My blue collar friends are more fun than my white collar friends? (father, husbands)
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I like both types of people. I agree with the poster that said blue collar people tend to be more transparent. White collar people tend to be more guarded and composed. You just have to know how to get to the core of them to truly figure them out. Some of the best sense of humors I've met have been white collar people.
Actually I didn't see the posts that way at all. IME, blue collar workers seem to have a better work life balance than white collar workers.
Many might work 60+ hours a week but when they are off the clock they are really off of the clock. I'm what you might consider a white collar worker but I am the exact same way.
Define blue and white for me. My plumber who is on 24/7 call will gladly tell you about his work life balance and the technology he uses, so does my flight instructor or the poor fellow who had to deal with my pulled meniscus on New Years, ... Lucky you to be able to clock out. Physically and mentally.
I've thought this before. I guess if we answer, we all are self-selecting one group or another! Based on profession, I am white-collar. At the risk of sounding prejudicial, though , "I have lots of blue-collar friends," and I have a LOT of fun with them.
Overall, the blue-collar crowd seems easier to please. When we go out, even mixed with white-collar folks, they are more welcoming to newcomers to the group. Not as much complaining about food or accommodations. Just happy to be there!
I wonder if it comes from a "leaving work at work" attitude? Once you clock out, you are done thinking about work, whereas my white-collar friends are thinking and talking about work or trying to impress each other about work.
I think the "kids" comment means using your kids and their accomplishments as your social capital, or just talking about them nonstop.
I agree that for the most part, blue collar workers can leave work t work, although, I assume if they are in some type of managerial role, they have responsibilities they need to take careof, even when not on the clock.
I however, do not thnk that ALL white collar workers are trying to impress others. I can only speak for our group of friends, most of them, my husband included, can"t just leave work at work, they have to take calls, work from home,etc.. So it is a large part of their lives. When we get together, work might be mentioned here or there, but it is genuine interest in what is going on in eachother's lives, not to impress.
As for the kids, we do talk about our kids, but I don't think anymore than anyone else, we ask how their kids are, they ask about ours,etc... And I can also tell you we have many blue collar friends who seem more into status than many ofour white collar friends.
Spouting off their latest purchases with their UAW bonus checks, buying their kids North Face,Ambercombie & then " complaining" about all their money going to the kids....
I know that I do not talk about wht we purchased for our children or what we bought for ourselves.
We just have fun withour friends andif work or our children come up in conversation, then so be it.
Define blue and white for me. My plumber who is on 24/7 call will gladly tell you about his work life balance and the technology he uses, so does my flight instructor or the poor fellow who had to deal with my pulled meniscus on New Years, ... Lucky you to be able to clock out. Physically and mentally.
There is no one type of blue/white collar worker. That's why I pointed out in my post that this has been my experience. Obviously YMMV. And if you're on call then you're still working IMO. I don't know of anyone who would answer a 3 am call for free. My brother is a firefighter. That's about as on-call as you can get and even he doesn't really discuss his job unless you specifically ask him. He also very involved with his church as well. So even though he works a lot, he has a good balance between his home and work life.
Working a lot of hours doesn't mean you have a bad relationship between work at life. To me a good work/life balance means that the time you do have off is not preoccupied with work. I guess this doesn't really apply to people who work 24/7 365 days a year, but then again I have yet to run into a person like that.
And yes I do consider myself lucky to be able to clock out mentally and physically after work. It's doesn't pay all that well but I am able to live comfortably. That's the sacrifice I chose to make because making the most money is not my primary MO.
What's so wrong with wanting to leave work at work anyways? Just because a person doesn't carry their occupation on their sleeve doesn't mean that they aren't giving 110% while they are working.
You sound like you think having a good work life balance is a bad thing. There's absolutely nothing wrong for seeing work as just work. I enjoy the field that I work in but it's not my life and it never will be.
That's the problem that I see with in a lot of white collar workers as opposed to blue collar workers. A lot of them just don't know how to turn it off. That's not healthy IMO.
Seems like even though I am white collar, I enjoy hanging with my blue collar friends more.
They seem to have the coolest interests: hunting, off roading, hiking, camping, photography, flying Cesna's,etc....
My white collar friends are the typical yuppies: they only like "nice" resturants, movies and their lives rotate around their children. They seem not to have ANY hobbies of interest. "Date night" is the highlight of their lives. Their conversations are boring and it's all about putting on the image of being "high class". Social status is what's important to my white collar friends.
Have you ever noticed this difference with white collar and blue collar people?
My Decorator and my Ad Man both have a thing for blue collar guys. They want cowboys, etc. Problem is, they aren't willing to accept smoking, tobacco chewing, scummy music, drinking, drugs, hanging around wasting time... They've accepted the Gay self-hate thing where polished/professional/educated is less desirable than rugged...
Problem is, we're nearing the age when it really starts to matter how you've lived your life. My Decorator and Ad Man are worth millions, have McMansions in the richest town in my old state, have balanced portfolios, and have bodies which look like the bodies of 19-year-old athletes.... still.... despite their being in their late forties.
A lifetime of working out daily, getting enough sleep, eating organic health food, not being around smokers, staying out of loud bars, driving quiet luxury cars instead of loud scummy sporty vehicles, staying out of the sun, not drinking, never even trying drugs of any kind, going to the Dentist twice a year (and flossing/using baking soda and peroxide, etc.).... all of this has made them younger than their years.
By contrast, their blue-collar dream-hunks are aging FAST. They're wrinkly, their teeth are going, the bodies over which my friends drooled are beginning to give out... Their wives and new wives and newest wives have cleaned them out, and child support hangs over their heads. (and yes: this includes building contractors, dirt-work guys... the king of Blue Collar guys who make money hand-over-fist) Their kids are druggies, and constantly having accidents in their scummy tricked-out trucks and 'pony cars'. They have health problems on top of health problems. Their net worth is negligible, and their health is giving out. Their wives and girlfriends are either embalmed chain-smoking corpses, or look like Honey Boo Boo's Mawma (or else, they're young bleached-blonde skanks interested in absolutely nothing but money).
At one point, my friends felt ever-so-honored to be able to trick with these barely-bisexual dream-daddies. Now, it's the blue collar guys who approach my friends with trepidation. My friends still carry on with these guys because they're masculine. But in five years, those paragons of rugged manliness will just be broken-down and pitiful. The masculinity will not be enough to compensate for the pathos. My friends, by contrast, will probably have quadrupled their wealth, will have put on more muscle, and will be able to afford blue collar boyfriends in their twenties. Heaven knows: they're already dating title-holding bodybuilders on occasion. Soon, they'll be able to buy ranches for the twentysomething cowboys of their dreams.
At one point, the blue collar guys made more money, were more desirable, had more 'fun' lives. They were everything: my friends were nothing... just little minimum wage nothings (interning in other people's offices) the blue collar hotties would allow to service them. Blue collar guys make big money from the beginning: professionals go through long initial periods of near-starvation. But, instead of tearing around in 'fun' vehicles, going boating, going to concerts, going here, going there, 'hanging out'... my friends were in our investment clubs, sitting on boards of our and various fledgling companies, buying real estate, buying stocks, spending two hours a day at the gym (going very slowly from scrawny to hunky), working three thousand hour years in their careers...
And the picture is even more pitiful for blue collar women. Decades of unwise dietary choices, enzyme detergents, moderate drinking, exposure to cig smoke, maybe experimentation with drugs, will have turned them into shapeless Manatee-like creatures. They have little education, know nothing about anything of importance (all that cable TV, ya know...), and will basically be little more than excess baggage. They'll be reduced to saying (as one barely-bi bodybuilder/landscape maintenance guy told my decorator one woman said to him, as a pitch for why he should sleep with her), "I got that one thang you're after: and it's hawt an' it's wet." Basically, this shapeless 40-something woman had only one thing about her which still functioned.
Yeah. Blue collar folks are lots more fun, when they're young. But you're young for a very short time, and old for a very long time. Before you decide which path is better, take a look at blue collar party people who are in their fifties and sixties.
And in Lake Oswego, we're surrounded by people who had very little 'fun' when they were young. Getting 'terminal degrees' takes time and application. Founding a corporation takes all you've got. Bringing up children the right way takes enormous investment of time. Cooking from scratch (rather than heating up pre-made frozen foods) takes a bit of time.
But we don't (generally) wonder if the kids were dumb enough to try meth. We indoctrinated them against substance abuse (and peer pressure) as toddlers. We don't worry that they're unemployable. We took the time to teach them skills and ease them into the world of work as soon as was possible.
DH and I have never been to a 'ballgame', have never been 'rafting', have never been to a rock concert. Our friends here have similar lives. It is not unusual for houses to be without televisions, and quite normal for homes to be without 'cable'. It is not unusual for people in our group to ignore holidays.
Then again, we have extensive grounds around our homes, and generally are very involved with gardening. For us, it's immensely enjoyable, if not 'fun'. There is little difference between the interests of men and women at this level: but the guys can lean a bit more toward technical talk when they're together, and the gals may talk more about social strategies. I don't know any men in Oregon who cannot handle cooking from scratch. And I don't know any women who don't have advanced wealth management skills. Nobody talks sports, but everybody works out. An easy two-thirds of homes are ones where no alcohol - not even wine - is served.
Self-discipline, delayed-gratification, and consistent application toward goals would sum up the lives in our neck of the woods. We don't waste time or money on things or activities which will hold us back. We prefer quiet, serene homes, insulated by layer upon layer of greenery. Serenity aids concentration. Concentration helps with setting and reaching goals.
Last edited by GrandviewGloria; 01-29-2013 at 04:32 PM..
My Decorator and my Ad Man both have a thing for blue collar guys. They want cowboys, etc. Problem is, they aren't willing to accept smoking, tobacco chewing, scummy music, drinking, drugs, hanging around wasting time... They've accepted the Gay self-hate thing where polished/professional/educated is less desirable than rugged...
Problem is, we're nearing the age when it really starts to matter how you've lived your life. My Decorator and Ad Man are worth millions, have McMansions in the richest town in my old state, have balanced portfolios, and have bodies which look like the bodies of 19-year-old athletes.... still.... despite their being in their late forties.
A lifetime of working out daily, getting enough sleep, eating organic health food, not being around smokers, staying out of loud bars, driving quiet luxury cars instead of loud scummy sporty vehicles, staying out of the sun, not drinking, never even trying drugs of any kind, going to the Dentist twice a year (and flossing/using baking soda and peroxide, etc.).... all of this has made them younger than their years.
By contrast, their blue-collar dream-hunks are aging FAST. They're wrinkly, their teeth are going, the bodies over which my friends drooled are beginning to give out... Their wives and new wives and newest wives have cleaned them out, and child support hangs over their heads. (and yes: this includes building contractors, dirt-work guys... the king of Blue Collar guys who make money hand-over-fist) Their kids are druggies, and constantly having accidents in their scummy tricked-out trucks and 'pony cars'. They have health problems on top of health problems. Their net worth is negligible, and their health is giving out. Their wives and girlfriends are either embalmed chain-smoking corpses, or look like Honey Boo Boo's Mawma (or else, they're young bleached-blonde skanks interested in absolutely nothing but money).
At one point, my friends felt ever-so-honored to be able to trick with these barely-bisexual dream-daddies. Now, it's the blue collar guys who approach my friends with trepidation. My friends still carry on with these guys because they're masculine. But in five years, those paragons of rugged manliness will just be broken-down and pitiful. The masculinity will not be enough to compensate for the pathos. My friends, by contrast, will probably have quadrupled their wealth, will have put on more muscle, and will be able to afford blue collar boyfriends in their twenties. Heaven knows: they're already dating title-holding bodybuilders on occasion. Soon, they'll be able to buy ranches for the twentysomething cowboys of their dreams.
At one point, the blue collar guys made more money, were more desirable, had more 'fun' lives. They were everything: my friends were nothing... just little minimum wage nothings (interning in other people's offices) the blue collar hotties would allow to service them. Blue collar guys make big money from the beginning: professionals go through long initial periods of near-starvation. But, instead of tearing around in 'fun' vehicles, going boating, going to concerts, going here, going there, 'hanging out'... my friends were in our investment clubs, sitting on boards of our and various fledgling companies, buying real estate, buying stocks, spending two hours a day at the gym (going very slowly from scrawny to hunky), working three thousand hour years in their careers...
And the picture is even more pitiful for blue collar women. Decades of unwise dietary choices, enzyme detergents, moderate drinking, exposure to cig smoke, maybe experimentation with drugs, will have turned them into shapeless Manatee-like creatures. They have little education, know nothing about anything of importance (all that cable TV, ya know...), and will basically be little more than excess baggage. They'll be reduced to saying (as one barely-bi bodybuilder/landscape maintenance guy told my decorator one woman said to him, as a pitch for why he should sleep with her), "I got that one thang you're after: and it's hawt an' it's wet." Basically, this shapeless 40-something woman had only one thing about her which still functioned.
Yeah. Blue collar folks are lots more fun, when they're young. But you're young for a very short time, and old for a very long time. Before you decide which path is better, take a look at blue collar party people who are in their fifties and sixties.
And in Lake Oswego, we're surrounded by people who had very little 'fun' when they were young. Getting 'terminal degrees' takes time and application. Founding a corporation takes all you've got. Bringing up children the right way takes enormous investment of time. Cooking from scratch (rather than heating up pre-made frozen foods) takes a bit of time.
But we don't (generally) wonder if the kids were dumb enough to try meth. We indoctrinated them against substance abuse (and peer pressure) as toddlers. We don't worry that they're unemployable. We took the time to teach them skills and ease them into the world of work as soon as was possible.
DH and I have never been to a 'ballgame', have never been 'rafting', have never been to a rock concert. Our friends here have similar lives. It is not unusual for houses to be without televisions, and quite normal for homes to be without 'cable'. It is not unusual for people in our group to ignore holidays.
Then again, we have extensive grounds around our homes, and generally are very involved with gardening. For us, it's immensely enjoyable, if not 'fun'. There is little difference between the interests of men and women at this level: but the guys can lean a bit more toward technical talk when they're together, and the gals may talk more about social strategies. I don't know any men in Oregon who cannot handle cooking from scratch. And I don't know any women who don't have advanced wealth management skills. Nobody talks sports, but everybody works out. An easy two-thirds of homes are ones where no alcohol - not even wine - is served.
Self-discipline, delayed-gratification, and consistent application toward goals would sum up the lives in our neck of the woods. We don't waste time or money on things or activities which will hold us back. We prefer quiet, serene homes, insulated by layer upon layer of greenery. Serenity aids concentration. Concentration helps with setting and reaching goals.
My Decorator and my Ad Man both have a thing for blue collar guys. They want cowboys, etc. Problem is, they aren't willing to accept smoking, tobacco chewing, scummy music, drinking, drugs, hanging around wasting time... They've accepted the Gay self-hate thing where polished/professional/educated is less desirable than rugged...
Problem is, we're nearing the age when it really starts to matter how you've lived your life. My Decorator and Ad Man are worth millions, have McMansions in the richest town in my old state, have balanced portfolios, and have bodies which look like the bodies of 19-year-old athletes.... still.... despite their being in their late forties.
A lifetime of working out daily, getting enough sleep, eating organic health food, not being around smokers, staying out of loud bars, driving quiet luxury cars instead of loud scummy sporty vehicles, staying out of the sun, not drinking, never even trying drugs of any kind, going to the Dentist twice a year (and flossing/using baking soda and peroxide, etc.).... all of this has made them younger than their years.
By contrast, their blue-collar dream-hunks are aging FAST. They're wrinkly, their teeth are going, the bodies over which my friends drooled are beginning to give out... Their wives and new wives and newest wives have cleaned them out, and child support hangs over their heads. (and yes: this includes building contractors, dirt-work guys... the king of Blue Collar guys who make money hand-over-fist) Their kids are druggies, and constantly having accidents in their scummy tricked-out trucks and 'pony cars'. They have health problems on top of health problems. Their net worth is negligible, and their health is giving out. Their wives and girlfriends are either embalmed chain-smoking corpses, or look like Honey Boo Boo's Mawma (or else, they're young bleached-blonde skanks interested in absolutely nothing but money).
At one point, my friends felt ever-so-honored to be able to trick with these barely-bisexual dream-daddies. Now, it's the blue collar guys who approach my friends with trepidation. My friends still carry on with these guys because they're masculine. But in five years, those paragons of rugged manliness will just be broken-down and pitiful. The masculinity will not be enough to compensate for the pathos. My friends, by contrast, will probably have quadrupled their wealth, will have put on more muscle, and will be able to afford blue collar boyfriends in their twenties. Heaven knows: they're already dating title-holding bodybuilders on occasion. Soon, they'll be able to buy ranches for the twentysomething cowboys of their dreams.
At one point, the blue collar guys made more money, were more desirable, had more 'fun' lives. They were everything: my friends were nothing... just little minimum wage nothings (interning in other people's offices) the blue collar hotties would allow to service them. Blue collar guys make big money from the beginning: professionals go through long initial periods of near-starvation. But, instead of tearing around in 'fun' vehicles, going boating, going to concerts, going here, going there, 'hanging out'... my friends were in our investment clubs, sitting on boards of our and various fledgling companies, buying real estate, buying stocks, spending two hours a day at the gym (going very slowly from scrawny to hunky), working three thousand hour years in their careers...
And the picture is even more pitiful for blue collar women. Decades of unwise dietary choices, enzyme detergents, moderate drinking, exposure to cig smoke, maybe experimentation with drugs, will have turned them into shapeless Manatee-like creatures. They have little education, know nothing about anything of importance (all that cable TV, ya know...), and will basically be little more than excess baggage. They'll be reduced to saying (as one barely-bi bodybuilder/landscape maintenance guy told my decorator one woman said to him, as a pitch for why he should sleep with her), "I got that one thang you're after: and it's hawt an' it's wet." Basically, this shapeless 40-something woman had only one thing about her which still functioned.
Yeah. Blue collar folks are lots more fun, when they're young. But you're young for a very short time, and old for a very long time. Before you decide which path is better, take a look at blue collar party people who are in their fifties and sixties.
And in Lake Oswego, we're surrounded by people who had very little 'fun' when they were young. Getting 'terminal degrees' takes time and application. Founding a corporation takes all you've got. Bringing up children the right way takes enormous investment of time. Cooking from scratch (rather than heating up pre-made frozen foods) takes a bit of time.
But we don't (generally) wonder if the kids were dumb enough to try meth. We indoctrinated them against substance abuse (and peer pressure) as toddlers. We don't worry that they're unemployable. We took the time to teach them skills and ease them into the world of work as soon as was possible.
DH and I have never been to a 'ballgame', have never been 'rafting', have never been to a rock concert. Our friends here have similar lives. It is not unusual for houses to be without televisions, and quite normal for homes to be without 'cable'. It is not unusual for people in our group to ignore holidays.
Then again, we have extensive grounds around our homes, and generally are very involved with gardening. For us, it's immensely enjoyable, if not 'fun'. There is little difference between the interests of men and women at this level: but the guys can lean a bit more toward technical talk when they're together, and the gals may talk more about social strategies. I don't know any men in Oregon who cannot handle cooking from scratch. And I don't know any women who don't have advanced wealth management skills. Nobody talks sports, but everybody works out. An easy two-thirds of homes are ones where no alcohol - not even wine - is served.
Self-discipline, delayed-gratification, and consistent application toward goals would sum up the lives in our neck of the woods. We don't waste time or money on things or activities which will hold us back. We prefer quiet, serene homes, insulated by layer upon layer of greenery. Serenity aids concentration. Concentration helps with setting and reaching goals.
Wow. Do you stereotype much? I go to ballgames and talk about sports, and I am a white-collar woman.
Extensive grounds? Social strategies? My parents are both white-collar people but they would never fit with the group you describe. Is this an Oregon thing? It is not descriptive of white-collar people I know. Also, there are blue-collar people where I live that could buy and sell the people you describe. They are farmers and they own thousands upon thousands of acres of land, and they are healthy because they work for a living. My friends are white-collar because that just happens to be who I am around, but I don't think I am better than blue-collar people. I don't like snobs of any kind.
Cpg, I am a white collar guy with a college degree. However, talk about pounding the nail in the wood way too hard and totally shattering the two by four as well! That describes your post. It is obvious you just despise blue collar people and may also be a bit of a snob. As for me, I think I do OK with both types. I would probably rather hang with the blue collars at a sports bar or casual backyard BBQ, but enjoy a coffeehouse, discuss politics or go to a nice restaurant with white collar people. I certainly make exceptions to that, though and try not to categorize people too much. I certainly hope you don't share this opinion with your plumber or auto mechanic!! They are people, too. All law abiding people are worthy of respect...values passed on to me by my parents.
Like hell I do. How the hell did you get that? I realize that you want to be the Working Man's Friend here, but just because I point out the obvious fact that white collar workers tend to be more intelligent and better educated (Notice the phrase tend to be as opposed to always are) doesn't make me hateful. My best friend is a cabinet maker. Love to hang out with the guy, drink beer, and argue politics and literature. I'm on a first-name basis with my plumber and mechanic, too. My electrician is a great guy.
Then again, wander onto construction sites or talk to the personnel officer in a factory and you come to realize that the tooth-per-head ratio plummets when you move from white collar to blue collar. Hell, I have worked on safety programs for a very large manufacturer in multiple sites and you wouldn't believe the stupid things some of these guys do on the job, despite literally years of weekly safety lectures, signs all over the place, you name it. Lack of sapient thought is the only possible explanation.
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, "I have lots of blue-collar friends," and I have a LOT of fun with them. 
mixed with white-collar folks, they are more welcoming to newcomers to the group. Not as much complaining about food or accommodations. Just happy to be there!
