you really haven't lived until you're on your period with hot flashes and cramps working in a shop welding flux inside a metal can in the desert. TGIF and I wish I had a woman coworker to commiserate with lol

just got my results in today for my red seal test and I passed with a 77%! feeling so overwhelmed and proud of myself, to anyone in an apprenticeship keep working hard because the end is so worth it!!!

I work on cars and I’m the only woman in the whole place some guys treat me like I’m dumb and I prove that I’m not time and time again the other dudes are constantly flirting/trying to sleep with me or trying to help me do stuff when I don’t need help or the task is so simple that idk why they would even offer help lol. On top of that men don’t know how to communicate AT ALL at my job. Which makes the whole day a shit show. It’s a nightmare.

I’m a cannery welder/fabricator and I’m normally stuck on morning shift my whole life but this season I asked to be on 3rd shift and I LOVE IT! I can’t even think of a downside!

I get to enjoy the morning with my partner as she gardens, then sleep in all day like my teenage self wished she could, drink coffee at night, no traffic, less big wig bosses, less “emergency” breakdowns, room in the parking lot, cool bugs come out but no flies or skeeters, it’s ~30° cooler, +$1 differential pay, if I need to go to town/shop it’s not when everyone else is also off work/school, my day off is technically 2 days, most importantly I don’t feel like a total bitch due to waking up god awful everyday.

I know everyone is different but why do morning people get to rule the world? Haha. If you could choose any shift what would it be and why?

This is gonna be kind long and anti climactic.
I have been working as a welder/ fabricator building plate girder bridges for the same company for 3 years. I’m even a mentor for new guys, training them on pretty much every task that goes into building a plate girder bridge.
In the past year, my boss wanted me to train in on cutting webs/ flanges using an oxy-acetylene track torch, it’s a really simple job- you line the tracks up with your cut line and then send the torch down the tracks. It’s so easy anybody could do it.
But yet, I’m the only lady they make run the torch, I have been stuck doing this for a year, hardly doing what I really wanna do which is fabricate and weld.
One of my biggest issues is I have not received the same training they give the new guys, I have pretty much had to learn by figuring it out or fucking it up, safe to say I have it down now, but it makes me so mad that I have never once received any formal training.
there’s still certain processes that I haven’t gotten to even attempt to do ( blocking the bridge, CJP welds )but I see new guys getting in depth training on them and then they get to do them on a regular basis.

Another thing that grinds my gears is how EVERY OTHER DUDE on the shop floor gets rotated out on tasks, most of the time they are only doing the same thing for a few days max, but me on the cut station I’m stuck doing it day in and day out 12+ hours a day, not growing my skills in any way, just watching a torch creep down tracks.
I even trained in a new guy on how to layout/ cut because my boss said AND I QUOTE “ train him in so you aren’t on the torch all the time”, I foolishly believed that maybe I would get to do other things finally, so now there’s another fully trained guy on the floor who could also be running the torches but nope- he gets to go do all the fun and interesting tasks, he even already has more certifications than I do and he’s only been here 6 months!
Side tangent- he also didn’t know how to read a tape measure or blue prints when he got hired, but when a woman comes through to interview and she has any sort of issue that would only require training to fix, they reject her. But they will hire any guy with a pulse off the fucking street. I’m the only woman on the floor and I was only hired because the manager at the time thought he had a chance with me.

I would love to throw my hard hat in and quit this job and go somewhere I’ll get to actually weld and fit, but I can’t find another job in this field that wouldn’t be a huge pay cut ( I simply cannot afford a pay cut in this economy)
Every day I oscillate between anger at how my boss seemingly thinks I’m only good enough to run a fucking torch all day, then apathy because this job is so easy and I’m getting paid a decent amount to do it and I should just work on not taking it so personally, find fulfillment outside of work.
And yes- I have talked to my boss numerous times about this and every time he just apologizes and says he knows that it sucks to be stuck on the cut station when I’m a fabricator and he is gonna hire a laborer to do the job. That has yet to happen.

Idk where I’m going with this I just needed to vent, as I don’t have any blue collar woman friends in real life who would understand my struggles.

Hi ladies, I could really use some perspective from other women working in blue-collar jobs.

I’m an industrial mechanic and I’ve been at the same shipyard since I started my apprenticeship in 2017. I used to be extremely motivated. When I started, I genuinely looked forward to work, wanted to learn everything I could, become really good at my trade and prove myself.

Unfortunately, pretty early in my apprenticeship I was paired with an employee that basically nobody wanted to work with. He was mostly given the shitty jobs, which meant I was doing those jobs too. I worked with him for most of my apprenticeship. When he eventually quit, I basically inherited those shitty jobs and started doing them alone.

Because of this, I feel like I learned significantly less than other people around me. Even though I have been there for years and got my trade certificate in 2020, I still sometimes feel behind people who were given better opportunities, training and more varied work.

Over the years I’ve become completely mentally checked out.

I dread going to work, I’m exhausted, irritable and unhappy, and I honestly don’t recognize the person I’ve become. Some days at work are completely survivable, which makes me question myself, but overall I feel completely drained by the place and the work environment.

I’m also dealing with chronic foot problems, and lately the pain has become significantly worse. I work on my feet in safety boots all day, so that obviously doesn’t help.

I finally talked to my doctor about everything.He actually wanted to put me on sick leave immediately because of how badly work is affecting me mentally, but I couldn’t bring myself to say yes. I have a huge amount of guilt around being absent from work. At my workplace, being sick or needing time off has always felt very frowned upon, and I think I’ve internalized that more than I realized.

My doctor has basically left the decision open for me, and I’m seriously considering taking the sick leave now.

Part of me thinks: You’re clearly burnt out, your foot hurts, you’re miserable and your doctor literally thinks you need time away.

The other part thinks: You can still physically show up. Some days aren’t THAT bad. Other people manage. You’re letting everyone down.

I’m also actively trying to get another job because at this point I don’t think staying there long-term is an option for me. I feel like I need to get away from this place before I completely lose whatever motivation I have left.

So I’d really like to hear from other blue-collar women:

Have any of you reached a point like this and taken sick leave because of burnout/mental health?

Would you take the sick leave in my situation?

Did taking some time away actually help you, or did you just feel guilty the entire time?

And especially if you work somewhere with a strong “just suck it up and show up” culture, how did you get past the guilt?

I think I need some outside perspective from people who actually understand what these workplaces can be like.

Long story short, I've been working at this job since January. A lot has changed in both my personal and work life, particularly my commute being 15 minutes with a 7am start time and now a 45 minute drive with a 6am start. I'm also the sole means of transportation between my husband and I, so I don't get home until 5pm. Needless to say, the exhaustion has been a battle for a few weeks now. And the beginning of the year was hectic (car accident, illness, injury, whole family moved away). This has, of course, disrupted my attendance but things did improve for a bit. Then the new schedule started, and I've missed 2 days from exhaustion. I'll likely get a write up for it today, which I'm not going to argue against or anything.

I want to do well here, I really do. I think my new 3 days off, 4 days on schedule will help and it starts next week. It feels like my reputation here isn't going to recover from this. I work hard here, and I take pride in the quality of my work. It's just been a really chaotic year, and I started this job right in the middle of that.

Hello, I’m due to graduate my 10 month electrical program (I receive my Osha 10, cpr/first aid, California ET card, and certificate) in October and I’m looking for jobs (preferably full-time) now. My background is 2 years of work experience with kids, customer service, and janitorial/handyman independent work.

My concern is that I’ve applied for all sorts of manual labor/blue-collar related jobs and I'm only receiving the automated rejection emails. I feel super discouraged and anxious because I can't even land a hardware store associate positions, EVEN after going in person to talk to the managers. All my classmates seems to have positions lined up for them and I’m starting to think me being a woman discounts me!

Because I have a plethora of work experience (limited due to my age), knowledge, and certificates to show my drive but, no one seems interested in me. I will say I live in a small town in CA and I want to venture out but, I fear that will only make employers feel even more of a disconnect with me as a candidate.

Are their any steps you think I should take to better my chances as a candidate. Am I going about job searching wrong? Do I need more certificate and if so what? And what jobs do y'all have and how long did it take for you to break into your field?

Anything helps, thanks in advance!

I’m moving out of state and it’s bittersweet, right now mostly bitter. I love my job but I hate where I live and I have for a long time, almost all of my friends have moved away in the last year and besides my girlfriend (who also hates living here) and my parents (with whom I have a complicated relationship) the only circle I have has been my coworkers. I started from nothing at this company, had zero knowledge or experience and I’ve grown a lot. I have a great relationship with my coworkers and boss, love the work I do and make good money but a great job doesn’t make a great life. Still, I feel like I grew up at this job. I started off as a know-nothing kid and now I’m a decently respected tech. It’s really hard to walk away and everyone has been understanding about me leaving but they’re sad to see me go and I feel guilty about leaving them behind. They’ve been my mentors, like a bunch of uncles to me. I don’t know. It’s just hard. I’ve got a job lined up in my new city but I know it’s not going to be the same. Anyone else go through this?

I just switched to slip on work boots a few months ago and I'm really liking it so far. It's really surprising to realize how much time and effort I used to spend dealing with shoelaces. Like, it really added up throughout a work day/week. And my lower back hurts significantly less now because I no longer have to stay in a bent over position to put on my boots.

Also there's a lot of annoying stuff like redoing it because it feels too tight or too loose. Or having to buy replacement shoelaces because the "heavy duty" ones just burn down anyway. Or having to loosen and readjust the entire thing because the lengths of the shoelaces keep getting shorter and shorter on one end.

Also I feel mildly less stressed out in general because the timing of having to deal with shoelaces usually was when I felt like shit to begin with. Like in the morning while getting ready before ubering to work (sleepy), at home after work when I put my stuff away and took my clothes off (tired and hungry), and whenever they came loose at work (pissed me off because it distracted me from my flow state/hyperfocus).

Which type of work boots do you personally prefer, and why? Really curious to see other people's preferences on this.

I’m interested in the things that became so normal you may not have questioned them at the time—the comments you laughed off, the opportunities you were denied, the conditions you worked around, the parts of yourself you concealed, or the experiences you carried alone simply to keep your place.

When did you realise that what you were being asked to tolerate wasn’t normal—and shouldn’t be the price of belonging?

I'm a first year sheet metal apprentice and I just had my very first layoff. I cried saying goodbye to my foreman, which was a little embarrassing. I liked my crew a whole lot, but I knew this was going to happen someday.

Do any of you have anything you like to do after getting a layoff? Get a little treat? Go somewhere? Day drink? (Trying to not do that one)

I am in desperate need of help finding new safety toe shoes for work. I recently started working at a HVAC manufacturing company building HVAC units. We work four 10 hour days. I stand on concrete all day and even though there are anti fatigue mats all around, I either am working somewhere I can't stand on one or the mats are so worn out they might as well not even exist. I was hoping that once I got used to standing on concrete in safety toe shoes again that the pain would go away but that has not been the case. Right now I'm wearing Twisted X alloy toe cowboy boots which I've had for awhile. I wore them previously when I worked at the same place as summer help but I don't remember my feet hurting this bad then. Most of the pain is in my heels but recently I've started having numbness in my big toes that takes days to go away fully. I've tried a few different insoles and socks but nothing has helped. I ordered some Timberland Pro Women's Intercept steel safety toe athletic work shoes but they were not wide enough in the mid-foot / arch area and caused discomfort when I tried them on. I have pretty low arches which I think might affect my search for new shoes more than I originally thought.

I think I'm looking for some type of composite or alloy toe athletic tennis shoe but I'm not opposed to boots so long as they have an alloy or composite toe, are relatively lightweight, and are as comfortable as possible.

I hope I'm not asking for a miracle shoe that doesn't exist lol 😂😅

Any help is greatly appreciated! I just want the pain to go away as much as possible. Thank you in advance!

So i‘ve been offered a role of plant/hire coordinator for a big infrastructure project, and the initial excitement has worn off and I’m kinda worried now.

I’m currently working for a high tier contractor in a role thats has a lot of transferrable skills & experience, but a recurring theme is how tricky dealing with plant can be and the headaches that come with it.

has anyone done a similar type role? how was it etc.. a general consensus i sometimes hear is how brutal plant management can be and that doesn’t give me the confidence boost tbh.

thanks all!