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.

  • Track_Shovel
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    2428 days ago

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

    Now I sit behind a desk.

  • @[email protected]
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    2028 days ago

    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.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      1028 days ago

      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.

      • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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        228 days ago

        I’m shit at welding for someone who’s generally handy in just about every other area. If you want two pieces of metal that barely stick together, with wires sticking out all across the seam, then I’m your guy!

        • @[email protected]
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          328 days ago

          Right? I tried my hand at welding a rec tube to a plate to make an oil tank for knife making. I had to use epoxy to keep it water tight.

    • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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      328 days 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.

  • @[email protected]
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    1628 days 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.

  • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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    28 days ago

    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
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      428 days ago

      what about industrial carpentry caused that?

      • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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        528 days ago

        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.

          • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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            328 days ago

            I believe the industry standard term is “fucking bullshit”. ie. “Now I’ve got this fucking bullshit all over me!”.

  • @rowinxavier
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    1028 days 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
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    1028 days ago

    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!

      • @Agrivar
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        427 days ago

        Well, it’s been about twenty years and I haven’t gone back to the cubicle farm!

  • @[email protected]
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    1028 days ago

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

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

    • @[email protected]
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      428 days 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. 😞

  • @Cryophilia
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    928 days 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.

  • @timduncant
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    828 days ago

    Diesel mechanic, the black never washes off!!