r/BlueCollarWomen

I have a new boss and this dude has hated me since day one. I am a masculine lesbian and this guy, this caillou looking mf, he can make stupid ass comments to me or just straight up look me up and down and fuck his ugly ass face up at me in disgust. but the second i return that BS back I get told "YOU CANT SAY THAT TO ME. IM A SUPERVISOR 👶" apparently being called caillou or telling him his face is ugly as fuck just isnt fair. He likes to call me Justin bieber then say hiw Justin bieber is stupid and ugly (the audacity alone. I know). And constantly comments on the size i am or just how i look in general depending on what he sees me wearing (i am a basic bitch at a basic bitch height and basic ass lesbian style no idea what his pronlem is except for that hes ugly as shit)

Before it wasn't so bad because I had a different boss who i reported to who equally thought of him as caillou as well. Fast forward to the new hell for me. My boss got a promotion and caillou is now legit my boss. He has gone out of his way to target me a few times now and is now with holding my time off requests.

Today I confronted him about it as my request was for next week monday. He told me he was busy and would get to it when he can. I called him out as one of my buddys submitted the same day as me and not even 4 hours later he got his paper back saying approved( my buddy is one of our temp workers and I am a permanent employee. This union is seniority based. ) i told baby boy caillou that he approved buddys already so what's the hold up with my paper. Mine is for monday, he shoots back aggressively at me saying that he'll have it to me by friday.i told him no, im pretty sure thats not how it works, and that it honestly feels like you are power tripping over my time off requests as this is the third time you've done this now. You do not have the right to power trip over me like this. (I have severe adhd and is documented) at this point i know was in the right because his caillou eyes looked very fearful at me but repeated to me" IM BUSY 👶". I then told him whatever man go figure this is how your are going to be. Go figure. As i was walking away he tried saying my name about 3 times but in a whisper. ( all the other managers offices are attached to the same hall) but I kept walking as I knew i was going to start loosing my cool on him. However when I reached the door I slammed that bitch to let him know. "Fuck you caillou "

When it came to signing out for the day he wouldnt even show his face and every other manager or supervisor told me to have a good day 🥰.

I know i did not handle this properly but I know what he is doing is wrong and is targeting me. What have people done with this type of situation? I set up a meeting with my union rep tomorrow morning but thats all i got so far.

Carhartt is comically long on me, even for S and XS for women. Dickies fit short women a bit better. Any brands or pieces you'd recommend for someone under 5'5"?

I have a phd and was a professor of architecture history. This is a second career for me. I’m just an apprentice at a woodworking shop. I was just a woodworker hobbyist, and my boss knows that I’ve never worked in a factory before. I’m not afraid to ask questions and learn quickly. But he’ll ask me to do things with language I have never heard before and get annoyed if I ask what he means. I waste a lot of time wandering around the factory looking for tools/hardware/material because it’s so disorganized and no one told me where anything is kept. I have to find someone to show me how to use every stationary power tool (even if I have used it before) because they are old and have their quirks and aren’t precise if I don’t know how to account for variations.

Anyway…I don’t misrepresent myself as experienced. I’m essentially self taught and eager to learn. But I’m not an idiot just because I’m unfamiliar with the environment. I’m also only one of two women in the whole place, and I don’t want to get angry or cry because my boss is already uncomfortable around women 🙄

Edit: I’m not having an attitude about the work, and I haven’t told anyone about my degrees aside from college. I ask a lot of questions because I don’t know what’s going on or understand the terms, and I don’t appreciate being treated like I’m stupid for not knowing. It feels like everyone I work with forgets I’m an apprentice. When my boss asks me to do something, I ask him to clarify and show me how, and he acts like I’m stupid for not knowing. What set me off this morning was that he told me to do something using a term I hadn’t heard before and then walked away. I asked my coworker what he meant, and he wasn’t sure at first but figured it out. Then he told me to do one thing, and boss came back and acted like I was stupid for doing it wrong. I told him I needed clarification to do things correctly, and he said that the term was a standard term in every woodworking shop and that the way of positioning everything was common sense. I took a walk to the bathroom to collect myself, and when I came back, my coworkers had set everything up for me using additional materials that I didn’t know we had—let alone that I was supposed to use them.

I’m fine with being treated like a student because I am one! But I’m not a mind reader. And I’ve never worked in a factory before, so being expected to know what it’s like is really unreasonable.

It can also be incredibly stressful because our clientele have nearly impossible standards. I don’t get to practice any tasks before I work on a piece. I never have any idea what the end result is supposed to be, and half the time when I ask someone, they don’t know either. I think what frustrates me most is my boss expects everyone to be a mind reader but can be dismissive and impatient with me because I’m an apprentice (and probably also because I’m a woman).

There are tons of really nice people who help me too, but I’m often made to feel like I’m stupid when I ask for help/definitions/instructions when logically it would be fucking stupid of me to go ahead and do something if I’m not sure what I’m actually supposed to do.

I have 0 electrical experience, I'm excited to learn and get started!

Is there anything you wish you had when you first started in the trades?

Any recommendations on sun visors for hard hats?

I know I'll need to get some silk bandanas/scrub caps for my hair.

I’ve been in healthcare for 9 years and I’m so over it. I’m ready to leave.

My bf is a carpentry apprentice so I know what his days are like and it got me really interested in trades. I was looking into electrician but Portland, OR applications are closed for apprentices and it might be closed for awhile. Sooooo I looked into heavy equipment operator and I’m really stoked about it. I love physical hard labor, I’d rather do that than use my brain 100% of the time at my job. I know they will often travel a lot sometimes 100miles+ away for many months. And of course men. I know it’s hard for women because they always have to prove themselves. I know I have the qualities to pursue this trade.

With that said, I just want to know did anyone else transition from healthcare? And please give me the realities of this specific trade. Did anyone regret doing into their trade? Please I’d appreciate anything. I’ve been thinking about it non stop

I have a crazy good job opportunity that i will be interviewing for soon. This job is going to quite literally double my hourly wage that i make now, if i get the job.

I am absolutely terrified to leave my current shop though 😭 i love my coworkers and my bosses. They are all respectful, amazing teachers, and genuinely good and funny guys. It really feels like a family. I am so comfortable here, and i honestly have it really good. I dont want to say princess treatment because i pull my weight, but the people i work with are very patient with me. My bosses are lenient and understanding, we can take time off without being reprimanded, when days are slow we mingle and have fun here. My department manager is like a grandpa to me, and they have all been so welcoming and wonderful to me. I am finally to the point where i know i truly fit in at my workplace. And i know for many women that may be hard to come by. But its generally a great atmosphere and i dont dread waking up in the morning because i love what i do!

But by taking this new job, it will be a small change of industry (quarry mechanic) and im used to small town shop work… but i have the opportunity to make upwards of 100k a year with overtime. I am so torn. Absolutely distraught!! I teared up when i told my bosses about my job interview 😭😭 i dont know if i have the strength to leave them. But this is a huge door that has opened for me and i have to give it a shot. It boils down to being able to pay my bills and have a pension (i think this new job is union affiliated which is exactly what i want) and this opportunity will give me more chances to grow in my career and get higher positions/better pay. This is a very very large company, and i do know a girl who works in the trades there!

Im afraid of leaving the people i know and love, the comfortability of my job, but im also afraid i will never get the chance to double my income at my age again. What would you do if you were in my position, or what did you do if you were in my position at one point? Please help a girl out.

One benefit working in a male dominated industry… it’s so easy to outshine the other male apprentices. Can’t count how many times my foremen tell me that they are impressed because I
- ask questions pertaining to the work
- am not arrogant
- am not ignorant of my arrogance
- don‘t take out my phone during work
- pay attention
- ask questions and don’t assume

All of these traits are extremely basic and essential for being a good worker in any industry. I’m surprised that my foremen are surprised by my work ethic. Makes me wonder how much my male counterparts get away with…

Hi, I’m a male welding instructor at a tech college who mainly teaches our high school program. So realistically I’m teaching students from 16-21. Still relatively new at it, only teaching for 6 months after just over a decade of being in the industry. Something that’s been coming up for a few of my female students is what gear is out there that’s more for their fit. They’re all on more the smaller side so they can’t simply wear men’s gear like I know some women do. I made this post in r/welding and it kinda blew up. Reddit suggested to me I post it here too, so here I am 😁

So ladies, what brands and gear do you wear that’s both comfortable for you and still gets the job done? Is there a glove brand that makes better fitting women’s gloves, especially for small hands? Is there any mods you do to some men’s clothing to make it fit better?

Appreciate any advice I can get!

Edit:
Wow, I am blown away by how much support this post has gotten today. There has been so many great suggestions from here and my original post from the welding subreddit. I was reading every comment and was one of the first upvotes on a lot of y’all. I cannot thank y’all enough for everything.

Question if you don’t pass the aptitude test for IBEW and you go to school instead do you still have to take an aptitude test when you get your certificate?

Hi!

I am looking for recommendations on hearing protection. The free issue plugs and muffs are always too big or the wrong shape. I see a few "pink washed" ones on line, but I'd love to know if anyone has a fave.

About 3 months ago, I did something stupid with my forklift and ran over the tips of another truck. I’ll own up to the fact that I shouldn’t have done it. Nobody was hurt, trucks are both fine. He ran IMMEDIATELY to our boss and claimed he felt “unsafe while I’m driving.” They filed a report together, then he met with HR and higher management the next day. Gave this whole sob story about how I’m “a dangerous driver who’s going to get somebody killed. She always does this and never does that.” Despite there being jobs I could’ve done without a forklift, I got suspended after 2 hours on the job that same day.

I went straight to our union hall and met with the president. I told him how I’m pretty sure I was fired despite having a great safety record for the last 9 years prior to this incident. I’m a trainer and I was on all 3 safety teams until they were disbanded. Unlike 90% of my coworkers, I also actually use my horn on a regular basis and stop at the stop signs. I’m a damned good driver.

Higher management pushed to get me fired ONLY BECAUSE they want fewer employees so they get larger bonuses. I think they were hoping that I’d just quit so they also wouldn’t have to pay me any unemployment. They weren’t getting their way so easily.

Union threatened to bring the lawyers in. Everybody had to wait for the upper HR guy to get done with his vacation to make the final decision. HE TOLD THEM TO BRING ME BACK.

My suspension lasted 2 weeks almost to the day. The first 3 days were unpaid, then per the contract, I was paid for the rest. I didn’t know about the paid days until the VP told me. I came back on a Wednesday, getting the phone call that morning. Despite being thrilled I was allowed back, I wouldn’t have minded an extra day to mentally prepare myself.

I had to wait at the gate for security to bring back my ID badge. Oh, yeah. That suspension began with a walkout with security, my boss and a union steward. That USUALLY means “fired on the spot.” While I was waiting, I saw the guy who’d turned me in pull up. He waited until somebody else drove up to walk in with them. Little punk probably assumed I’d start something right there. I’m not that stupid.

Oh, the kid who turned me in? Youngest employee on our shift (had just turned 21 at that point) AND A NEW UNION STEWARD. His dad had also been a longtime union steward in our building. Let’s just say, from the way he said it, the president had fun informing his dad about it, during a group meeting of ALL the union stewards. Kid went home after half shift that day.

As the title says, I still haven’t said a single word to him in those almost 3 months. We work in the same department and I’ll still walk away if he comes over. If he HAS to be near me, he gets the full silent treatment. A coworker told me the kid asked him about it. He just stared at him and said “you got her suspended. Why would she talk to you at all??” Kid just scoffed and said “well, we’re all adults. She should be over it by now.”

As soon as my 6 months probation is over, I’m going to talk to the VP (we’d gone to high school together) about putting in a complaint against him.

Unfortunately I made a stupid mistake and might be facing a couple of felonies and probation. Haven’t been charged but I’m currently searching on what jobs I could have and get myself back in the workplace. I want to go to college but that might seem impossible now especially with the job market I might be struggling. So in wondering if it’s better with trade. How’s it working in a male dominated industry? I think that’s what scares me because men are worse than gossiping women at least from my experience.

I’m going into my fourth year of being an electrical apprentice and I am currently 8 months pregnant. To say that things have been seamless is in understatement. While my pregnancy has been “boring” or not as awful as i’ve heard other women have experienced pregnancy. Work has been extremely difficult to talk to in regard to accommodations. While i am an electrical apprentices/hvac tec our jobs also require us to get on roofs and carry a lot of heavy shi. I wouldn’t say i’m a pansy but at this point it’s not safe to work in the field. I talked to my hr about that and my manager made it so I have to drive two hours to another shop to help their warehouse. While the tasks i’m given are not bad the two hour drive away from my birth center is upsetting. When I asked if i would just do that drive till the end of this month I was meet with reluctance. I got the doc to specify I need to be at least 30 min away from the birth center and then I got a call telling me I can’t work tomorrow because he doesn’t know where to put me… like wtf. I’ve communicated so clearly to them my expectations and my comfort level and then they act like i’ve surprised them when I had a doctor sign off on it.

I am so close to being able to test but it’s also feeling less obtainable. My husband also works in the trades and we both work 4, 10 hr days. Our families are an hour thirty to two hours away so help is also not very easy. It feels like I may have to quit once this baby comes and the company has made me frustrated enough that quitting isn’t looking too bad. but I also understand the benefits and all that, that comes with sticking around until i can test.

Has any other woman gone through this? Any tips? Am I just freaking out?

Hello all! This is one of my firsts posts so I’m not too sure if I’m posting this in the right subreddit or not so bear with me.

I (19f) am looking into union trade work as my career choice. I am currently in a heavy machine operation/crane pre apprenticeship and I’ll probably get dispatched within the next week or two. I have also just received an invite to start my orientation process as a plumber though a different union. My question is which one would have more of a work life balance?

As of now in the operating pre apprenticeship, my instructors all talk about missing their kids first steps, getting divorced and never being home because of this career and that’s sort of scaring me. I know I would have to travel and work long house for all trade work but I didn’t realize it would be that excessive.

I want to have a family and plan on getting married within the next few years and I want to be able to enjoy my life and be present in my kids lives and not just work my whole life away until retirement. I know it’s great money but it just doesn’t seem that worth it to me.

I also expect to be dispatched wherever and working all hours until I journey out (about 4 years) which I am more than ok with, I just don’t want to be doing that my whole life.

But I would love if any trade worker (union or non union) could give any advice or advice or share what their personal experiences are like and if I’m choosing the right profession for what I want in life.

Cramps are one thing I can handle with or without medicine but I struggle really bad with fatigue when my period comes around and I feel like my quality of work degrades sadly 😔. 10-12 hour days in the heat and bleeding just exhausts me. Do you guys have any tips or recommendations to keep me from feeling so sluggish at work?

once in a while I grow so upset with where I am at. I noticed I can never find peace at work. im the only women, I work with a lot of people around my age and im the loneliest one there because people don’t want it to be misconstrued that they are giving me attention or texting me outside of work. when I do well people get pissy and claim it’s only praise because of me being a women doing the bare minimum, when I don’t excel people are not surprised or get the “you’re just not strong enough for this job”. once a week I get called into a meeting about how someone said something that may have “upset me” and almost everytime I wasn’t even there to hear it. I’ve noticed often people also used me as ammo to get someone else in trouble they don’t like, or people are talking amongst themselves and don’t want to get caught so they bring it up before it “gets to me”. Not only had my laundry bin had to become locked up from people smelling it, the inability to simply “be” makes my job genuinely harder. I’m very new into the field so I’m trying so hard to get my bearings but the weekly “are you being treated right” meetings are starting to get to me. Never once have I addressed what I am dealing with because I know addressing it makes it sometimes worse. lm trying to just thicken my skin but some days after 2 meetings in one day about people saying inappropriate things about me and some jack ass saying ”she needs help cause she dont know what she’s doing” when I’ve been doing the same job for months fine makes you want to crash out lol. I plan to be here for atleast another year for experience but man. I’m going crazy some days.. anyone else feel like it’s a constant battle or just trying to be?

Hello, a bit of a silly question. I have an interview for an electrical apprenticeship and I’m puzzled on what’s considered appropriate. I don’t have a lot of job experience, so interview etiquette is something I’m still new to. Any help is appreciated

Hi all, I'm looking for some advice. I am looking for input from experienced Sheet Metal Union members, mostly.

Context: I am a woman in my thirties in the Rust Belt, USA, and chose this career path to pay our bills. Before this I've had lots of different jobs, often multiple jobs at the same time, though this is not my first time as a union member. I completed a bachelor's in the arts, I enjoy making things, but at this point I'm too tired mentally and physically to do more than work, and I'm still less than 5 years in. Work is just work, I don't love it, but I just want to have less issues

The problem is the local union I work with. I know dudes in the trades can be rough, but this feels egregious. They talk about wanting to kill anyone who looks different from them, cheer on any war in the headlines making vile comments, while saying slur after slur, and then they still have the gall to start talking bible verses. I feel like I'm taking psychic damage, and every day is feeling harder. I keep my head down, and say nothing, but it just never lessens. It's just "oh that's how he is, just ignore it" ... So I have just started avoiding talking to anyone, or eating lunch in the same spaces.

My questions are:

1. Is there any hope of finding a place to work in the US in my union where I don't have to deal with as much of this shit? i.e., are there some areas where its not as bad, in your experience?

2. If such a place existed, how would I go about doing the research to find which local to move to? Should I call halls and talk to reps? Research stats about which cities are most progressive? Doing both is my current plan, but it feels daunting to try and examine the entire country's Sheet Metal locals.

I know a perfect workplace/union doesn't exist, but I'm considering just giving up - I'm non-confrontational to a fault. I just want to do my job, do it well, and clock out without fearing for my safety every single day, or feeling extra bogged down mentally from all the horrible shit I hear. Right now, I'm feeling hopeless trying to find a way to stay sane in the trades

Thanks for any advice! I'm so tired lol

I've worked as a electrician for eight years. I only started a new company two months ago. I found out I'm six weeks pregnant this week I know plenty of women who have rocked it. My best friend is cheering me, but this is my first.

I work out of town often. Sometimes with chemicals. Recently back in oil and gas. Scared I'll get sat, a little embarrassed, but excited. Worried I'll be judged. Keeping a closed mouth and close eye on it right now seeing what happens and how I feel. Cracking down on PPE.

Looking for advice, and other experiences in this area.

Im sure everything will work out great, just in a thoughts spiral.