What color was / is your collar?

[GTM]

If retired or if employed would you consider yourself to be a white collar worker, blue collar worker or no collar worker?

 

[justin]

I use a computer most of the day at a desk. So White. But these days it's golf/polo shirts every day - so it's a rainbow of colors.

I'm interested in the blue collar workers - what do you do for a living? I imagine FIRE is even more unfathomable among the blue collar ranks than among the white collar ranks.

 

[HFWR]

Light blue collar... Engineering tech for semi corp...

 

[maddythebeagle]

Engineering tech for semi corp... .

make computer chips or large trucks...  

 

[Eagle43]

Mine was white, when I wasn't sweating the small stuff.

 

[REWahoo]

A very long time ago I was collared for MIP (minor in posesson) but other than that my record has been clean and my collar white.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i never quite fit the jacket & tie thang. for my 30-year reunion i was the only guy not in jacket & tie, i look better in a satin/cashmere blended longsleeve.

in the corporate world i'd put on a zootsuit when i absolutely had to, like a meeting at some snobby office and then i'd even trim the 5-o'clock shadow to make it look like a look.

but if the office i was in was lower key, so was i. fortunately, besides the newer stuffy formal immigrant professionals in miami, most of south florida is lower key.

many of our white collars work without ties and our blue collars work without shirts.

mostly though i worked from inside my house in my underwear so i guess that qualifies as no collar. no collar? hell, it was hardly even pants.

 

[Nords]

I thought I was white collar, but the uniforms I wore most often had blue or khaki collars.

The stains on them would usually be salt water, hydraulic fluid, or sewage... indicative of what type of day we were having.

 

[Arif]

Mine where green, black, brown, and tan mixed together......can't say I miss those BDUs
Now it's mostly a t shirt or whatever doesn't need ironing.

 

[polloloco]

No dress code for us at the corporate office. Just be neat and clean. Mostly khakis or jeans with no holes and polo shirts, even for the 200K upper management. I have taken a liking to the Columbia printed fish shirts, which I buy on sale.

 

[unclemick]

white around the neck, blue in the heart, and Jimmy Buffett on funky Fridays! Long time ago (1992).

heh heh heh - down South so always wore a baseball cap with my suit - to keep em honest.

 

[saluki9]

I'm interested in the blue collar workers - what do you do for a living? I imagine FIRE is even more unfathomable among the blue collar ranks than among the white collar ranks.

It can be done. My close friend just was not cut out for school, so at 18 he got hired as a union carpenter aprentice her in Chicago. He now makes $39 a hour and will have a full pension (75% of last 5 year avg) at age 48. Not to mention all the money he makes on side jobs.

It can be done by blue collar workers, but you have to be a skilled worker.

 

[donheff]

It can be done. My close friend just was not cut out for school, so at 18 he got hired as a union carpenter aprentice her in Chicago. He now makes $39 a hour and will have a full pension (75% of last 5 year avg) at age 48. Not to mention all the money he makes on side jobs.

It can be done by blue collar workers, but you have to be a skilled worker.

Yeah, my brother (who was the smartest in the family) dropped out of college after a year and went to work as a PBX installer for Ma Bell. He got the highest score they had seen on some sort of entrance exam and was regularly queried about supervisory interest but he declined. He is now 55 and eligible for a nice pension which he will probably take in a couple of years.

 

[lets-retire]

Mine is very blue, dark sun absorbing blue, actually.

 

[cj]

Yeah, my brother (who was the smartest in the family) dropped out of college after a year and went to work as a PBX installer for Ma Bell. He got the highest score they had seen on some sort of entrance exam and was regularly queried about supervisory interest but he declined. He is now 55 and eligible for a nice pension which he will probably take in a couple of years.

DH is the same - 30 years at Ma Bell and out with pension.  The 401K was good too, for those who took advantage (and DH did).  The real perk with this is medical benefits for life... at least for now.  We'll have to wait & see how that holds up.  So yes, those guys can make a bundle, and many work gobs of overtime (1.5 x pay to 48 hours, 2 x pay over that; 1.5 x pay for Sundays, 2.5 x pay for holidays.)  It definitely can be done. 

We have a mixed marriage - I was white collar, he was blue.

CJ

 

[SteveR]

Used to be white collar all the time. 15 years ago we were allowed Business Casual on Fridays only. 8 years ago we were allowed all Business Casual all the time. Current job is more casual now and jeans on many days. I have not had a tie on in over a year and never at this job. HR has a dress code that is not enforced. Some of the females take advantage of that and I am not complaining.

 

[starboardtack]

Started off with blue lab coat, promoted to white lab coat, then white collar under white lab coat.  Finally just white collar, but kept my lab coat on the back of the office door just in case.  After ER now wear blue coveralls over blue collar for keeping the fish scales/oil stains and annuity salesmen away.   

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Polo shirts for years now (even in the frozen north). The collars kinda roll up. I look like an upholstered beach ball--but no gaps!


Gypsy,
verdammter Ingenieur

 

[heyyou]

Blue collar:  Worked package delivery in Phoenix, then in northern Arizona.  After 30 years of saving mandatory overtime, FIRE'd with no debt, a no COLA pension, cheap health care, and 18 years of 401k and IRAs.
Justin--Laborers can easily see that they need to escape from their career.  For me, FI was the goal, ER was the dream, and saving $ was the means.  That worked.  That is why there are more retired plumbers than retired lawyers.
Joe

 

[brewer12345]

White collar pretty much since graduating college. But Dad was a blue collar guy who became successful (business owner), so I seem to feel much comfier around blue collar types. So I live in a subirban neighborhood where my neighbors are nurses, construction workers, water plant foreman, school custodian, firemen, etc. and keeping up with the Joneses is pretty much a non-issue ("hey look, they have a new dent in the side of the pick-up").

I think that's why I get along well with my current boss. Like me, he is only 2 generations away from squirrel/possum/etc. for dinner and we both know it.

 

[LOL!]

For science week at school, we were asked to provide a white dress shirt for our kid to use as a mock lab coat. We didn't have one. But I am employed as white collar VP in a biotech company.

 

[riskadverse]

I used to work factory jobs in the summer between college semesters.  It was that early experience of the differences between blue collar and white collar jobs that served me well.  Through various careers, I was solicited to become white collar, but I alway tried to remain right on the fringe between,  highly technical positions, but with few or no people to manage.   Now that I'm retired, I'm quite content to be blue collar as my own contractor for remodeling, while taking my own white collar advice on investments.  Using anyone else for those two functions would have greatly increased the amounts necessary for me to have retired.   

 

[johnlw]

Used to be blue collar, I was a Lineman at a Power Company for 7 years.

Have been white collar since then (Computer Programmer, now Database Administrator). However, I've been working from home for the past 4 years, so no collar at all these days.

 

[Poundkey]

Blue......machinist.... 37 years. When you never earn much (compared to most folks) you learn how to be frugal. 

 

[HFWR]

Was off-white collared for several years. Forced back to light-blue due to rightsizing... Make more money now, though the hours/shift suck big time. Never bought into the yuppie lifestyle, though. Still drive a p/u.

Was at a party with DGF last Friday. Two guys cussing their $700 and $800 electric bills for the McMansions, pools, etc. Mine was $178... 8)

Wonder who'll be FIREd first?