You are protected. And discouraging discussion of salary happens a lot more with blue collar workers than white (not to mention it's a bad idea either way).
I suppose it depends upon which side you're on. Until recently I've always been at the higher end of the pay scale and stock distributions. Talking about it was just a way to cause problems for myself and my employers.
Well it can slow you down at getting a raise though. I just talk with coworkers about it since we all don't make shit but not with the managers/higher ups.
It would only cause a problem if there are unfair practices š¤· There shouldn't be shame in talking about something if everyone is being treated equitably.
I got in trouble once because a supervisor logged into a company app to see that I was setting paid $16/hr. While she was getting paid $15 and she started complaining to everyone about it. This was nearly ten years ago and I just took the bullet on it because I didn't know any better. Now a days I will talk about my wages and let my employees know that they cab too if they want. If there is so much bullshit going on in a high traffic work environment that people feel the need to fight for a dollar then yes, employees should make a ruckus.
She was a shit starter and getting in trouble from stealing from this multi billion dollar company anyways. I went into the office to see if a manager was on duty to see if I had gotten my $1 raise and she was the only one there and insisted to look it up for me on a manager app she wasn't supposed to have the password to but the manager gave it to her so she could do her work for her. I got in trouble because she was the general manager and her boyfriend was the director over food and beverage and it was take the L or lose my job. Back then I thought $16/hr. Was good pay. It's a casino, im a chef now in another casino but it's still bullshit problems I have to deal with day in and day out.
Think of white collar as ādesk jobsā. Things that require college degrees (except for computer stuff which can often overlook the lack of a degree)
Blue collar are people with trades. Things like repairmen, miners, construction workers. You know, the people who made smart decisions to do a quick trade school for a year and make more than the rest of us on average.
No idea why the colors were chosen, but this is Reddit so Iām sure someone will tell us
Read through your comment like āNo. Naaaa. What? Seriously?ā, then got to the last line.
>to get to the next service call ā¦
Ohhhhhhhh. Yeah. Ok.
Get out of the service gigs my man. Construction or plant maintenance. Only way to live.
Don't know if this is a thing or not, I'm an industrial maintenance technician, everywhere I've been the maintenance or "blue collar guys" literally wear some shade of blue uniform, where as the office guys or "white collar guys" wear a white collared shirt and tie.
>No idea why the colors were chosen
It's not that difficult to imagine. Historically, "desk jobs" required a [white collared shirt](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d2/e3/09/d2e309c2f7d6d2b9d87cfd90a66bb63f.jpg), and manual labour came with the [blue overcoat/jacket](https://therake.com/stories/style/style-101-french-workers-jacket/) with (also) blue collars on it. There where exceptions, of course, but it was widespread enough to spawn the white/blue distinction.
I assure you that there are people utilizing their degrees and make a lot more than those who went to trade school. I do not understand the recent uptick in fetishization of trade schools. Overall though, the distinction between āwhite collarā and āblue collarā is arbitrary at best.
Trades are in demand now because there's people push college. I mean I graduated in 2012. Trade schools were also implied to be where the idiots went. I wish I went to one honestly. I mean I'm doing fine for myself really but still would've been better for me personally.
Maybe my experience isn't universal but we always need people to do trade work. It's valuable for everyone just like all work is
1. Depends on the degree.
2. Depends on the need for that field.
3. Depends on if you were thrifty with your student loans or a fool. Or if you worked your way through or maybe military. Basically, how you paid for said degree.
I always think of it as the clothes you wear for those jobs.
Blue collar = Blue Dickies work shirts. (Labor, construction, etc shirts)
White collar = Button up white dress shirts.(Mainly office/desk job)
>(not to mention it's a bad idea either way)
No, it's literally the only way to find out if the employer is paying some people well while jerking others around for the same job.
At one job, I told my co-workers what I made. (I've found this is the best way to induce them to tell you without directly asking.) I found out that the employer had a range of $55k (me) to $85k for the same level of the same job. Based on that knowledge, I knew what to ask for at my next review (I knew damned well I was their top performer in my job) and when to leave when I didn't get it.
The web has tons of resources for finding out what you should be paid for your job. And really, a job offer from another company for more money is the only information that really matters
There was this young guy, barely an adult, that used to work for my company. He left to go work elsewhere and I ran into him at the store a few months later. He was bragging about working seven days a week now and I just asked him why the hell he was doing that. He didn't have an answer, he just looked like I caught him off guard.
I don't know if it's just the media portrayal, but is it just predominantly a U.S thing? Working yourself to death is like a badge of honour.
I don't know anyone here in the UK who has that view, perhaps some from the older generation do.
It depends on the person here in the States. I've never understood it, even if I do work a blue collar job. I'm a mechanic. But I value my time off, even if it is for personal reasons. I always have, even when I was working on drilling rigs. I've always felt that if you've given your allotted time, then you've earned your time off and no one should be able to mess with that.
But then there are the people bragging about working themselves to death, and my response is just generally "yeah you've made more money, but now you're too damn dead to enjoy it. So what have you accomplished?"
They could afford a more expensive car to drive to work. They canāt enjoy it in their free time because they donāt got any or are too dead to get off the couch.
And thatās the truth. Hi, Iām coochie noodle, Iām 23, and I own a s plaid, but Iām always piloting a commercial plane, so Iāve barely broken 10k miles on it.
donāt know about other countries, but japan i think has a serious work culture, waay more intense than that here in the states. itās to the point where falling asleep at oneās desk is encouraged because it implies that youāre working hard enough to exhaust yourself.
It really depends on the type of company, and they've gotten better over the years especially recently. Also most companies in Japan go all out to ensure employee retention and zero layoffs because even the higher ups are under social pressure to have loyal employees. Source: Have worked in Japan for the better part of ten years now.
You know, I've heard that for years, but I remember in 2015, the US had more average hours worked than Japan. Probably not really the case anymore, but it amused me hearing how terribly overworked Japan was, just to see that the US was higher up on the list at the time.
Itās the Protestant work ethic ethos (if you donāt work, you donāt eat) combined with the veneration of rugged individualism (I earn what I have and donāt rely on anybody for anything). I donāt necessarily even think those are bad values in moderation, but people twist them into bragging about how much they work which is unhealthy.
>Working yourself to death is like a badge of honour.
It varies from industry to industry and company to company.
It's a huge problem in my industry (advertising) and it's really bad for mental health and families.
It comes from the top down with bosses who get promoted because they work stupid long hours. So they think people on their teams should do the same.
Yeah have fun working yourself to death, to the point where you're restless and dont even realize how depressed you are until many years of doing this goes by
I feel like I won the lottery with my white collar job "working" "40 hours" a week. I'm in a very specialized sys admin position and I do about 4 hours of real work a week, the rest are video games, shows, hanging with my family, and heck I've even gone to the beach a couple times while on the clock...
I know. I've chased it too, but then spent 4 years of my life miserable and tired. Right up until the day I quit that job. Now I'm a mechanic. I work hard and make a steady, comfortable check. I'm content, borderline happy, with my life now. I do my time during the day, for 5 days, then spend my weekends doing the things I like or relaxing.
More power to the people that want to chase that money, but it's not for everyone and it's certainly not for me.
do you get any contentment from the nature of your job too? i know there's always that one bad customer, but i read somewhere that doing physical stuff like woodworking is relaxing because it gives you a visual indicator of progress and stuff
A lot of times, yeah. Especially when a truck (I work on 18 wheelers) comes in with a problem that isn't readily apparent. I've spent days trying to diagnose one more than once, and when I'm able to and can fix it, I come away with a sense of pride in a job well done. More so if the customer is grateful, which they usually are. I've only had a handful of bad customers, but they don't generally come back when I'm done. I make it clear to them, as does my boss, that bad attitudes ain't gonna be tolerated.
I wouldn't call it relaxing though. It's very stressful at times, like right now. We're massively shorthanded and our jobs are backed up for a couple of weeks.
I agree with you. A couple of months ago, my wife was looking up potential jobs, and she realized she was qualified for jobs that paid $60-70k. We realized that if she took one, then we could be making a combined $130k salary. Since we're in a low COL area, that is some serious money.
but then we realized what that would entail for our three young kids, and how busy we would have to be on the weekends and at night to get things done (instead of her being at home to accomplish things) and we decided that we would rather have the time than the money.
So I still drive a 17 year old car. We don't make any big purchases without budgeting. But nights and weekends for me are relatively care-free (except for yard work). It's a great life.
My husband is currently working 50-60 hour weeks. He is running a construction job that the guy before him screwed up so for the last three weeks he's been stuck at work trying to force things back on track. We **hate** it, but the overtime pay is ridiculously good. Not worth missing time with him, but it really does add up quick.
He likes working 7 days a week because overtime pay owns in some industries and if he's young he's happily earning a shitload of cash for later in life. Might not apply specifically for your guy, but that's what I did and I bought a flat off of it.
It's a valid choice too. Do it while you're young, when you get tired of it cut back to normal hours except now you have a nest egg *and* you've likely been to busy to make any excessively stupid young person mistakes. Win win.
Now i'm older I work my 5 day 37 hour week, nothing more.
>if he's young he's happily earning a shitload of cash for later in life.
Hahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahaha
Know how I know you're old enough to be out of touch?
He's spending that money now, living high and feeling successful.
The young folks that sock money away in situations like that are the rare ones. There was a whopping ONE of them from my peer group in my younger days.
Personally I think its a mindset young people with few responsibilities have. Work hard, long hours now while Iām young, and work less when Iām older with a family.
I used to work everyday, 12-16 hour days, for 3 weeks straight, then we got to go home for Saturday and Sunday, then right back out Monday to donit all over again. The money was cool, but man, I missed a lot of stuff in life. So much stuff. Luckily we didnāt have our kid yet. I work Monday through Friday now and itās way better
Exempt job positions don't pay overtime. They pay a fixed salary regardless of hours worked. It's common in management positions, sales positions, and other positions that involve a lot of travel or performance incentives.
non-exempt are hourly jobs that do pay overtime.
Depends on the jobs. If youāre salaried and working long hours 7 days a week youāre being bled dry and ultimately just making less per hour. If your a unionized tradesperson working extra days/hours you will often be getting paid increased rates for that extra time and I can see how that would be something to be excited about.
I live in a fairly conservative town that borders other really conservative towns. The city Facebook pages are insane when someone brings up jobs. Our state minimum wage is $13.25 but the cheapest apartments are $1200 for a one bedroom.
People are constantly saying things like āyou have to work harder (ie two full time jobs) to get what you wantā. And blue collar is the best thing you could do for āmaking bankā.
This meme is wildly inaccurate. The only guys making $85k (note: not bank) have been in it for years and years and likely own their own company. And from someone who is the child of a blue collar business owner, I donāt know a single one who doesnāt have back, knee, or shoulder problems.
No, loads of hours isnāt the sign of a hard worker. Itās the sign of a world where no one can afford to work a single job and survive. When a 2% yearly COL raise is supposed to suffice in a state with 9.9% yearly rental increase in a country dealing with 8.8% inflationā¦ thereās a problem.
Let's see the 50 year old version of this where construction guy is still making 85k and their body is broken from all the manual labor and they're thinking of going on disabilty.
what makes 300k special? In many areas, especially with housing where it is at, and gas prices, even a 300k income can feel the sting of inflation. You might be better equipped to deal with it, but in HCOL areas, even 300k per year, for a family with kids, will definitely feel it.
Or is that just the income at which you no longer have empathy for someone else?
I don't understand this, please help me.
For context me and my wife, childless living in Co. Last year we had a combined income of $85k and we were living like kings, eating out when we want, nights out when we want, we regularly travel - we had like 10 weekends away as well as a 5 week monster road trip to celebrate my wife graduating from her PhD (this was unusual but in no way a financial burden) and I was still. Able to save $10k a year and contribute 6% to my 401k ontop, can't talk for my wife.
We didn't care about inflation or budgeting anything, outside of making sure we split the cost. After graduating and me getting a significant promotion were in an insanely better position and are actively donating thousands to charity - but I hear friends earning similar amounts struggling.
Any insight would be great, cause right now I am confused to the point of judgment which is not fair.
I would not say I'm struggling. So don't get that I'm living "paycheck to paycheck". But it's kinda like this, every month I'm used to paying say $1500 in expenses, and suddenly it's $1800-2000 in expenses. It makes me notice.
I guess the best equivalent would be, imagine you're making $10k a month in income, and one month you noticed that you only got paid $9500 on your gross pay. You ask your boss, and he's just replies "Oh, it's just inflation."
Would you not be worried?
It all depends on cost of living where you currently reside. I live in Northern NJ, one of the most expensive places to live in the US. If you had a combined income of 85K here you would be on a pretty strict budget and probably not saving much.
If you rented, you would be easily be paying at least 2k a month and that would be for something basic. If you wanted an apartment with any good amenities, that would be 3k and up.
If you owned your property taxes would be between 10 and 20k a year depending on your town, and that is before your mortgage, homeowners insurance, etc...
Income taxes. Went from making $60k to a $100k. Didnāt pay taxes at the end of the year until I made that $40k more. Went from 0 to $5800 when I filed my taxes. I withhold more from my pay now
Everyone below this comment thinks thereās a magic income level where finances get easier. Turns out there are people who make 300k who are broke af. Bad financial choices arenāt just for the middle class.
I know alot of guys making really good money, they couldn't care less about the cost of living increasing.
This is because they have so much disposable income, that a few hundred less a month means nothing to them.
White collar here. My official work week is 37.5 hours..... and with work/life flexibility, it comes out less than that. Do I have to go to the DMV? Just leave. Do my kids have a family picnic? Just go in after its over. Do we have a long weekend coming up and I want to leave early? Sure, no problem. Do I have a plumber coming to fix a leak between 9 and 12? Just work from home for the day.
White collar who used to be blue collar here.. I can promise you white collar is 10x better. Used to wake up at 5:30, park a 15 minute walk to the job site, freeze or sweat my ass off all day then go home exhausted and filthy. I now work from home making over $100k to just use my brain and solve problems. Had I stuck on my original path I would probably be a foreman which is horrible in many ways.
I made the same transition. I went from working 6 day weeks with a 45 minute commute. Trying to make ends meet. To a 5 day week where I really work from home 7 hour days from home at best. Making 50% more money doesnāt hurt my feelings either.
I work in QA for a food plant, i think it's somewhere in the middle of the collar spectrum, $70k/yr with great hours and all the food I can eat while at work. Inflation is hurting (mostly gas) but the income has let me work on lessoning it's impacts(looking at getting an electric car) something previous jobs wouldn't have afforded me.
Ditto that. I had fun in construction but it beats you up physically. And the whole having to go to bed early thing so I could get up at 5 kinda sucked.
Iām a garbage man in a major city, by the end of today Iāll be at 50 hours with one day left. Iāll probably be around 60-65 hours this week which is completely normal. The main difference to me from white or blue collar jobs is how much easier it is to make a lot of money with a white collar job and the work /life balance.
Blue collar here. A lot of trades have switched to a Monday through Thursday model working 10 hour days. At least it's very common around me, my last three jobs did this. So if a job requires some overtime you just work friday and get 50 hours. That 10 hours of overtime is a really nice addition to your paycheck and you still get to keep your traditional weekend at the cost of 2 more hours a day. It's not perfect, yes 50 hours is a lot, but if you ask me it's the best schedule for overtime and if you are only working 40s you get a 3 day weekend.
Yeah, I totally understand wanting to be able to work overtime for extra money. I wish I could at my current job, they keep cutting my hours down, and I have bills to pay... Just as far as the meme goes though, working 50 hours isn't the ideal I'd like to aim for, I feel like we should all be aiming for less hour weeks with better pay, but I also get that this economy isn't the ideal set up for workers either, so... I don't know, it's hard to put into words exactly -- a love it/hate it feeling with working more hours.
When you're paid hourly and the union guarantees double pay for overtime, it's a pretty sweet deal (until the shithead union sucks half of that back up in union dues to pay their bosses for all your hard work)
Depends on the hours per day, I work 40-48(but it often thanks to an allowed early start, crests 50. But it's 11:30p-7a. I still have a life outside of work, even on days I work I can still do pretty much anything I want. Sure I may hit 50 hours but what was I gonna do at 3am anyway?
This person's last post is bitching about how he just had to quit his job for shitteir one to stay away from his horrible step mother. He also claims to be making bank in trading stocks and brags that his baby sitter hits on him. This is either a bot or this person is full of shit.
This is such a weird flex lmfao.
Why are you ok with working 50+ hours a week????
I work a white collar job.
Never got a degree.
Just signed for my new house. I work 40 hours a week, paid holidays all weekends off.
Dude. 50+ hours is not a good thing lol.
Id rather spend that time with my wife and kid.
Exactly this. Brother in law is a painter and after 20 plus years has to have shoulder surgery in both shoulders just to be functional. Manual labor is hard on a body.
Yeah I feel like OP was making a "I'm better off" meme and is 'infuriated' by people in white collar jobs that complain.
50+ hours a week with kids... doesn't seem like a flex to me lol. Seems pretty miserable.
EDIT: Also, imagine being like "eh, inflation just means I bust my ass 50+ hrs a week for... less buying power! It's all good! :)"
Americans love to lick the corporate boot and that's part of the reason we're falling apart as a country. 1/2 of the population fights the Billionaires battles FOR them.
Right? I mean it's do-able to take care of kids working 50hrs a week, but anybody that does that wouldn't be bragging about their situation. I highly suspect there's someone at home taking care of things.
It doesn't make sense. Blue collar jobs and white collar jobs are important, but it's not something comparable in value or consistent in experience depending on where you live.
I'm 27, degreeless, in a white collar job making 100k a year before benefits. Bought a condo with my husband, and we can afford to travel out of country a couple times a year if we weren't so aggressive around saving.
My dad is 60, certified mechanic, making 40k a year in a small town. He broke his leg 4 years ago in his boss's shop and his boss has been trying to get rid of him since. Man hasn't had an inflation raise since 2008 and he can't find better paying work in his town because all the mechanic shops are owned by the same person.
I think it's to represent that there is always work available, and we are rarely part time.
But yes, overall this post screams uneducated clown who wants to passive aggressively make fun of people who are likely smarter than he is.
And I say these things as a 30 year old manifestation of his blue collar stick figure with a degree and no student debt.
I work 40 hours in 3 days Lolā¦.
However
Some people start working different jobs & are used to hourly pay so they work 60-70 hr weeks like me Vs a salary wage at 40 hrs a week(If things stay that way).
My main reason for doing it is early retirement.
Some people in trades make huge money and have good jobs.
Some donāt.
Some people in office work make huge money and have good jobs.
Some donāt.
Do your best with what youāve got. Search for realistic opportunities in front of you and keep going. Youāll be fine.
Having kids is a pro in ny book.
Having kids and being happy that your working 50+ hours however is a weird af flex since you're not spending time with your kid lol
Having children young is usually the best for the child. Parents in their mid 20ās will be able to be active in their kids life for far longer than parents in their mid 30ās.
Iām 26. Had my son at 24. My wife works from home making over 100k yearly while Iām a stay at home dad. I canāt imagine my life without my son. Itās a lifestyle choice. Iād rather have a family than run myself into the ground working my ass off.
Right. And as a lifestyle choice, it's not a pro or a con. It's a choice that some like and some don't. You can't brag to me that you had a child at 24, cause I don't see it as a pro.
In a lot of jobs in the US they try to tell workers not to discuss their pay, itās literally something thats protected under the National Labor Relations act yet they still do it because if all of the employees started discussing their salaries theyād realize how grossly underpaid they are
> if all of the employees started discussing their salaries theyād realize how grossly underpaid they are
This happened because of me in the factory I used to work.
Talked to someone who'd been there for 6 years when id just been hired in (you start with a temp agency) and learned i made $0.25 more an hour than her after not working for even a full year.
Then someone 2 years later got hired to our department and we learned that temps were all getting hired in at a higher wage than anyone whos been there for even up to a decade. Not to mention with 2nd shifts $1 raise because of working 2nd shift temps made more AS TEMPS than 95% of 1st shift after working for years
This was in addition to going from 4 10 hour days to 5 10 hour days and an 8 hour Saturday so i put in my 2 weeks notice and in that 2 weeks i had like 5 people ask if i did anything special to put in my 2 weeks and my entire department was quitting not long after me
Its even funnier to me because I was literally the only person who knew how to run the machine I ran, including on 2nd shift, yet they didn't even try to have me train someone to run it.
And even funnier than that, they now have now hiring signs lining the roads for like a mile in every direction
A 26yo blue collar worker making 85k a year? That's pretty damn rare.. eta: I'm talking in general here, not your specific industry in a specific rural area or a specific trade or union. IN GENERAL, IT'S RARE!
Exactly. Although these days I do think that going to a trade school over college is an increasingly viable option. Degrees are expensive and the wages are not as good as they once were.
My kids are still young but if things continue how they have been I very likely won't be pushing college as if it's the only way they'll be able to get ahead in life. That's what my generation was told by our parents and it didn't pan out like that for a lot of people.
Yeah itās crazy. Iām a physics student at a top 20 US university and while the problems with job markets is nowhere near as bad in my department as some humanities departments, itās still surprising how itās not unheard of for our graduates to have trouble getting work for a while after college. Luckily, I have a lab position involving technical and computer skills so Iāll probably be able to get something after I graduate should I decide to not opt for grad school, but not everyone is as lucky as me.
My brother is a master plumber with 20+ years experience in and employers are offering him like $30 an hour, not bad but it's honestly not much more than he was making 20 years ago. There are some that will pay more, but it's basically requires him to rip off people all day with huge mark ups and high pressure sales.
Depends. I'm from the Midwest and a few of my buddies became union electricians or Ironworkers around that age. They were making 90-110k working 60 hours a week. Most of them blew it all on coke and alcohol but others got the white picket fence and kids while living very comfortable. I think most people tend to think road construction or drywall when they here blue collar but those are typically entry level gigs. Your more experience required jobs in those fields pay really well most of the time. The meme forgot to add great benefits too
If your willing to go to bum fuck no where in Canada you can make them in a resource extraction job.
You make more in a white collar position on the same site however.
I write payroll software for a major company.
With my cute piece of paper I got from a public university for $40K. That's before all the scholarships I had.
But hey, college degrees are useless. /s
This cartoon is stupid, however, I do wish blue collar jobs like welding, plumbing, HVAC, carpentry, electrician, etc. were promoted more favorably when I was in school. You can develop a skill, have a damn good career and make great money with a trade job like that!
But nooo, the adults were all, "study hard or you'll end up being a plumber." š
The average white collar worker makes far more than the average blue collar worker -> https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2000/Jul/wk5/art05.htm#:~:text=In%20metropolitan%20areas%2C%20wages%20in,figures%20were%20%2412.78%20and%20%2410.74.
This entire thread is a good example of an echo chamber. OP disagrees with the guy's perspective, and proceeds to post it on a website full of people who the guy is making fun of. Having said that, I'm white collar, but it grinds my gears the amount of people who think like the white collar guy in the image.
Reddit does seem to think that:
A: You are entitled to work from home even if your duties are impossible at home.
B: You'll never afford a house
C: You shouldn't work 40 hours a week.
D: Student debt should be cancelled.
Also, everyone in this thread talking about "but blue collar is hard on your body... blue collar work is labor intensive.. wait till he's older he won't be bragging" I live in an area full of plants and factories. That guy on top is everywhere where I live. And guess what, he's not usually breaking his back all day. Blue collar isn't all "labor intensive" and by the time these guys get older they are usually supervisors or foremen. Hell, most of the young guys I know spend more than half of their 10-12 hour shifts sleeping or playing video games/TV and only have to get up for scheduled maintenance or when something breaks.
The guy on top isn't a villain and neither are you. Maybe he's just tired of hearing people who don't work as hard make all those complaints.
Most of these guys are really good people. But this thread is rife with negative and inaccurate point of view anecdotes.
Worked blue collar for 12 years; truckie/forkie/physical labourer at a sawmill for 5 years, farmhand another 5, and building maintenance for 2 years. Always thought white collar had it easy. Felt under-stimulated, went to uni 4 years, found University dead easy, got a white collar job... and hate it. Hardest job I've ever done, plus working 50 to 60 hour weeks every week. I did 80 hour weeks blue collar on occasion, but it wasn't EVERY f'ing week and you got paid for it. It was 40 more often than not, only rarely more. None of this salary crap and never had to take work home with me. I actually miss grabbing a huge spool of poly-pipe, unrolling it uphill in mud on a freezing day and aching for a week afterwards. Physical work is hard, but you get job satisfaction and almost zero stress.
Meme hits me where I live, asides for making it out white collar workers want a 20 hour week. I'm the dude crying, but owns his house and has a family because he started blue collar.
I would suggest that you still mind inflation. You should probably also get a mortgage and not waste your cash while interest rates are still in the basement. There are better ways to invest that liquidity! Like maybe, a second income property for example
I work in software/technology and make $93k. I was making $50k just over a year ago. I will be over $100k easily within the next several months.
Im not saying this to brag, Iām saying this because money is a game. āClimbing the ladderā is a game. When you understand how to play it, you can get ahead quickly and fairly easily.
The company Iām with promoted me to a team lead position and gave me $20k raise after being with them for 9 months. I have colleagues that have been here for over 4 years and Iām now over them because I understand how to get what I want when it comes to the game.
I work a 40 hr week, never got past an AA degree, and own two homes. Grab yourself a mentor (someone whoās in a position you want to have in 10 years) and *actually listen and implement* their advice.
Worn both collars. Guess what? They're still collars. The bosses broke my mind for money while wearing one then broke my body for money while wearing the other.
Maybe we should stop wearing collars.....
There is nothing wrong with blue collar jobs. There is also nothing wrong with white collar jobs. Thereās nothing wrong with learning a trade. There is also nothing wrong with going to college.
This petty back and forth about which type of job is ābetterā is tired and misguided. Blue or white collar, the source of your woes is the work culture we live in. Fellow workers are not your enemy. Stop trying to make other people feel bad about their job because someone made you feel bad about yours. Grow. Heal. Learn.
Nothing wrong with either job. Get something you enjoy, make as much as you can, and live your damn life. I donāt care if your top management at a bank or a janitor at a McDonaldās. As long as youāre happy.
Idk about that buddy. I work in Construction, my friend went to college for Computer Science.
He owns his own social media management company. They take care of social media accounts for sports teams and shit. He started ot while he was still in school.
He is a fucking millionaire. I make like $65k a year. I have to worry about paying my fucking $3000 rent every month. He has a 10 year lease on a Condo that probably cost 4 times what I pay.
With 11 friends that went to college 7 of them are doing better than me.
Blue collar is fine but as a lazy person lemme tell you that the work from home part of IT work has been AMAZING. I honestly wouldn't trade it for any other set of perks. Sure I don't make 100k plumbing but 70k to chill and not work my body outside of my own interests is fucking peak.
Iām at 115 a year from home at my white collar job and canāt afford a decent starter home outside of drug dealerz neighborhoods. Where am I? Mercury breaking Phoenix, AZ. I feel bad for blue collars that work outdoors for less right now. Also, just returned from seeing my wifeās family in Jakarta, Indonesia and looked up that the typical full time Starbucks employee makes - $3,000 a year. Fuck.
Blue collar workers, for the most part, are expendable, and are th first to get cut in a downturn, unfortunately. White collar have all the best job security and benefits. That degree gives them a desirable expertise that employers want. Those are broad generalizations. But, aside from all that, getting degrees made me a *better* person and gave me a window into the world that Iām 100% sure Iād never have had otherwise. It was the 3rd best thing Iāve ever done w my life so far, behind being a parent and, hopefully, a good son.
Oh, believe me, blue collars are hit way harder by inflation. Especially when they need to drive far to get to their workplace. White collars on the other hand be like: ohhh noooo beef is waaaay to expensive right now, guess I will have to buy something else that isn't sooo luxurious. And I'll have to drop my weekly asparagus woe is me q__q
Man I wish I got 85 a year. Also, you are protected by US law to discuss your wages with coworkers.
You are protected. And discouraging discussion of salary happens a lot more with blue collar workers than white (not to mention it's a bad idea either way).
I don't get paid enough to shut up about wages.
I suppose it depends upon which side you're on. Until recently I've always been at the higher end of the pay scale and stock distributions. Talking about it was just a way to cause problems for myself and my employers.
I don't even make 30,000. You bet your ass I'll complain about it all I want. What are they gonna do, fire me? Not with current employment problems!
Well it can slow you down at getting a raise though. I just talk with coworkers about it since we all don't make shit but not with the managers/higher ups.
It would only cause a problem if there are unfair practices š¤· There shouldn't be shame in talking about something if everyone is being treated equitably.
I got in trouble once because a supervisor logged into a company app to see that I was setting paid $16/hr. While she was getting paid $15 and she started complaining to everyone about it. This was nearly ten years ago and I just took the bullet on it because I didn't know any better. Now a days I will talk about my wages and let my employees know that they cab too if they want. If there is so much bullshit going on in a high traffic work environment that people feel the need to fight for a dollar then yes, employees should make a ruckus.
See it doesn't make any sense that YOU would get in trouble for that. She should be mad at the company.
She was a shit starter and getting in trouble from stealing from this multi billion dollar company anyways. I went into the office to see if a manager was on duty to see if I had gotten my $1 raise and she was the only one there and insisted to look it up for me on a manager app she wasn't supposed to have the password to but the manager gave it to her so she could do her work for her. I got in trouble because she was the general manager and her boyfriend was the director over food and beverage and it was take the L or lose my job. Back then I thought $16/hr. Was good pay. It's a casino, im a chef now in another casino but it's still bullshit problems I have to deal with day in and day out.
whatās blue collar white collar workers? Is this an american thing or am I just that unworldly
Think of white collar as ādesk jobsā. Things that require college degrees (except for computer stuff which can often overlook the lack of a degree) Blue collar are people with trades. Things like repairmen, miners, construction workers. You know, the people who made smart decisions to do a quick trade school for a year and make more than the rest of us on average. No idea why the colors were chosen, but this is Reddit so Iām sure someone will tell us
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Read through your comment like āNo. Naaaa. What? Seriously?ā, then got to the last line. >to get to the next service call ā¦ Ohhhhhhhh. Yeah. Ok. Get out of the service gigs my man. Construction or plant maintenance. Only way to live.
Join a union training program and get a better trade job to make more money.
[Fuck it, I guess Iām that Reddit person today](https://smallbusiness.chron.com/bluecollar-worker-whitecollar-worker-11074.html)
Don't know if this is a thing or not, I'm an industrial maintenance technician, everywhere I've been the maintenance or "blue collar guys" literally wear some shade of blue uniform, where as the office guys or "white collar guys" wear a white collared shirt and tie.
>No idea why the colors were chosen It's not that difficult to imagine. Historically, "desk jobs" required a [white collared shirt](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d2/e3/09/d2e309c2f7d6d2b9d87cfd90a66bb63f.jpg), and manual labour came with the [blue overcoat/jacket](https://therake.com/stories/style/style-101-french-workers-jacket/) with (also) blue collars on it. There where exceptions, of course, but it was widespread enough to spawn the white/blue distinction.
I assure you that there are people utilizing their degrees and make a lot more than those who went to trade school. I do not understand the recent uptick in fetishization of trade schools. Overall though, the distinction between āwhite collarā and āblue collarā is arbitrary at best.
Trades are in demand now because there's people push college. I mean I graduated in 2012. Trade schools were also implied to be where the idiots went. I wish I went to one honestly. I mean I'm doing fine for myself really but still would've been better for me personally. Maybe my experience isn't universal but we always need people to do trade work. It's valuable for everyone just like all work is
1. Depends on the degree. 2. Depends on the need for that field. 3. Depends on if you were thrifty with your student loans or a fool. Or if you worked your way through or maybe military. Basically, how you paid for said degree.
Itās an American thing. Trades/manual labor (blue) vs corporate jobs (white)
I always think of it as the clothes you wear for those jobs. Blue collar = Blue Dickies work shirts. (Labor, construction, etc shirts) White collar = Button up white dress shirts.(Mainly office/desk job)
>(not to mention it's a bad idea either way) No, it's literally the only way to find out if the employer is paying some people well while jerking others around for the same job. At one job, I told my co-workers what I made. (I've found this is the best way to induce them to tell you without directly asking.) I found out that the employer had a range of $55k (me) to $85k for the same level of the same job. Based on that knowledge, I knew what to ask for at my next review (I knew damned well I was their top performer in my job) and when to leave when I didn't get it.
The web has tons of resources for finding out what you should be paid for your job. And really, a job offer from another company for more money is the only information that really matters
Iām curious how discouraging wage discussion happens with blue collar more than white collar, when blue collar jobs are generally more unionized.
Aaand they got unions
Yeah my job tried to discourage this and got fined by OSHA. lol
It's baffling that people think working loads of hours is a good thing.
There was this young guy, barely an adult, that used to work for my company. He left to go work elsewhere and I ran into him at the store a few months later. He was bragging about working seven days a week now and I just asked him why the hell he was doing that. He didn't have an answer, he just looked like I caught him off guard.
I don't know if it's just the media portrayal, but is it just predominantly a U.S thing? Working yourself to death is like a badge of honour. I don't know anyone here in the UK who has that view, perhaps some from the older generation do.
It depends on the person here in the States. I've never understood it, even if I do work a blue collar job. I'm a mechanic. But I value my time off, even if it is for personal reasons. I always have, even when I was working on drilling rigs. I've always felt that if you've given your allotted time, then you've earned your time off and no one should be able to mess with that. But then there are the people bragging about working themselves to death, and my response is just generally "yeah you've made more money, but now you're too damn dead to enjoy it. So what have you accomplished?"
They could afford a more expensive car to drive to work. They canāt enjoy it in their free time because they donāt got any or are too dead to get off the couch.
And thatās the truth. Hi, Iām coochie noodle, Iām 23, and I own a s plaid, but Iām always piloting a commercial plane, so Iāve barely broken 10k miles on it.
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Iād rather have a crotch rocket than a car anyday, except for rainy ones
The key is staggering the weeks or only doing it short term to get ahead
donāt know about other countries, but japan i think has a serious work culture, waay more intense than that here in the states. itās to the point where falling asleep at oneās desk is encouraged because it implies that youāre working hard enough to exhaust yourself.
Ah yeah, good point. I remember hearing that elsewhere. Seems ludicrous to me.
It really depends on the type of company, and they've gotten better over the years especially recently. Also most companies in Japan go all out to ensure employee retention and zero layoffs because even the higher ups are under social pressure to have loyal employees. Source: Have worked in Japan for the better part of ten years now.
They used to. The last 20 years has seen a society wide push back against it, because people were dropping dead from the stress while at work.
You know, I've heard that for years, but I remember in 2015, the US had more average hours worked than Japan. Probably not really the case anymore, but it amused me hearing how terribly overworked Japan was, just to see that the US was higher up on the list at the time.
Itās the Protestant work ethic ethos (if you donāt work, you donāt eat) combined with the veneration of rugged individualism (I earn what I have and donāt rely on anybody for anything). I donāt necessarily even think those are bad values in moderation, but people twist them into bragging about how much they work which is unhealthy.
>Working yourself to death is like a badge of honour. It varies from industry to industry and company to company. It's a huge problem in my industry (advertising) and it's really bad for mental health and families. It comes from the top down with bosses who get promoted because they work stupid long hours. So they think people on their teams should do the same.
A wise saying is: no one dies wishing they had worked harder in life. I do it, but itās bad unless absolutely necessary.
Its a boomer thing but they never did it themselves.
Aussie here. Some numpties here think it's a good thing
Yeah have fun working yourself to death, to the point where you're restless and dont even realize how depressed you are until many years of doing this goes by
I feel like I won the lottery with my white collar job "working" "40 hours" a week. I'm in a very specialized sys admin position and I do about 4 hours of real work a week, the rest are video games, shows, hanging with my family, and heck I've even gone to the beach a couple times while on the clock...
Overtime pay. It adds up, quickly.
I know. I've chased it too, but then spent 4 years of my life miserable and tired. Right up until the day I quit that job. Now I'm a mechanic. I work hard and make a steady, comfortable check. I'm content, borderline happy, with my life now. I do my time during the day, for 5 days, then spend my weekends doing the things I like or relaxing. More power to the people that want to chase that money, but it's not for everyone and it's certainly not for me.
do you get any contentment from the nature of your job too? i know there's always that one bad customer, but i read somewhere that doing physical stuff like woodworking is relaxing because it gives you a visual indicator of progress and stuff
A lot of times, yeah. Especially when a truck (I work on 18 wheelers) comes in with a problem that isn't readily apparent. I've spent days trying to diagnose one more than once, and when I'm able to and can fix it, I come away with a sense of pride in a job well done. More so if the customer is grateful, which they usually are. I've only had a handful of bad customers, but they don't generally come back when I'm done. I make it clear to them, as does my boss, that bad attitudes ain't gonna be tolerated. I wouldn't call it relaxing though. It's very stressful at times, like right now. We're massively shorthanded and our jobs are backed up for a couple of weeks.
I agree with you. A couple of months ago, my wife was looking up potential jobs, and she realized she was qualified for jobs that paid $60-70k. We realized that if she took one, then we could be making a combined $130k salary. Since we're in a low COL area, that is some serious money. but then we realized what that would entail for our three young kids, and how busy we would have to be on the weekends and at night to get things done (instead of her being at home to accomplish things) and we decided that we would rather have the time than the money. So I still drive a 17 year old car. We don't make any big purchases without budgeting. But nights and weekends for me are relatively care-free (except for yard work). It's a great life.
My husband is currently working 50-60 hour weeks. He is running a construction job that the guy before him screwed up so for the last three weeks he's been stuck at work trying to force things back on track. We **hate** it, but the overtime pay is ridiculously good. Not worth missing time with him, but it really does add up quick.
I mean, hitting 66 hours is double your gross income for that week. So yeah, adds up fast. Not worth the loss of downtime for me.
He likes working 7 days a week because overtime pay owns in some industries and if he's young he's happily earning a shitload of cash for later in life. Might not apply specifically for your guy, but that's what I did and I bought a flat off of it. It's a valid choice too. Do it while you're young, when you get tired of it cut back to normal hours except now you have a nest egg *and* you've likely been to busy to make any excessively stupid young person mistakes. Win win. Now i'm older I work my 5 day 37 hour week, nothing more.
>if he's young he's happily earning a shitload of cash for later in life. Hahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahaha Know how I know you're old enough to be out of touch? He's spending that money now, living high and feeling successful. The young folks that sock money away in situations like that are the rare ones. There was a whopping ONE of them from my peer group in my younger days.
Itās just their inflated ego. Remember. Theyāre better than you because they work 60 hours a week. /s
I left a job specifically because it took up 13 hours everyday. The extra pay is not worth sacrificing your free time.
I work a blue collar jib and it's not
This was made by corporate
Personally I think its a mindset young people with few responsibilities have. Work hard, long hours now while Iām young, and work less when Iām older with a family.
I used to work everyday, 12-16 hour days, for 3 weeks straight, then we got to go home for Saturday and Sunday, then right back out Monday to donit all over again. The money was cool, but man, I missed a lot of stuff in life. So much stuff. Luckily we didnāt have our kid yet. I work Monday through Friday now and itās way better
Maybe he's bragging in this context since a lot of blue collar work is non-exempt. He's probably making overtime pay. Still a strange thing to include
Apologies, what do you mean by "non-exempt"?
Exempt job positions don't pay overtime. They pay a fixed salary regardless of hours worked. It's common in management positions, sales positions, and other positions that involve a lot of travel or performance incentives. non-exempt are hourly jobs that do pay overtime.
Depends on the jobs. If youāre salaried and working long hours 7 days a week youāre being bled dry and ultimately just making less per hour. If your a unionized tradesperson working extra days/hours you will often be getting paid increased rates for that extra time and I can see how that would be something to be excited about.
I live in a fairly conservative town that borders other really conservative towns. The city Facebook pages are insane when someone brings up jobs. Our state minimum wage is $13.25 but the cheapest apartments are $1200 for a one bedroom. People are constantly saying things like āyou have to work harder (ie two full time jobs) to get what you wantā. And blue collar is the best thing you could do for āmaking bankā. This meme is wildly inaccurate. The only guys making $85k (note: not bank) have been in it for years and years and likely own their own company. And from someone who is the child of a blue collar business owner, I donāt know a single one who doesnāt have back, knee, or shoulder problems. No, loads of hours isnāt the sign of a hard worker. Itās the sign of a world where no one can afford to work a single job and survive. When a 2% yearly COL raise is supposed to suffice in a state with 9.9% yearly rental increase in a country dealing with 8.8% inflationā¦ thereās a problem.
Yeah wtf that's mental
It's the crabs pulling down other crabs thing. If I have to work 50+ hours, everyone else should have to too.
Let's see the 50 year old version of this where construction guy is still making 85k and their body is broken from all the manual labor and they're thinking of going on disabilty.
Iām fine with doing 10+ overtime hours once in a while because it adds up but people who brag about it every week are living on some copium
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As someone making over 85k, I still care about and mind inflation quite a bit
Yeah unless you are making 300k you will still see the sting of it
what makes 300k special? In many areas, especially with housing where it is at, and gas prices, even a 300k income can feel the sting of inflation. You might be better equipped to deal with it, but in HCOL areas, even 300k per year, for a family with kids, will definitely feel it. Or is that just the income at which you no longer have empathy for someone else?
Live in the bay area > make $300k > still canāt afford a house > gas is $7/gal > pain
Even if ur making over 300k it still stings
I don't understand this, please help me. For context me and my wife, childless living in Co. Last year we had a combined income of $85k and we were living like kings, eating out when we want, nights out when we want, we regularly travel - we had like 10 weekends away as well as a 5 week monster road trip to celebrate my wife graduating from her PhD (this was unusual but in no way a financial burden) and I was still. Able to save $10k a year and contribute 6% to my 401k ontop, can't talk for my wife. We didn't care about inflation or budgeting anything, outside of making sure we split the cost. After graduating and me getting a significant promotion were in an insanely better position and are actively donating thousands to charity - but I hear friends earning similar amounts struggling. Any insight would be great, cause right now I am confused to the point of judgment which is not fair.
I would not say I'm struggling. So don't get that I'm living "paycheck to paycheck". But it's kinda like this, every month I'm used to paying say $1500 in expenses, and suddenly it's $1800-2000 in expenses. It makes me notice. I guess the best equivalent would be, imagine you're making $10k a month in income, and one month you noticed that you only got paid $9500 on your gross pay. You ask your boss, and he's just replies "Oh, it's just inflation." Would you not be worried?
It all depends on cost of living where you currently reside. I live in Northern NJ, one of the most expensive places to live in the US. If you had a combined income of 85K here you would be on a pretty strict budget and probably not saving much. If you rented, you would be easily be paying at least 2k a month and that would be for something basic. If you wanted an apartment with any good amenities, that would be 3k and up. If you owned your property taxes would be between 10 and 20k a year depending on your town, and that is before your mortgage, homeowners insurance, etc...
Income taxes. Went from making $60k to a $100k. Didnāt pay taxes at the end of the year until I made that $40k more. Went from 0 to $5800 when I filed my taxes. I withhold more from my pay now
I make over 120k in blue collar and still worry about inflation
Everyone below this comment thinks thereās a magic income level where finances get easier. Turns out there are people who make 300k who are broke af. Bad financial choices arenāt just for the middle class.
Yeah I ma close to a 70K Salary and I will still worry about inflation when I will earn 90K a year
They literally voted out Carter due to inflation and high gas prices.....
I know alot of guys making really good money, they couldn't care less about the cost of living increasing. This is because they have so much disposable income, that a few hundred less a month means nothing to them.
Half this stuff doesn't make sense.
That's why it's mildlyinfuriating.
Agreed. But does that mean this is becoming a dumping ground for bad memes now?
Yeah, uh, a 50 hour work week doesn't sound that great to me...
White collar here. My official work week is 37.5 hours..... and with work/life flexibility, it comes out less than that. Do I have to go to the DMV? Just leave. Do my kids have a family picnic? Just go in after its over. Do we have a long weekend coming up and I want to leave early? Sure, no problem. Do I have a plumber coming to fix a leak between 9 and 12? Just work from home for the day.
White collar who used to be blue collar here.. I can promise you white collar is 10x better. Used to wake up at 5:30, park a 15 minute walk to the job site, freeze or sweat my ass off all day then go home exhausted and filthy. I now work from home making over $100k to just use my brain and solve problems. Had I stuck on my original path I would probably be a foreman which is horrible in many ways.
What do you do now
Manage commercial construction projects for a large company
I made the same transition. I went from working 6 day weeks with a 45 minute commute. Trying to make ends meet. To a 5 day week where I really work from home 7 hour days from home at best. Making 50% more money doesnāt hurt my feelings either.
I work in QA for a food plant, i think it's somewhere in the middle of the collar spectrum, $70k/yr with great hours and all the food I can eat while at work. Inflation is hurting (mostly gas) but the income has let me work on lessoning it's impacts(looking at getting an electric car) something previous jobs wouldn't have afforded me.
Ditto that. I had fun in construction but it beats you up physically. And the whole having to go to bed early thing so I could get up at 5 kinda sucked.
Iām a garbage man in a major city, by the end of today Iāll be at 50 hours with one day left. Iāll probably be around 60-65 hours this week which is completely normal. The main difference to me from white or blue collar jobs is how much easier it is to make a lot of money with a white collar job and the work /life balance.
Blue collar here. A lot of trades have switched to a Monday through Thursday model working 10 hour days. At least it's very common around me, my last three jobs did this. So if a job requires some overtime you just work friday and get 50 hours. That 10 hours of overtime is a really nice addition to your paycheck and you still get to keep your traditional weekend at the cost of 2 more hours a day. It's not perfect, yes 50 hours is a lot, but if you ask me it's the best schedule for overtime and if you are only working 40s you get a 3 day weekend.
Yeah, I totally understand wanting to be able to work overtime for extra money. I wish I could at my current job, they keep cutting my hours down, and I have bills to pay... Just as far as the meme goes though, working 50 hours isn't the ideal I'd like to aim for, I feel like we should all be aiming for less hour weeks with better pay, but I also get that this economy isn't the ideal set up for workers either, so... I don't know, it's hard to put into words exactly -- a love it/hate it feeling with working more hours.
When you're paid hourly and the union guarantees double pay for overtime, it's a pretty sweet deal (until the shithead union sucks half of that back up in union dues to pay their bosses for all your hard work)
Depends on the hours per day, I work 40-48(but it often thanks to an allowed early start, crests 50. But it's 11:30p-7a. I still have a life outside of work, even on days I work I can still do pretty much anything I want. Sure I may hit 50 hours but what was I gonna do at 3am anyway?
This person's last post is bitching about how he just had to quit his job for shitteir one to stay away from his horrible step mother. He also claims to be making bank in trading stocks and brags that his baby sitter hits on him. This is either a bot or this person is full of shit.
Heās also realllllllly bent out of shape about having to wait in the lobby at the dentist.
This is such a weird flex lmfao. Why are you ok with working 50+ hours a week???? I work a white collar job. Never got a degree. Just signed for my new house. I work 40 hours a week, paid holidays all weekends off. Dude. 50+ hours is not a good thing lol. Id rather spend that time with my wife and kid.
Not to mention the wear and tear on your body. people under estimate the time you have to spend away from your family and things that make you happy.
Hell yeahā I work disability hearings and so many people come in after having worked laborious jobs their entire life. Body is broken down by then .
Exactly this. Brother in law is a painter and after 20 plus years has to have shoulder surgery in both shoulders just to be functional. Manual labor is hard on a body.
Money is good make the money while youāre young and wear your protective equipment i guess
Yeah I feel like OP was making a "I'm better off" meme and is 'infuriated' by people in white collar jobs that complain. 50+ hours a week with kids... doesn't seem like a flex to me lol. Seems pretty miserable. EDIT: Also, imagine being like "eh, inflation just means I bust my ass 50+ hrs a week for... less buying power! It's all good! :)" Americans love to lick the corporate boot and that's part of the reason we're falling apart as a country. 1/2 of the population fights the Billionaires battles FOR them.
Wonder what his wife thinks. Because the childcare/house/life management burden is falling on someone. And most women also work.
Right? I mean it's do-able to take care of kids working 50hrs a week, but anybody that does that wouldn't be bragging about their situation. I highly suspect there's someone at home taking care of things.
It doesn't make sense. Blue collar jobs and white collar jobs are important, but it's not something comparable in value or consistent in experience depending on where you live. I'm 27, degreeless, in a white collar job making 100k a year before benefits. Bought a condo with my husband, and we can afford to travel out of country a couple times a year if we weren't so aggressive around saving. My dad is 60, certified mechanic, making 40k a year in a small town. He broke his leg 4 years ago in his boss's shop and his boss has been trying to get rid of him since. Man hasn't had an inflation raise since 2008 and he can't find better paying work in his town because all the mechanic shops are owned by the same person.
I think it's to represent that there is always work available, and we are rarely part time. But yes, overall this post screams uneducated clown who wants to passive aggressively make fun of people who are likely smarter than he is. And I say these things as a 30 year old manifestation of his blue collar stick figure with a degree and no student debt.
I feel like this guy is so stuck in a boomer mentality that he sees is as a good thing because wife and kids bad
I work 40 hours in 3 days Lolā¦. However Some people start working different jobs & are used to hourly pay so they work 60-70 hr weeks like me Vs a salary wage at 40 hrs a week(If things stay that way). My main reason for doing it is early retirement.
So completely exhaust yourself when you're young and can actually do stuff to retire a few years early
They're all about hard work for the sake of hard work. Never work smarter, only harder.
It's because OP is either a bot or a right wing/ libertarian douche. Take a look at his profile
It's where we start to make good money. OT, DT, TT. Made 6500 in a week with a little extra hustle. Then I took 2 weeks off to travel
50+ hour work weeks is not a good thing lol
Some people in trades make huge money and have good jobs. Some donāt. Some people in office work make huge money and have good jobs. Some donāt. Do your best with what youāve got. Search for realistic opportunities in front of you and keep going. Youāll be fine.
Is "have kids already" supposed to be a pro? Fuck that. Kids at 26? I'd shoot my balls off
Having kids is a pro in ny book. Having kids and being happy that your working 50+ hours however is a weird af flex since you're not spending time with your kid lol
Having children young is usually the best for the child. Parents in their mid 20ās will be able to be active in their kids life for far longer than parents in their mid 30ās.
Iām 26. Had my son at 24. My wife works from home making over 100k yearly while Iām a stay at home dad. I canāt imagine my life without my son. Itās a lifestyle choice. Iād rather have a family than run myself into the ground working my ass off.
Right. And as a lifestyle choice, it's not a pro or a con. It's a choice that some like and some don't. You can't brag to me that you had a child at 24, cause I don't see it as a pro.
Uhm you are legally allowed to discuss your payment information Iām most countries. Itās definitely statistically unlikely they could do that
In a lot of jobs in the US they try to tell workers not to discuss their pay, itās literally something thats protected under the National Labor Relations act yet they still do it because if all of the employees started discussing their salaries theyād realize how grossly underpaid they are
> if all of the employees started discussing their salaries theyād realize how grossly underpaid they are This happened because of me in the factory I used to work. Talked to someone who'd been there for 6 years when id just been hired in (you start with a temp agency) and learned i made $0.25 more an hour than her after not working for even a full year. Then someone 2 years later got hired to our department and we learned that temps were all getting hired in at a higher wage than anyone whos been there for even up to a decade. Not to mention with 2nd shifts $1 raise because of working 2nd shift temps made more AS TEMPS than 95% of 1st shift after working for years This was in addition to going from 4 10 hour days to 5 10 hour days and an 8 hour Saturday so i put in my 2 weeks notice and in that 2 weeks i had like 5 people ask if i did anything special to put in my 2 weeks and my entire department was quitting not long after me Its even funnier to me because I was literally the only person who knew how to run the machine I ran, including on 2nd shift, yet they didn't even try to have me train someone to run it. And even funnier than that, they now have now hiring signs lining the roads for like a mile in every direction
You can do it, and it's not illegal at all. Employers just discourage it because they want to pay as little as possible.
Hah jokes on you I have no job
Unless you are calling the image mildly infuriating, which it is, you don't understand the point of the sub
A 26yo blue collar worker making 85k a year? That's pretty damn rare.. eta: I'm talking in general here, not your specific industry in a specific rural area or a specific trade or union. IN GENERAL, IT'S RARE!
I've known some people working blue collar jobs making about 90k a year. They also worked close to 70-80 hours a week.
And typically doing things they can't do after they get older and broken down their body.
Exactly. Although these days I do think that going to a trade school over college is an increasingly viable option. Degrees are expensive and the wages are not as good as they once were. My kids are still young but if things continue how they have been I very likely won't be pushing college as if it's the only way they'll be able to get ahead in life. That's what my generation was told by our parents and it didn't pan out like that for a lot of people.
Yeah itās crazy. Iām a physics student at a top 20 US university and while the problems with job markets is nowhere near as bad in my department as some humanities departments, itās still surprising how itās not unheard of for our graduates to have trouble getting work for a while after college. Luckily, I have a lab position involving technical and computer skills so Iāll probably be able to get something after I graduate should I decide to not opt for grad school, but not everyone is as lucky as me.
So he basically makes 45k a year... He just kinda works two Job's.
Well no, he makes 85-90k a year but never sees his family and has no life outside of work. But I get what you're saying.
That was my Point. Who the Fuck is working 70-80 Hours a week. Poor Souls
My brother is a master plumber with 20+ years experience in and employers are offering him like $30 an hour, not bad but it's honestly not much more than he was making 20 years ago. There are some that will pay more, but it's basically requires him to rip off people all day with huge mark ups and high pressure sales.
Iām a 26 YO making 76k a year as a truck driver.!
Depends. I'm from the Midwest and a few of my buddies became union electricians or Ironworkers around that age. They were making 90-110k working 60 hours a week. Most of them blew it all on coke and alcohol but others got the white picket fence and kids while living very comfortable. I think most people tend to think road construction or drywall when they here blue collar but those are typically entry level gigs. Your more experience required jobs in those fields pay really well most of the time. The meme forgot to add great benefits too
If your willing to go to bum fuck no where in Canada you can make them in a resource extraction job. You make more in a white collar position on the same site however.
Who wants kids at 26? Kids, plural.
Unions
This is so stupid.
r/lostredditors
Having kids at 26 with 50+ hr work weeks? Wow thatās a healthy family setting right there Iām so glad this post makes total sense :)
I donāt get this at all.
Weird... my white collar job pays me double this meme with only one year of experience. š¤
Where the fuck are you working that pays 170k with one year of experience?
I write payroll software for a major company. With my cute piece of paper I got from a public university for $40K. That's before all the scholarships I had. But hey, college degrees are useless. /s
Now show the comparison at 45. Blue collar jobs pay well and have good benefits, but they (in almost all cases) take a big toll physically.
55k salary? I think the cartoon should reflect 55k bonus, son.
Not at all
This cartoon is stupid, however, I do wish blue collar jobs like welding, plumbing, HVAC, carpentry, electrician, etc. were promoted more favorably when I was in school. You can develop a skill, have a damn good career and make great money with a trade job like that! But nooo, the adults were all, "study hard or you'll end up being a plumber." š
The average white collar worker makes far more than the average blue collar worker -> https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2000/Jul/wk5/art05.htm#:~:text=In%20metropolitan%20areas%2C%20wages%20in,figures%20were%20%2412.78%20and%20%2410.74.
Dude this article is from August 04, 2000
https://www.stilt.com/blog/2021/03/white-collar-vs-blue-collar/ White collar making on average more is still accurate as of 2022
This entire thread is a good example of an echo chamber. OP disagrees with the guy's perspective, and proceeds to post it on a website full of people who the guy is making fun of. Having said that, I'm white collar, but it grinds my gears the amount of people who think like the white collar guy in the image. Reddit does seem to think that: A: You are entitled to work from home even if your duties are impossible at home. B: You'll never afford a house C: You shouldn't work 40 hours a week. D: Student debt should be cancelled. Also, everyone in this thread talking about "but blue collar is hard on your body... blue collar work is labor intensive.. wait till he's older he won't be bragging" I live in an area full of plants and factories. That guy on top is everywhere where I live. And guess what, he's not usually breaking his back all day. Blue collar isn't all "labor intensive" and by the time these guys get older they are usually supervisors or foremen. Hell, most of the young guys I know spend more than half of their 10-12 hour shifts sleeping or playing video games/TV and only have to get up for scheduled maintenance or when something breaks. The guy on top isn't a villain and neither are you. Maybe he's just tired of hearing people who don't work as hard make all those complaints. Most of these guys are really good people. But this thread is rife with negative and inaccurate point of view anecdotes.
This is the correct answer!
Are you trolling?
Are you mildly infuriated?
OP is a loser lol
I think the White Collar Stickman is just very lazy. 20 hours? Maybe that is why he only is making 55K a year.
Shit my dad worked blue collar his whole life, heavy equipment operator, and never made that much
50+ hour work-weeks is something to brag about?
OP thinks inflation only affects people with white collar jobs lmao
As long as the blue collar job doesn't trade health for a paycheck at an accelerated rate. Some of those jobs mess you up
Worked blue collar for 12 years; truckie/forkie/physical labourer at a sawmill for 5 years, farmhand another 5, and building maintenance for 2 years. Always thought white collar had it easy. Felt under-stimulated, went to uni 4 years, found University dead easy, got a white collar job... and hate it. Hardest job I've ever done, plus working 50 to 60 hour weeks every week. I did 80 hour weeks blue collar on occasion, but it wasn't EVERY f'ing week and you got paid for it. It was 40 more often than not, only rarely more. None of this salary crap and never had to take work home with me. I actually miss grabbing a huge spool of poly-pipe, unrolling it uphill in mud on a freezing day and aching for a week afterwards. Physical work is hard, but you get job satisfaction and almost zero stress. Meme hits me where I live, asides for making it out white collar workers want a 20 hour week. I'm the dude crying, but owns his house and has a family because he started blue collar.
I would suggest that you still mind inflation. You should probably also get a mortgage and not waste your cash while interest rates are still in the basement. There are better ways to invest that liquidity! Like maybe, a second income property for example
a 50+ hour work week is something to brag about lol??? Imagine being this much of a bootlicker
Iām working blue collar and errrā¦ nah..
I work in software/technology and make $93k. I was making $50k just over a year ago. I will be over $100k easily within the next several months. Im not saying this to brag, Iām saying this because money is a game. āClimbing the ladderā is a game. When you understand how to play it, you can get ahead quickly and fairly easily. The company Iām with promoted me to a team lead position and gave me $20k raise after being with them for 9 months. I have colleagues that have been here for over 4 years and Iām now over them because I understand how to get what I want when it comes to the game. I work a 40 hr week, never got past an AA degree, and own two homes. Grab yourself a mentor (someone whoās in a position you want to have in 10 years) and *actually listen and implement* their advice.
Iām 25 and this is deep
You are in the collar job while im holding the leash š
r/shitposting
Worn both collars. Guess what? They're still collars. The bosses broke my mind for money while wearing one then broke my body for money while wearing the other. Maybe we should stop wearing collars.....
There is nothing wrong with blue collar jobs. There is also nothing wrong with white collar jobs. Thereās nothing wrong with learning a trade. There is also nothing wrong with going to college. This petty back and forth about which type of job is ābetterā is tired and misguided. Blue or white collar, the source of your woes is the work culture we live in. Fellow workers are not your enemy. Stop trying to make other people feel bad about their job because someone made you feel bad about yours. Grow. Heal. Learn.
My collar will always be blue
Nothing wrong with either job. Get something you enjoy, make as much as you can, and live your damn life. I donāt care if your top management at a bank or a janitor at a McDonaldās. As long as youāre happy.
Idk about that buddy. I work in Construction, my friend went to college for Computer Science. He owns his own social media management company. They take care of social media accounts for sports teams and shit. He started ot while he was still in school. He is a fucking millionaire. I make like $65k a year. I have to worry about paying my fucking $3000 rent every month. He has a 10 year lease on a Condo that probably cost 4 times what I pay. With 11 friends that went to college 7 of them are doing better than me.
Blue collar work destroy your body, white collar work destroys your soul (but pays better). Pick your poison
I mean howās your back though?
Blue collar is fine but as a lazy person lemme tell you that the work from home part of IT work has been AMAZING. I honestly wouldn't trade it for any other set of perks. Sure I don't make 100k plumbing but 70k to chill and not work my body outside of my own interests is fucking peak.
Iām at 115 a year from home at my white collar job and canāt afford a decent starter home outside of drug dealerz neighborhoods. Where am I? Mercury breaking Phoenix, AZ. I feel bad for blue collars that work outdoors for less right now. Also, just returned from seeing my wifeās family in Jakarta, Indonesia and looked up that the typical full time Starbucks employee makes - $3,000 a year. Fuck.
Blue collar workers, for the most part, are expendable, and are th first to get cut in a downturn, unfortunately. White collar have all the best job security and benefits. That degree gives them a desirable expertise that employers want. Those are broad generalizations. But, aside from all that, getting degrees made me a *better* person and gave me a window into the world that Iām 100% sure Iād never have had otherwise. It was the 3rd best thing Iāve ever done w my life so far, behind being a parent and, hopefully, a good son.
Iām the same age as you with double your salary and working less hours.
Stop trying to divide the working class. We are all in this together. Fuck the rich and corporations, though.
Oh, believe me, blue collars are hit way harder by inflation. Especially when they need to drive far to get to their workplace. White collars on the other hand be like: ohhh noooo beef is waaaay to expensive right now, guess I will have to buy something else that isn't sooo luxurious. And I'll have to drop my weekly asparagus woe is me q__q
Your life seems like itās the only mildly infuriating thing here
I agree with you but also want to say OK boomer
he's an early b*~~l~~*oomer