Does being a U.S. Marine count as blue collar? I was an embassy security guard for a few years. It was standing around and opening the door for people who had a badge of a certain color.
Ben Feibleman
VP of Strategy and Business Development
I'm a bank whistleblower, Anon collaborator, and writer/editor for The Huffington Post, Main Street, Lifehack, and more. Last year while attending law school, I worked briefly for a maintenance man under the table in an office park in Clearwater, FL. We renovated 2 entire offices during the time I was there (drywall, demo, rebuild, door/window installation, wiring, plumbing, repaint, carpet, and wood flooring). There were three of us working on the job, and everyone smoked weed. It helps get you through a boring job. I personally had fun and did a lot of yoga while working. The tenants were a condescending couple of Scientologists, who believed themselves to be smarter than us because they ran a vitamin call center. While renovating the place, I came across a plaque the woman had of an interview she did in the New York Times. It was hanging in the front hallway like a prized possession. One night, after growing tired of her talking down to me, I printed out articles I had worked on for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Huffington Post and stapled them to the wall around her plaque. Unfortunately the maintenance guy caught it and tore it down before she saw. Fun times though...
Brian Penny
I feel that my talents are wasted and yet I still appreciate having any kind of work in this horrendous economy thanks to the black messiah.
John Wilder
It feels like the world is an insane asylum and the inmates have the keys. One becomes indispensable in one's position when Murphy's Law kicks in. You're not going up or down. When looking for employment the only thing that is open for people with Doctorates and Masters degrees, a plethora of certifications is being a Truck Driver. The current home of most of the world's best Philosophers. It allows the freedom to think, expand one's mind and further develop ideologies and examine the world. Try to get a job as a janitor with multiple college degrees or experience beyond the knowledge base of the manager? Forget it. Often those over qualified for a job it is necessary to not include those items in a job application. Culling parts of a lifetime of knowledge and experience where Associate Science degrees are being filled with Bachelors, Doctorates and Masters degrees for the same lowered pay and benefits, if any. The need to cross over to other fields filling alternatives, the job seeker may find it necessary to move into the Blue Collar fields.
Neven Gibbs
Writer, Entertainer. (Current).
Animal Behaviorist, Farrier, Platoon Sargent, Mental Health Counselor, Employment Counselor, Horse Trainer, Loader Operator, Master Driver, Groundman Electrical, Computer Repair Technician, Actor, Janitor, Plumber's Helper, Newspaper Cartoonist, Ditch Digger and in the company of such great minds as Tesla...Who also dug ditches and did construction.
I'll start off by saying I have an IQ of 139. I have dug ditches for a job. I worked in Retail and in Food service. It never bothered me doing blue collar work. What bothered me was I knew I could do much more.
Mark A. Lazarchic
Otterology.com
I went to college after eight years on active duty with the Army, mostly as a tank commander. During graduate school, I worked on a Teamsters loading dock at Yellow Freight Systems.
I knew (and know) little about hunting, fishing, and ball sports. My co-workers assumed I was stupid, knowing nothing about anything that matters, but I was accepted because I was a tank commander formerly on active duty and, while I worked the dock, also serving as a tank commander in the Army reserve.
If you brought a magazine or newspaper to work it would disappear--sometimes right out of your lunch box, but not mine. I brought the New Yorker with me to work and left it in plain sight. No pictures. No women. Nobody was interested. I sometimes brought a book I was reading to work. Once the book was CS Lewis' "Allegory of Love." One of the other dock workers saw that and said "Gussman's reading porn."
Neil Gussman
Strategic Communications and Media Relations Manager
I have been working as a Handyman for the past twenty five years, and yes I have a high IQ. I always felt like I was well above average in intelligence. But I never had any proof of it. Well, when I was about 51 or 52 I found out that my IQ is 140. As you are most likely well aware of this makes me a borderline genius.
Here is an idea of just some of my past accomplishments are. It is by no means an exhaustive listing.
- Set five national sales records while working for RCA.
- Named number one rep in the entire country while working for Computex Support Services.
I am also a published author, a freelance writer, and former newspaper columnist.
Currently I work as a Handyman because I enjoy working with my hands, and always have.
Mark Horner
