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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.
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.
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"off with their heads"~~dr. joseph-ignace guillotin
"life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages."~~mark twain - letter to edward kimmitt 1901
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.
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Co-author (with my daughter) of “Raising Your Money-Savvy Family For Next Generation Financial Independence.”
Author of the book written on E-R.org: "The Military Guide to Financial Independence and Retirement."
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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.
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You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.
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.
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.
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 11,331
Re: What color was / is your collar?
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Originally Posted by saluki9
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.
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Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre -- Albert Camus
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.
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.
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Work? I don't have time to work....I'm retired.
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.* *
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
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 18,085
Re: What color was / is your collar?
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.
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"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
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