The "Gimme Generation" - Warning! Rant ahead

[twoguns?]

Hate if you want ...but 4-5 yrs in a Union School...on the job training...while getting paid/ with benes. and you dont owe a dime when your done ...actually made pretty good money!
Most Unions will reimburse your tuitions for things that are related to your trade...Paid , Experienced!, Engineers!
Or go to school for a few yrs and call yourself what ever you want...and pay your tuitions.
Unexperienced Engineers that owe huge bills for tuitions.
I Know, Go Ahead..... Flame Onnnn

 

[mugsy]

My problem with what is actually MY generation being as I'm 25 is that nobody believes in having a skill. From the cradle to the end of high school we were hammered with "Bluecollar workers are scum and you need a degree to make money so you don't have to be blue collar"

Funny enough I have a degree and work as a blue collar man making twice as much as my white collar counterparts that believe physical work is beneath them. When I'm 40 I'll be in the office but until then I'm going to make sure I am earning myself a retirement. It amazes me how most people under the age of 30 can't swing a hammer or turn a screw without some kind of explicit instruction on how it's done. Life isn't built by IKEA you may actually need to have some mechanical aptitude.

We are in a world of hurt 10 years from now when the current skilled generation retires because there is nobody to take their place. I mean how many machinist do you know that are under 40? Probably very few, or if they are they can't do manual machining without a computer controlled system. It's ridiculous. I don't know how many people I have run into since high school that work in a call center or something of that nature because their business degree is worthless but they still think they are better than me because I work in the sun. Little do they realize I own my home, and can almost guarantee my bank account balance is higher than theirs. But they still see me as someone who should pump their gas because Im not "white collar"



Damnit I feel so old for being only 25.

Dowmace,

Congrats on having good job skills - they weren't inherent to you at birth you learned and I presume someone (or more than one perhaps) taught them to you at least initially. Many folks don't have such good fortune. I agree with you it is wrong for well educated people to look down on those with less formal education - it makes no sense. Neither does anyone believing he is "better" because he has a more marketable skill or a higher income or bigger bank account - don't become what you profess to hate.

Frankly, prostitutes and drug dealers also have guaranteed always in demand skills as well. Way more demand than for machinists or what I did for a living (military officer) and so I hope income level isn't a measure of personal value.

 

[mugsy]

Hate if you want ...but 4-5 yrs in a Union School...on the job training...while getting paid/ with benes. and you dont owe a dime when your done ...actually made pretty good money!
Most Unions will reimburse your tuitions for things that are related to your trade...Paid , Experienced!, Engineers!
Or go to school for a few yrs and call yourself what ever you want...and pay your tuitions.
Unexperienced Engineers that owe huge bills for tuitions.
I Know, Go Ahead..... Flame Onnnn

Two guns - what kind of engineer are you discussing? Professional engineering like mechanical/electrical/nuclear or as in railroad engineer (BTW - nothing wrong with being a railroad engineer)? That wasn't a wise guy question either, I am just not sure what you are discussing.

I have nothing against Unions, in principle, or against Unions providing for the education of their members. I do have something against the strong arm intimidation tactics and rather radicalized leftist politics that some unions employ.

 

[PUMPKIN]

One of the better posts I've seen in a while - kudos to you, brother.

I've been trying to explain the coming shortage of skilled workers to my wife, but she insists that the "boys are going to college", no matter what. I say let them find their path, and I'll help them get there. A well paid electrician is much better than an accountant waiting tables.

She is right, there is a college, trade school, tech school for anything they want to do.. with a degree in the field they love will only help them in the long run.
,

 

[mugsy]

Hey folks don't forget that you can attend college to become educated in a general sense and still be an electrician or a shop keeper, etc. if you wish to do so. There is no conflict between the two. Many people simply want to "better themselves, learn in depth about their history, the roots of our civilization, etc. - college/university level schooling is not a trade school. It doesn't prevent you from joining a trade and it might have direct business application but it need not and there is nothing wrong with that.

Let's be open minded about both sides of the college discussion.

 

[twoguns?]

Two guns - what kind of engineer are you discussing? Professional engineering like mechanical/electrical/nuclear or as in railroad engineer (BTW - nothing wrong with being a railroad engineer)? That wasn't a wise guy question either, I am just not sure what you are discussing.

I have nothing against Unions, in principle, or against Unions providing for the education of their members. I do have something against the strong arm intimidation tactics and rather radicalized leftist politics that some unions employ.

Actually mine was with the Sheetmetal Workers..Mech...any classes that have to do with the Trade..even CAD drafting , Mech Engineer can be done ( and I agree a RR engineer job wouldnt be a bad one.. )
I didnt experience the "strong arming" but then I do think for myself. No matter what Job I hold I "work " for myself, your right it was taught/trained into me.
My Union was supporting Obama, I dont now many of the 400 or so members that did vote for him.
Agreed its not for everyone ,but it is a good chance at a basically free eduction....You can go as far with it as you like, when you want to move on or up or to something different ,you always have that skill set to fall back on.
I dont work the Union jobs any more I had to choose something a little less demanding ....so Im a Mech Inspector these days, if it doesnt work out ,Ill go back to Tinbending....and pull my ass up with my bootstraps like I was taught.

 

[LightningCrash]

 

[tRidiot]

Some of you all need to heed your own advice and display some of your own personal responsibility. You guys CHOSE your fields of work. Probably pays better than a lot of jobs. Either deal with it or go find something new.

Don't give me that line of ********. I worked my ass off to get where I am... doesn't give anyone the right to take advantage of me. No one has the right to take advantage of anyone.

Anyone who looks down on blue collar workers as scum is a class A-1 *********.

No one said anything about looking down on blue-collars... except you.

 

[dowmace]

No one said anything about looking down on blue-collars... except you.

I did, it's in my long post above.

 

[JB Books]

Actually you jackass, someone else made a comment on the blue collar guys, not me.

You strike me as an enormous baby. No one is taking advantage. Life is the way it is. Deal with it.