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Old 07-01-2012, 11:44 PM
 
Location: Virginia
475 posts, read 849,311 times
Reputation: 430

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Wow what's the bashing on blue-collar workers? What if someone went to college for a technical skill instead of a degree type curriculum because they enjoyed working with their hands more? What a blatant disrespect for all those who died in 9/11. I was born and raised in Mahopac New York and today reside in Virginia. I left New York becuase the city folk destroyed my neck of the woods, and yes I have served in Military and been to college, I have a degree too, but that don't make me better then anybody else. What a bunch of whiny yuppie pieces of trash.
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Old 07-05-2012, 04:04 PM
 
Location: Virginia
475 posts, read 849,311 times
Reputation: 430
Default Snob!!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by dma1250 View Post
Ian3, Your description simply bears no relationship to my experience of living here and being active in the community for 10 years. But to check myself I just asked my wife (who is very active in the school and town and knows a lot more people than I do--and who isn't a snob like me) what percentage of YCSD Yorktown she thought had blue collar jobs. She said under 5%. I told her about your mass of Verizon workers and trade workers, and she was baffled. We tried to go through people over the years and she remembered one mom who works at Verizon, but she's an upper level executive. And last year one of my son's classmates mom was a nurse (does that count as blue collar?), and two years ago one of his soccer teammate's dad was a firefighter. My wife thought of two or three people who work for city agencies, but they have managerial positions. Together we thought of a handful of people we've met in our 10 years whose jobs could be considered blue collar. But the vast, vast majority are white collar and creative professionals. So, I can assure the OP that the Yorktown in Ian's experience bears no relationship to the real one. Of course, for all I know the OP is a Verizon worker. That'll be exciting--I'd love to meet one.
Why would blue collar be offensive or uncomfortable to anyone? Police officers and fire fighters can be killed on a daily basis protecting your communities and I just don't get the angst towards them? What happens when you need a mechanic? What happens if one of your children was bitten by a stray dog and they need a nurse? What would happen if September 11th ever happened again, and the only reason you survived was because of a police officer or fire fighter? Lets also not forget that the current state of our economy was the failure of the white collar crowd and the corrupt power and greed of Wall Street. But thats ok, next time ya'll go crying to our government for a bailout, us blue-collar folk will be right there as the backbone of our country carrying the rest of you through to bigger profits and bonus checks. I was born and raised in Mahopac New York, served in the US Army, and been to college, I have a degree too. Wanna know what I do for a living? I'm an ASE certifed automotive technician and the money is good.
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Old 08-11-2012, 07:05 PM
 
454 posts, read 758,255 times
Reputation: 699
My family is in lower Westchester, and we are a mixture of white and blue collar. (However, I'll take a nice beefy fireman over a pot-bellied paper-pusher any day...but I digress.) I have a question regarding people who own their own businesses,(either handed down from Dad, or something you started on your own..) as most of my family does.

If you are an entrepreneur, are you white collar or blue? What if you own a string of retail stores? If you have your own accounting firm? If you started a translating company that is used by companies doing business overseas? If your business earns you a million dollar salary? Do these people belong in Harrison or Mahopac? Would the nature of the business dictate which class it's in?

I keep reading these sneery comments about blue collar people, like they're bedbugs or something. How ridiculous. Who do you think runs the cities everyone lives in?
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Old 08-12-2012, 06:41 PM
 
Location: Virginia
475 posts, read 849,311 times
Reputation: 430
I would say that if you owned a chain of retail stores and were like the general manager of the organization thet would be considered white collar. If you owned a plumbing business that would be considered blue collar. Either collar is fine in my opinion, I'm a prior service army veteran and professional automotive technician by trade, I make over 50k a year without a degree but I did go to tech school.

Pay no attention to the yuppies, when the zombie apocolypse happens it will be the FDNY, NYPD, and guys like me who drive around in jacked-up redneck trucks who will have to save them. Don't worry we'll protect you.
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Old 08-12-2012, 09:40 PM
 
454 posts, read 758,255 times
Reputation: 699
Thanks
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Old 08-13-2012, 01:55 PM
 
581 posts, read 1,296,577 times
Reputation: 448
Quote:
Originally Posted by roskybosky View Post
My family is in lower Westchester, and we are a mixture of white and blue collar. (However, I'll take a nice beefy fireman over a pot-bellied paper-pusher any day...but I digress.) I have a question regarding people who own their own businesses,(either handed down from Dad, or something you started on your own..) as most of my family does.

If you are an entrepreneur, are you white collar or blue? What if you own a string of retail stores? If you have your own accounting firm? If you started a translating company that is used by companies doing business overseas? If your business earns you a million dollar salary? Do these people belong in Harrison or Mahopac? Would the nature of the business dictate which class it's in?

I keep reading these sneery comments about blue collar people, like they're bedbugs or something. How ridiculous. Who do you think runs the cities everyone lives in?
Social class has nothing to do with money.

To answer your question, if you worked at the business in question, that is the same blue or white collar distinction the owner would have. Wealthy owner of a plumbing company is blue collar. Owner of an accounting company is white collar.
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Old 08-14-2012, 05:47 AM
 
156 posts, read 303,075 times
Reputation: 188
FDR State Park is a HUGE pro for the area. We take our dog on long hikes and often stumble upon events. (i.e. dog agility, soccer matches, Boy Scout gatherings et. al.)

Gazebo events at the track and Yorktown Stage with a terrific acting troupe and Taconic Opera. Unfortunately the town is one-dimensional in its tastes and so the director had to stick to family musicals and pull away from straight plays.

Addition of a Himalayan restaurant in a town that is otherwise a ho-hum culinary wasteland.
North County Trailway---terrific for cyclists and walkers/dogs. Probably the prettiest stretch is through our town.

Cons---Not enough ethnic restaurants. With a strong Indian population, why no Indo-Pak store?
Takes too long to get a new retailer in. Sick of seeing abandoned stores in the K-Mart shopping center.
JV Mall. Oh I hate malls to be sure, but this one is truly anemic.
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Old 08-30-2012, 06:43 PM
 
454 posts, read 758,255 times
Reputation: 699
I can see that the nature of the business dictates the 'collar.' But, look at Paul McCartney's new wife. Uber-rich, top executive position in family company, Hamptons, etc etc. The company she owns is a trucking firm, but I wouldn't call her (ha) blue collar.

If you're playing golf at Westchester Country Club, and you own 2000 nail salons, I would say you were white collar.

Just food for thought.

I have lots of relatives who are very, very well off, but they got that way by owning a thriving business, and they travel in hi-falutin' circles (black tie parties, no less) One in particular is a civil engineering company owner-they build roads and bridges all over the place. I would call them definitely white collar.
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Old 11-18-2012, 02:54 PM
 
Location: Yorktown Heights NY
1,316 posts, read 5,171,686 times
Reputation: 444
I hadn't seen that my comments on blue collar workers had spawned such a violent reaction! My apologies for not responding. I had no intention of "bashing" blue collar workers or of implying that they are "offensive." Indeed, I have the utmost respect for them and the work they do to keep us all safe and sound. I would have given the guys from Pike Electric in North Carolina who restored my power after Sandy a big wet one if they let me. That doesn't mean I want to live somewhere where they make up a large part of the population--a few are fine, but not too many. Am I a snob? Sure, I accept that. For what its worth, I have the same feeling about lawyers, bankers, business people, and stockbrokers--I don't want to live with too many of them. A few are okay, but not too many. As a rule, I prefer to be with people (and to have my son grow up with people) who work in the creative professions and who use their intellect to create things. But the most important thing is a healthy mix and I am very happy with the socio-economic mix of Yorktown Heights and the variety of professions and occupations that my son is exposed to. His friends' parents and our neighbors run the gamut from writers to architects to lawyers, financial analysts, IBM researchers, to accountants and nurses. Some of his classmates parents are firefighters. It's a good mix.
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Old 11-23-2013, 11:05 AM
 
6 posts, read 11,757 times
Reputation: 23
Wow, dma, I know it's been a while, and I hate to talk to or about anyone like this on a message board- I'd really prefer to say this to your face in a kinder way that may actually influence your thinking-- but I have little choice if I want to contribute to this conversation honestly, and I really do. Your posts were so disrespectful to the humanity of people not like you, and under the guide of a refreshing hispter candor- yawn- which makes you more sinister. You want your kid to be around and influenced by creative professionals like you and your friends, which is why you need to characterize Yorktown as a commuter town filled with urban ex-pats?! Who the hell are you, Basquiat? Dude, no you're not.

People like you and your bougie counterparts "from" Park Slope-- of all wretched and gentrified places choked with rude white people who should just go home-- enjoy some financial success, as will your typically self-centered and narcissistic children, but I'm sure you're a tool, not an artist as you fancy yourself to be. The same goes for most people in your circle, your kid, your kid's friends and your friends' kids. Tools. It's because your attitude effing stinks and doesn't lend itself to the creation of anything new and paradigm-shifting, and you're passing it down to the next generation, which is a huge burden on society, which has to somehow accomodate your entitled progeny.

I'm sure you and your people praise yourself for your candor, wit and talent, but what you're saying is nothing new that anyone needs to hear and I'm sure you're not bringing much to the table that most of us can't do without and haven't figured out long before you said it. You think you're better than other people because you've enjoyed and continue to enjoy more economic privileges and educational opportunities than working people, and that's ethically egregious. Your esoteric definition of the right and comfortable community "for you" is offensive to me as an over-educated creative professional-- and an Italian girl from Queens-- who sees right through "progressive" people who tacitly set up all-white and upper middle class communities of douches just like themselves. You write ****ty napkin poetry at the Woolworth's counter of 50 years ago that denounces southern bigots who boo at little black girls trying to go to school; oh, the irony. You think you're better than working class people because of your superior intellect and values but you're just an obnoxious ******* trying to protect some kind of psychic enclave you created because it makes you feel superior and guarantees that you'll reproduce children like yourself.

I'm pretty stoked I'm about to move to Mohegan Lake where, apparently, all of the working class people are, and none of the yous are. May I recommend a relocation to Scarsdale, or the antebellum South, even though you're comfortable in Yorktown where you have lived for ten whole years and therefore know all about?
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