Forum Post: My story. Effort and waste.
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 2, 2011, 2:49 p.m. EST by Kaioti
(61)
from Greenville, IL
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
So, people make mistakes. I certainly made alot, lol. I own my mistakes, and don't blame others.
About 8 years ago I worked to get my life in order. I stopped partying, went to a trade school, worked in that trade with confidence and heart and skill, PT, self-employed for 6 years. I must live in the wrong location, because I ran my biz properly and my work was quality. Whatever...I gave up on the one thing I had wanted to do since high school (Farrier) it because it was stagnant at very PT and clearly never going to be sustainable. Now I'm 30 and the things I have some skill at are either things I strongly feel (for good reason) that I wont be able to compete in (Welding/metalworking, at least where I live) because I have breasts rather than a sac. I'm not any kind of "feminazi" but I have been treated like a "girl in a mans world" while working rather that a person who works in an industry more than I thought I would. Or my skills are things in which the market is already flooded (artists.)
I don't have and cannot get the money to open up another shop, and if I could I would still feel very nervous about risking another 5 years of my life on a big, slanted, maybe. I put forth my effort, watched others put in theirs and watched us all fail together.
My father is/was a staunch conservative, holding to the ideas that hard work and persistence will flower the american dream for anyone who wants it. I held on to that to, even with socially liberal leanings...it makes sense that you should be simply able to get what you put in right? My father put in over 25 years of over the road truck driving. He always worked, always took things seriously, did whatever he had to to provide for us. Now he is working for less than 13 dollars an hour shuffling trailers around locally for a floundering company. This is what he gets after believing? For working hard? After all this time? Lets not talk about the 401K losses....
I think that occupy will fail if you don't present a proposal like now. Anti cronyism law...no one is going to be willing to say "no I like corporatized govt" out loud....take that ONE item and bring it to congress while you still can. Buy yourselves some time. Please!
Hang in there, its pretty discouraging, i feel the NAFTA screwed a lot of folks, sent a lot of jobs way south, ive had businesses, lost them done others, worked in the trades failed miserably more than a few times, its a bummer, hopefully things will turn around, i think this movement can turn into something if everybody gets their shit together, everyone i talk to says the same thing, lack of organization will kill the messenger,
I agree. I could hurt my throat screaming DO SOMETHING, and and get alot of head cocked responses....so much wasted promise.
I don't know where you're living now, but you should move to the Chicago area. We need good MIG welders here badly.
And I have never been treated like an incompetent just because I'm a girl in any shop I've ever been in. I have seen girls treated that way though, and believe you me there was a reason.
If you can weld, you can find a job. I'm sure they need welders in the oil fields in ND. I bet you could make a shit ton of money there.
Ah, I am in southern IL. I know I should move....but I'm engaged to someone who has two kids and a mortgage that is greater than the value of the house. Personal hang ups.
I was considering a welding certificate, I just worried about being able to compete. You make me feel better about it. : TY!
There's nothing in Southern IL. I know personal hang ups and all that, but if you could make some money and establish a household here, in a year or so your man could walk from his house and everyone could move up here. Is it the ideal choice in life? No. But rarely do we ever get the ideal choice as an option. But we have mills and the BP refinery up here. We have work here, and you know you need to move to where the work is.
True....and something to seriously consider. You do have work? :)
I know how to weld, I'm not a welder by trade though. I have about a half dozen friends who are and they all have work. The least of them is paid like $13 an hour, but he's as lazy as they come. The best works for the mill as a welder and pulls six figures.
I do work in manufacturing though. My associates in engineering means I get to work in an office instead of the shop. But I learned basic welding, machining, etc at the shop at the local college while I was getting my degree. I was very active in the SAE program there.
My particular talents lie in residential construction. Outside of my straight 40 I buy foreclosures (really really bad ones), rehab them and rent them out. I also do side work like Craigslist gigs for extra money.
Promising to hear. I'm layed off today, so, when my mate gets back I will talk with him about the certificate and moving. I've lived near Chicago for work before. I can move again....hate that city tho. lol
Also, I thought I was the only one who used "mate" to refer to my sig other.
Well actually I'm technically talking about northwest Indiana. Lower cost of living, better jobs. IMO anyways. We have all the mills and stuff here.
Other than to observe it’s a damn shame, which it is, there’s little constructive I can offer. And, as a man, I little doubt that having chosen a so-called “man’s” profession you’ve had to endure all sorts of nonsense. That sexism still exists is undeniable.
As I understand you, you are fed up having to work at a job in which male BS is inherent and one that offers only a promise of diminishing returns for your efforts. If my interpretation is correct, I wish I could offer a more hopeful and helpful response. But I know we can’t make every male in the world pull his head out, and in our country working men and women are too often demeaned, reviled and economically marginalized.
I don’t think there are any quick fixes. Our financial industry dominated government and society has adopted many, or perhaps even most of the attitudes of this industry. I’m firmly convinced it’s a disease of attitudes, multifaceted and long-term. Certainly, gaining a release from the stranglehold that this industry has gained on our society is a beginning. But it is only a beginning.
As individual Americans, we are not each going to become CEO’s of a major financial company. And if that is virtually the only paradigm to which American youth and society is subjected, we are evolving an increasingly dysfunctional society. That men and women in all walks of life MUST be valued and rewarded for their contributions is vital for all of our futures.
Of course you can weld. My father taught me over 45 years ago and I welded in the business I ran for years. Rusty as I am, I am sure I could pick it up again if I needed to. My father always said that women make better welders because we have steadier hands. Apply everywhere you can. Especially construction or pipefitting jobs in the area. BTW, today's welders are really peachy; nothing like the old electrics. Wish you luck.
I know there are no quick fixes, and I'm willing to retrain. PS right now I work with women (sewing + neurosis lol) I can handle the guys, I just need to figure out how to be taken seriously, and when self employed I thought my work would be enough.
I don't want to be a CEO or make millions. I just want to get what I put in, maybe enough to help my dad, and see our govt reformed some.
Your responses are cheering me quite a bit. :)
Please respond?
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The rest of the world is catching up to us and in many ways exceeding us. Other countries are providing hard working, dedicated, quality labor at lower labor prices. What does that mean? Likely a lower standard of living than what Americans have become used to. You may have to get used to not having all the things that you may have become used to having. Change your perception of the real "need" for those things. Do some research on fields that are in demand and retrain yourself. Do the best you can to maintain a positive outlook, it's crucial. DO NOT rely on this or any other movement to make it all better. That is unrealistic.
I understand that. I know that the world market has changed things. I do not desire great wealth. I only want to work and have a real return on it. I am currently reviewing what I could retrain myself in, but I am having personal difficulty in seeing anything that won't be flooded before I get out of school (I watched a friend get two degrees in "growing markets" and twice fail to find a job in that market when she was done because of flooding), or will actually be marketable where I live. I have talked with career counselors.
I do not hang all my hopes on Occupy, but if anything good can come from this I would be immensely pleased.
Thank you for your response. :)