC has trouble replicating. He helps design the programs. None of
Re: (Score:2)
Office Space Peter's construction "career" was a greener grass MacGuffin.
Re: (Score:2)
Where is this horrible world in which you live located? Mine seems to have many more decent people in it, so I'd like to avoid yours.
health (Score:2)
if you're in good health, sure it's possible, but I doubt people sitting at a desk from 9 to 5 for half a life time are in good health.
Private-equity invesments (Score:2, Insightful)
> the blue-collar sector, which faces a labor shortage and is seeing rapid transformation through private-equity investment
Private-equity investment: the stuff of nightmares for consumers.
Now plumbers will be required to hit quotas and other similar bullshit to serve their owners instead of customers.
Re: (Score:3)
First they came for the veterinarians...
Roofer (Score:5, Interesting)
Just had my roof replaced. The guy that did coordination (and got on the roof several times to do surveys etc) was an ex banker. It turned into almost a year long thing due to insurance. But he started showing up in a Forerunner and ended up in a full size gmc truck denali trim. I think he was making more as a roofer. Much more. I expect his banking skills for handling paper was pretty useful to the roofing company for handling insurance. Probably in his early 30's.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, but that guy was "early 30s." Can you see an "early 50s" guy doing that? I'm late 50s, and probably could, but only because I actively workout to stay in shape. I could literally haul myself up on a rope to the roof, because I train for that. (It's actually kinda fun.) My contemporaries? Ugh. Yeah, not so much. They can barely get in and out of their vehicles.
Re: (Score:2)
No I don't. His boss was in his 40's I think and he too schlupped easily up the roof. Mind you a 2 story, fairly steep with one side 3 stories from the ground. The owner who I never met was probably older still and may not be jumping on roofs anymore. So changing to blue in your 30's is possible and still be able to move "up the ladder" a pun in this case. I also have used a tree guy who does stuff I would not dare ponder in trees and on roofs even when I was in my 20's. He is in his late 50's I think. Funn
Re: (Score:2)
> But he started showing up in a Forerunner and ended up in a full size gmc truck denali trim. I think he was making more as a roofer.
So what you're saying is he started off with a truck and ended up $100k of debt? Never underestimate how expensive it is to appear rich. I know lots of people like this. Several of my friends, quite a few of my sub contractors, they look like they earn a lot more than I do as part of some twisted dick waving contest among blue collar workers to drive the biggest baddest looking thing they can, and more importantly they all did it straight out of their apprenticeships. Banks are more than willing to help you
Re: (Score:2)
Its an old company, they aren't going anywhere. This guy was a new employee. And given what the roof cost, I expect he and the others are paid quite well. If you are getting high end windows by a reputable firm, you know what trades people make. Take a look at roofers generally. One co I passed on drove a cybertruck. They were a newbie. Like I would use them. As to why he switched from banking no idea. His interpersonal skills were very good, he was responsive to questions/issues, he seemed to like doing ou
tech sales professionals (Score:2)
"tech sales professionals" isn't that a white collar job? And director of multiple car-repair shop locations as well.
Re: tech sales professionals (Score:2)
This was my thought also, there can be white collar positions in a blue collar industry. It reminds me of how there is often reference to 'tech jobs' when really they mean 'a regular ob at a tech company'
Re: (Score:2)
Sales is for sure, as is management. But for managing the repair shops, maybe they were trying to say that one could move up to a white-collar role?
Re: (Score:2)
I don't think service advisors "move up" from the mechanics. Last time I visted one he was surprised that I changed my own spark plugs. He asked if I had, you know, the special tools. I thought he meant a torque wrench. He actually meant a sparkplug socket.
Re: (Score:2)
Service advisor is the guy at the dealership's service desk who takes your keys and delivers you the invoice.
None of the examples they give are really blue collar. I bet they all wear white shirts too.
Lack of Experience (Score:3)
I seriously looked into this when I was unemployed for 6 months as a marketing designer. I'm pretty handy with construction and have done many remodels on my own. I have friends in construction who make a similar salary, but they all have supervisory and licensed roles and have been doing it for many years and it would take me many years to get the same place. I'm currently in my 40s.
Also, some fields require significant training, certifications and tests like electricians. The inner kid in me also kind of wanted to get into running some kind of heavy earthmoving equipment, or maybe a crane. But those are also difficult areas to get into quickly.
The one area where I could jump in and get a pretty similar salary quickly was doing cell tower repair. But that requires a ton of travel and clearly is dangerous and my partner nixed it as my body isn't what it used to be.
Eventually I got back into corp life, this time in pharma, and I'm doing just fine. But I do wonder what my life could have been like.
Also, fuck private equity. They squeeze the life out of almost every business they touch, and move on to the next target after having maximized shareholder value.
Re: (Score:2)
Mast repair technicians have had a reputation for not using safety equipment consistently and properly. Also, I think they should have parachutes or some sort of device that can tangle on a structure to arrest a fall.
Re: (Score:2)
> But those are also difficult areas to get into quickly.
Not just quickly, but it's also difficult to get ahead. Yeah I know tradesmen earning $250k+, they fall into the category of:
a) Rare enough to have a skill set to make it into effective business management.
b) Life-flexible enough to take on really REALLY shit jobs like flying off to some offshore facility for 2 weeks at a time doing 12h shifts with insanely limited quality of life.
The reality is most tradesmen are in fact average earners. But we don't talk about them. We only talk about your potential to tu
This ain't new, remember The Money Pit movie (Score:1)
Plumbers arrived in Ferrari.
Car Repair (Score:5, Informative)
I worked my way through college as an auto mechanic. It's the shittiest job on earth. Is there a shortage of auto mechanics? Yes. And there's a reason for that. It's back breaking work, almost always without heat or air conditioning. You bleed on the job every single day. I had to buy thousands of dollars of tools. Long term techs end up with six figures worth of tools, all paid for themselves.
But the worst part is the pay. Flat Rate. There's a book that says how long a specific repair should take, and you get paid that. If it says 3 hours, and a rusted bolt breaks off and you spend an extra 2 hours extracting it, you don't get paid for that. If it's a slow day and there isn't work to do, you don't get paid for that. If a customer doesn't pay their bill, you don't get paid for that either.
The only way to make money as an auto mechanic is to rip people off. Cut corners. Recommend unnecessary service and then don't actually do it. If you feel like you get ripped off at the repair shop - it's Flat Rate. No honest mechanic can make a living.
There's no freaking way a "service advisor" makes $120k. That's the guy at the counter you talk to when you walk in, and they're the dumbest people in the whole shop.
Re:Car Repair (Score:5, Interesting)
>> But the worst part is the pay. Flat Rate. There's a book that says how long a specific repair should take, and you get paid that. If it says 3 hours, and a rusted bolt breaks off and you spend an extra 2 hours extracting it, you don't get paid for that.
That's because workers in the USA let corporate America buttfuck you and you just accept it. I used to be an auto mechanic here in the UK. We get paid an hourly rare. If it says three hours to do the job and it takes us 5hrs we get 5hrs pay. I'm now a lorry driver, a trucker. In the USA truckers only get paid mileage so only get paid whilst the wheels are turning, nothing for when they're getting loaded or unloaded or waiting. Here in the UK we get paid by the hour for every hour we're at work, many companies including mine also pay us when we're taking our mandatorily required 45 minute driving breaks.
Re: (Score:2)
> I'm now a lorry driver, a trucker. In the USA truckers only get paid mileage so only get paid whilst the wheels are turning, nothing for when they're getting loaded or unloaded or waiting. Here in the UK we get paid by the hour for every hour we're at work, many companies including mine also pay us when we're taking our mandatorily required 45 minute driving breaks.
Piffle! In U.S. blue states, truckers are considered so overpaid that it’s necessary for them to flood the licensed labor pool with a
Re: (Score:2)
It's not that we but corporations but fuck us, old people let corporations but fuck us. Every time we try to stop corporations from doing that old people get upset about trans or woke or violent video games or whatever the fuck is going on or they get scared of terrorisms or whatever and they put pro corporate people in charge of everything. If all else fails the corpos tell the old people that they're coming for your Medicare and social security and they get so scared again they vote.
I once saw a comme
Re: (Score:2)
Sure I'm an ol' fart SG ... lover of the American republic, productive citizens and Anglo common-law ... who would love seeing you on-the-street. Mebby throwing fire-bombs like your Portland pals ... mebby parading with fellow ICE-attackers at a firehouse or back-stabbing Jewish women on a college campus. Oh yes ... that's you SG with your rancid collectivist pals . Please, get your SJW Trotsky-sluts together and attack my car as I drive to an urban park. Wave a club, throw a rock, l
Re: (Score:3)
My dad and grandpa were both mechanics. I'd do anything else because it wears you out and it's working with toxic stuff. My dad lost his electric & A/C auto specialty shop because he ruptured a herniated disc around C7. Grandpa did it for 30 years at a dealer, but ended up worn out and with bladder cancer from exposure to a specific solvent.
Re: (Score:1)
If you do anything for 30-40 years, you get worn out. If you do nothing for 30-40 years, you get worn out.
I hate to break it to you, but our bodies wear out.
And I'm just waiting for the day that California announces that IT work causes cancer somehow.
Re: (Score:2)
I spent a few hours replacing the carburetor on my kid's snowblower, and my back was jacked up the rest of the day from bending over it. Thank goodness it was a one-day thing. Ooof.
Re: (Score:2)
> I spent a few hours replacing the carburetor on my kid's snowblower, and my back was jacked up the rest of the day from bending over it. Thank goodness it was a one-day thing. Ooof.
Next time put it on a work table
Re: (Score:2)
I recently bent over a washing machine for several hours to effect a major repair, like I hadn't done in 15 years. Afterward, I lied on the floor, being still, for 15 minutes. Then I started slowly stretching every body part. As a 9-5 desk jockey in his 50s, even I was surprised when there was no fallout the next day.
Re: (Score:1)
A friend of mine is/was a heavy duty mechanic. (This was about 30 years ago and I haven't seen him since then so he might be retired now.)
He loved Chilton labour time. He told me that he, as a good hd mechanic, usually did 10 to 12 hours of paid labour in an 8 hour day.
I think it depends on your ability and organization skills.
Re: (Score:1)
> A friend of mine is/was a heavy duty mechanic. (This was about 30 years ago and I haven't seen him since then so he might be retired now.)
> He loved Chilton labour time. He told me that he, as a good hd mechanic, usually did 10 to 12 hours of paid labour in an 8 hour day.
> I think it depends on your ability and organization skills.
When I was in a shop we all knew which jobs had high labor hours that could be done in a lot less time. There is also duplicate time charging. For example, if you were replacing a lower control arm and a half shaft they just sum up the labor on those two separate tasks even though there is high overlap in the actual work involved. I'm surprised it's never been tested in court.
Re: (Score:2)
Honda has a factory mechanic do a job three times in a row, and the shortest time becomes the book time. It's a brand new vehicle, no corrosion, tech knows exactly what to do, all fasteners have been broken loose at least once, and all tools on the bench. No paperwork. No bringing the vehicle in or taking it out. No waiting for parts / getting the wrong parts. It's totally unfair. When I did it for a living, the shop charged $65/hr and I only got paid $12.50/hr. All the guys I worked with who had fam
Re: (Score:1)
i do my own car servicing and its a ball ache. had to replace some diff mounts and some bolts snapped off. had to drill them out, took hours on our backs drilling into the hardened bolts
i dont think i ever want to do that as a job.
Ive also landscaped my garden and helped with someone elses. It was fun enough but really hard work and theres no way i could do that full time.
im not unfit but am in my mid 40s.
Re: (Score:1)
> i do my own car servicing and its a ball ache. had to replace some diff mounts and some bolts snapped off. had to drill them out, took hours on our backs drilling into the hardened bolts
> i dont think i ever want to do that as a job.
I've done it as a job and it is hard work but working in a shop is not the same as working at home. A shop has lifts and as a pro you will have lots of tools and help from other techs. We would have heated/frozen/lubricated a bolt long before snapping or rounding it. But wrenching for a living does require that you work fast and charge plenty, and you do get burned/scratched/bruised a lot. At home you can take your time, cut corners, do it cheap. But laying on your back, working at odd angles, and not ha
Re: (Score:2)
You're forgetting the corollary to that. If the book says 3 hours and you get it done in 1, you still get paid for 3. You'll still sometimes get screwed by no fault of your own, but if you're good at the job, and try hard you can bill a lot more than 8 hours a day.
Nope (Score:4, Insightful)
> Directors overseeing multiple locations earn more than $200,000.
This is not a blue-collar job: this is business management. Counting them as "blue-collar" because they manage blue-collar workers is a huge stretch.
And when the economy tanks (we're probably already in a recession), these blue-collar jobs disappear first.
Work in a trade if you like. I have nothing but respect for people who work for a living. But it's not a panacea and blue collar work comes with its own challenges (it's hard on your body, particularly as you age), there's limits on upward mobility in most blue-collar positions, and perhaps it is harder to replace a blue-collar job with AI but there are plenty of robots, machines, and engineering innovations that will replace you just as quickly.
Re: (Score:2)
> This is not a blue-collar job: this is business management. Counting them as "blue-collar" because they manage blue-collar workers is a huge stretch.
This is also not the main job at the company. How many employees work there who are not directors? Tell me what *they* earn. What's the median job, not the over inflated promise for the pathetically few who can climb to the top of the corporate ladder?
How times change (Score:2)
Remember when the promise of technology was to free us from hard labor and menial tasks?
Hard on the body (Score:4, Informative)
Neck, back, knees, rotator cuff, lungs, ... blue collar work is inherently dangerous and wears out the body.
Welders have to worry about inhaling metal fumes, burns, and ionizing radiation from harsh UV.
Mechanics have to worry about their necks, backs, arms, hands, fingers, being crushed by vehicles, and breathing or absorbing toxic chemicals.
Even without enduring an acute injury, the extra wear on one's body takes its toll and forces people out.
I didn't even do blue collar work and I can't even sit or stand for 2 hours continuously, I can't lift heavy objects, and my eyesight isn't that good.
Re: (Score:1)
By saying, "I didn't even do blue collar work", aren't you also saying that the rest of your post was a set of unfounded assumptions?
Re: (Score:2)
You don't *like* inhaling metal fumes?
Probably My Next Step (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm 61 and a laid-off IT Project Manager. I'm looking at going into other areas, and interviewed for a position managing facilities upgrade and construction projects.
My fallback (and it's looking more likely) is that I take early retirement and work as a security guard. I'm in a fortunate position in that my house is paid off and my adult kids live with us and are able to help with the bills.
Neither of my kids work in technology. One is in HVAC and the other is in the mental health field.
The more I think about it, the better I feel about my future. I've done the best I could.
"You will own nothing and like it" (Score:1)
Yes, white collar workers should be glad to move down from the middle class to the lower one. Also, they should be glad to do physically demanding work that will be increasing hard on their bodies as they age. And they should be glad to fucking suck it.
Baa harder, sheep.
Re: (Score:1)
Envious of your betters , yet hating a more productive employment than current. Feeling entitled?
"I am a true laborer: I earn that I eat, get that I wear, owe no man hate, envy no man's happiness, glad of other men's good, content with my harm."
That's right. Drop down the socioeconomic ladder. (Score:5, Insightful)
Accept that your future has been stolen from you and drop down the socioeconomic ladder. The owner class no longer wants to pay you what you're worth, so what you're worth is less today than it was yesterday. Accept it. And STFU about how much you spent on education that we demanded you to get to be qualified for a life of mediocrity in the office. Now you can live a life of LESSER mediocrity in the plant. And fuck you for trying to climb, you selfish asshole.
Signed,
the owners.
Sales Jobs (Score:5, Insightful)
The "blue collar" jobs cited in the original post are sales jobs. The "service advisor" is the salesperson for a car repair shop. The "PE backed construction company" explicitly says the numbers are for sales. Given that most sales jobs are heavily commission based, it's pretty likely that the numbers cited for salaries are rosy projections that only the most productive salespeople will reach. These jobs aren't much different from selling cars. They have very little to do with being an auto mechanic or skilled tradesperson.
Absolutely. Considering this myself. (Score:2)
A little over a year ago I was about to fall into level 2 unemployment support (this is Gemany) while desperately looking for a job as a seasoned senior webdev. That means bare minimum support and you have to let your pants down finance wise and the bureau of labor is all over you like a cheap suit requiring you to take any job that comes along. Fair enough. I talked to my local scooter dealer and was ready to go into vehicle mechanics, a job I never would've dreamed of doing my entire life. I got a new dev
Re: (Score:2)
Don't dismiss the garbage disposal. Sure, it's trash, but you're barely dealing with people, which is up there in terms of worst aspect of the job.
As a youth, I cleaned offices and schools for my dad's cleaning business. This was after hours, so you walk in, empty the trash, sweep between the desks, maybe mop the floor if it clearly needs it, or vacuum, and move to the next one. Maybe it's the OCD, but there's nothing like looking at a tidy room with satisfaction before shutting off the lights. And, s
The higher paid examples don't sound blue-collar (Score:1)
I equate blue-collar work with manual work, like mechanics, building trades, manufacturing lines. Examples like "district manager" and "sales advisor" are not blue collar.
South Park called it (Score:2)
South Park called it, again:
https://youtu.be/Yc1_AY7mufM?t=77
"Computer Technology is the Future" (Score:2)
Every GenXer was lied to. Now they want us to slink back into Blue Collar careers. Fuck the rich.
If you're under 40 there's no reason to change (Score:5, Insightful)
If you're over 40 you can't physically do that anymore. Blue collar work is a lot harder than you think it is. You're not going to be able to keep up that kind of pace if you haven't been doing in your entire life and even then you're probably going to have issues.
There is a reason your local home Depot is full of Old Blue collar guys. It's because they blew out their knees or their back or whatever and they can't really do the work anymore.
That guy you know in his fifties who is still installing tile is a genetic freak and there are very very few of those and you are not one of them.
This is the super rich who have crashed the economy yet again trying to calm you down so you do not demand they fix the problem they caused.
Re:If you're under 40 there's no reason to change (Score:4, Interesting)
I happen to know a lot of factory workers and am well aware of how broken their bodies are. While some places push for ergonomics, many just see it as a hassle. Then you have some jobs such as plumbing or HVAC which just break you down over time because they were never designed in a way to be maintained.
Re: (Score:2)
Plumbing isn't usually considered "back-breaking labor" though. I've done that sort of work and have the bad back to prove it, but plumbers and HVAC techs don't have to carry anything near the loads I did.
Re: (Score:2)
You may not have to carry the very heaviest loads, but plumbing may require things like digging trenches, lifting heavy objects (like porcelain toilets), and dealing with literal shit.
Re: (Score:2)
All of which I am perfectly capable of dealing with, even with my bad back. I know this from, in recent years, having replaced a toilet, dug holes, and raised dogs. None of which compared to working at a moving company.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah but... replaces _a_ toilet? Dug "holes"? I mean, at least the holes are plural, but how plural? Can you maybe concede that there might be a bit of a difference between doing a few home improvement projects and doing this kind of work day in and day out for decades on end?
I mean, I've broken rocks to get the internal contents, but it doesn't make me a miner. I don't go around claiming that black lung disease in coal miners isn't an occupational hazard because it didn't happen to me. I've done some metal
Re: (Score:2)
> There are many snowflakes on this thread who don't seem to have a clue.
You appear to be talking about yourself. What is being discussed here are occupational repetitive stress injuries. Obviously "heavy" is relative. You sound like the kind of dope who leaps onto the track with runners in the middle of the 1500 meter and sprints past them for a short distance, then brags about what a superior runner you are.
Re: (Score:2)
I would think that plumbing would be a good job that's hard to replace with bots.
I've done plumbing and hate it. It always leaks for me. Plumbers are expensive.
Re: (Score:2)
Oh, I'm with you on that. My wife has essentially banned me from trying it since my temper tends to take over.
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, plumbing requires a lot of bending, stooping, contorting your body in tight spaces, putting elbow grease in loosening nuts, bolts, tight fitting pipes, etc. Over time your joints will feel it (back problems, shoulder problems, knee problems). It's why you normally see a 50 year old plumber with a 20 something year old junior plumber. Plumbing is physically demanding as you get older.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, and those are problems for some people. But joint problems are inevitable, regardless of profession. Which joints may vary, but they're going to hurt no matter what you do for a living.
Re: (Score:2)
> Plumbing isn't usually considered "back-breaking labor" though. I've done that sort of work and have the bad back to prove it, but plumbers and HVAC techs don't have to carry anything near the loads I did.
Plumbing isn't considered back-breaking labor because you have to carry heavy things. It's considered back-breaking labor because you have to do things like twist your body to work under sinks, crawl on your back on uneven ground in crawl spaces, work on basement ceilings with your back arched and head back constantly holding your arms up, etc. Just as nucrash said, so much of it was never made to be maintained.
Re: (Score:2)
What do you mean "...you are just doing it wrong" (also, was this supposed to be in response to Sabbede? It seems like maybe you meant to respond to nucrash)? Who are you saying was claiming this was their personal problem as opposed to being a problem for other people? In any case, regarding your personal anecdote, it does sound like the other person you were referring to was, indeed, doing it wrong. However, it has to be noted that it's still pretty likely that you yourself were probably A. fortunate to
Factory work barely counts (Score:2)
Because automation means there are very few factory jobs. We are never going to see the heyday of massive factories filled with union workers making good livings because even if the factories ever do come back they're going to be full robots not workers.
Re: (Score:3)
Not to mention that $60,000 a year for a starting salary is peanuts in 2025. You can barely feed and house yourself with that salary in high cost of living states, let alone feed a family.
That might have been a livable wage 20 years ago, but now it's just a small step over the minimum wage of $17 a hour in states like California and New York.
Re:If you're under 40 there's no reason to change (Score:4, Insightful)
Ok, in NY and California. But there are plenty of States where that is higher than the average. Plus, it's just the starting pay - "and can double that within 18 months".
It isn't "peanuts".
Re: (Score:2)
Ya know, NY is actually much bigger than NYC. Outside of NYC, the Hudson Valley, Syracuse, Albany, Rochester, and Buffalo, $60k is a reasonable - if not comfortable - salary.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, I grew up in Orange County, but I bet it's still real cheap to live up in Utica.
60k isn’t peanuts! (Score:4, Interesting)
> Not to mention that $60,000 a year for a starting salary is peanuts in 2025. You can barely feed and house yourself with that salary in high cost of living states, let alone feed a family.
> That might have been a livable wage 20 years ago, but now it's just a small step over the minimum wage of $17 a hour in states like California and New York.
60k is an excellent starting salary! Especially after considering that the national median is 63k, regardless of experience. And as for “high cost of living” areas, NYC median salary is “only” 70k regardless of experience - and it’s guaranteed that almost all of those 70k workers started far below 60k.
But wait! There’s more! That “Small step over minimum wage” is mathematically ridiculous. Even a generous city’s minimum wage is $17/hr full-time. That’s 35k a year, so 60k is ~70% higher than that.
Re: (Score:3)
This is the super rich who have crashed the economy yet again trying to calm you down so you do not demand they fix the problem they caused.
There is a continued push to convince people to do things, or have their kids do things, the speaker won't do themselves:
- Join the military
- Skip college
- Take up the trades
- Nursing!
- Do manual, unskilled labor
All of those are fine options in theory, but there are definitely reasons we aren't doing them until better options have run out. I'm not optimistic those rea
Re: (Score:3)
Well, so far as physical labor goes, maybe not. I certainly couldn't go back to hauling hundreds of pounds of seafood or furniture around like I did in my 20's. But, I am physically capable of doing plumbing, HVAC, auto-repair, facilities maintenance, manufacturing, much construction/carpentry, trucking... And I think that is the case for most adult men of working age.
What I am not is, "good at any of those things". Nor am I really interested in being good at those things. That's the rub for me.
I
Re: (Score:2)
As someone who was a programmer in another life and now does tradework pushing almost 50 I can say that this is 100% truth.
Re: (Score:2)
I understood everything you wrote until the end: the super rich caused aging? It sounds like I would be 35, instead of in my 50s, if it weren't for assholes like Bezos.
If you're right, I really do have something to be extremely angry about, but could you maybe show your work here? I wanna look at everywhere you use the t variable in your equations, just in case you might have made a mistake.
Re: (Score:2)
> This is the super rich who have crashed the economy yet again trying to calm you down so you do not demand they fix the problem they caused.
There's only so much cake to go around. /s
Re: (Score:2)
> Most folks in their 50s absolutely can still do it. At least they can if they have been doing it and are in shape from doing it.
Yeah, I've never bought into the "uh... I'm way to old to be doing anything like that" when they're 42. I'm ten years older than that and still cook part-time on the weekends (and if all else fails, I'll move to full-time). I do 200 covers a shift minimum, and can keep pace with dudes half my age without a problem.
You're supposed to be highly-skilled, college-educated, big-brained, white-collar people. Are you telling me the concept of working smart rather than hard is beyond your grasp?
Re:If you're under 40 there's no reason to change (Score:5, Insightful)
Which is of course is why everyone is so manic about ICE, for the last 40 years we have been fed the propoganda that immigration is inevitable.
People are manic about ICE because they've been given free rein to kidnap and now even murder people, people who aren't even here illegally, and who aren't even foreign nationals, with the full support of the president and his fully owned justice department.
People aren't manic because of your utterly moronic conspiracy theories. Watch the fucking video.
Re: (Score:1)
> Watch the fucking video.
Watch ALL of the videos - not just the ones curated by “defund the police” geniuses.
PSA: Stop painting swastikas on Teslas and Jewish businesses.
Re: (Score:2)
I've watched them all. The car never hit Jonathan Ross. Even if it had even slightly nudged him, he shot Renee Good after any potential danger had already passed. That isn't self defense.
Re: (Score:2)
PSA: Stop painting swastikas on Teslas and Jewish businesses.
It's pretty sick of you to accuse a Jew of painting swastikas.
Re: (Score:2)
> PSA: Stop painting swastikas on Teslas and Jewish businesses.
Thank you for spreading the word,
> It's pretty sick of you to accuse a Jew of painting swastikas.
I obviously made no such accusation.
It’s perfectly correct that it’s immoral to implicate arbitrary federal officials, Jewish home dwellers, or Tesla drivers as being “Nazis”.
It’s perfectly wrong to assume that pointing out such obvious immorality is, in fact, immoral, is somehow tantamount to “accusing a Jew of painting Swastikas”.
PSA: Stop painting swastikas on Teslas and Jewish businesses.
Re: (Score:2)
I obviously made no such accusation.
Was your PSA not directed at me?
Re:If you're under 40 there's no reason to change (Score:5, Insightful)
Know how I know you didn't watch the video of ICE murdering Good?
Yeah safer not to watch it. Couldn't have your stupid conspiracy theories challenged by actual facts.
Re: (Score:2)
But I did. She was obstructing justice, then assaulted a federal agent while trying to evade arrest. I'm not happy that she got herself killed, but I can't place the responsibility on anyone outside of that vehicle. I have no doubts whatsoever that there were people who wanted this to happen, and they are still trying to pour gas on that fire. You are their unwitting pawn.
The worst part is that none of it needed to happen. This is the direct result of the State's "sanctuary" policies. Had the State
Re: (Score:2)
So the penalty of obstructing justice is now DEATH? Do you hear yourself?
He's controlling the narrative (Score:2)
So when they tell these obvious lies it makes the conversation about the lies and not about how a pretty white woman was gunned down by cops and being white no longer keeps you safe from police violence.
That last one is especially important to keep out of the conversation. White privilege has been a thing in the past. But it is increasingly less of a thing. There's actually been a bit of a problem because cops don't have enough people to arrest so they are arresting sober people on DUI charges and there
Re: (Score:2)
> White privilege has been a thing in the past. But it is increasingly less of a thing.
So... racial equality at last?
Re:If you're under 40 there's no reason to change (Score:5, Insightful)
Wait... Ice was trying to arrest the president?
Re: (Score:2)
No, they were trying to apprehend and deport illegal aliens convicted of raping children. What you want to imagine isn't even an accusation, let alone a conviction.
If you want to be pithy, don't base it on imaginary things.
Re: (Score:3)
So now you are telling me the first lady was involved too?
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah and they're turning the frogs gay!
Re: (Score:2)
Do I have an argument against an nu-evidenced and nu-provable conspiracy that has zero motive or makes any sense whatsoever?
No I do not and you don't deserve one until you put forward one actual piece of evidence that brought you to that idea.
Re: (Score:2)
> I did watch the video's all of them, including the mobile the agent had running. She created a dangerous situation, its unfortunate but he did what he had to do, and was right to do it.
Please explain why he fired after he was already out of any potential danger. Whether or not the vehicle hit him, he was clearly out of the way by the time he fired the first shot. How in your warped mind is that self defense?
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, because shooting the driver of a moving vehicle immediately brings the car to a dead stop. Well actually it doesn't.
At the distance involved, there was no logical way shooting the driver would have helped. It seems folks are trying to argue that a driver who got shot will immediately move her foot from the accelerator to the brake pedal and do it quickly enough to matter. I simply cannot grasp the idiocy needed to hold this position. The most logical thing (and per law enforcement policy, as far a
Re: (Score:2)
Don't put the burden on the individual because there are no magic bootstraps to do an impossible feat. People must unionize with functional and effective unions, a pension system must exist because we're in the 1910's all over again but with a dying Social Security, healthcare for all rather than a predatory healthcare system, and workers must work for worker-owned co-ops so they receive fair compensation for their labor rather than peanuts.
I never once see your side talk (Score:2)
Talk about legal immigration. I have never once seen any of you make a serious attempt to reduce the abuse of work visa programs.
You're all talk. All hat and no cattle. All you really want is the see some brown people get the shit kicked out of them. None of you are going to help Americans get good paying jobs. You're completely useless for that.
Meanwhile being white no longer protects people from the cops. That's what we learned in minnesota. That cop pretty obviously just wanted to murder somebody