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I bailed Straw in 100+ degree weather, The machine would throw out the bails my brother handed them to me and then I stacked them they were maybe 65 pounds but boy after a couple hundred of them your back and hands hurt. I did a lot of manual things feed cows, clean up muck, carry heavy pales of water to the pigs and chickens, fix tractors, cut firewood and stack it. My hands are pretty rough, I hit them a few times with a hammer fixing fence, lifting those huge fence poles got me a bunch of nice ol' splinters. I know lots of girls who did manual labor jobs on the farm just like me, but it was expected of them no matter how hot or cold I- we, were required to do it and not complain. In high school I got a job and part of it was moving huge 100 to 200 pounds of feed for my elderly costumers. By the end of high school I was the strongest girl and could squat 350lbs.
Whoa...i forgot about the Girls who grew up on Farms.
Yep,....people who were raised on farms worked their tails off...and yes many of them were girls. It also explains why most of them, left the farms as soon as they could. That's some HARD WORK man!
You can make it working on a Farm, you got my respect !
My first couple of years out of college I worked at a paint company. My duties included unloading trucks and carrying 4-gallon cases of paint and 5-gallon cans of paint. The warehouse was not air-conditioned and in summertime we worked in extreme heat and humidity. At age 22-24, I was able to carry two 5-gallon containers of paint at a time. I don't recall how much they weighed, but it was a lot! I did a better job than all but one of the men I worked with. I also moved wood and aluminum step and extension ladders as well as boxes of tools and coatings-related equipment.
A lifetime ago I worked stocking shelves.... not in heat, but freezing, walk in coolers, carrying and stacking cases of items, removing and arranging. I didn't mind the work but hated the attitude of the men I had to deal with in the stores Nothing wrong with physical labor, but I wanted more out of a job
I planted my entire garden in 2004. Hauled 50 lb bags of soil, mulch, cement pavers, etc. Then planted trees, roses, etc. Put in a fountain, benches, etc. all by myself except for the electrical for the fountain. At the end of the day I was so sore I could barely move but my yard was so beautiful people would stop and ask us who we hired to do it. It was hard work but I loved every minute of it.
I don't live in that house anymore :=( but I still drive by once in awhile and see the 6 foot trees are now 20+ feet tall.
My first "job" was detasseling corn - but that was only for a few weeks in the summer - good to start at the bottom though! Outside in the middle of 6 foot tall corn where no breeze can hit you...no "amenities" ah hem (just go a few rows over and do your business)...and lots of crude teenage boys to contend with.
I did work for a couple years in a warehouse walking down between rows of 400 degree rubber curing ovens doing quality control work. If only I'd had my Fitbit then - I'm sure I walked at least 10 miles a day, and fast! Of course no ac in the summer but was still warm without heat in the winter! A very special treat was if someone went out for lunch and we gave them money to bring us back a cold soda - back then the 16 ounce bottles seemed HUGE and I tried to make it last as long as I could. Once I made the mistake of getting a milkshake and threw up because I was too overheated.
So like a genius I decide I don't like the look of the mulch that gets blown away by the leaf blower anyway.
So I decide to put stone down in the flower bed areas. I mean, how hard could it be?
So I go over to the Home Depot and buy some mexican river rock. Crap is $14 a bag, but it looks a LOT nicer than the other stones there. I buy a bunch of bags, and man are these things heavy. Load 'em up in the back of my 4Runner and go home. I cut open the bags and start shaking out the rocks.
Well, hell. One bag barely covers a couple square feet!
The rest of the day, this quicky genius project of mine winds up having me drive back there several times...the guys at the Home Depot are forklifting palettes into the back of my 4Runner. It's awesome. I have my own little part of the Depot parking lot sectioned off and every time they put stone in the truck, the whole back end just sinks.
After a couple grand $ and over one TON of stone later (mind you, I do NOT have wheelbarrow or anything - I was lifting it out of the truck, carrying all this myself, and distributing it all myself), I finally finish doing the main front of my house. IT LOOKS FANTASTIC. I love it.
Next time, however, I'll just hit a quarry or stone wholesaler and hire someone.
Seems as if for the vast majority of women they never have had to work any physically demanding jobs. But are there any women here that have? I am talking working 90+ degree heat while also having to do something physically demanding?
When I was young, I worked a few 'hospitality' industry jobs that paid less than a dollar an hour (and often were at least 10 hour shifts). There were tips of course but they were inconsistent. If I wanted a decent wage, I had to go work the jobs that guys were doing .. so I did.
I worked construction at 40 degrees below zero. I worked as a labourer and then dryer/filter operator in a lead/zinc mine - often spending whole shifts shovelling large rocks onto conveyor belts (and they were almost over my head since I am rather short) or packing 100 lb. bags of chemicals from the storage area to the hoppers. Then I became a natural gas plant operator for a couple of years, operating high pressure pumps and maintaining a variety of large equipment - and to get that job I had to pass the same tests as men did and climb a 200 foot ladder up a vessel sporting a Scott pack.
I did try to work smarter not harder where feasible. If I didn't have the strength or height to turn a valve by standing under it and reaching up, I had to scramble up on top and often use a snipe to get the leverage. But, I did the same job as the guys one way or another, got paid what they got paid, and no special accommodations were made for me or the very few other women who did these jobs. At first, many of the guys were openly hoping we failed, but some of us lasted quite a while and none of us left, to my knowledge, because we were unable to do the job the same way the guys did it - and in many cases, I think we may have done the jobs perhaps better/more efficiently. There was some resentment (from the men) at first but eventually the guys got used to us being there and things settled down to a regular workplace camaraderie when they saw many of us could actually handle the jobs we were given with no special preference being accorded.
That said, it was very tough work but I am glad I did it. I ended up in great shape in no time (though darn it hurt badly for the first while!). I learned many practical problem solving skills, have had insight for the rest of my life what it was like to work in entry level physically oriented jobs (which helped me appreciate the positions of others when I worked in management jobs later), and felt proud of myself for having actually accomplished something 'real'.
I also really liked the fact that I could leave at the end of a shift and not have to think about the job till I came back for the next one. I spent most of the rest of my working life doing primarily white collar jobs but I do not regret for one second having done those blue collar ones way back then. Most white collar jobs I had may have paid more in theory but they were, for me, 24 hour a day jobs too. And they were sedentary for the most part ... which was actually less healthy over time than the hard physical work I think.
I was never a 'women's libber' .. I just took those jobs because I felt I could do them (and I was right) ... and I wanted to make decent wages at a time when most (similarly difficult and less secure jobs more traditionally held by women) jobs were still mostly paid very low wages comparatively.
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