this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2024
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I often get the sense that I'm in the only one here doing manual labor but I'm sure there are others.

Identify yourselves.

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[–] ryan213@lemmy.ca 48 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 24 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Soil scientist. I spent 10 years stomping through the bush and digging pits when I got there.

Now I sit behind a desk.

[–] RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

That's a good picture, great beard. And it's exactly how I imagined someone in your profession.

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[–] That_Devil_Girl@lemmy.ml 20 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Shipwright welder. I crawl all throughout the bowels of Navy and civilian ships with my gear in tow. I build new areas, cut out old areas, and perform repairs on hulls and pipes.

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 10 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I love welding. One of my favourite things to do in my previous job. I'm highly skilled at oxy-acetylene welding steel pipes in really tight and difficult places but my favourite one was TiG welding stainless steel with automatic and ventilated mask while listening to podcasts. Really meditative just being in your own bubble staring at the bright spot of molten metal.

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[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Do you get covered from head to toe with grease and grime? Does it pay well? I have a friend who's about ready to wrap up his underwater welding classes, and supposedly he'll make some big bucks after he graduates.

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[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 18 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I'll go first.

Self-employed general contractor / plumber

[–] ryan213@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Do you happen to be in the Toronto area?? I'm looking for a plumber. Lol

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 8 points 1 month ago

Sorry, I'm across the Atlantic

[–] Crazyslinkz@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Thank you for your service

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[–] leftzero@lemmynsfw.com 16 points 1 month ago

My boss just had me change two coworkers' passwords so they wouldn't be able to log back in.

I keep washing and washing, but the blood won't come off.

[–] rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Flooring and Flooring Accesories

[–] BlueLineBae@midwest.social 7 points 1 month ago

Ah, the ol' Hank Hill of flooring.

[–] Swerker@feddit.nu 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

Awesome. What do you farm?

[–] theatomictruth@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

Tallship sailor/rigger

[–] RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Software engineer. Sometimes I spill coffee, sometimes it's chocolate or chips crumbs.

It's honest, hard work, but someone has to do it.

[–] TheBakedPotato@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

As a software dev, I have spilt coffee on myself a number of times. People just don't understand what a hard working environment it is. 😞

[–] rowinxavier@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

I work in disability support so I may use various creams while massaging, I get messy while helping people with washing and toileting, and I feed people which can get messy. I also help people with their yards, cleaning their house, washing their pets, whatever they need.

[–] Agrivar@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I used to be a programmer, but I got sick of the whole corporate scene. Now I build and maintain houses - and my hands are dirty a good amount of the time!

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[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I don't have a dirty job anymore, but the dirtiest job I've had by far was industrial carpenter. I'd go to work with clean jeans and a clean white shirt, and every day I'd come home with jeans that were black from the knees up, and a shirt that was black from the chest down.

I had to wear white shirts because nothing else would come clean. Only white with a lot of bleach would give any appearance of being laundered after a day at work on that job.

I still have a T-shirt from that job, some-odd 20 years later, and it has Hilti C100 industrial epoxy stains all over it, just as hard as the day the shirt was stained. That's my "shit's about to get real" work around the house shirt.

[–] Tyfud@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

what about industrial carpentry caused that?

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Working up in the rafters for concrete tilt-up buildings that had already been in service for decades. There's so much nasty-ass grime up there, and years worth of dust and crud.

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[–] RicoBerto@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I load and run two large fiber lasers cutting sheets of metal up to 1 1/4 inch thick.

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[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Facility maintenance. We grease motors, change belts, tighten bolts. One of the fuel pumps on our generator has a leak, so that's a fun bit of dirty hands.

My approach to maintenance also involves a lot of cleaning, because I believe clean equipment runs better over time. So cleaning off fan blades, insides of electrical cabinets, sumps, etc. We also fix sinks and toilets.

[–] BluescreenOfDeath@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

I work for an ISP in the southeast USA as a field technician and it's dirty work sometimes. Fixing rodent damage to fiber connection boxes for businesses, placing temporary cables when underground lines get cut, working in dusty equipment closets, etc.

It's not bad or hard work most days.

[–] timduncant@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Diesel mechanic, the black never washes off!!

[–] sockman@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago

Window manufacturing Our 2-part industrial sealing silicone gets everywhere; hands, clothes, hair, whatever. Never comes out of clothes and you gotta scrub hard to get it off skin.

[–] nick@midwest.social 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I work in tech now, so I’m a lazy schlub. However, I’m also a college dropout out (English major) who had a ton of actual jobs in the past. Warehouse loading delivery trucks, worked in a cabinet shop, food service, etc. i

I think college grads who go into tech should have to work a normal job for at least a year before getting their tech job and making six figures right out of college.

Otherwise you end up with these entitled shitbags who complain that their company provided duck confit at lunch doesn’t have crispy enough skin (an actual thing that actually happened when i was at a big FANG company. Fucking unbelievable)

So even though I’m a techbro shitlord, i have respect for the people who work jobs.

[–] natecox@programming.dev 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Are you me? I’m also a lazy tech schlub now who was formerly a paint store warehouse worker, home renovation worker, etc.

Fully agree that everyone going into tech should spend real time working hard labor and retail. I genuinely feel that my non-tech experiences made me a better person and a better tech schlub.

I remember tech coworkers complaining that the wall filled with free snacks and candy didn’t have the right kind of snacks and candy, and having to hold myself back from going full Everett True.

[–] nick@midwest.social 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Man i feel that complaining about the free snacks 100%.

Covid was so hard for some of these kids because they had to fend for themselves during the work day while working from home. Constant complaints.

You and i would get along great i bet :D

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[–] Bad_Engineering@fedia.io 7 points 1 month ago

I'm a mechanical engineer for a small manufacturing plant and I run their maintenance department. Its more hands on than most engineering jobs though.

[–] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Hands themselves stay clean, but through my gloves/gown, I'm regularly elbow-deep into blood, guts, and poop.

Surgical technologist. It gets pretty nasty.

Pay is kinda shit though, so I'm trying to switch over to nursing.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Damn, I wouldn't expect the words "surgical" and "shit pay" to go together, especially when a basic surgery gets billed at $40,000+. From what you described your day at work to involve, you deserve all the money! Especially since you're helping people.

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[–] spittingimage@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

I unload pallets of computer gear. That's not the main part of my job, but it's something that happens from time to time.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] nick@midwest.social 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Proctologists need not reply.

[–] Wolf314159@startrek.website 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I generally wash they with warm water and soap after I'm done or taking a break. I usually take one of those little dish soap bottles from the hotel when I travel to keep in the truck, cuts right through the grease and grime pretty well even if all you have is a jug of water on hand.

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

I do occasional vehicle maintenance, like replacing brakes, starters, alternators, water pumps, radiators, etc.

Last one I did the other week was replace an old rotted leaky fuel line. Fun fun..

[–] Chef_Boyardee@lemm.ee 5 points 1 month ago

Caretaker for my father. Lots of poop.

Also still paying my dues to the electrical union. That was a dirty AF job. Miss it a bunch, tho.

[–] Tazerface@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

I work as an assembler in a sporting goods store. I assemble bicycles, indoor and outdoor furniture, bbqs, snowblowers, lawnmowers walk behind and rideon), log splitters.

[–] JustRalph@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Masterbate.

[–] RedAggroBest@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

It's not really "dirty" in the same sense but I'm a massage therapist. Don't think it gets more literally hands-on as far as a job goes lol. I primarily do deep tissue work, I REALLY enjoy injury-focused work, so it can be a bit tiring but it's generally pretty satisfying.

[–] Sequentialsilence@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I setup and run events. Nothing particularly messy, but very sweaty. On setup days I can do a half marathon just by moving equipment to where it needs to go.

[–] Turbofish@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I process meat. My hands are rarely dirty but sometimes there seepage through my overalls.

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[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 3 points 1 month ago

I work in a factory supervising and working in a department of a company that is making accessories for yachts and oddly enough the military. Luxury and military equipment is definitely an odd combination.

I don't want to be too specific as there aren't many companies that do this, but some of our orders are 2-4 items, that are a very small part of a yacht and they sell for my whole salary and then some.... It's gross.

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