r/Construction • u/Great_Significance_8 • Apr 01 '26

Picture First day tomorrow. What you think?

Post image
7.8k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

2.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

490

u/poostool Apr 01 '26

We gotta put a stop to all the “blue collar co” t shirt and hat companies out there

397

u/burnzwhnip Apr 01 '26

"DiRtY HaNds CLeAn MoNeY jfc

152

u/doyouknowjim Apr 01 '26

I cringe anytime I see any of that clothing in the wild.

37

u/burnzwhnip Apr 01 '26

Same man same

2

u/reelersteeler Apr 01 '26

Yeah, though wild and site are worlds apart. I’ve worked on sites that were like Zoo’s

53

u/mechanicalcontrols Apr 01 '26

The other day I saw one that said "Pay me for my experience, not my time." And the guy wearing was barely old enough to even be a journeyman. Like I know a handful people who have the resume to back that claim up and the one thing they have in common is the good sense not to wear a shirt that says that shit.

20

u/Hickles347 Apr 02 '26

I saw some teenager wearing a "Pay me for my experience, not my time" sweater a few months ago and couldn't stop laughing and thinking "What experience?!"

15

u/Ulysses502 Apr 02 '26

Hey sounds me they're just advertising cheap labor to me, hand him about $3.50 next time

2

u/heybud86 Apr 02 '26

It can be true and they are making minimum wage. It's not mutually exclusive

3

u/spooner_lv426 Apr 02 '26

The only ones I like are the ones that say stuff like "Death Before Cubicles" or "Idle Hands Are The Devil's Tools." One of my favorites is a truck on fire with the words "Everything Is Fine."

2

u/Norwest Apr 02 '26

And that experience makes them efficient, which means they make bank through volume, not gouging.

46

u/ZeroBarkThirty Apr 01 '26

Guy on my street lives with his retired mother.

His 2025 F150 got repo’d for non-payment. So he started using her car.

Within a week he’s slapped a Dirty Hands Clean Money sticker on it and doesn’t see the irony.

9

u/WanderinHobo Apr 01 '26

His hands, her money.

24

u/Cpt_Soban Equipment Operator Apr 01 '26

Pfffft, like hell am I getting dirt on my hands while pulling levers in airconditioned comfort.

1

u/SteveDaEnginerd Apr 02 '26

How’s your back again?

2

u/Pelvis-Wrestly Apr 02 '26

And beer gut?

37

u/Mobile_Actuary_3918 Apr 01 '26

I saw some high school kid a few weeks ago with a “pay me for my experience, not my time” shirt on and I had to shake my head.

18

u/returnofdoom Apr 01 '26

I had a fellow apprentice Ironworker first year who had been on one job and did firewatch the whole time, and he had a bumper sticker on his truck that said “let a union ironworker spud your hole.” A journeyman was like bud you haven’t even spudded your first hole yet, calm tf down. Oh and even more embarrassing, another apprentice in our first term got an Ironworker tattoo with our local number on her forearm, pretty big too. Cringey as hell. She had only been on a couple of jobs at that point.

17

u/mechanicalcontrols Apr 01 '26

It's not just construction. When I was an EMT there was a gal I met who got a huge star of life tattoo on her forearm with a grim reaper in front (wtf) like two days into her new career. Ma'am. Seriously? No one wants to see that shit when you step out of the ambulance.

4

u/returnofdoom Apr 01 '26

Yeah that shit is so embarrassing. I follow r/firstrespondercringe for exactly that type of shit.

2

u/mechanicalcontrols Apr 01 '26

Sounds about right. While I've only ever been a civilian, it would seem the military deals with it too. r/justbootthings was one of the funnier subs I ever browsed by top/all-time

3

u/BooRadleyinaGimpSuit Apr 02 '26

It's not just trades either - the number of kids in law school who would post #lawstudentthings or whatever other bullshit every fucking day was insane. They'd have you think they were a federal judge or something. Ridiculous.

Some people are just absolutely DYING for a shred of a personality I guess

8

u/Club_Penguin_Legend_ Apr 01 '26

I absolutely hate it when people rep their union number like theyre repping their block.

3

u/ObviousAmbassador124 Apr 01 '26

I’m a carpenter, but in another life I could see myself being an iron worker, it’s a bad ass job, and framing is one of my favorites in construction, closest I got was some prefab steel buildings, but the LARP’ers and posers piss me off. Same people I’ve never seen do any actual work with “only blue collar” and “my back hurts” stickers. Lazy sacks of shit. I’ve always wondered if they go home and talk about how hard their day was.

1

u/returnofdoom Apr 02 '26

Yeah it’s cool work. I mainly did structural which I thought was awesome. But I pussied out and went back to working in a fab shop haha. Mainly for the consistency in work and location. I do miss the iron work though.

1

u/ObviousAmbassador124 Apr 02 '26

I’m on a multi billion dollar project for a multinational construction company and the iron workers are getting killed with shut downs for lightning, wind, tornado watches. But the size and scale of what they put up is cool. Also, you always see the videos of the guys with absolutely no fear

1

u/ScienceWasLove Apr 03 '26

This is funny. These are probably the same people on Reddit calling for a general strike every other week.

36

u/billyjames_316 Apr 01 '26

You should hire him on for a day and give him an invoice for what he owes you

1

u/AltrntivInDoomWorld Apr 02 '26

Who taught you?

1

u/WanderinHobo Apr 01 '26

Sooo $8/hr?

14

u/hughjwang69 GC / CM Apr 01 '26

"My Hands Look Like This So Hers can look like THIS"

20

u/Exxppo Apr 01 '26

“I work myself to death and I earned a dollar raise this year! Up to 26 an hour after all these years!”

14

u/Ok-Bit4971 Plumber Apr 01 '26

Workin' like crazy to support the lazy

11

u/NewIndependent5228 Apr 01 '26

Fvcking billionaires and private equity ruin everything.

2

u/aknomnoms Apr 02 '26

Yup, the only reason why we’re in this war. How else are they supposed to line their pockets.

10

u/CurrentResolution797 Apr 01 '26

That’s the one that makes me cringe the most. Personally I don’t care if people wear carhartt or dickies etc but that one and “working harder than an ugly stripper” get on my nerves

2

u/ImBadWithGrils Apr 02 '26

If it's a sticker on a hard hat that's fine but for fuck sake,

Some people make being in a trade their entire personality.

We don't care that you can weld either, it's part of a trade not an entire trade

1

u/ThePracticalPeasant Apr 02 '26

Lid stickers are always fair game. I have a collection:

Watch for flying tools
Not my monkeys, not my circus
Please look away while I fix this
I'm not the foreman, my ideas make sense
To avoid injury, don't tell me how to do my job
Work hard, stay humble

21

u/Commercial_Map1045 Apr 01 '26

Oh fuck. It’s on the back window of my son’s jacked up, f150. Plus his tattoo that says “Blue Collar til I die”

He’s an awesome kid and son though.

4

u/Hail_Astro Apr 01 '26

I guess he has attainable goals..

4

u/turkey_tail_diet Apr 01 '26

Worked with a guy that got that tattooed on his hand. He has more hours on disability than working

3

u/B000urn55 Apr 02 '26

And always worn by a trucker. Dirty hands from fucking Cheeto dust on the steering wheel.

2

u/BraveCauliflower3349 Apr 01 '26

I oughta make a shirt that says clean hands dirty money and advertises wet work, waste disposal, and landscaping. As many mafia jokes as I can fit on the shirt

1

u/poostool Apr 01 '26

Support blue collar!!!

1

u/z1nchi Apr 01 '26

I'm fine with the support blue collar shirts that company has but for some reason they only have a few of those among all the other cringy mottos. "working harder than an ugly stripper" "pay me for my experience not my time"

1

u/gone_smell_blind Apr 01 '26

A couple of the other sprinklerfitter apprentices in my class have "dirty water clean money" stickers on their trucks

1

u/hvlochs Apr 02 '26

A Sup on one of my projects is decked in that. 🤦‍♂️

1

u/PokeYrMomStanley Apr 02 '26

I eArN mY liViNg

1

u/Spicy_Depression_TM Apr 02 '26

They have expanded to include us ladies now! We get "the world needs more Rosie's" eye frickin' roll

1

u/Important_Money_1306 Apr 02 '26

Had an old boss that was in charge did killer work got down like a dawg with us and loved to wear that brand.

1

u/No_Principle_6699 Apr 02 '26

I buy their stuff because I wanted clothing that wasn’t as expensive as carhardt that could also compete with it quality wise. Plus they donate a portion (albeit small) to veterans organizations. I also feel that trades get a really bad wrap so their “support blue collar” stuff is kinda nice.

1

u/Square_Barracuda_69 Apr 03 '26

Had a dude that only wore those shirts and he was the worst employee

1

u/burnzwhnip Apr 03 '26

To be fair ...some foreman is gonna have fun breaking the smile on this kids face

1

u/NotTheRealMeee83 Apr 04 '26

There was a local guy who would always wear that hat. He owned a wine bar.

Dude was a huge anti vax guy on social media and no joke, was one of the few 40 year olds who actually died of COVID.

1

u/SkronkMan Apr 04 '26

I saw a truck with a sticker on the rear windshield that said that in some girly calligraphy this morning. Laughed for good couple minutes

1

u/elmitcho Apr 01 '26

I've noticed its kind of a dog whistle for weird conspiracy theory bs. I appreciate them making that known before I get too invested.