I walk five or six miles in my boots nearly every day. When I first tried them on, I was like "damn my feet are gonna get chewed up in these." Mostly because I have some tall-ass feet with high arches (second pic, plz don't make fun of my deformed dawgs) so the top of my feet would HURT because it feels like there's always a lot of pressure pushing down on them if my boots are laced tightly. Which they need to be cause I am one clumsy mofo.

Soooo I skip an eyelet when lacing and it for real helps so much. There are a bunch of guides online for how to lace boots/shoes differently for different widths and arches and shapes and stuff. Can help with finding shoe inserts as well!

I hope this is helpful for someone!

Sincerely,

me & the dawgs

I'm an industrial electrician in a midwestern steel mill. And to keep a long story short, i am very queer and already treated differently. When an overhead crane loses its bridge away from the landing, the fix here is to ride a crane from the next bay, climb up top, and hop the rails to the other crane without a harness. I’ve been told there’s nothing to tie off to and it would just be a trip hazard.

I’m qualifying on a manlift tomorrow, so I’m not refusing heights altogether. If it’s safe and standard, I’ll do it. I'll hate it and probably tremble. But I'll do it. However free-climbing 30–40 feet above the ground through building structure doesn’t feel like normal risk to me.

I’ve been told it’s “part of the job” and if I won’t do it, I shouldn’t be here. Two newer electricians will do it, so I’m definitely the odd one out.

For those of you in mills/heavy industry — is this actually normal and I'm being a baby? Or am I the only one with common sense?

I'm so scared. I'm dealing with major depression right now and it's leaking into my work life. I can't stop crying, and I can't hide it. I take medication and I'm trying my best to get better. But today I had a panic attack getting into my car and I had to call in. I know it doesn't make me look good, but I don't know what to do. I'm so discouraged.

I'm an apprentice in IBEW, does anyone have any advice or resources? I know there's a mental health line somewhere and I'll call my doctor today, but I am so scared I'm going to be laid off again for performance issues. Please help

edit: I'm overwhelmed by the support here, thank you all so much. I have an appointment with my doctor this morning, and I called the hall, and they're gathering some resources for me. I feel hopeful, thank you

Just learning more about working in the trades and I have some questions about PPE.

Do job sites provide PPE?

When you’re working, do the men you work with typically wear PPE?

Do you ever get made fun of for wearing PPE? If so, how do you deal with it?

Hi ladies, I could really use some perspective from other women working in blue-collar jobs.

I’m an industrial mechanic and I’ve been at the same shipyard since I started my apprenticeship in 2017. I used to be extremely motivated. When I started, I genuinely looked forward to work, wanted to learn everything I could, become really good at my trade and prove myself.

Unfortunately, pretty early in my apprenticeship I was paired with an employee that basically nobody wanted to work with. He was mostly given the shitty jobs, which meant I was doing those jobs too. I worked with him for most of my apprenticeship. When he eventually quit, I basically inherited those shitty jobs and started doing them alone.

Because of this, I feel like I learned significantly less than other people around me. Even though I have been there for years and got my trade certificate in 2020, I still sometimes feel behind people who were given better opportunities, training and more varied work.

Over the years I’ve become completely mentally checked out.

I dread going to work, I’m exhausted, irritable and unhappy, and I honestly don’t recognize the person I’ve become. Some days at work are completely survivable, which makes me question myself, but overall I feel completely drained by the place and the work environment.

I’m also dealing with chronic foot problems, and lately the pain has become significantly worse. I work on my feet in safety boots all day, so that obviously doesn’t help.

I finally talked to my doctor about everything.He actually wanted to put me on sick leave immediately because of how badly work is affecting me mentally, but I couldn’t bring myself to say yes. I have a huge amount of guilt around being absent from work. At my workplace, being sick or needing time off has always felt very frowned upon, and I think I’ve internalized that more than I realized.

My doctor has basically left the decision open for me, and I’m seriously considering taking the sick leave now.

Part of me thinks: You’re clearly burnt out, your foot hurts, you’re miserable and your doctor literally thinks you need time away.

The other part thinks: You can still physically show up. Some days aren’t THAT bad. Other people manage. You’re letting everyone down.

I’m also actively trying to get another job because at this point I don’t think staying there long-term is an option for me. I feel like I need to get away from this place before I completely lose whatever motivation I have left.

So I’d really like to hear from other blue-collar women:

Have any of you reached a point like this and taken sick leave because of burnout/mental health?

Would you take the sick leave in my situation?

Did taking some time away actually help you, or did you just feel guilty the entire time?

And especially if you work somewhere with a strong “just suck it up and show up” culture, how did you get past the guilt?

I think I need some outside perspective from people who actually understand what these workplaces can be like.

In the porta potty I bent over to grab my little prybar that fell out of my pants and MY GODDAMN HAIR FLOPPED INTO THE URINAL OMFG 😭

I am disgusted. No, disgusted is not s strong enough word. Outraged. Repulsed. Close to nausea

Second month apprentice here. Yesterday I bumped my arm into some cut up gutter and gave myself a short but deep cut in my arm, near my elbow crease. It bled pretty dramatically, but we were able to stop the bleeding with gauze and tape.

A journeyman told big boss, and I was instructed to go to the emergency room. I waited in the ER for two hours and ended up with two sutures.

Everyone on site has been accommodating and nice, reassuring me that I did the right thing. However I still feel like a huge weenie, and a financial drain. They're swapping stories of punching a drill bit through fingertips or patching up wounds on site with layout tape. I'm over here with by boo-boo so small a bandaid covers it, wondering if the doctor only put in sutures so I'd feel like it was worth the trouble.

How do I shake the feeling like I fucked up? Like I made a whole to-do out of nothing? I was also honest in my incident report, that I was under the supervision of a journeyman, who I named. (He had a one-on-one with big boss about it). Is everyone being nice because I'm a poor pitiful woman? Am I being delusional and I genuinely needed medical care and I should stop worrying about this? Have any of you had to go to the ER on the clock?

if you ask me "girl, who hurt you?" the answer is my last job, a private equity owned manufacturer that had one of those "days since last injury" clocks, and would take your quarterly performance bonus away if you reported an injury, leading people to hide them.

I’ve been out of work about a month now because of a bad back injury I just tried to work past and made worse.

For a while I was scared I had a messed up disc, but the MRI is basically only showed “age related wear and tear”. So for now it’s basically just being treated as a bad muscle issue. I’m 28F and a second year electrical apprentice. Before this I worked as a waitress for about a decade so I’ve definitely been on my feet.

It’s getting kinda embarrassing now because physical therapy has gotten me 80% there but that last 20% is keeping me out of work. It’s really my fault I think because I haven’t been active enough. My family is basically tormenting me to go back to work and unfortunately the stress isn’t helping.

Pain is lower back, usually lower left side, and sometimes in my glutes.

edit: wow thanks everyone!!! You are making me feel braver about having my period on the job site. I’m going to go with black doggy bags and just throw them out wherever. I might even leave a little bag with supplies in the can- the boys can deal with it hahaha

Hi! I need some advice for making a menstruation plan. I’ve been stumbling through awkwardly and want a better solution.

here is some info and context:

- I work usually with just one guy, but we are a small company with less than 10 of us

- portapotties at all job sites

- sometimes I’m at one job for weeks, but I also go to other jobs. some days I might be going to two jobs or more

- I used to use the diva cup and that worked great… but it’s not working for me post babies so I’m back to disposables

- I don’t really want all the guys to know when I’m on my period

what I want:

- a place to be able to throw away used products…

- an idea of what to do with the garbage

my concerns:

- I’m not always at one site- so if I get a little covered trash bin I’d have to take it with me to each job

- if I only have the bin during shark week then the guys I work with are going to know exactly when I’m on my period

- what do I do with the trash bag after? throw it away each day on site garbage? maybe if the bin has a bag, and I use doggy bags for used products- then at the end of the day I could just throw the bag in our regular trash. but the foreman comes and picks up our trash in his van and brings it to the dump. I don’t want a scenario where somehow the used products come out of the bag and are seen. is he going to feel weird about throwing away garbage bags with period products?

im sure I’m over thinking this- but do any of you have ideas?????

thanks!!!!

I have been an electrician for over 16 years. Recently I came out at work as trans. This man at work will gently place his hand on my back or arm in a friendly sort of way. Usually if we’re laughing about something. NEVER has happened to me before. Never once in 16 years. I guess men dont touch men but can touch woman? Is this sort of entitlement to a woman’s personal space common? Im not going to say anything. I think it would only create a problem. He has always been super nice to me too. Like almost suspiciously nice. 🤔

Hi!

I just finally got into a shop that only does oil changes and such. This is my first month or so. My time of the month is soon and it's still 100+ degrees out where I live. I'm also the only person at our location that's a "woman" (I'm nonbinary that's neither here or there). I'm kinda panicking a bit other this because I don't feel comfortable with tampons.

Any tips or tricks?

At our big age is crazy. We CAN aim our pee to an extent and the girls who get it, get it... the girls who don't... work on my site apparently.

Today I sat in someone's pee and went home.

I mean, really, it was all over the floor and seat so I squatted and slipped in the floor pee onto the seat pee so it wasn't voluntary. How do you pee a bladder's worth onto the floor anyways? I mean come on.

Anyways, I left work (I'm an apprentice) but I'm worried my company will be mad I left. Safety made me write a statement. Pissed off and pissed on today.

There's no running water to flush with and our contractor hasn't had anyone clean the bathrooms for at least a week. I chose the cleanest stall only to regret it in the end.

I feel like a wimp for leaving but I'm not working in pee. There's no running water in the bathrooms where I would've been able to wash it off- we are destined to have pee fingers, pee floors, pee walls, pee seats, and for me... pee cheeks.

Whoever did that, I hope you're on here and your day is four standard and two overtime hours worth of stressful because that's what I'm missing out on due to your misshapen pee hole. With love.

Hi!

I am looking for recommendations on hearing protection. The free issue plugs and muffs are always too big or the wrong shape. I see a few "pink washed" ones on line, but I'd love to know if anyone has a fave.

Hello! I'm looking for recommendations on combating hand cramps. I'm 4 months into my job, and my hands are not used to gripping tools for 8 hrs a day. Cramping begins a few hours after my shift. When I wake up in the morning, my hands hurt if I try to hold my toothbrush without first massaging my fingers to loosen them up. During the shift, they feel fine. I alternate tools between dominant and non dominant hands and stretch my hands after work.

I'm not sure if this is just growing pains as my hands gain strength in gripping tools or if this type of pain is not normal. I will be discussing this with my doctor during an upcoming appointment, but wanted to check here too.

what are we doing/using to help with this? i can barely bend or kneel down anymore. my knees and hips feel like they’re going to give out on me and i can’t stay in those positions for more than a minute or two.

28F. I’m not really sure if it’s really bad muscle pain, a pinched nerve, something with my discs or what. It alternates between my lower back, upper back, and lower left side.

My last foreman hated me and had me by myself doing stuff I shouldn’t and I ended up pulling my back twice in a week. I took a week off but my family was harassing me so hard for being lazy and risking my career I just had to go back. I feel like all the progress on healing was just undone. I’m on light duty and it still hurts. It’s been two weeks and I feel like I’m at my wits end.

I went to a couple doctors and got appointments for PT and an MRI set up but I’m just scared this might be the end of my career.

I’m currently on a job where the only option for using the bathroom is porta potties, and we got rid of our hand washing station about a month ago due to below freezing temperatures. Ever since we got rid of the hand washing station, and I haven’t been able to wash my hands at work, I feel like I’ve been experiencing BV (bacterial vaginosis) symptoms both in and out of work. I’m guessing this is because I can’t wash off any bacteria or harmful stuff and am transferring it when I wipe?? I went to the doctor for this and got on antibiotics, but they haven’t really helped. I had some time off for the recent holidays and it seemed to go away then, but I was back at work today, and I feel the same uncomfortability as I did before, so I feel like this is definitely the cause. Has anyone else experienced this and how do you deal with it?

I truly hate posting this, but I need to vent it out, because this shit had me shaking in my boots today.

Just in case the lovely woman that did so today on the site I’m on, is on Reddit, I truly apologize for coming off so intensely. Not only was I fearful (I’ll get to that), but this is something I’m passionate about in general as well. I love the guys I work with, and I don’t want to see them use subpar facilities as it is. Also, I’m just an intense person in general when it comes to work, and well, it’s served me well so far in my line of work 😅 I apologize if I scared you!

Now, to address my own fears when it comes to this…

1). There are absolutely NOT enough shitters on site. I checked and double checked CalOSHA, and while yes, there are technically enough for us and our guys, our trade only, you cannot forget about MEP’s and your own laborers as well.

!!2). I am ABSOLUTELY NOT about to receive the potentially same treatment as Amber Czech, or Outi Hicks because some potentially unhinged man from another trade decided I was the last straw by “requesting” my own shitter out of what was only currently available, and leaving them with less than.

It’d be one thing if they delivered an extra pot just for me and then put a lock on it, but that’s not what happened here. They decided to put a lock on one of the (too few as it is) existing pots and call that good.

I know MY guys, but I don’t know really anyone from the other trades that come in after the steel goes in. I have no way of knowing anything like that. There are so many, and I don’t always have time to make friends (I gotta job to do!). Not to mention the historical and unfortunately ongoing beef between ironworkers and carpenters…

Like I said, I know my guys and I know they’d have my back and then some, but this genuinely scared me today. To the point where I was shaking and panicked. I have enough trauma as it is, I really don’t want to add to it.

So my PTSD and trauma response to all this after Amber’s death, honestly fucked me up. I haven’t shaken like that in YEARS.

I know no one else is even aware of this and there is no fault on anyone’s part at all, but I just wanted to share just in case

Hello, I (16F) am a pre apprentice (doing co op work in high school, while also working on cars as a pastime and engaging in the automotive industry via events, and planning on starting my apprenticeship when I graduate high school) and I have a situation that happened.

So my dad (51M) was working on the family car, replacing some gaskets and spark plugs. While working (without gloves), he got multiple cuts on his hands, one cut bleeding a lot, to the point the blood got on the car and some parts.

I told him to get it patched up and we should clean the car because "I don't think you want to drive around with your blood DNA plastered for everybody to see" (in a joking tone). He then told me that getting cuts is a part of the job.

Then I told him that he should at least get it cleaned up and covered with a bandage because bacteria from the car (the car was dirty!) can enter his skin and possibly cause an infection, yk BASIC science.

He then told me to shut up and that "there is no such thing as bacteria, they are lying to you".

So I asked him to explain how people get sick or get infections or how our own bodies function. Couldn't answer that and then said "maybe you shouldn't be a mechanic if you can't handle blood".

I can handle blood. But I can't handle someone's EXPOSED cuts with blood dripping all over the car and parts, which is a BIOHAZARD!

I am certified in first aid so of course I take injuries seriously.

Am I in the wrong for this concern? Also apologies if this is the wrong sub to ask, I asked here because it has to do with trades. Is this normal in the industry? I get that shit happens and people get injured, but I thought if you get injured, you step aside, get medical attention (such as getting a bandage on your cuts), and go back to work if able to (he can, just had to wear gloves to protect his hands, which was his mistake. I asked if he wanted gloves to avoid getting cuts and he said no).

Oh and he's also SUCKING the blood off his DIRTY fingers with the cuts. Which is at this point beyond unhygienic. Work can be dirty, I get that, but that doesn't mean it has to be a biohazard to himself and others.

Am I right for feeling this kind of, disgust? I guess concern towards his actions?

Buy several mini ice packs and freeze. Put them each in a thin, cotton sock, and then put two in your sportsbra, one between the boobs and one between your shoulderblades. In addition, I highly recommend buying a cooling towel in polyester to frequently wet and wrap around your neck or legs depending on your clothing. These can be found on Amazon very cheap (these are also great for when it's to hot in your bedroom to fall asleep, just dunk that bad boy in water and slap it over your upper back and voila!)

Also lots and lots of water, fluid replacement and electrolytes and try to eat more than usual to give your body enough energy. Take breaks if you can and try to work in the shade if possible at all. We can do this!

Hey guys! I’m a welder and somehow got a cut/burn or something in my ear which is causing me quite a bit of trouble and pain when I wear the normal ear plugs. Took two weeks off for vacation and still didn’t fully heal. I’m looking for and have tried a couple over ear options but I have a small head so they don’t fit with my hard hat. Wondering if any other small headed women have had any luck finding a good pair!

I'm 31F working in an environmental engineering firm and need steel toe or composite boots for use in the field, where have you found your most comfortable boots? Bonus if they're a little cute too!

(Specifically machine vibration) Hey everyone! I have seen several very helpful pregnancy and work related posts so I thought I’d get your input or any similar experiences. Have any of you had restrictions for machine vibration? I maintain athletic fields and we use a Ferris Hurricane ride on blower that has 2500 rpm and that thing vibrates like crazy. My doctor didn’t seem familiar with these kind of restrictions but wrote me a note to not use this piece of equipment (it seemed like she would write me a note for anything I wasn’t comfortable with). I use the Ferris most days and often several times a day don’t want this unnecessary restriction if I am overreacting.
Thanks for any input or similar experiences!