I run a huge construction crew in michigan as well. I guess the difference is all the side work I do is with my hands. So I guess you could say during the day I'm white collar and after work I'm blue collar. |
Interesting question. My perspective is that blue collar is a frame of mind rather than a type of job. Consider this a compliment to most audiophiles: it doesn't seem to matter one whit. Love of music is a big equalizer.
That being said, my life has been one of engineering design and sales. I choose now to not work for anyone except myself. Maybe that makes me red, white and blue collar. |
I is a carpenter. Evan when I am involved in the 'white coller' aspects of my humble yet gratifying career, I am never far from labor and working with my hands.
Besides love of music, I also like to tinker, and create. I also love to exercise my brain. The mechanics and technology of fidelety in a audiophile type system is a great way to exercise this. My stereo is a hands on system. I get as much out of getting it to work better as I do for the purpose of making music.
At the risk of sounding prejudiced at white coller, if I had more expendable income, I would have much more expensive equipment, but I would still take it apart. My system is blue coller, if you will. I wonder how many 'white coller' audiophiles have 'blue coller' systems. |
I work in a large grinding wheel factory. I hang my head over 3000lb. grinding wheels ( while spinning 300 rpm )to support my hobby and my home. We all do what we have to do... |
I like to say I use my mind to solve problems then, use my hands to bring it to fruition. : )
I's be a machine repair tech. (injection molding)electronics,hydraulics,pneumatics.Never a dull day in my career of choice, problems are everchanging.
Having access to a complete tool room for "government work" is one of the perks. |
i dont want anybody to take this thread the wrong way,while i do enjoy what i do & it is quite a challenge to bring a million $ project in on time all the people i know in my personal life have a more(interesting)profession than industrial roofing.
i see alot of people who post that have jobs that are like engineering & photography & chemistry so i was curious as to how many people have regular joe schmo jobs like me.
mike. |
I work as a Machine Repairman for Ford Motor Company in Ohio, some times my blue collar is black with grease. |
Well I spent 31 years at General Motors Truck and Bus factory in Pontiac, Michigan..U.A.W. Local 594. I only found about 3-4 audiophiles like myself in all those years but no shortage of music lovers. The boom-boxes blasted all day up and down the lines.
Dave |
I'm an electrician for a municipality. Overtime $$ are spent on toys, and i am willing to sacrafice more than half of my weekends to being on call in order to keep my many hobbies interesting.
I normally work third shift, and tend to listen to classical music at work which raises more than a few eyebrows when people walk by my truck. |
Construction Superintendent / Project Manager on Bridges, Dams, Power Plants, etc. Started as Quality Control (rock counter) in a materials lab. |
Thorman: My Grandfather was foreman in a grinding wheel shop, the Abrasive Company, in the Philadelphia area. He worked there during the first depression and went under with "White Lung" disease.
Myself was a surface grinder in a machine tool shop for three years. Truing the wheels (with diamonds) fills the air with stuff you don't want to breath and the working coolant is rather nasty too.
I've been an IBM mainframe programmer for the last 18 years until the great american sellout of the tech sector. Only manglers (managers) and necessary technicians (doctors, liars, accountants, etc.) are allowed to make a good living, I guess.
My new job is still white collar, however; I throw baggage at an airport now (and DO where a white shirt!).
At least, like Bill Quateman says: "I've got my music..." |
I drive a big rig & owned my own for 10 yrs.
In my travels across the US & Canada I've been able to compile a list of music that I would never have heard staying local. For instance, I was just going through some old notebooks & discovered I had written down PJ Harvey & Peter Elliot from around 1992. I don't have a clue who Peter Elliot is though! |
Hey Driver,
That used to be one of my favorite parts of driving around different parts of the country. Too bad the "corporate stations" have taken over. Now I only find unique music on stations that are below 92 on the FM dial (College, public, etc).
It's kind of sad. Like fast food and chain stores, big money has killed the unique music of different areas.
Mind you, I'm not complaining, just longing for the old days. This is a great big country and I still enjoy the uniqueness of different Cities, States, Regions, but it's getting hard to find a decent radio station and a locally owned restaurant........
Oh, yeah, about PJ Harvey: I don't get it!!!!!
Enjoy,
TIC |
sogood51, i spent alot of time working on top of your plant over the years,general motors work is the mainstay of my trade.
mike. |
mike
Yep!, I've seen you guys up there many times. Just before I retired the EPA made them extend all the stacks...had helicopters and the whole bit going on up there.
Dave |
Hey Reubent,
The thing about PJ Harvey is it was new at the time & I didn't realize she went back that far. I take it you don't get her music? I only get some of it :-}
I would go as far as saying most radio is putrid redundancy & in fact I drove the last 550 or so miles of a road trip last week w/o listening to it. |
I guess I'm required to chime in on this thread having been an electrician for ever (23 years) and counting. I don't complain though, the trades pay for a nice house in the Santa Cruz mountains, plus all my toy's.
In my spare time I've been remodeling which has put me in touch with almost every trade. I haven't had to do any roofing yet, but today I was mixing and pouring concrete for my new fireplace hearth. Next week I'll be cutting marbel, and re-facing the fireplace. Then the Pergo floors are going in 900sqft.
I've got to pick up the pace a little since this is my listening room we're talking about. I'm without my main system until I get it all done :^( |
Driver,
Correct, I don't get PJ Harvey's music. Painful!!
About this thread: I have two different color collars that I wear depending on the day. I'm a manager for one of the big computer companies and I have a group of field service engineers that report to me. I'm also a licensed Realtor and help my wife when she has too many clients. I manage several rental properties that we own and I do a lot of repairs on those properties and maintain the lawns.
My favorite one of those jobs is actually the lawn care! Kind of a brainless activity that nets instant gratification!
Enjoy,
TIC |
Im a printer,spend my days crawling,climbing around a two story newspaper press, |
After an initial career in lab equipment manufacturing I slowly transformed into Boston's Subaruguru. Ha! So now I try to protect my piano-playing fingers while burning them on hot heads and cutting them when building PCs. Today's my b-day (52), so I just bought a pretty tippy kayak. Guess I'd better learn to swim....
My Dad mixed art and craft as the head sculpter-designer at Swank in Attleboro, designing and carving all their cuff links, tie bars, etc., for 40 years! So i grew up with a basement full of bushel baskets of tiny carvings of amy and all objects a kid could imagine. He and my uncles were all toolmakers, etc., and consummate handymen. I quickly jumped sideways into a corner room, mysteriously playing with electricity, becoming a kid Ham, and all that, then built a few speakers as a teen. An ivy engineering stint got me a decade of high tech exposure before the corporate blowup. Being self-employed is its own curse, but I still enjoy using my hands, although without the artism of my Dad. I played organ as a kid. He CARVED a solid gold 1/2" Hammond B for my mom's charm bracelet (yup, with 2x 61 keys...and pedalboard) back around '65, but he never played a note. Fortunately I enjoy my Steinway B now, but interestingly can't draw anything BUT a straight line! Ha! |
My career, if you can call it that, is about 15 years as a carpenter then 10 years at a local children's hospital as a maintenance tech. Been off work 5 months to the day due to a bad back.
I have enjoyed dirt bikes, four wheelers, fishing boats and cabinet making. Stereo equipment is easy on the back but has the same impact on the bank account........Pat |
speedball, i think all of us who have spent so many years in the trades have a bad back & knee's ,after 21 years of industrial roofing mine's like a bowl of jello, thank god im in management now.
good luck on the back.
mike. |
I eat white collar workers.
Blue collar workers are too tough to chew. |
Dragonhorns, so when a white collar worker says "Eat me", you oblige them? ;-) |
Dragonhorns, allow me: Only if she can give me a raise... |
Hey Janx..check out www.eatthis.com :<)
The worst white collar worker I ever munched on was a lawyer.
The huge roll of money in his silk trousers tasted like a cross between cheap French perfume and groin sweat.
It 'aint easy being a dragon.
VV |
I have no idea what kind of a collar i have.
Actually, im not even wearing a collar. Normally i go to work in Blue Jeans and a T-shirt.
I work as a telecommunications tech for one of the few surviving smaller telco's that has not been bought by SBC or QWEST.
SO.. whatever that makes me, i certainly dont earn money like a white collar worker, but i AM chained to my cubical 9 hours a day.
I hate my job, but i love the paychecks. One of these days im gonna get out of this life and work for myself.
I've been considering starting up an AV consulting/ installation business. Im pretty handy with tools and have done alot of cable installation back when i was younger. The onyl problem would be making the transistion from doing it part-time to full time. I guess if i feel like im turning down ALOT of jobs then it would be time.
Hats off to everyone who has a career they enjoy, regardless to the pay it brings in! |
My favorite collar has always been the one worn by Kermit the Frog. Once, when hosted The Tonight Show years ago, he eschewed the standard collar in favor of a more formal "black-tie" variety. Hilarious! |
Thank you all for posting. I've enjoyed hearing about your jobs.
Regards, |
I am a big city employee. I make decent bucks sitting around doing (almost) nothing, a lifer/loafer.
The pension fund is bulging and safe from takeovers/insurance schemes, and will carry me past any SS disaster when I retire. |
easy-Im surprised you would tell this to anyone! |
I am fixing slot machines at The Beau Rivage resort Casino in Biloxi MS. But also like to believe that i am an artist, in free time-which is almost never. So my philosophy is: Have a job, that you hate, that pays rent (and beer), and do something else after work that you love to do, even for free! For sanity.
|
Well I just toss boxes, for a living, really. I don't think that what you do has a big effect on your hobby though. It isn't even a money consideration either, as only a hiet colooar person could afford these products. Just look at guys who enjoy bass fishing. Most of those men would or could be considered "blue collar". Yet, those rigs can be upwards of 60K. Honestly, I think it has more to do what the old school Bose/industry marketing, in so much that, only an intelligent, highly educated, white collar worker would truly appreciate Bose/whomever's products. That is what people see and, sooner or later, it is what is believed. |
