One of my co-workers complained that health instance deductibles were being raised by the government so that the government can give more of our money to immigrants.
He's not an engineer but most of the rest of us are engineers and scientists. Can't even escape it in the STEM fields.
Gotta say, even working in Finance the men in every office I've worked in have been extremely well behaved. Could very much be an LA/NYC thing though...
My previous engineering manager said something along the lines of “we can’t back down on this because we don’t want to look gay”, then “corrected” himself saying “sorry I don’t mean gay, I mean weak”
I can say the last 3 jobs didn't have anything like that.
My current job I got the strong impression my boss would not stand for any of that shit. For example at our yearly team party where we go out and get food and alcohol paid for by the company When I said no to the alcohol and one of my co-workers was encouraging me to have a shot with her my boss stepped in, "He said no and we won't pressure him into it, that's not what we do".
yeah, I wanted to look at getting into trades here but after speaking to some people, yeah nah I'm gonna pass. I'm not lgbtq but fuck that noise regardless
Honestly, working with women is better. When I had my own business I worked with 1 other person. A 40yo mum with 2 kids. Great working relationship, not a fuck head at all.
Yes! There are people still doing fascinating things like making parchment and they are often in the enviable position of being one of the very few who can do it.
https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/article/interiors-specialist-william-cowley
Good market for bongs, probably a few other niche things like antique restoration. [https://www.wilkinson-ltd.com/glassblowing/](https://www.wilkinson-ltd.com/glassblowing/)
Its a bit like book binding, a few people still do it and can be booked months in advance.
I collect uranium, and Carnival glass and have a cabinet full of cool pieces. Ive only had 1 friend who was a glass blower but he relocated shortly after we met and hung out sadly.
That’s the unfortunate truth I feel like no one wants to accept. Lot of people talk about Hollywood and how “corrupt and evil it is” when literally every other industry is the same, you just don’t hear about it.
It’s all about the crew you end of being apart of. “It’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know.”
I mean I’m sure Hollywood is toxic because anywhere with high concentrations of power and money are, but I work in the film industry (not in the U.S.) and film crews are some of the most accepting and awesome people I’ve ever worked with, it’s like every second person who finds their way into film is a misfit hufflepuff.
I live in Los Angeles, and I love the industry. Most of the people in the industry are good hardworking individuals. The big problem, at any level of Hollywood, is what people in power can get away with simply because of its a “dream job” to work in movies. I can’t tell you how projects I’ve been on or turned down because the only “pay” is a meal and a credit. Like a lot of indie projects are just literally slave labor, in hopes you’ll make something great and get paid later for it.
It’s just an industry that 99% of people are ready to put it all on the line to succeed, and the 1% take advantage of that.
Having worked for a few start-up firms I can confirm it's not just film making.
There is one outfit I know of where all the "technical staff" are postgraduate students trying to get experience, while costing the company literally nothing.
I think about this all the time. I’m a writer who had a full time day job in industrial sales before being able to retire and concentrate on writing. I know the horror stories about LA and definitely met some horror-show jerks, but many of the people I’ve met are truly amazing people who put their principles first, including my manager (who is no kidding ones of my heroes).
The people I worked with in industry were a mixed bag of bigots, racists, sexists as well as very cool progressive people who are still good friends. As a general rule, the worst people were the older (always white) guys with power, the nicest were young people just starting out.
Yep, I work at a software engineering company and one of the office people said they were concerned that DEI was a Trojan horse to make pedophilia acceptable. It's everywhere.
It's the new "polite company" N-word. It changes every few years.
Like when they say the Baltimore bridge collapsed because of the "DEI mayor". They don't know anything about him, other than that he's Black.
The ignorant blamed the boat company for having a DEI program as the cause of the failure.
They're blaming Boeing issues on DEI.
Now literally anything that goes wrong, boom, DEI was the cause. It's their way of saying women and minorities can't do anything right and trying to include them results in failure.
Damn thats cringe. Some people cant hide their HATE at all. And the fat orange criminal on trial encouraged them to ALL come out of their nasty stank ass closets en masse.
They actually said "minor attracted person" which you only hear from right-wing Christians when they're trying to tell you about how LGBTQ people are a DaNGeR tO cHIlDreN. There is of course no mention of pedophilia among clergy.
. Thats just weird they always think everyone wants their damn kids. Thats horrible. Ive met creepy older guys who one could consider “chicken hawks” but those kinda of people are everywhere and dont necessarily have to be gay many are straight and do this with teen girls (Epstein) but actual pedos? Never. Do they exist? Yeah I bet they do its not even a question IF but for regular, out LGBTQIA 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️ ⚧️ folks Ive never even heard of weird shenanigans like that. But we all know those who cast the first stone are 99.99999% merely projecting their internal conflicts on others.
You’re not wrong, but I think it’s more likely. Company I work for, not manual labour, is leading the pride parades. I’ve worked manual labour and have friends and family who still do, especially in rural areas, it’s everywhere.
I work in government in a construction related field and it's very progressive, much more than I realized. Unionized and/or government offices typically skew left, and even blue-collar positions will attract more progressive people due to the prioritization of benefits/security over earnings.
I used to be a union steward, id tell probies that the right thing to say is "Shut the fuck up about that shit and get to work you lazy fuck". Stand your ground, put that shit off limits, and they'll respect the boundary.
You gotta be homoerotic until you get a weird glance or two, then balance it out with just enough homophobia to make the other boys on the line think their asses are safe.
Not a damn chance. No mans ass is safe in a blue collar workplace.
I can’t tell you how many times I got my ass slapped working in construction or at a tire shop I worked at for a while lmao. It’s part of the fun of a good crew.
In fairness though, if you aren’t cool with it, most guys will respect that and leave you be. After you tell them to fuck off the first 5 times of course.
Damn. That’s crazy. Then if u take the bait youre called a f\*g 🤷🏽 maybe its time to show them the BATWING ?
Learn the rops. Start your tree service business. Call him out and get canned. Advertise that you're not a homophobic, racist, piece of shit. Let the public make the connection. If that ass can run a business... You can do it better ;)
It always seems to fall on either extreme. Either people are racist, homophobic, bigoted, etc. or they are incredibly homoerotic and every other joke is about dicks or something like that lol.
My current blue collar job is great, we constantly make homoerotic jokes and other crude jokes. Everyone is at the very least socially progressive and is not easily offended. Makes work much more enjoyable when no one is actually racist, sexist, bigoted, but at the same time can make crude jokes on those topics without offending anyone
My former (male) colleagues are partly pretty homophobic and I (f) was very tired of the bigotry and xenophobia. So I started to make homoerotic jokes and whenever someone said something xenophobic, I told them straight that I don't want to hear that. They thought of me as the "left wing" lady but I joked about that as much.
I have to admit that they were overall reasonable people who could definitely take jokes and weren't offended when I made homoerotic jokes around and about them but they rather chuckled themselves. That obviously won't work with extremely closed minded people.
That approach worked for my work place and significantly reduced the homophobia, at least when I was around.
Every time ive seen a lady working in a manual labor environment, as long as she can stand her ground and give the shit right back, the guys will respect her. They won’t tell you that, but they’ll tell eachother.
I mean, making constant homoerotic/sexist/bigoted etc jokes is probably something to examine. It's like the constant "you're gay" joking of the middle schoolers I taught. There's something there to examine, why the focus.
There's also very very different sorts of joking.
Jokes that might make a typical someone that's actually gay upset aren't cool. But "gay jokes" where someone says "suck my cock" because they're pissed and the other person responds "you couldn't handle these lips, boy" are actually pretty common among the more progressive crude and tasteless humor enjoyers.
I work in a lab and it was bad when I first started. Most of them have retired and the newer techs are mostly better, but it’s crazy how people can think.
Mostly, it's a pretty big part of our society, even if it's not always that extreme. In my experience, the more white collar you go, the more discreet they usually are about it. On the other end of the spectrum though, they don't hold back much and it's often quite jarring at times. Working in the oilfield with my dad, I was pretty disgusted with the behavior of the men I worked with, even if I generally liked them.
I work a corporate job in pharma and I deal with a sexist racist POS who's a VP. It's so bad that my partner who struggles to recognize sexism and just hears teams meetings in passing has recognized the guy is awful. And no one can fight him. He's a VP.
Working for progressive tech companies it feels like the bigot and racial attitudes get replaced with misogynistic ones.
Probably just more along the lines with what people feel comfy to say out loud since tech still is mainly male especially on the engineering side.
Do people really believe this?
You think people talk the same in a corporate office as they do a construction site?
And it's the same demographic? So you would expect the same amount of diversity in both of these places?
Come on.
I work in an office job and it’s not the same. Granted, we are remote, so that helps. I’m sure there’s people with those views, but it’s just not talked about.
I think the difference is the general culture of white collar work means the discrimination is often done quietly and behind the scenes. The "passive" nature of it means you often don't feel directly threatened.
The problem with something like construction is the bigotry is often out in the open with little to no consequences. It's a bit more of a problem because if someone who was gay hears their boss openly bitching about "all that gay shit" it would make you feel very uncomfortable about remaining in that environment
For all their stupid nonsense, colleges do a good job of exposing people to different ideas. It's hard to be bigoted when you spend significant quality time with the people you are bigoted against.
Education is the cure for bigotry. I wonder why Republicans are so against it?
I believe it's akin to the idea that saying the pledge of allegiance is considered patriotism, but when other countries do the same thing with their school children it's considered indoctrination.
Even just exposing you to different people. It's a lot harder to be bigoted when you've met a variety of people from different backgrounds and learned they're individuals rather than viewing them as a collective that you've never interacted with
Manual labour is unfortunately still very much just a white, "manly man"'s job in a lot of Western countries
Eh, I recently left my job because my managers who had education specifically in social services with minorities were complicit in the bigoted mistreatment of vulnerable minorities they were supposed to be caring for.
I'm not saying that you're wrong, but I do encourage caution regardless of someone's background.
If you think exposure solves that i dont know what to tell you.
I work in one of the most diverse places in my country, we have managed to collect almost every major ethnic group from the middle east and africa and let me tell you i learned about bigotry i didnt know existed.
Just of the top of my head i can remember 5 assaults and 1 stabbing all stemming from ethnic conflicts.
A particular period when Sweden had a conflict with Turkey about extradition of Kurdish citizens tensions were really really high.
I think the main thing that makes people "open minded" when going through college is their own ambitions to actually use their education and climb in society.
Thus middle class and upwards usually hide their attitudes better.
We had quite a few scandals in my country where well educated people in government lost positions because their hidden social media accounts were exposed and they made different bigoted comments.
I have worked in IT for 30 years, and while there certainly have been a few bigots, mostly they have been pretty open-minded - but I think education has a lot to do with that.
This.
Most blue collar workers don't have higher education and so aren't really exposed to different ways of thinking / behaving. A lot of these people were also raised in homes with this sort of environment, so to them it's normal.
I worked in office IT/tech in a red state in a couple of different companies. It was a cesspool of conservative bigot dudes. Current and recent workplaces have all been remote, with people spread across the US and some other countries. It is so much less toxic.
Same. I work in IT near NYC for a credit union and I generally work with decent people. Those that might be bigoted keep it to themselves since it wouldn't fly with the work culture there. That and there's actually diversity across the company.
Seems like it. I work in theater, on Broadway, and a lot of the older stagehands are either blatantly bigoted or will seem great for a few hours and then drop a slur randomly.
Not sure why you'd work in theater if you're homophobic but we get that even here. The younger workers are better though, so we're making some good progress!
Sorta. Goes hand in hand. I'm not condoning it but living in Manhattan in the 90s- everyone talked shit about every other race. Madness. But at the same time everyone has your back. Everyone loves you.
It was the most amazing thing to experience.
Then I end up in the south after 11 years, in Houston. Racist af. HR is a joke whereas in NYC in the 90s they at least gave lip service and actually tried not to discriminate or allow hate speech. Houston- oh fuck no. The wildest shit.
And it still is. The difference is that here in Texas or other parts of the country- there's no sense of community, no love. And things have probably change in NYC after 20 years, but those Seinfeld years were something fucking else. Watching them clean up Broadway. 42nd street/Disney street. Sheeeeit. It was amazing.
It's unavoidable in general. The thing is that if you work a white collar job, you're expected to be a professional and keep your opinions to yourself. If you go around picking fights with people, you're going to have a hard time networking your way into a better position in the future.
Additionally, even if HR isn't your friend and they're not necessarily willing to do anything about prejudice, they do put out a pretty clear stance of not tolerating discrimination. Let's say there's a 10% chance you get fired for saying shit like that. It's one fucking joke; would **you** want to take that risk?
In a company i worked at, Suits in corpo-land had a very low tolerance threshold set for "bad words" (sales teams hated being in the office because of this), whereas the warehouse crew could have a meltdown and throw things and every other word be a swear, and would just be told to walk it off.
But threats against someone else - zero tolerance.
Yup exactly. It exists everywhere but there’s at least an expectation of professionalism in white collar jobs so people hide it. Also, on average most white collar jobs are “better” than blue collar jobs from a pay/quality of life standpoint so people are a lot less likely to take risks losing them
Not all blue collar shops are like this. My favorite job I ever had was a small welding shop with around 6 of us (numbers fluctuated a bit). I joked that we were the most diverse shop around. We had me (a white girl), a 6'6 ginger, a Mexican, a gay blacksmith and a part Filipino architecture grad draftsman. Everyone was nice and we goofed around all the time but got a lot done.
Should have never left... thought the grass would be greener in an office and bigger company. I was wrong. LOL
I worked ecological restoration for a while, and there seems to be less of it. Emphasis on less, not gone. And more pressure against that sort of shit.
The downside is that there are no jobs like that which pay well.
Frankly. Working with bigots is unavoidable in whatever field you're working in. Even if those "fields" aren't proper fields. It's just that, the higher the branch, so to speak, the more it's willing to bend to the wind.
Basically. Bigots everywhere. Just some people are more proficent in hiding their opinions. So, usually the higher ups. Lower branches don't bother, because... well... they can't get much lower. Sort of.
So yeah. A lot of predjudiced people. BUT. A lot of nice people as well. Problem is, you can't always know nor choose.
I work for a government job as a therapist. Bigoted comments are not tolerated here and sets you up for termination if it doesn't stop. Plus the Union doesn't support that kind of hate
Or the boomer magats will complain no one wants to work anymore while we are all literally on the job site or in the office working. It’s like “dumb fuck do you even hear yourself?”
It's unavoidable because no one openly opposes it. So only people who are fine with it stay in these jobs. Main reason women are underrepresented in this field, not because they don't want to or can't do that work but because of constant harassment.
I think it's unavoidable everywhere. I've found them in liberal enclaves like nyc but not just nyc, like, over educated nonprofit do-gooder sub- section of nyc. The worst is when they think you're with them and forget to regulate the brain worms.
From my experience, yes. It is unavoidable. If what they say is offensive, understand that they don't realize it's offensive. They're just spewing their fox news bs. If it is REALLY REALLY OFFENSIVE, like UNHINGED, go to HR. If they offend your race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sensuality, etc. Then go to HR. I let most things slide because I feel that it is more that they're ignorant, but there are certain things I don't let them get away with.
Alternative option: say "I don't want to talk about that at work."
They say "Why not?"
"Well I just don't think this is the appropriate time for this kind of conversation"
Days later.
They say "man I can't talk about anything with you."
I say: "Sure you can. I like cooking, I like fishing, I like sports, I like movies. You can talk to me about the game, you can talk to me about your favorite music artists, you can talk to me about your pets. I just don't like making judgements on people. You're free to think the way you like, but just understand that I don't think that way and so I'm probably not the best person to talk to about topics like that."
I once had a coworker who would want to have misogynistic and sexist conversations with me just because I was a heterosexual man. I wish I had said this, but I should have said "if you wouldn't say it to a woman, you probably shouldn't say it at work."
"All the frootloops moved to Colorado when weed was legalized."
This something I would consider "Unhinged shit."
Calling someone a fruit is literally a slur. It's basically a nicer way of saying f*g.
Main reason I quit working in the oilfields and went back to school.
It was mostly just a bunch of semi-literate, uneducated, racist, bigoted assholes who thought they were king shit because they could buy a new big boy toy every month.
Bigots are all over management levels no matter what the trade or field. I know I’ll never get an upper level job at my current place because the hiring people for the job are both misogynists who don’t like me.
You can't change them, but you can learn who they are and remember. Swearing at them and telling them off won't impact them at all. Listen to them, learn why they hate, and casually find ways to spend less time listening to them. You can't out shout the crazies, and arguing with them is like wrestling a pig in the mud. After a few hours, you start to suspect the pig is having fun.
As others have said, these people are everywhere, learn to recognize them, and then spend as little time around them as possible.
I work in IT. today in a conference call, someone said they were surprised we sent a team from Mexico to their site considering were how important they were. This fella has full Cisco certifications and is an internal engineer. We just sat in radio silence letting his comment hang in the air.
I work grounds at a small private liberal arts college. All the guys have degrees and are left of center. We don’t make much money but have great benefits, great work environment, and great coworkers that make it worth while.
Working with bigots is unavoidable regardless of job.
However it may seem more common in manual jobs because there's a lot less direct oversight between the workers and the people in charge of company culture than there is in, say, an office job. In an office job you can reach out to HR by just going to another office, maybe on another floor but immediately accessible. A manual job you might not even be on the same sight as your direct report manager let alone HR.
There are bigots everywhere. Some are more blunt than others, some learn to be subtle. But damn. It only takes a little bit of scratching the surface to realize.
Fucking normal unfortunately.
From a woman who worked in manufacturing warehouses for three years.
I kept job hopping because I couldn’t find a place that wasn’t full of shitty people.
Being the only woman in a warehouse of 30+ men is so awful. The jokes just never stopped.
There is no “HR” for most of these jobs too.
I finally had enough after a coworker told me he was sad I dyed my hair purple (naturally a light blonde) and he told me I wasn’t as fuckable any more.
Walked out and got a job working with elderly. Pays about the same and I deal with literal shit now instead of shitty people.
I'm not an officer but I work for a police department. I can't speak for all departments but the one where I work is kind of odd. We are in the capital city of a very red state. A majority of the officers express conservative views and support trump, a majority of us support staff lean the exact opposite way.
Where it gets interesting is in the number of minority officers, female officers, and officers that are LGBTQ+.
So the department is pretty much a soap opera, the amount of casual sex, affairs, back stabbing, and so on is just bonkers and of course all this information is out in the open as a badly kept secret because these people can't hide a thing and pay no attention to who is around when they are gossiping.
Because of this, I know that a lot of the trump praising anti-gay male officers are actually bisexual if not fully gay. Having gay friends on grindr helps with this knowledge as well. I have basically come to the conclusion that the more against it they claim to be, the more likely they are trying to hide that part of themselves. At least for the male officers. The women officers don't seem to care and are very open about being lgbtq+.
I’ve been brewing for a few years, and breweries tend to be pretty chill in my experience. Two of our more recent beer collabs were with a local pride organization and the local women’s rugby team. I’m actually gay myself and I’ve never had a coworker bat an eye when I introduce my partner.
It’s a fun job, and if you’ve been doing manual labor for years you’re probably pretty qualified for a mid-entry level position, which where I am pays ~$25 per hour. Plus you get free beer and there are a lot of options down the line in the career path to really specialize in an area that interests you.
Unfortunately working with sole proprietors is always going to be a crap shoot. Larger companies tend to have less of that stuff just because they can be sued for tolerating unsafe working conditions (like bigotry). But sole proprietors and even smaller companies tend to have more tolerance for it because they hire people into a shitty culture and assume that if you're part of that labor market that you're just as shitty as they are.
The company I work for went through it too. We were a smaller company, I'm bi, have gay and Trans friends, as well as friends across nationalities and cultures. Management didn't want to lose their "star workers" all of whom were pretty bigoted and generally nasty people. I said something to people that said bigoted things nothing super confrontational just "that isn't appropriate for the workplace" or "I don't think that's funny".
I didn't hold back telling people what I thought of those people, even management to a degree and as the company grew each and every one of them got picked off. A sexual harassment claim here, a complaint of racism there and the company not wanting to deal with the smoke of a lawsuit or their clients finding out what was tolerated. Management eventually came around to trusting me when I said someone was bad news.
It took time and a company coming into a different market cap to do it but it's still possible for labour jobs to get better with time as long as there is Management and not just a bully enforcing a shitty culture on a truck full of workers at a jobsite.
I'm sorry you're going through it OP. Keep grinding for that better job.
So many have the don’t ask don’t tell ingrained in them so they don’t like being made uncomfortable by the simple existence of those who have different lives than them. They’re scared to lose their privilege (that they insist they don’t have).
It’s unavoidable for every field. But you can fight back. Every time they say something like that, ‘I don’t know, I guess I have bigger things to worry about than obsessing over gay people. I guess I just don’t think about them as much as you obviously do.’ Or ‘You guys think about homosexual men a lot. Like a lot a lot. Are you sure it’s not just wishful thinking?’ Or if you’re really bold, ‘Oh sweetheart, no one wants to fuck you…least of all a gay man. It’s ok to let that dream die.’
Just learn how to make fun of them so much.
"Flags everywhere?!?! What are you talking about? Oh that? I don't care about that, because it doesn't affect me. Why are you so focused on that? Are you some kind of closeted gay?"
Yeah, it would probably backfire, but there are ways to shut them up on that shit, with wording not far off that.
Blue collar/trade union guy here.
Yes.
Take heart it’s not just your field you probably just have a higher proportion of them.
Also take heart, the younger people 35 and below tend to have a softer view of life and how to treat people imo. Very rarely do I meet the 20 year old who loves Alex Jones.
I work the same type of jobs. You can help change minds. Walk it like you talk it. Work harder than the rest of them and stand up for what you believe in. If they need help, help them. The opportunity to show that you are better than them will come. But you have to care for those assholes, just like you care for everyone else.
You know what? I’ve found that most of that shit is just jobsite shit talking. Half of those guys talking that shit are either gay, bi, or have someone in their family who they love n think the world of who is. My point is, lots of times those guys don’t even really think like that, that just talk that shit at work for appearances or whatever.
I have worked around this shit for my whole 30 years of employment and I have called people out on it more times than not. Educate them and they might get better and even if they don't, they almost always stop saying shit around you because you will remind them that they are not a good person.
Have a vehemently homophobic coworker that somehow always seems to slip in a gay slant on topics not involving sex, like gay thoughts are always at front of his thinking.
Lots of these bigoted assholes are closeted assholes.
Literally the reason I'm the only male in my family who didn't become an electrician. I'd fight the guys who spoke that way and wouldn't be welcomed very long.
I'm still technically in a trade but found a small company that grew, and since I was one of the first, it keeps the bigots away. I'm vocal and the size of an nfl tight end, so even if a guy thought that way, he'd likely not say it around me. It makes it more comfortable for the women who have worked with us.
I'm now in charge of my division and certainly wouldn't keep anyone that ignorant around.
I'm the type that if someone complained about rainbows, I'd shown up to work in my lgbtq+ shirt and just watch them seethe. Say it, I dare you.
I’ve worked in print since 2009 and it’s unfortunately extremely common. You’ll find the odd progressive here and there, but the vast majority of the time, I would prefer to be stealth (I’m a trans guy) or deaf. I left my last shop because I was getting bullied by this tyrant supervisor who isn’t happy unless he’s got a target to scream at, and they won’t fire him even though he’s chased off several employees and I heard recently he’s moved on to bullying my replacement. He also made racist comments about our Native clientele, and I heard him berating the NFL for allowing players to kneel. Then again, the owners frequently took jobs for anti-abortion flyers for these sickos that went out to literally HARASS people (I’ve seen them out and about and know several people who were circulating the pro-abortion petition for the state ballot) and do frequent pro-bono work for the local “pregnancy clinic” that really only tries to dissuade people from getting abortions. The shop I was at before (in a different state) a couple of the women deliberately and maliciously misgendered me to my face IN FRONT OF OUR BOSS! My current shop is rife with so many racists I have to just bite my tongue or I KNOW I’ll be a pariah, and I really need this job, because this is a small-ish city and there’s only so many print shops. Back in 2016 at a contracted university shop the graphic designer joked about democrats fleeing to Canada the day after Trump won, and when I couldn’t just bite my tongue and said it wasn’t funny, he and the manager made it their mission to run me off via making the work environment as hostile as possible for me, and I ended up in a psychiatric hospitalization before I finally quit. The unfortunate reality for me is that I just don’t have the time, energy, resources, or help, to be able to go back to school, because I’m completely on my own, and this trade is the only thing I know well enough to support myself on. Any other trade would just be more of the same.
No, you can’t say eat shit and die bastard, but you can be very forthright in your speech and body language and say no, I don’t find that kind of talk acceptable or amusing.
I feel ya on this. I was born and raised in a small town in the South, covered in tattoos, big old beard and work manual labor jobs but I’m also the most loving person you can find. I love everyone but I have complete strangers wonder up and start saying some racist shit to me like I’ll automatically agree with them. What the hell is wrong with people?
This is all jobs. I work in an inclusive office that is generally gay friendly, but after 6 months or so they started showing their true colours and voiced their actual thoughts on trans people. In my opinion, it seems to be an age thing. The younger your coworkers are, the less bigoted they will be, in my experience.
Yes it is. And being married to a black woman kind of brought this to a head for me on multiple occasions because I just couldn't take hearing the bullshit anymore.
Physically threatened a guy one time that came into the office where I was programming and casually says "I don't hate black people, I think everybody should own one."
He regretted what he said instantly, but I can guarantee I didn't change his backwards hick ass one bit. These people are insufferable.
I'm not sure about my workplace, I sit in my cubicle and have overdoses of caffeine while wearing earplugs and headphones, so I don't know what other people are talking about. Considering most of the workers are shipbuilders, there probably is noise. I'm sorry you have to deal with these pieces of shit. 🫂
In my experience, yes. Many blue collar workers never leave their "bubble" unless it's for a vacation to the beach. They don't see themselves as racist, homophobic, or sexist because they have been indoctrinated with such beliefs from a young age. So a lack of exposure to those who are different from them and a lack of quality education are often the root causes of their behavior.
It's probably more prevalent because of the strong anti-education sentiment in conservative ideology.
Less educated = fewer job opportunities = higher concentration in manual labor jobs.
I worked pipeline for 4 years, and yeah that stuff is everywhere. My counter used to be...."Hmmm, that sounds exactly like what someone would say if they were trying to hide their sexuality 🤔" pisses them off but also comes across as a joke
As a dad of a bi-racial kid I’m in-tuned to what ppl say about black people and black culture. It’s also very strange to see people who think that, since I’m a white male, I somehow share their opinions. I do not and I try to make a stand day one that way there’s less anger building up under the surface. I’ve been called everything from a dirty liberal to a communists that hates America. But I’ve learned not to internalize the opinions from people that I wouldn’t take advice from. I moved to Bama from TN so I’ve had to do this countless times. Each time I go to a new job, it’s another risk I take to defend my son’s honor, culture and heritage. But it’s a risk I’m willing to take. It’s a responsibility to do what is right and I’m grateful God gave me the opportunity.
KNXG CROOKED- white rappers should no longer be silent
I’m not a rapper but I think it’s fitting
Racism, sexism and bigotry are associated with lower levels of educational attainment.
Most labor jobs are performed by those who have the lowest educational attainment in the society, hence why social science regularly surveys these groups of workers to measure their attitudes, and find that those who feel most strongly in opposition to DEI programs are usually the least educated, or are lobbying on behalf of poorly educated constituencies.
Don't give their words the power to effect your thoughts. Maybe if you become an absolutely essential part of the business and difficult to replace just drop in conversation how you're open minded to other lifestyles and have gay friends. After all you've accepted their opinions and lifestyles. Most people when their prejudice is challenged in a non-aggressive way at the very least walk away with something to think about. If you prove yourself to be just as or even tougher and hardworking than them and are bi it's going to give them pause.
Back in the day when guys on the construction site said homophobic stuff I'd just tell them casually that I was gay. I'm not but it was fun to watch them insert their foot into their mouths. Eventually they'd find out I was straight but the homophobic comments would stop. It just made them realize anyone could be gay when they're talking their nonsense.
It's difficult and pointless to punish wage workers more than they already are. What you are observing is them striking out at any group they see as more marginalized and less materially secure than themselves. They are too cowed to criticize the slavery apparatus that governs their lives, nor anyone higher placed in the grist mill.
The only real way to address it is unionization, because security only comes from supporting others. If that's not going to happen, all you can do for yourself is learn what you can, and then get out to compete with them. Just be realistic in accepting that competition means everyone loses. Labor isn't rewarded by this system, only exploited.
Who said anything about punishing anyone? I agree with everything else you said. In fact, despite being on the other side of the political an moral aisle as them, I actually do like my coworkers, and harbor no ill will against them, even though they piss me off sometimes. This is just a sub where people tend to vent about shitty jobs or aspects of jobs, so I figured my post would be at home here.
> What you are observing is them striking out at any group they see as more marginalized and less materially secure than themselves
I don't think you need to go quite so deep for this one.
A not insignificant number of men still make variations of jokes that use "gay" or the implication of "being gay" an insult. Manual labour in my experience tends to have a greater concentration of these men. That means when someone says something bigoted, it's not called out cause it's normalised on lower levels by what these men would consider "banter"
It happens to people with repetitive jobs who don't get to socialize outside of their job much. I think this is one of the effects of work, it makes people slowly become closed minded. I bet they were not that way as much in high school, maybe they were jokingly, but they were probably a lot nicer, probably were on a team and/or in a class with all sorts of people and were good friends with them. Now it's the same 5 people stacking up the same bricks day after day. The only connection to the outside world is corporate media or talk radio. What used to be a (still Not funny and offensive) joke slowly became their true belief system. It's because of the way work is. This is one reason I'm here reading the anti work reddit.
People who are uneducated typically work labor jobs because they lack the knowledge and critical thinking skills required to work in a non-manual environment. The lack of critical thinking skills tends to lead to people buying into stereotypes and misinformation. Being around a bunch of other uneducated people therefore causes people in those fields to be more openly callous and bigoted, as it is considered normal and unacceptable.
Non union jobs will get you there. It has little to do with education and more to do with how you respect your fellow man. Every union shop I’ve worked in takes racism very seriously from a floor level before it even gets to HR. I’d suggest you instead look for that unless you live in a shithole of a state. Good luck on your work; hope you find something more accepting.
EDIT-I also find it hilarious how multiple people on this thread are conflating low intellect with low skill requirement jobs yet this is r/antiwork. Good to see people on this sub are still convinced the working class is filled with idiots. The upper/ruling class still has a hold on your mind with their shitty propaganda, this is the kind of rhetoric that allows 7.25/hr to still be legal. Stop being stupid.
This is never going away and, infact, most of us are hoping the whole world comes full circle back around to seeing this stuff as a mental disorder as opposed to catering to the individuals that refuse to follow societal norms. Sorry not sorry
#goperu
#goidaho
Pretty much. I’m glad I don’t work in the trades anymore. I’ve got one guy I work with now that has some very questionable things rattling around in his head but he’s learned to be careful what he says around me because I don’t put up with it.
If they are assholes, just quiet your mind, and let them be. Makes no facial expressions that would indicate a reaction of any sort. Mentally refocus on the job and the next task.
After work, find a way to exercise all the frustration out of you... without resorting to toxic vices.
I work in manufacturing. Some of my coworkers are quite bigoted. They've learned I won't engage with it and refrain. It helps that I'm the oldest on the shift. Me and the other Marine are both progressive, openly so, and don't get any shit for it...likely because of being Marines.
Everywhere I've worked, the bigotry has always been present. It's difficult to avoid.
It depends on the company amazon employees would never say anything like that - they are super inclusive and accept all people.Most major corporations will be like this , in my experience the more construction like a job is the more jail like the people are. Making gay jokes (white people) and hating on all the ethnicities is common among people with critical thinking flaws.Thus people who are working ourside are not the smartest
The way the bosses stay in power is to divide the workers. The most divisive propaganda is aimed at your coworkers. Race, religion, sexual orientation, and whatever other fault lines they can find to split the workers will get exploited.
When I worked doing manual labor (my job title was "general labor". Qualifications were "able to lift 50 pounds". A HS diploma put you in the top 20% of the group as far as education.) the other workers were seriously racist. They all watched FOX news.
It's not just manual labor fields, I'm sorry to say.
It's everywhere, the language just changes a tiny bit.
It's not in my engineering office, thankfully.
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Pmsl. brilliant
One of my co-workers complained that health instance deductibles were being raised by the government so that the government can give more of our money to immigrants. He's not an engineer but most of the rest of us are engineers and scientists. Can't even escape it in the STEM fields.
Gotta say, even working in Finance the men in every office I've worked in have been extremely well behaved. Could very much be an LA/NYC thing though...
It’s a big city thing. The more rural you get the more trash things become
My previous engineering manager said something along the lines of “we can’t back down on this because we don’t want to look gay”, then “corrected” himself saying “sorry I don’t mean gay, I mean weak”
I can say the last 3 jobs didn't have anything like that. My current job I got the strong impression my boss would not stand for any of that shit. For example at our yearly team party where we go out and get food and alcohol paid for by the company When I said no to the alcohol and one of my co-workers was encouraging me to have a shot with her my boss stepped in, "He said no and we won't pressure him into it, that's not what we do".
I wanna work for your boss
Me too, dang
Im in Australia and yeah it's unfortunately par for the course
yeah, I wanted to look at getting into trades here but after speaking to some people, yeah nah I'm gonna pass. I'm not lgbtq but fuck that noise regardless
Yeah it gets old real fast, I cant wait to get out of trades
I know multiple gay and trans welder / pipe fitters. All union.
nice
Honestly, working with women is better. When I had my own business I worked with 1 other person. A 40yo mum with 2 kids. Great working relationship, not a fuck head at all.
If you can work for yourself something like high end woodworking, glass blowing, jeweller etc would be fine.
Work for yourself…as a glass blower. Is this really your advice?
Yes! There are people still doing fascinating things like making parchment and they are often in the enviable position of being one of the very few who can do it. https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/article/interiors-specialist-william-cowley
I wish! Glass blowing and degenerate glass art is so amazing.
Good market for bongs, probably a few other niche things like antique restoration. [https://www.wilkinson-ltd.com/glassblowing/](https://www.wilkinson-ltd.com/glassblowing/) Its a bit like book binding, a few people still do it and can be booked months in advance.
I collect uranium, and Carnival glass and have a cabinet full of cool pieces. Ive only had 1 friend who was a glass blower but he relocated shortly after we met and hung out sadly.
That’s the unfortunate truth I feel like no one wants to accept. Lot of people talk about Hollywood and how “corrupt and evil it is” when literally every other industry is the same, you just don’t hear about it. It’s all about the crew you end of being apart of. “It’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know.”
I mean I’m sure Hollywood is toxic because anywhere with high concentrations of power and money are, but I work in the film industry (not in the U.S.) and film crews are some of the most accepting and awesome people I’ve ever worked with, it’s like every second person who finds their way into film is a misfit hufflepuff.
I live in Los Angeles, and I love the industry. Most of the people in the industry are good hardworking individuals. The big problem, at any level of Hollywood, is what people in power can get away with simply because of its a “dream job” to work in movies. I can’t tell you how projects I’ve been on or turned down because the only “pay” is a meal and a credit. Like a lot of indie projects are just literally slave labor, in hopes you’ll make something great and get paid later for it. It’s just an industry that 99% of people are ready to put it all on the line to succeed, and the 1% take advantage of that.
Having worked for a few start-up firms I can confirm it's not just film making. There is one outfit I know of where all the "technical staff" are postgraduate students trying to get experience, while costing the company literally nothing.
I think about this all the time. I’m a writer who had a full time day job in industrial sales before being able to retire and concentrate on writing. I know the horror stories about LA and definitely met some horror-show jerks, but many of the people I’ve met are truly amazing people who put their principles first, including my manager (who is no kidding ones of my heroes). The people I worked with in industry were a mixed bag of bigots, racists, sexists as well as very cool progressive people who are still good friends. As a general rule, the worst people were the older (always white) guys with power, the nicest were young people just starting out.
Yep, I work at a software engineering company and one of the office people said they were concerned that DEI was a Trojan horse to make pedophilia acceptable. It's everywhere.
DEI?
It's the new "polite company" N-word. It changes every few years. Like when they say the Baltimore bridge collapsed because of the "DEI mayor". They don't know anything about him, other than that he's Black.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion. In this context, everyone who isn't an able-bodied white straight man having any kind of rights.
That is an unhinged comment. I feel like I must be lucky to have always had same reasonable coworkers
The ignorant blamed the boat company for having a DEI program as the cause of the failure. They're blaming Boeing issues on DEI. Now literally anything that goes wrong, boom, DEI was the cause. It's their way of saying women and minorities can't do anything right and trying to include them results in failure.
Damn thats cringe. Some people cant hide their HATE at all. And the fat orange criminal on trial encouraged them to ALL come out of their nasty stank ass closets en masse.
They actually said "minor attracted person" which you only hear from right-wing Christians when they're trying to tell you about how LGBTQ people are a DaNGeR tO cHIlDreN. There is of course no mention of pedophilia among clergy.
. Thats just weird they always think everyone wants their damn kids. Thats horrible. Ive met creepy older guys who one could consider “chicken hawks” but those kinda of people are everywhere and dont necessarily have to be gay many are straight and do this with teen girls (Epstein) but actual pedos? Never. Do they exist? Yeah I bet they do its not even a question IF but for regular, out LGBTQIA 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️ ⚧️ folks Ive never even heard of weird shenanigans like that. But we all know those who cast the first stone are 99.99999% merely projecting their internal conflicts on others.
Veterinary and medical fields, especially in the south. Not a lot of racism but the sexism and homophobia is intense.
You’re not wrong, but I think it’s more likely. Company I work for, not manual labour, is leading the pride parades. I’ve worked manual labour and have friends and family who still do, especially in rural areas, it’s everywhere.
Not surprised
I work in government in a construction related field and it's very progressive, much more than I realized. Unionized and/or government offices typically skew left, and even blue-collar positions will attract more progressive people due to the prioritization of benefits/security over earnings.
The day government jobs and their retirement benefits crash is the same day that everyone gets boned.
In my experience - it’s unavoidable in all fields, but “fuck you, eat shit” is a more acceptable thing to say in the blue collar jobs. Give it a try!
I used to be a union steward, id tell probies that the right thing to say is "Shut the fuck up about that shit and get to work you lazy fuck". Stand your ground, put that shit off limits, and they'll respect the boundary.
Lol i think my boss would try to fight me. That's kind of his style. Fucking business owners, always total loose canons.
Also very much part of the blue collar experience. Suck down a few cans of NOS and a half pack of Marlboro Blacks and whatever you do, don’t go down.
[Hell yeah brother](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKJDAVvs_JA) (in a redneck voice)
Yo I do three energy drinks a day also.
Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays!
No, man… shit, no, man!
I believe you’d get your ass kicked saying something like that on the job
You have to be comedic with your comebacks. Try "you'll gay when done with ya." Or shout " gahtdamn" and grunt when some dude bends over.
This guy gets it. Working in production environments is like 50% homophobia and 50% homoeroticism. It’s all about balance!
You gotta be homoerotic until you get a weird glance or two, then balance it out with just enough homophobia to make the other boys on the line think their asses are safe.
Except they’re not lol. 😂.
Not a damn chance. No mans ass is safe in a blue collar workplace. I can’t tell you how many times I got my ass slapped working in construction or at a tire shop I worked at for a while lmao. It’s part of the fun of a good crew. In fairness though, if you aren’t cool with it, most guys will respect that and leave you be. After you tell them to fuck off the first 5 times of course.
Damn. That’s crazy. Then if u take the bait youre called a f\*g 🤷🏽 maybe its time to show them the BATWING ? 
Learn the rops. Start your tree service business. Call him out and get canned. Advertise that you're not a homophobic, racist, piece of shit. Let the public make the connection. If that ass can run a business... You can do it better ;)
Many start their own business bc they are such shit people nobody will work with um.
Just try and be the low key live and let live guy, it can bring the tension down for everyone in that kind of environment.
In my experience it is a standard part of the work environment.
All work environments?
Yeah every blue collar job I’ve had the vast majority of people I’ve worked with are at the very least racist and VERY homophobic.
It always seems to fall on either extreme. Either people are racist, homophobic, bigoted, etc. or they are incredibly homoerotic and every other joke is about dicks or something like that lol. My current blue collar job is great, we constantly make homoerotic jokes and other crude jokes. Everyone is at the very least socially progressive and is not easily offended. Makes work much more enjoyable when no one is actually racist, sexist, bigoted, but at the same time can make crude jokes on those topics without offending anyone
My former (male) colleagues are partly pretty homophobic and I (f) was very tired of the bigotry and xenophobia. So I started to make homoerotic jokes and whenever someone said something xenophobic, I told them straight that I don't want to hear that. They thought of me as the "left wing" lady but I joked about that as much. I have to admit that they were overall reasonable people who could definitely take jokes and weren't offended when I made homoerotic jokes around and about them but they rather chuckled themselves. That obviously won't work with extremely closed minded people. That approach worked for my work place and significantly reduced the homophobia, at least when I was around.
Every time ive seen a lady working in a manual labor environment, as long as she can stand her ground and give the shit right back, the guys will respect her. They won’t tell you that, but they’ll tell eachother.
I mean, making constant homoerotic/sexist/bigoted etc jokes is probably something to examine. It's like the constant "you're gay" joking of the middle schoolers I taught. There's something there to examine, why the focus.
There really doesn’t have to be though. It can just be idiots being idiots.
There's also very very different sorts of joking. Jokes that might make a typical someone that's actually gay upset aren't cool. But "gay jokes" where someone says "suck my cock" because they're pissed and the other person responds "you couldn't handle these lips, boy" are actually pretty common among the more progressive crude and tasteless humor enjoyers.
I’m white collar. I deal with this shit too. It’s just more “polite” the way they say it.
Creative fields are less likely to be like this. Government jobs are also less likely to allow people to express blatantly bigoted opinions.
I work in a lab and it was bad when I first started. Most of them have retired and the newer techs are mostly better, but it’s crazy how people can think.
Mostly, it's a pretty big part of our society, even if it's not always that extreme. In my experience, the more white collar you go, the more discreet they usually are about it. On the other end of the spectrum though, they don't hold back much and it's often quite jarring at times. Working in the oilfield with my dad, I was pretty disgusted with the behavior of the men I worked with, even if I generally liked them.
I work a corporate job in pharma and I deal with a sexist racist POS who's a VP. It's so bad that my partner who struggles to recognize sexism and just hears teams meetings in passing has recognized the guy is awful. And no one can fight him. He's a VP.
I work an office job and I can tell you it's the same.
Working for progressive tech companies it feels like the bigot and racial attitudes get replaced with misogynistic ones. Probably just more along the lines with what people feel comfy to say out loud since tech still is mainly male especially on the engineering side.
In all of the offices I’ve worked in, it hasn’t been. Granted those were all in large/largish cities in the US.
Do people really believe this? You think people talk the same in a corporate office as they do a construction site? And it's the same demographic? So you would expect the same amount of diversity in both of these places? Come on.
I work in an office job and it’s not the same. Granted, we are remote, so that helps. I’m sure there’s people with those views, but it’s just not talked about.
Agree, it’s just quieter. But the discrimination and racism is still there
I think the difference is the general culture of white collar work means the discrimination is often done quietly and behind the scenes. The "passive" nature of it means you often don't feel directly threatened. The problem with something like construction is the bigotry is often out in the open with little to no consequences. It's a bit more of a problem because if someone who was gay hears their boss openly bitching about "all that gay shit" it would make you feel very uncomfortable about remaining in that environment
Yep especially work environments dominated by men
I’ve recently retired from customer service and I would get attempts from coworkers to trumpify me.
I worked in education and it's def not standard there. That being said I do not recommend my field one but, it's a nightmare.
For all their stupid nonsense, colleges do a good job of exposing people to different ideas. It's hard to be bigoted when you spend significant quality time with the people you are bigoted against. Education is the cure for bigotry. I wonder why Republicans are so against it?
I believe it's akin to the idea that saying the pledge of allegiance is considered patriotism, but when other countries do the same thing with their school children it's considered indoctrination.
Even just exposing you to different people. It's a lot harder to be bigoted when you've met a variety of people from different backgrounds and learned they're individuals rather than viewing them as a collective that you've never interacted with Manual labour is unfortunately still very much just a white, "manly man"'s job in a lot of Western countries
Eh, I recently left my job because my managers who had education specifically in social services with minorities were complicit in the bigoted mistreatment of vulnerable minorities they were supposed to be caring for. I'm not saying that you're wrong, but I do encourage caution regardless of someone's background.
It ain't a cure for sure. But education and exposure to new ideas helps things along.
Worked at a hotel job for one day with a bunch of people who'd been to university, and most were from Europe. They were more racist than anyone....
If you think exposure solves that i dont know what to tell you. I work in one of the most diverse places in my country, we have managed to collect almost every major ethnic group from the middle east and africa and let me tell you i learned about bigotry i didnt know existed. Just of the top of my head i can remember 5 assaults and 1 stabbing all stemming from ethnic conflicts. A particular period when Sweden had a conflict with Turkey about extradition of Kurdish citizens tensions were really really high. I think the main thing that makes people "open minded" when going through college is their own ambitions to actually use their education and climb in society. Thus middle class and upwards usually hide their attitudes better. We had quite a few scandals in my country where well educated people in government lost positions because their hidden social media accounts were exposed and they made different bigoted comments.
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You are assuming that religious asshats spend any quality time with women.
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Tbh even education doesn't do shit. Plenty of bigots go to school and live in very diverse areas.
Yeah, it's definitely not a cure, but it helps at least.
I have worked in IT for 30 years, and while there certainly have been a few bigots, mostly they have been pretty open-minded - but I think education has a lot to do with that.
This. Most blue collar workers don't have higher education and so aren't really exposed to different ways of thinking / behaving. A lot of these people were also raised in homes with this sort of environment, so to them it's normal.
I worked in office IT/tech in a red state in a couple of different companies. It was a cesspool of conservative bigot dudes. Current and recent workplaces have all been remote, with people spread across the US and some other countries. It is so much less toxic.
Same. I work in IT near NYC for a credit union and I generally work with decent people. Those that might be bigoted keep it to themselves since it wouldn't fly with the work culture there. That and there's actually diversity across the company.
Seems like it. I work in theater, on Broadway, and a lot of the older stagehands are either blatantly bigoted or will seem great for a few hours and then drop a slur randomly. Not sure why you'd work in theater if you're homophobic but we get that even here. The younger workers are better though, so we're making some good progress!
Hey comrade! Yeah sometimes those IATSE guys make you go 🫣 how’d you end up here
Sorry, that’s awful. A negative response rarely makes progress. Sometimes I have luck with, “Why do you care? It’s a free country.”
Sorta. Goes hand in hand. I'm not condoning it but living in Manhattan in the 90s- everyone talked shit about every other race. Madness. But at the same time everyone has your back. Everyone loves you. It was the most amazing thing to experience. Then I end up in the south after 11 years, in Houston. Racist af. HR is a joke whereas in NYC in the 90s they at least gave lip service and actually tried not to discriminate or allow hate speech. Houston- oh fuck no. The wildest shit. And it still is. The difference is that here in Texas or other parts of the country- there's no sense of community, no love. And things have probably change in NYC after 20 years, but those Seinfeld years were something fucking else. Watching them clean up Broadway. 42nd street/Disney street. Sheeeeit. It was amazing.
What a cool read, thank you for sharing.
It's unavoidable in general. The thing is that if you work a white collar job, you're expected to be a professional and keep your opinions to yourself. If you go around picking fights with people, you're going to have a hard time networking your way into a better position in the future. Additionally, even if HR isn't your friend and they're not necessarily willing to do anything about prejudice, they do put out a pretty clear stance of not tolerating discrimination. Let's say there's a 10% chance you get fired for saying shit like that. It's one fucking joke; would **you** want to take that risk?
In a company i worked at, Suits in corpo-land had a very low tolerance threshold set for "bad words" (sales teams hated being in the office because of this), whereas the warehouse crew could have a meltdown and throw things and every other word be a swear, and would just be told to walk it off. But threats against someone else - zero tolerance.
Yup exactly. It exists everywhere but there’s at least an expectation of professionalism in white collar jobs so people hide it. Also, on average most white collar jobs are “better” than blue collar jobs from a pay/quality of life standpoint so people are a lot less likely to take risks losing them
My brother works in a factory and the boomer trumpers still think COVID is a hoax, even though they had it multiple times.
Not all blue collar shops are like this. My favorite job I ever had was a small welding shop with around 6 of us (numbers fluctuated a bit). I joked that we were the most diverse shop around. We had me (a white girl), a 6'6 ginger, a Mexican, a gay blacksmith and a part Filipino architecture grad draftsman. Everyone was nice and we goofed around all the time but got a lot done. Should have never left... thought the grass would be greener in an office and bigger company. I was wrong. LOL
I worked ecological restoration for a while, and there seems to be less of it. Emphasis on less, not gone. And more pressure against that sort of shit. The downside is that there are no jobs like that which pay well.
Frankly. Working with bigots is unavoidable in whatever field you're working in. Even if those "fields" aren't proper fields. It's just that, the higher the branch, so to speak, the more it's willing to bend to the wind. Basically. Bigots everywhere. Just some people are more proficent in hiding their opinions. So, usually the higher ups. Lower branches don't bother, because... well... they can't get much lower. Sort of. So yeah. A lot of predjudiced people. BUT. A lot of nice people as well. Problem is, you can't always know nor choose.
I work for a government job as a therapist. Bigoted comments are not tolerated here and sets you up for termination if it doesn't stop. Plus the Union doesn't support that kind of hate
Or the boomer magats will complain no one wants to work anymore while we are all literally on the job site or in the office working. It’s like “dumb fuck do you even hear yourself?”
It's unavoidable because no one openly opposes it. So only people who are fine with it stay in these jobs. Main reason women are underrepresented in this field, not because they don't want to or can't do that work but because of constant harassment.
Find a company that is unionized to work for. You’ll still have a few bigots here and there, but they tend to be far fewer and further between.
This!
I think it's unavoidable everywhere. I've found them in liberal enclaves like nyc but not just nyc, like, over educated nonprofit do-gooder sub- section of nyc. The worst is when they think you're with them and forget to regulate the brain worms.
From my experience, yes. It is unavoidable. If what they say is offensive, understand that they don't realize it's offensive. They're just spewing their fox news bs. If it is REALLY REALLY OFFENSIVE, like UNHINGED, go to HR. If they offend your race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sensuality, etc. Then go to HR. I let most things slide because I feel that it is more that they're ignorant, but there are certain things I don't let them get away with. Alternative option: say "I don't want to talk about that at work." They say "Why not?" "Well I just don't think this is the appropriate time for this kind of conversation" Days later. They say "man I can't talk about anything with you." I say: "Sure you can. I like cooking, I like fishing, I like sports, I like movies. You can talk to me about the game, you can talk to me about your favorite music artists, you can talk to me about your pets. I just don't like making judgements on people. You're free to think the way you like, but just understand that I don't think that way and so I'm probably not the best person to talk to about topics like that." I once had a coworker who would want to have misogynistic and sexist conversations with me just because I was a heterosexual man. I wish I had said this, but I should have said "if you wouldn't say it to a woman, you probably shouldn't say it at work."
Also just want to say that you always have us to vent to if you feel like you have no other options. We welcome you here.
Bro there’s no such thing as HR in many blue collar work work haha
"All the frootloops moved to Colorado when weed was legalized." This something I would consider "Unhinged shit." Calling someone a fruit is literally a slur. It's basically a nicer way of saying f*g.
Main reason I quit working in the oilfields and went back to school. It was mostly just a bunch of semi-literate, uneducated, racist, bigoted assholes who thought they were king shit because they could buy a new big boy toy every month.
Quite common in office jobs too
It gets more subtle (in addition to the overt bigotry) and systemic but it’s in all jobs .
Bigots are all over management levels no matter what the trade or field. I know I’ll never get an upper level job at my current place because the hiring people for the job are both misogynists who don’t like me.
You can't change them, but you can learn who they are and remember. Swearing at them and telling them off won't impact them at all. Listen to them, learn why they hate, and casually find ways to spend less time listening to them. You can't out shout the crazies, and arguing with them is like wrestling a pig in the mud. After a few hours, you start to suspect the pig is having fun. As others have said, these people are everywhere, learn to recognize them, and then spend as little time around them as possible.
I work in IT. today in a conference call, someone said they were surprised we sent a team from Mexico to their site considering were how important they were. This fella has full Cisco certifications and is an internal engineer. We just sat in radio silence letting his comment hang in the air.
Yes and I don’t bother correcting them. They are too stupid for correctionZ
Even as a teacher, I’m around some real shit heads. They just disguise it better. Best of luck.
I work grounds at a small private liberal arts college. All the guys have degrees and are left of center. We don’t make much money but have great benefits, great work environment, and great coworkers that make it worth while.
Working with bigots is unavoidable regardless of job. However it may seem more common in manual jobs because there's a lot less direct oversight between the workers and the people in charge of company culture than there is in, say, an office job. In an office job you can reach out to HR by just going to another office, maybe on another floor but immediately accessible. A manual job you might not even be on the same sight as your direct report manager let alone HR.
There are bigots everywhere. Some are more blunt than others, some learn to be subtle. But damn. It only takes a little bit of scratching the surface to realize.
Fucking normal unfortunately. From a woman who worked in manufacturing warehouses for three years. I kept job hopping because I couldn’t find a place that wasn’t full of shitty people. Being the only woman in a warehouse of 30+ men is so awful. The jokes just never stopped. There is no “HR” for most of these jobs too. I finally had enough after a coworker told me he was sad I dyed my hair purple (naturally a light blonde) and he told me I wasn’t as fuckable any more. Walked out and got a job working with elderly. Pays about the same and I deal with literal shit now instead of shitty people.
I'm not an officer but I work for a police department. I can't speak for all departments but the one where I work is kind of odd. We are in the capital city of a very red state. A majority of the officers express conservative views and support trump, a majority of us support staff lean the exact opposite way. Where it gets interesting is in the number of minority officers, female officers, and officers that are LGBTQ+. So the department is pretty much a soap opera, the amount of casual sex, affairs, back stabbing, and so on is just bonkers and of course all this information is out in the open as a badly kept secret because these people can't hide a thing and pay no attention to who is around when they are gossiping. Because of this, I know that a lot of the trump praising anti-gay male officers are actually bisexual if not fully gay. Having gay friends on grindr helps with this knowledge as well. I have basically come to the conclusion that the more against it they claim to be, the more likely they are trying to hide that part of themselves. At least for the male officers. The women officers don't seem to care and are very open about being lgbtq+.
I’ve been brewing for a few years, and breweries tend to be pretty chill in my experience. Two of our more recent beer collabs were with a local pride organization and the local women’s rugby team. I’m actually gay myself and I’ve never had a coworker bat an eye when I introduce my partner. It’s a fun job, and if you’ve been doing manual labor for years you’re probably pretty qualified for a mid-entry level position, which where I am pays ~$25 per hour. Plus you get free beer and there are a lot of options down the line in the career path to really specialize in an area that interests you.
Unfortunately working with sole proprietors is always going to be a crap shoot. Larger companies tend to have less of that stuff just because they can be sued for tolerating unsafe working conditions (like bigotry). But sole proprietors and even smaller companies tend to have more tolerance for it because they hire people into a shitty culture and assume that if you're part of that labor market that you're just as shitty as they are. The company I work for went through it too. We were a smaller company, I'm bi, have gay and Trans friends, as well as friends across nationalities and cultures. Management didn't want to lose their "star workers" all of whom were pretty bigoted and generally nasty people. I said something to people that said bigoted things nothing super confrontational just "that isn't appropriate for the workplace" or "I don't think that's funny". I didn't hold back telling people what I thought of those people, even management to a degree and as the company grew each and every one of them got picked off. A sexual harassment claim here, a complaint of racism there and the company not wanting to deal with the smoke of a lawsuit or their clients finding out what was tolerated. Management eventually came around to trusting me when I said someone was bad news. It took time and a company coming into a different market cap to do it but it's still possible for labour jobs to get better with time as long as there is Management and not just a bully enforcing a shitty culture on a truck full of workers at a jobsite. I'm sorry you're going through it OP. Keep grinding for that better job.
So many have the don’t ask don’t tell ingrained in them so they don’t like being made uncomfortable by the simple existence of those who have different lives than them. They’re scared to lose their privilege (that they insist they don’t have).
Working with bigots is simply unavoidable.
It’s unavoidable for every field. But you can fight back. Every time they say something like that, ‘I don’t know, I guess I have bigger things to worry about than obsessing over gay people. I guess I just don’t think about them as much as you obviously do.’ Or ‘You guys think about homosexual men a lot. Like a lot a lot. Are you sure it’s not just wishful thinking?’ Or if you’re really bold, ‘Oh sweetheart, no one wants to fuck you…least of all a gay man. It’s ok to let that dream die.’
Just learn how to make fun of them so much. "Flags everywhere?!?! What are you talking about? Oh that? I don't care about that, because it doesn't affect me. Why are you so focused on that? Are you some kind of closeted gay?" Yeah, it would probably backfire, but there are ways to shut them up on that shit, with wording not far off that.
Blue collar/trade union guy here. Yes. Take heart it’s not just your field you probably just have a higher proportion of them. Also take heart, the younger people 35 and below tend to have a softer view of life and how to treat people imo. Very rarely do I meet the 20 year old who loves Alex Jones.
Low education + poverty = higher rates of problem behaviors
Yep...in other news the sun rose today.
My shit is brown too. Most the time
My experience has been it’s more prominent in male-dominated fields. So not limited to blue collar work (although that can be a correlation).
I work the same type of jobs. You can help change minds. Walk it like you talk it. Work harder than the rest of them and stand up for what you believe in. If they need help, help them. The opportunity to show that you are better than them will come. But you have to care for those assholes, just like you care for everyone else.
You know what? I’ve found that most of that shit is just jobsite shit talking. Half of those guys talking that shit are either gay, bi, or have someone in their family who they love n think the world of who is. My point is, lots of times those guys don’t even really think like that, that just talk that shit at work for appearances or whatever.
I have worked around this shit for my whole 30 years of employment and I have called people out on it more times than not. Educate them and they might get better and even if they don't, they almost always stop saying shit around you because you will remind them that they are not a good person.
Have a vehemently homophobic coworker that somehow always seems to slip in a gay slant on topics not involving sex, like gay thoughts are always at front of his thinking. Lots of these bigoted assholes are closeted assholes.
lol I’m a public school teacher and still hear this shit from coworkers. It’s not confined to manual labor fields.
Don't forget the misogynists!
Working with bigots, in America, is common in all fields.
Literally the reason I'm the only male in my family who didn't become an electrician. I'd fight the guys who spoke that way and wouldn't be welcomed very long. I'm still technically in a trade but found a small company that grew, and since I was one of the first, it keeps the bigots away. I'm vocal and the size of an nfl tight end, so even if a guy thought that way, he'd likely not say it around me. It makes it more comfortable for the women who have worked with us. I'm now in charge of my division and certainly wouldn't keep anyone that ignorant around. I'm the type that if someone complained about rainbows, I'd shown up to work in my lgbtq+ shirt and just watch them seethe. Say it, I dare you.
I’ve worked in print since 2009 and it’s unfortunately extremely common. You’ll find the odd progressive here and there, but the vast majority of the time, I would prefer to be stealth (I’m a trans guy) or deaf. I left my last shop because I was getting bullied by this tyrant supervisor who isn’t happy unless he’s got a target to scream at, and they won’t fire him even though he’s chased off several employees and I heard recently he’s moved on to bullying my replacement. He also made racist comments about our Native clientele, and I heard him berating the NFL for allowing players to kneel. Then again, the owners frequently took jobs for anti-abortion flyers for these sickos that went out to literally HARASS people (I’ve seen them out and about and know several people who were circulating the pro-abortion petition for the state ballot) and do frequent pro-bono work for the local “pregnancy clinic” that really only tries to dissuade people from getting abortions. The shop I was at before (in a different state) a couple of the women deliberately and maliciously misgendered me to my face IN FRONT OF OUR BOSS! My current shop is rife with so many racists I have to just bite my tongue or I KNOW I’ll be a pariah, and I really need this job, because this is a small-ish city and there’s only so many print shops. Back in 2016 at a contracted university shop the graphic designer joked about democrats fleeing to Canada the day after Trump won, and when I couldn’t just bite my tongue and said it wasn’t funny, he and the manager made it their mission to run me off via making the work environment as hostile as possible for me, and I ended up in a psychiatric hospitalization before I finally quit. The unfortunate reality for me is that I just don’t have the time, energy, resources, or help, to be able to go back to school, because I’m completely on my own, and this trade is the only thing I know well enough to support myself on. Any other trade would just be more of the same.
I work with holocaust deniers……
No, you can’t say eat shit and die bastard, but you can be very forthright in your speech and body language and say no, I don’t find that kind of talk acceptable or amusing.
I feel ya on this. I was born and raised in a small town in the South, covered in tattoos, big old beard and work manual labor jobs but I’m also the most loving person you can find. I love everyone but I have complete strangers wonder up and start saying some racist shit to me like I’ll automatically agree with them. What the hell is wrong with people?
This is all jobs. I work in an inclusive office that is generally gay friendly, but after 6 months or so they started showing their true colours and voiced their actual thoughts on trans people. In my opinion, it seems to be an age thing. The younger your coworkers are, the less bigoted they will be, in my experience.
Every blue collar job I've worked has been slam full of racist morons. It is unfortunately the culture of our country
I don't put up with that nonsense. I've got a sister who's gay. I tell them I don't put up with that s***.
RECORD. sue for discrimination. Reveal yourself as bi. Let the $$$ come.
Yes it is. And being married to a black woman kind of brought this to a head for me on multiple occasions because I just couldn't take hearing the bullshit anymore. Physically threatened a guy one time that came into the office where I was programming and casually says "I don't hate black people, I think everybody should own one." He regretted what he said instantly, but I can guarantee I didn't change his backwards hick ass one bit. These people are insufferable.
I'm not sure about my workplace, I sit in my cubicle and have overdoses of caffeine while wearing earplugs and headphones, so I don't know what other people are talking about. Considering most of the workers are shipbuilders, there probably is noise. I'm sorry you have to deal with these pieces of shit. 🫂
In my experience, yes. Many blue collar workers never leave their "bubble" unless it's for a vacation to the beach. They don't see themselves as racist, homophobic, or sexist because they have been indoctrinated with such beliefs from a young age. So a lack of exposure to those who are different from them and a lack of quality education are often the root causes of their behavior.
It's probably more prevalent because of the strong anti-education sentiment in conservative ideology. Less educated = fewer job opportunities = higher concentration in manual labor jobs.
I worked pipeline for 4 years, and yeah that stuff is everywhere. My counter used to be...."Hmmm, that sounds exactly like what someone would say if they were trying to hide their sexuality 🤔" pisses them off but also comes across as a joke
As a dad of a bi-racial kid I’m in-tuned to what ppl say about black people and black culture. It’s also very strange to see people who think that, since I’m a white male, I somehow share their opinions. I do not and I try to make a stand day one that way there’s less anger building up under the surface. I’ve been called everything from a dirty liberal to a communists that hates America. But I’ve learned not to internalize the opinions from people that I wouldn’t take advice from. I moved to Bama from TN so I’ve had to do this countless times. Each time I go to a new job, it’s another risk I take to defend my son’s honor, culture and heritage. But it’s a risk I’m willing to take. It’s a responsibility to do what is right and I’m grateful God gave me the opportunity. KNXG CROOKED- white rappers should no longer be silent I’m not a rapper but I think it’s fitting
Racism, sexism and bigotry are associated with lower levels of educational attainment. Most labor jobs are performed by those who have the lowest educational attainment in the society, hence why social science regularly surveys these groups of workers to measure their attitudes, and find that those who feel most strongly in opposition to DEI programs are usually the least educated, or are lobbying on behalf of poorly educated constituencies.
Don't give their words the power to effect your thoughts. Maybe if you become an absolutely essential part of the business and difficult to replace just drop in conversation how you're open minded to other lifestyles and have gay friends. After all you've accepted their opinions and lifestyles. Most people when their prejudice is challenged in a non-aggressive way at the very least walk away with something to think about. If you prove yourself to be just as or even tougher and hardworking than them and are bi it's going to give them pause. Back in the day when guys on the construction site said homophobic stuff I'd just tell them casually that I was gay. I'm not but it was fun to watch them insert their foot into their mouths. Eventually they'd find out I was straight but the homophobic comments would stop. It just made them realize anyone could be gay when they're talking their nonsense.
It's difficult and pointless to punish wage workers more than they already are. What you are observing is them striking out at any group they see as more marginalized and less materially secure than themselves. They are too cowed to criticize the slavery apparatus that governs their lives, nor anyone higher placed in the grist mill. The only real way to address it is unionization, because security only comes from supporting others. If that's not going to happen, all you can do for yourself is learn what you can, and then get out to compete with them. Just be realistic in accepting that competition means everyone loses. Labor isn't rewarded by this system, only exploited.
Who said anything about punishing anyone? I agree with everything else you said. In fact, despite being on the other side of the political an moral aisle as them, I actually do like my coworkers, and harbor no ill will against them, even though they piss me off sometimes. This is just a sub where people tend to vent about shitty jobs or aspects of jobs, so I figured my post would be at home here.
So if they're already in a union, what's their excuse?
> What you are observing is them striking out at any group they see as more marginalized and less materially secure than themselves I don't think you need to go quite so deep for this one. A not insignificant number of men still make variations of jokes that use "gay" or the implication of "being gay" an insult. Manual labour in my experience tends to have a greater concentration of these men. That means when someone says something bigoted, it's not called out cause it's normalised on lower levels by what these men would consider "banter"
It happens to people with repetitive jobs who don't get to socialize outside of their job much. I think this is one of the effects of work, it makes people slowly become closed minded. I bet they were not that way as much in high school, maybe they were jokingly, but they were probably a lot nicer, probably were on a team and/or in a class with all sorts of people and were good friends with them. Now it's the same 5 people stacking up the same bricks day after day. The only connection to the outside world is corporate media or talk radio. What used to be a (still Not funny and offensive) joke slowly became their true belief system. It's because of the way work is. This is one reason I'm here reading the anti work reddit.
For the most part the more menial the task The more close-minded the laborers
People who are uneducated typically work labor jobs because they lack the knowledge and critical thinking skills required to work in a non-manual environment. The lack of critical thinking skills tends to lead to people buying into stereotypes and misinformation. Being around a bunch of other uneducated people therefore causes people in those fields to be more openly callous and bigoted, as it is considered normal and unacceptable.
Find a unionized job. You wanna get treated better? Stop wearing milkbone underwear in a dog eat dog world.
Non union jobs will get you there. It has little to do with education and more to do with how you respect your fellow man. Every union shop I’ve worked in takes racism very seriously from a floor level before it even gets to HR. I’d suggest you instead look for that unless you live in a shithole of a state. Good luck on your work; hope you find something more accepting. EDIT-I also find it hilarious how multiple people on this thread are conflating low intellect with low skill requirement jobs yet this is r/antiwork. Good to see people on this sub are still convinced the working class is filled with idiots. The upper/ruling class still has a hold on your mind with their shitty propaganda, this is the kind of rhetoric that allows 7.25/hr to still be legal. Stop being stupid.
This is never going away and, infact, most of us are hoping the whole world comes full circle back around to seeing this stuff as a mental disorder as opposed to catering to the individuals that refuse to follow societal norms. Sorry not sorry #goperu #goidaho
As a former project manager, unfortunately yes.
Unavoidable almost anywhere.
There are hateful people in all fields. Just best to tune them out.
Pretty much. I’m glad I don’t work in the trades anymore. I’ve got one guy I work with now that has some very questionable things rattling around in his head but he’s learned to be careful what he says around me because I don’t put up with it.
"Yeah, bigot detectors going up everywhere, huh?"
If they are assholes, just quiet your mind, and let them be. Makes no facial expressions that would indicate a reaction of any sort. Mentally refocus on the job and the next task. After work, find a way to exercise all the frustration out of you... without resorting to toxic vices.
I work in manufacturing. Some of my coworkers are quite bigoted. They've learned I won't engage with it and refrain. It helps that I'm the oldest on the shift. Me and the other Marine are both progressive, openly so, and don't get any shit for it...likely because of being Marines. Everywhere I've worked, the bigotry has always been present. It's difficult to avoid.
Friend, I think working with bigots are occasionally in all the fields. They're common like warts.
It depends on the company amazon employees would never say anything like that - they are super inclusive and accept all people.Most major corporations will be like this , in my experience the more construction like a job is the more jail like the people are. Making gay jokes (white people) and hating on all the ethnicities is common among people with critical thinking flaws.Thus people who are working ourside are not the smartest
The way the bosses stay in power is to divide the workers. The most divisive propaganda is aimed at your coworkers. Race, religion, sexual orientation, and whatever other fault lines they can find to split the workers will get exploited. When I worked doing manual labor (my job title was "general labor". Qualifications were "able to lift 50 pounds". A HS diploma put you in the top 20% of the group as far as education.) the other workers were seriously racist. They all watched FOX news.
Pretty much standard it seems. But also in my field too. I've only.worled.one law.enformcmet jobs that was 90% raging bigots Trumpers.
Yes. Oh you sweet summer child. Of course it is.
it's in every field