When I was little, I’d drive past people working on the side of the road – weeding, pouring concrete, doing whatever hard labor – and my parents would point to them and say something along the lines of “that’s why you don’t do drugs – you need to stay in school.”
I’m sure everyone’s heard that at some point in their life from whatever adult in their white-collar job. It makes sense – point out a real-life example to the kid who needs to know the realities of society. If you don’t go to college and end up behind a desk, you haven’t accomplished anything.
Now, I wish they wouldn’t.
I work for a major construction company doing landscaping for some of their larger developments. That’s what I tell people I do, and it’s what I put on my resume. But in reality, I’m just weeding for 8 hours every day. I pick up trash like cigarette butts and beer cans and pull weeds. It’s definitely not the most glamorous job, and it’s by far the most blue-collar job I’ve ever had. I actually enjoy what I do, though – it’s with people my age and we all chat and play games while we work. So why am I hiding the reality of my job when I explain it to people?
A few weeks ago I explained my job to a professor who asked what I was doing this summer. He was definitely expecting me to talk about an internship or job I theoretically had with a church or nonprofit. I’m a Theology major – it’s just assumed that that’s what I’d be doing with my summer. The professor nodded and said, “Oh, okay,” in a slightly surprised tone when I told him I spend all day on my hands and knees in the middle of a flowerbed in an Albertson’s parking lot.
I don’t want people to look at me and wonder what went wrong.
Our team changes numbers all the time, but at one point it was three high schoolers and four college students. The high schoolers are trying to pay for their YoungLife or Youth For Christ camps they’re going to this summer, and the rest of us are trying to put a dent in our tuition. Nothing went wrong, for any of us. It’s a good job and we all enjoy it, for the most part. (Let’s be real, who doesn’t hate their job once in a while?)
One reddit post asks how people think they don’t fit their blue-collar stereotypes. The original post describes these stereotypes as “un-educated, un-cultured, and living in extreme poverty,” with sexist, racist leanings. People, real people, responded with descriptions of how society describes their job doesn’t define who they are and what they do. A job in the welding or fishing industry doesn’t mean they too can’t love classical music or mani-pedis.
No one fits their stereotypes. This is something that people need to hear, especially given the current state of our country. People claim that we’re moving past racial inequality or that feminism is no longer relevant, but inequality is something inescapable today. The roots of this come from stereotyping others and judging on quick glances, and it expands well past the hot topics of today’s newspaper headlines.
To the other people working blue-collar jobs for the summer: don’t be afraid to tell people about it. My brother mows lawns for a golf course and my cousin is working on a fishing boat in Alaska. It’s more common than you think. You aren’t the only one out there getting your hands dirty.
