I think that a lot of people in the white collar world fail to understand or fully appreciate what it really takes to work in the blue collar trades for a living. Conversely, blue collar workers tend to not understand the pressures of white collar work. However, white collar work is well written about and blue collar work is typically glossed over. Most know construction work is physically hard and a dirty job, but there is so much more to the story. Most can imagine mixing cement, sand and water; we have all done it at some point. But few know the real job of what we call a professional hod-carrier. Even fewer know the picture on production plaster pump. After all, how hard could that really be?
When I was in school, I played football and our bull fullback who set weight-lifting records and ran over linebackers needed a summer job. I got him one with my father’s plastering firm. He was to help mix on a production plaster pump. The 20 year-old made it to lunch and then quit. This job was hard, dirty and required a lot of mental focus. This is hard when you’re doused in sweat and your muscles are begging you to stop. I then told him, the hod-carrier you left finished the day alone and we did not slow down. He talked about that day for several years as his day of hell on earth.