It's so easy to fit in when everyone's a bit of a misfit.

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Just thought I'd share my experience of work over the last few months.

while it's not exactly what I went to business school for I've been having a lot of fun doing Ironwork, building a warehouse. The first month or so I spent on the ground doing various prep work assembling parts, and a lot of time up in the air on scissor & snorkel lifts installing structural steel roof supports. I've spent the better part of the last couple months up on top of the roof installing the structural steel roofing panels. There's another 2-3 months of work to go on this project, then after that I'm not sure yet if there's an opportunity to stay working with these guys and do a bit of travelling to work, or if I'll just find another new line of construction work here in town that's more relevant to my long term business interests. It's been tons of fun being up 40+ feet high in all weather conditions driving around in machines with tank treads, using tiger torches, harnessing to safety restraint systems and walking out over the edge of the non-existent roof, & it's certainly making me stronger as a bundle of roofing panels weighs 2,600lbs and we've gone through a lot of 'em. It's quite the workout to move them around sometimes.

Anyways, onto my point.. while my own quirky symptoms have subsided significantly over the last several months, I'm still not entirely out of the woods and have my moments of social blunders here and there. They're minimal compared to before, but go pretty much unnoticed around this crowd. Many of the guys on site seem to have some pretty strong ADD symptoms or other quirks. One of them I like to refer to as "tourettes guy," because all you have to do is acknowledge him in any way and out comes a colourful barrage of profanity that's absolutely hilarious - so we like to get him going sometimes just for the lolz. Then there's the fact that about twice a week around half the guys are hungover and sometimes throwing up in the morning before work, in the porto-potty, on the ground, out the window of a work truck on the way in. Although there's one guy that's sick nearly daily from heavy duty doses of prescription pain medications. :/ Then there's the fact that many of them aren't all that highly educated, having not graduated from high school etc - but that doesn't change the fact that they can work very well, it just is what it is when it comes to knowledge etc. A few have criminal records (mostly drug offences, some assault charges) & sometimes have to take time off for court or visiting probation officers - which I secretly find rather amusing. But still, while they're a bit of a ragtag group of misfits, they're all decent guys to work with and their quirks and flaws make it pretty darn easy for just about anyone to fit in when no one fits in. Between ADD and alcohol abuse there's an awful lot of inefficiencies in the work day.. so sometimes I feel like a bit of an allstar just by being sober, even when I'm sleep deprived.. one of those "in the world of the blind the one eyed man reigns supreme," sort of feelings. well, with the exception of a couple of guys who are diamond drillers by trade - holy moly can those guys work FAST and hard! It'd take a long time to work up to their pace, as well as getting more restful sleep.

It seems to be pretty similar with the guys on the ground doing formwork and tying steel etc - outcasts and misfits galore - but all good decent human beings that work well together.

Even the rough around the edges bit about these guys is really just a lot of bark and no bite.. I've overheard a few yelling matches where one guy annoys another to the point where the response is "That's it, I'm gonna lay you out m-fer!" and then someone scurries away and everyone goes back to work. It's really rather a nice comedic break here and there every couple weeks.

Heh, just thought I'd share just in case anyone else out there hadn't considered working in a bit of a rougher industry with a bunch of misfits. It's been an interesting and enjoyable experience thus far, and I'm definitely getting into ever better physical shape for it, too. You'd have to REALLY make a pretty huge offensive blunder of some kind or another for it to cause you any real job troubles at a workplace like this, making it kind of ideal for a high functioning aspie who's into doing manual labour. Just figured I'd throw that out there for others who might be at some sort of a career crossroads and might consider doing something like this for work for a while.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

I wouldn't exactly call construction workers "misfits". I'd say they are more along the lines of "rednecks" instead. My husband's a construction worker, my son is a construction worker, I have been a construction worker. Most guys get into it because it's the only thing they can do for quick money once they get out of high school, or their Daddy was in a trade and taught them, or they actually go to trade school to learn it because they know they need to know how to do something but academics just isn't their bag for whatever reason - my husband has severe dyslexia but is very smart. He would never have been able to manage all the reading that it required in college for an engineering degree like his Dad so he went to college and got a degree in electricity. My son is also very smart but he just wanted to go on to work and bring in some money and live a simple life and not think about advanced degrees, but he's still young, 24, so he may eventually realize that this isn't the life he wants and he should go for something else while he still can. I did it because I thought it would be interesting, plus I was single and that's where all the boys were.

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I'm giving it another shot. We will see.
My forum is still there and everyone is welcome to come join as well. There is a private women only subforum there if anyone is interested. Also, there is no CAPTCHA.

The link to the forum is http://www.rightplanet.proboards.com

No, not all construction workers are misfits. It seems there are a lot more rough around the edges types in Ironworking and other outdoor trades vs. more technical trades or interior finishing trades, though. My father has been in his construction trade for 40 years now and I have nothing but respect for hard working blue collar workers. I'd rather be outside in the rain & snow lifting steel than in an office pushing paper because I feel there's more honour in it, the processes, the accomplishments etc.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

I'll take a misfit with a good attitude any day over someone who fits, but doesn't care or doesn't try.