Blue Vs. White

Very recently I made the move from the blue collar world of roof
construction to the white collar (or free spirited no collar) world of
advertising. Obviously there are many differences between these two
types of jobs, from the office environment to the types of people
that are your coworkers. If you plan on making the jump from the blue
collar world to the white collar world, the transition can go smoothly,
but there are several differences between the two you should keep in
mind.

When I made the move into an office, the first thing I
noticed was the permanent availability of a bathroom. Most people get
a job in an office and think to themselves, “ok, the bathroom is over
there,” while my reaction was more along the lines of, “holy crap,
there’s a bathroom there whenever I need it… AND IT’S CLEAN.” The joy I was overcome with
after 4 years of working in jobsites where the best-case scenario for a
bathroom was a porta-john is indescribable (although I’m going to
describe it, and have already begun to do so by using the word
indescribable to describe it). No more having to plan out my diet
according to where I was going to be working that day, no more having
to run to the nearest gas station; I was finally able to be like every
other civilized human being in using a bathroom whenever I need to, and
without having to put on a hazmat suit in order to do so. I was as
happy as a priest in Discovery Zone; so far my transition was going
well.

After I had calmed down from the excitement about the bathroom I
realized another amazing, yet obvious difference: climate control. It
finally hit me that I would no longer be subject to spending all day,
every day in this lovely temperate New England climate. There’s
something to be said for having to dress for the job and not for the
weather: if you dress wrong for the job your boss says something; if
you dress wrong for the weather you get the flu. When you’re outside
there are some days when you rip our pants and you get excited to let
some of the steam out, there are other days when you have to wrap a
sock around your huevos in order them attached to your body. When
you’re in an office there are some days when you simply just need a
sweater. One downfall to not working outside is I can work in the rain
when when there's a roof over me. Rain while on the roof = vacation day. My theory
on rain-outs as a roofer was that if my boss can’t find work for me
when it rains, I’m taking the next two nice days off. It’s a great
system, for me at least. Another plus to being out of the weather
is that I can finally enjoy the beach again. For some reason
after spending 8 hours a day on a scorching roof, come the weekend I didn’t feel much
like sitting on the hot beach.

There are also certain characteristics that are necessary for one job,
and not the other, a major one being self motivation. In an office I
have my own little area with a computer and full access to the
internet, needless to say it is not easy to sit there and actually do
work (when I could be writing this!). When you’re on a roof there’s
not much to do up there, besides wok on the roof. Also, there aren’t
many places to hide on a roof and there’s always someone ready to curse
at you when you’re not working. But in an office if it’s really necessary
you can find someplace to hide in a Costanza-esque fashion. Another
characteristic necessary for being in an office is self control.
There’s a certain demeanor people expect in an office, one that it
polite and considerate of others. On a roof cursing, yelling, and being
downright mean are all commonplace and expected. A necessary survival
tool for working on a roof is being able shit talk better
than they can shit talk you.

Some people say that work is work and you’re never going to like it,
but when you’re sitting in an air conditioned office instead of 120
degree roof covered with tar you realize that some jobs are better than
others. Paper cuts are bad, box cutter wounds are worse; I’ll take my
chances with the paper.