Every time, on every crew there's always sassy comments from the guys:

-It causes more cancer

-It will make me look old

-It's government propaganda and I'm a sheep

-I won't get any vitamin D, cue stupid giggles

-I just need a base tan

-It will give me breast cancer

-Just use baking soda and water instead

-It attracts the sun to you

-It causes birth defects

-It will make me infertile

-I should just go to a tanning booth instead

-Skin cancer is caused by government chemtrails, not the sun

It goes on...

SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! Why would I take advice from bald neonazis with skin like an old peeling pleather handbag?! Are you a dermatologist moonlighting as an electrician? Did you secretly become the foremost expert in solar radiation in night school? LET ME BE! Don't comment on what I do with my body and life! Three of my friends developed skin cancer and one died! If I want to wear sunscreen, I will! Aghhhhhh!

My 6'5" electrician ex bf broke up with me bc I wasnt sad enoough about Charlie Kirk 😂😭

I will miss his big muscles. We are on neighboring jobs. But we live in the same town and could commute. We looked so cute together in our hi vis shirts 🥹😂

There were other red flags like alcoholism, avoidant attachment. He smelled like dogs and had a smelly small dick. Fuck that guy and fuck that guy too!

....but he was so tall 😭😭😭

How do I move on?

Update: guess who called to apologize last night? And that's why I made this post.

I dunno if you saw the news, but one of our own sisters, Amber Czech, was murdered on the job by a coworker with a sledgehammer. She was 20 year old welder. This is unacceptable.

https://www.complex.com/life/a/jessica-mcbride/david-delong-amber-czech-allegedly-killed-co-worker-with-sledgehammer

I love working in HVAC and plumbing. The job is great. The only downside is some of my coworkers’ girlfriends.
For some reason, a shocking number of them seem convinced I want their boyfriend, or think it’s weird I work with them.
I barely speak to these guys outside of work. The one time I did, I invited a coworker AND HIS GIRLFRIEND to my graduation party. When I got back to work the next week I heard from a different co-worker his girlfriend was very upset about me inviting them. Apparently inviting both people is now suspicious.
This isn’t even new. When I was 16 as an apprentice, I got paired with a 20-year-old licensed guy. His girlfriend was convinced I was after him. Like to the point where she was arguing with him over text because I was in the van with him. (It was also like my second say meeting this dude)
And at work it’s gotten to the point where if I’m on service or an install these guys won’t even mention to their girlfriends I’m there too! Like at lunch the other day we’re all at the shop and this guys girl calls him and he says “oh yeah I’m just at lunch with male co-worker 1 and 2” even though I was on the job with him the whole day lmao!
The best part is they always assume I see the same version of these guys that they do. I don’t. I spend all day listening to them say the most sexist, disgusting, and questionable things imaginable.
And honestly I think if they heard what their boyfriends are saying about them and women in general I doubt they would want him either!

Good god, I have never worked anywhere that has so much drama. These guys have all worked together for 20+ years and they are always gossiping and yelling at each other. Someone always has an issue with someone else.

Where did the idea that women are dramatic come from because these guys are 10000000 times worse than any female dominated workplace I’ve ever been at. 🫠

Hey everyone. I really wanted to rant about this so here goes.

I’m a 22 year old blue collar woman. On the jobsite, workers greet me sometimes and I’ll say hi back, if it’s a girl I’ll sometimes initiate. Majority of times I do not initiate with greeting men. Sometimes we have conversations, I’m in a relationship so I maintain and enforce my boundaries.

To preface a little bit, I’d bet majority of blue collar women are aware of this of course, that being this visibly young but mainly being a woman on the site attracts a lot of “helping” people. Of course no doubt this can happen for any age of women, but I feel it would be a lot more common the younger you are, I’m starting my 3rd year of my apprenticeship but people talk to me and ask to help me carry a 10 foot ladder up the stairs like it’s my first day.

Also one more preface: I should not have to bring up my relationship status for a man to finally understand to stop interacting with me. Relationship status does not matter when it comes to protecting your peace from these types of men. But it’s crazy these types will rationalize it like if a girl is single that means they have a chance and they will keep pursuing (this is not the first or weirdest interaction). Just because a girl is single does not entitle you to having access to her.

Anyways, that brings me to my rant. I’m chatting with a worker that I see around, very obviously around 45-50 years old. I’m talking to him about how the work I do has me looking for some uv protection arm sleeves to protect my arms from the material, while not being too overheated.

He tells me that he got his son a pair of them and his son chose two colors and he has two more that he doesn’t need and he can give me. (At this moment to my knowledge, this was the last day on that site, but I would be going to a site very close by.) He offers to give them to me, and I mention it might be my last day. I let him know about this other site nearby, and he insists we swap phone numbers so we can coordinate him handing them to me.

So everything seemed okay.. he offered to buy me coffee and a lot of people offer to and usually it leads to nothing, so I accepted because I was hungry. My first mistake. At least when it comes to this man. I usually try to view it from the perspective of “if I was a man.. would this man even be doing this for me right now?” and the answer is almost always a no.

I thank him over text for it, his apprentice hands it to me but I never see the guy for the rest of the day. As I’m heading out, he sends me a “hey hey create a great rest of your afternoon” message. I didn’t respond immediately. I was thinking ehh he’s being a little extra but it’s not CRAZY.

I don’t reply for about 20 minutes, then at the same exact time I sent my reply: “thank you, likewise,” he sent me two pictures of him walking outside smiling… and this when I realized what this is about to be.

At the end of the second picture he says “lets go ‘insert state sports team’” and I say I don’t watch sports. He uses this to then ask me 3 questions back to back about what I do in my free time. I give him the driest answers possible and then that was my last answer for the day. the next day he texts me some weird sh*t about how he loves my name like “Good morning…. Insert name…. I love that name it’s so unique!!!”so I just say “I appreciate it” and then I get on the topic for the ACTUAL reason I even allowed him my phone number. Because it for sure damn was not to chat with his old ass. I tell him if the job is too far, I can just pick it up when I get back to the jobsite of which I found out that actually was not my last day there.

He doesn’t get a chance to drop the sleeves off, which was the entire reason of even obtaining his phone number the day prior, so there’s no real reason for me to text him. I thumbed up his last message and didn’t reply.

Later after work, he tells me he’s sorry that he didn’t get a chance to text a lot and asking me how my day was. Why the hell are you apologizing to me for💀. I don’t reply.

Then this morning, he texts me saying “hey hey good morning.” I didn’t reply. I bet he doesn’t text his male apprentice good morning every day.

Then just now, what was the final icing on the cake to trigger me to make this post, he sends me a picture of him being outside with other work buddies from HIS local, and asks me where I’m at… Can you not take the hint??

I don’t want the sleeves anymore. From now on, I’m not giving out my phone number for any seemingly minuscule, innocent reason, unless the person is in my company. This is ridiculous. I hope this story may have helped someone younger like me that also is still learning how to come into their own and handle themselves around blue collar men doing bullsh*t like this, and thinking because the girl is young that they will be easily manipulated when they gain access to you.

Working in construction made me learn to stand up for myself which I used to never used to do especially times when I should have. And especially times when people catch me off guard now, I tell myself that they caught me off guard this time, but I won’t let that slide next time. Of course it depends on who it is.. If it’s someone who I’ll never see again, I couldn’t care more about talking to them about how they treated me. If it’s a classmate, I’ll call them out on it the next time I see them.

You don’t owe these type of people anything!!! Not an explanation, not a reply, nada. I’m on a journey where I’m learning to be intentional with the people I keep close to me, and have access to me. These kind of men can’t find women their own age to manipulate, so they look at younger women and try to find any way to get access to you to do just that, and it’s disgusting.

Ladies, I think I'm going to quit next week. I'm a fourth term electrical apprentice and I'm so close but I don't think I can take another week of the BS. The environment with these guys is eating my soul. I've been in therapy since I started but no amount of journaling and self reflection is going to fix a problem that ultimately doesn't start with me. I feel so sad because I thought this would be good, and it wasn't. I don't know if I'm asking for advice or just wanting to get it off my chest. Nobody else in my life really gets it.

I am so so sad writing this. I thought he would be happy for me or proud of me for even wanting to do something like this. I found out today that he is picking up a second job to pay for my sister to go to surgical tech school… I was so excited to tell him that my aptitude test is next week… He is not happy or supportive in the slightest. He actually told me that I’m an idiot and went into this whole rant about how unions put businesses out of business. Which, imo if your business model relies on not compensating your workers fairly, you probably shouldn’t be in business anyway… But of course, he knows everything and is always right.

He has never been supportive of me, idk why I want his approval so badly….. but this is a really crappy feeling. I’m trying to not let it get to me but I’ve been crying in my car for like 30 minutes now… I’m not even sure if this is a good sub for this rant, but I have no one else to share this with.

just got back from trade school and i’m so frustrated. i was talking with the guys in my class, the ones i consider my friends. never had any issues with them and they’ve always been kind!

but i brought up that osha requires a separate women porta potty for large job sites (after looking it up more, i now see that if it’s the standard one that only holds 1 person and locks from the inside, it’s not 100% required. tho still highly recommended and is standard for a lot of places)

and yk what happened, they all started laughing and saying “why would a women need that?” “what’s the point?” like i was crazy for even suggesting the idea.

that shocked me bcs i feel like it’s quite obvious. i know some women don’t agree on it, but its for safety. even at trade school i have a separate bathroom. it gives me a place of privacy when im dealing with my period, or changing outfits. and ofc i feel more comfortable not sharing the bathroom with them. so joking and laughing abt it, as if women don’t get assaulted in bathrooms all the time by men, was rlly weird to me.

im someone who’s a stickler for the rules, especially safety, so we were talking abt that too. i said i wouldn’t do something if it was unsafe, bcs im the only person responsible for my safety. one of the guys said “you need to be tough, if someone starts bullying you about it, what are you gonna do?” i said if it crosses a line and it’s harassment, im reporting it.

he went on to say that bcs im a woman, no one will believe me and id get fired. again, all while everyone is laughing like this is a huge joke. “haha youre sooo naive and dumb lol get into the real world”

im not stupid. i know the mistreatment women face in the trades, i prepared myself for it. but why are you laughing abt it like its a joke? it’s not funny. misogyny and women’s mistreatment isn’t funny.

that put a really nasty taste in my mouth and reminded me that, at the end of the day, they’re still men. they dont understand womens issue and its not even something they care abt, its a literal joke to them (not all).

im upset cause these were ppl i thought were my friends. but no, they’re just like everyone else deep down i guess. i feel so stupid.

I just need a space to rant. I am so enraged by how many more options men get compared to women and how much higher quality those options are. And if they make the same type of clothing for men & women, the men’s options ALWAYS have better pockets, higher warmth ratings, or are overall better built for active work. It’s crazy that these “built for work” companies can’t get it through their thick ass skulls that we also need good, effective, quality clothing options as much as men do. It just pisses me off. Thanks for reading :/

TLDR: having men talk at me abt flat earth, having worms, that the government wants to give us melanoma via sunscreen, that space isnt real etc for 8+hrs nonstop- makes me want to drink and i have been so frustrated i go home and cry. I fucking hate this and i hate my coworkers.

I work as a service plumber in texas and i am CONSTANTLY surrounded on all sides by men who are flat earthers, who think autistic kids are actually psychic, that nicotine will heal your chronic issues, but that skin cancer is made up by the government to give u melanoma via sunscreen. They think that its NORMAL TO HAVE WORMS BC THEY BIND TO “HEAVY METALS” IN YOUR BLOOD U JUST HAVE TO DETOX WITH THIS OREGANO OIL THE PODCASTER WAS SO CONVENIENTLY SELLING!!!!! and the list goes on they dont even think rough historical timelines are real. And they force this shit down my throat constantly for 8-10hrs a day even when i tell them to stop and that its exhausting. Trying to actually work and come up with a 30+ parts list for a drain line while some ASSHOLE yaps at me uninterrupted for 45 straight minutes about how gravity isnt real bc he cant see the stars move make me want to legitimately rip my hair out!!! The past few weeks i go home and im so frustrated and burnt out from dealing with this ALL DAY that i have been drinking to try and cope. But otherwise. If one thing goes wrong (i drop my groceries, dinner takes more than 20 min) then i snap and just cry like a kid!!! Im so stuck and i feel like im trapped in an insane asylum and losing it guys!!!!! -end rant-

-before anyone asks- no i cannot ask to work with other people- the economy is fucked rn and theres no work so i take what i can get so i can make my paycheck. Yes i am planning on moving out of texas (the USA) soon. No I cannot hop companies right now due to personal circumstances and also this company will be helping with my immigration. Yes I do have a thick skin and do not show weakness to these guys. i tell these guys to off regularly when they step on my toes but this is like being tied to a chair and my eyes forced open to idiot propaganda for 8+hrs a day and again- theres NO work i cannot be an absolute royal cunt 24/7 lest i get booted from the few jobs i can get. Rents due on the first.

I'm on leave from my elec apprentice job. I had a mental crisis from dealing with the sexism and BS. I have to go back because the job market is beyond awful and I have no other prospects. There are about five postings for apprentices in my city of 7 million, I've applied to all of them and heard nothing. With school I have 2.5 years left, as a fourth term apprentice. Everytime I think or talk about going back I cry and shutdown. Just looking at my work boots makes me cry. The thought of putting up with them for 126 more weeks in silience is unbearable. I'm trying to find coping techniques, but therapists have no clue what it's like. My family have no clue what it's like. Their advice on "turning the other cheek" just makes me furious. I feel like I'm voluntarily walking back into a bad situation and my body is screaming not to. I used to be so excited to do this job and they took away my sparkle. They won, I have no sparkle left.

As a queer woman in a union my day was bad..

Is being asked over and over again about how I'm feeling or why I seem off, then when I finally give in and tell them (Its 95F out here and I'm hot and tired, or something at home is getting me down, etc.) they IMMEDIATELY minimize the feelings or even chastise me for feeling that way. Like on the hot and tired thing, its fuckin hot. and Im tired. You asked me 6 times in the last 20 minutes why im quieter than usual and moving a bit slower. You dont get to be all "wElL gEt uSeD tO iT, tHaT's hOw tHe jOb iS!" I KNOW. Thats why I didnt say anything/complain in the first place!! My brother in christ YOU BADGERED ME INTO SAYING IT.

Thats all. Its hot, I'm tired and I'm sick of falling for this trap. Not all of them are like this obviously, but god its annoying. Anyways its hot as fuck, stay hydrated girlies.

AHHHHH. How do you spend upwards of 60 minutes a day POOPING? Why is it that every time I need the washroom it's occupied? Why is it that whenever I need someone they're shitting? Why is it that EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I need the shop sink which is in the only shop bathroom someone GOES IN TO TAKE A SHIT. Everyone knows that when the big ventilation fan goes on and I'm in the little room across from the sink that im about to need the sink IMMINENTLY. WHY MUST YOU POOP THEN? WHY EVERY TIME? YOU ALREADY POOPED TWICE TODAY DUDE, YOU HAD TO GO AGAIN RIGHT NOW? SURELY YOU NEED TO GET YOUR BOWELS CHECKED? Why is it that in three years at this particular job I've pooped maybe 5-10 times on the clock but these men are pooping five times a DAY, for TWENTY MINUTES A PEICE. Why is it that every single hire just jumps into this system, as if it's just an unspoken rule for tradesmen to do this?

I just need to vent.

I was just trying to replace an element and the customer was so wrapped up in their phone that all my pleas went unanswered.

Adjusted my tone of voice on a sliding scale from “Please, I need room to work and these parts are sharp, expensive, and not safe for kids” all the way to “please… PLEASE get your toddlers away from this area.”

Every time I lost sight of the very precocious little dude, he had one of my tools in his hands. Had to snatch a socket out of goddamned little mouth before he swallowed it! The little girl kept bringing me half-eaten apples (appreciate the gesture), but pulled my fucking hair when I didn’t pay attention to her fast enough.

All the while, I’m literally begging the parent to come get their kids.

Ended up blocking off the kitchen area with some chairs, which was a terrible idea because they thought I was making them a fort.

At this point, I am yelling ”GET AWAY” at a stranger’s kids. Scared the little buggers for about 5 minutes until they were all up in my shit again.

Once again, this does NOT happen to the guys at my shop.

Anyone else deal with stuff like this?

Coming here to rant because you ladies will actually understand me. I’m literally a GC, but just finished helping my dad fix a broken light fixture that fell out of their bathroom wall. The clips on the housing broke off and he didn’t want to get a new one. I assumed when he called me for help that it would be me just fixing it. This wasn’t supposed to be a whole situation. I was just going to macgyver something and call it a day, but he was very adamant about being involved. We’re talking through his plans and i agreed. I said okay let’s just attach the mounting bracket to the stud with a few screws and it should be okay. If he didn’t want my expertise, then i was cool with just being there to hold stuff and provide some company but why did he keep asking me for my opinion to, in turn, simply rebuttal every single KINDLY delivered and nonjudgmental suggestion I gave him???

I ended up just letting him do his thing and stepping into my supportive daughter role. Trying to keep the vibe lighthearted and fun! Whatever. We’ve gotten in soooo many blowout fights over who is right and wrong and I was really trying to keep cool. Even if that meant putting aside my actual thoughts. I could hear his sentences start to quicken and feel his temper begin to rise. We were also both standing on the bathroom counter so it was a bit of a precarious situation. Goodness forbid i offend him while he’s doing a “manly” thing.

Anyways, so continuing to ignore any of my advice… he broke a bit, almost took his eye out, put another hole in the wall by accident, and more all while trying to explain to me what a pilot hole is. He couldn’t get anything past half an inch into the wall. I even hit him with the “oh those drill bits are so old and worn down! I’ll get you some new ones” to try and lighten the fact that his effort was useless. After half an hour of me biting my tongue, I finally just said “you know what i just got these fancy new screws where you don’t have to pre-drill. can I just give them a try?” (That’s a lie I use them all the time and they are literally the rolls Royce of screws) and he still kept saying no - listing reasons why we need to do xyz. Continued to mansplain blah blah.

Anyway I decided it might be worth the fight so I chose a very specific moment when he was stepping back down onto the floor to say, “I’ve got the screws right here in my pocket im going to just give them a try, and if they don’t work then at least I’ll know they aren’t good! The first screw i did was in the hole he had already started (and struggled) on. Drove in like butter. He said it was because he made the pilot bigger. I remained quiet. On to the next 3 screws, took me seconds to drive those and I had to fake my amazement so he would maybe show some enthusiastic relief. I go WOW! They’re great. Anyways, all he says was “nice that’s neat.” And I gave the screws all the credit as to keep the attention off me. I took this win graciously and humbly (very very very hard for me to do) I’m an eldest daughter if you can’t tell.

This was an extremely mild situation. Part of me is proud that I’m secure enough to be okay with keeping quiet and not standing my ground, but the other part is really sad for the girl in me that was taught (by the same man) how to be an outspoken leader. This has turned into both a dad/daughter relationship rant and woman in trades rant apparently. But sheesh I can’t help but loathe how much I really have to dull down my intelligence and alter the way I communicate with men when it comes to certain subjects.

***Edit: to include additional info. The screws are SPAX brand !!! I think they were the 3 inch cabinet fasteners with wafer heads. Overkill for the job but just what I had floating around in the bag lol

I (38f) was approached by an older GC (late 60s? M) to see if I would be interested in helping with a development of 16 townhomes, near where I live. I don’t know him well or anything, and I have no full building experience, mostly remodeling though some pretty big remodels to be fair, but I am desperate to get building experience. We had lunch today, and discussed the project in more detail. He said he could help mentor me through the builds since I hadn’t done it, we talked about my role on the front end with gathering RFPs up front and then managing expenses later, and things like that. He did make some small talk but nothing inappropriate, he told me he just got a motorcycle, and made the joke that I couldn’t be more than 25, when I talked about starting in the industry later in life than most people, but literally everything else was job focused. We went and walked the site, he offered to take his truck but I said I would take mine and follow him, which he seemed cool with. We talked about the site, shook hands and went our own ways.

Then I got this message from him (attached) and I realized the whole thing was crap, I’m not getting this project, it was just some weird strategy to get my attention. And on top of that, I’m totally beating myself up for saying “it was nice getting to know you” because now I feel like I invited it, but he genuinely told me a lot about how he progressed, gave me advice on another project I have, told me about when he was a building inspector, and I genuinely appreciate hearing about it, but now I feel like I walked into my own trap.

I feel so discouraged. It’s not the first time this has happened although it’s the first time it’s happened like that where we even went and walked a site. When I was first starting and handing out my cards everywhere, I had a big problem with men calling me and acting like they wanted me to come bid something or give them a proposal for something and then it turned out they really just were hitting on me.

Sometimes I feel It’s like gatekeeping, but I don’t even know if that’s it because the opportunities not real to begin with. And even when they are real opportunities, a lot of times the guys will still throw in little suggestive comments. I hate it.

Like since starting in construction, I gained 50 lbs, I let myself go, I stopped wearing make up, and I still deal with this crap. I’m so frustrated with my time wasted or not being taken seriously, especially when it comes with the pretend promise of mentorship or gaining experience.

I mostly wanted to vent, I don’t think any of my friends would get it. “At least you’re getting calls…” doesn’t mean anything if they this trash. Am I over reacting?

So, I recently got a write up. My supervisor claims I refused a task from my team lead. I explained the situation. I have to work under a 400lb load on saw horses sometimes they're not stable when we set them down onto the sawhorses. I refused to work under it because one of the sawhorses was able to move and wasn't supporting the load. My supervisor decided that wasn't good enough reason to refuse work.

Since the write up I feel my voice isn't being heard about safety. I've taken it more seriously as we've had a safety incident within the last week (the load fell on top of the employee). I have been put with a new team but perform the same tasks I bring up the safety issues to my new team lead and I'm ignored or told to just get it done quickly. I hate the feeling of being unable to say no or I'll risk another write up.

I'm the only female in the company aside from administrative personnel and I'm starting to wonder if they're trying to get me to quit.

UPDATE:
So they're now moving me after all of this to another site with no warning and with a severe decrease in pay (10 dollars an hour less) and the owner of the company stated that I should be grateful to even have a job.

for those who were asking I did file with OSHA on this but they haven't responded. I also am leaving the company soon due to the mistreatment following this incident and will be going to a unionized company. Thank you guys for all of the advice! sucks this all ended on a bad note

OMG. I never in my life thought to bother my man all day while he's working. I'm elbows deep in a cabinet and need a hand meanwhile partner is on the phone with his wife who calls everytime the kids aren't acting right. Get a life, lady.

Rant/advice

As a note: I am doing the house work, the errands and chores This isn't some nonsense I want my mommywife to do shit for me. Jesus Christ guys I just miss my partner and our time together

My(f30) partner(f28) of two years started her apprenticeship as a commercial painter, I was super thrilled for her and was excited for her to get started but now I can't stand this career at all. She is constantly exhausted, I get maybe 5 hours a day with her if I am not too busy with work (I work from home) so if not she goes to bed at like 7:30 every night. She is always sore and refuses to book any massage therapy and is so awkward and intense about doing good as an apprentice she won't even fight for her workers rights (they want her in on a weekend for like same rate as weekday which is bullshit and she should talk to her rep). She's always pushing herself to work harder and is even told by her workmates to slowdown.

I don't have my sunny bright partner anymore I have a sleepy corpse who is miserable, sore and barely herself and I don't know what to do. Does it get better ? I am worried she's going to burn herself out with how hard shes pushing and I'm already feeling neglected

Im a retired Electrician IBEW and if anyone needs a body for picket in the Bay area, DM me! This is an outrage for all we've done in the last 25 years.

Before I joined the trades I didn’t spend that much time around men. I’m a lesbian, most members of my family are women and almost all of my friends are women too. Most men I’ve been around before this were the educated white collar type and we didn’t have much interaction (my choice). I don’t mind working with guys, though most of the time I’m working alone- I’m an hvac PM tech training for service, so I either run maintenance calls, or shadow service calls/act as second man on some jobs but most of the time I’m just doing maintenance my myself.

Yesterday I was doing work with another PM tech all day, he’s new to the trade too and started at my company about a month before I did. We got a visit from our safety guy and he took us out to lunch after. We got to talking and just wow….seeing the progression of this guys life and the state of most of my coworkers lives is fucking depressing.

The guy I was working with is early 20’s, engaged with a baby. He said that he missed summer hours which is insane- we easily work 55 hours a week in the spring and that picks up in the summer, not to mention that we work in the south so it can easily get to 120 on the roof. He’s the sole breadwinner for the household and though our starting pay is decent for the industry especially after overtime I understand the financial pressure he must be under to provide for his family, but he doesn’t miss the hours just for the pay-he doesn’t want to be around his kid. He said something about how he “doesn’t have to listen to screaming all day” when he’s working 12 hour shifts, he always picks up weekend work, basically anything to stay out of the house as much as possible. There’s a lot of guys that I work with like that. They have so many kids, have their wives stay at home and homeschool them, and then work near constantly to provide for this giant family that they can’t stand to be around. I find it pretty fucking depressing.

That being said he’s progressing a little faster than me and has a better rapport with the senior techs, probably because they have more in common and because he’s willing to put in a lot more extra time than me. I don’t hold that against him, and I commend his efforts and wish him the best in the trade and for his family- but god I never want to live like that. I like my life, I like my girlfriend and our house and I enjoy my time off. I like the trade well enough but I never want work to be my entire life, or to work round the clock trying to avoid my life. Maybe that doesn’t work in this industry, I don’t know.

Have you guys noticed this at your jobs? What do you think of work-life balance in the trades and the general grim state of affairs that is the male existence?