How would you earn a living?

[BlueTrain]

I've noticed women driving trucks but I don't really see construction workers, in spite of there being projects going on everywhere around here. You should feel lucky to be living where there is new construction. Where I'm from, they're tearing things down. Traditionally, workers have ultimately had to go where there was work. People and politicians naturally want it the other way around but that rarely happens.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We have quite a few women working in construction here, both in contractor-type and in fine carpentry. And there's a pretty big female contingent in the local public works department.

 

[BlueTrain]

Some people can't imagine delicate creatures like women (or "girls") doing manual labor, even when that involves mostly operating machinery. They should know some of the women I have known. Even a hundred years ago, Horace Kephart, in his handbooks on camping, said any woman should be able to keep up with the average office man, which largely describes me, still working in an office at age 70.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Pre-WWII Girl Scout Handbooks offer interesting insights into how the women of the Era grew up. I have the 1923 edition -- it would have been the version used by girls born in the 1910s, the generation that grew up to be the adults of the WWII era, and it contains requirements that I suspect few here now could meet. To earn her Second Class Scout badge an 11-year-old girl in the 1920s was expected to know how to:

1. Identify the sixteen point of a compass and demonstrate how to use it.

2. Explain in detail how to react in the event of a fire.

3. Send and receive the alphabet in Morse or semaphore code.

4. Demonstrate the ability to make a quick and rough report of the appearance of the appearance and landmarks of a stretch of country, not to exceed one quarter of a mile, to be covered in not more than five minutes. Report should include details of ground surface, buildings in sight, trees, animals, etc.

5. Lay and light a fire in a stove, using not more than two matches, or light a gas range, top burner, oven, and broiler, without having gas blow or smoke. Lay and light a fire in the open using no artificial tinder, and not more than two matches.

6. Cook so that it may be eaten, seasoning properly, one simple dish. Set a table correctly for a meal of two courses.

7. Make an ordinary and a hospital bed, and demonstrate how to air them.

8. Present samples of seaming, hemming, darning, knitting, or crocheting and press out a Scout uniform as a sample of ironing.

9. Demonstrate how to stop bleeding, remove speck from eye, treat ivy poisoning, bandage a sprained ankle, and remove a splinter.

To earn First Class rank, a girl -- maybe 14 or 15 by this stage -- would be required to do all of the above things, as well as:

1. Draw a simple map using at least ten conventional map signs. Area covered must equal a quarter square mile, and if territory along a road is used, it should be at least two miles long.

2. Demonstrate the ability to find any of the four cardinal points of the compass using the sun or stars.

4. Send and receive Morse or Semaphore code at the rate of at least sixteen words per minute.

5. Take an overnight hike carrying all necessary equipment and rations. Construct a practical lean-to.

6. Be able to swim fifty yards and shin up ten feet of rope.

The requirements to earn various Proficiency Badges are even more demanding -- and there were a lot badges you might be surprised to find: alongside Dressmaker, Gardener, Homemaker, Hostess, and Cook, there were also badges for Electrician, Telegrapher, Business-Woman, Farmer, and Motorist.

And on top of that, Girl Scouts were expected to know, and to perform on demand, close-order infantry drill. Troop leaders were encouraged to bring in "some returned soldier" to teach it to the girls.

 

[sheeplady]

To be honest, I once had a female mechanic, and as a fellow woman, she never spoke down to me and explained things clearly.

The experience's I've had with male mechanics could fill a book. By far not all, but man, some of them were obnoxious. Like the time I drove my car in for an inspection and they told me I had no front wipers so it would be $100 to replace them (it was heavily raining when I dropped it off... I had wipers) or the time they refused to replace my taillight that I had a recall on when it was OUT because they looked at it and it was "working fine"...

We have a good contractor that we've worked with. He shakes my hand first, listens and answers my concerns and questions. He is great. We interviewed a few other contractors (all men) and we refuse to go with someone who offers to shake my husband's hand but not mine... which quite a few do. I can totally see the appeal of a contractor being female... simply because s/he is suspected to be more open to listening to the female owner.

By far, most people in these businesses are decent. But they also have a reputation.

 

[BlueTrain]

I doubt I could do all that may of the requirements to be even a second-class girl scout, although I lack the most basic of qualifications in the first place. And I even spent three years in the army. Naturally the expections are a little different. I was a boy scout for a while (I at least met that basic requirement) but none of my friends were in it, so I didn't stay all that long. And to think that one of my nephews just made Eagle Scout.

While many of those requirements are somewhat useful, many are also rather abstract achievements, if you ask me, and in a way, represent previous lifestyles. But other things were likewise a little dated, too. For instance, the original Settlement Cookbook gave instructions on housecleaning and building a fire--in a stove. That seems to have disappeared from recent editions. There is some overlap in what Scouts do with other youth oriented activities, even to include school, although Scouting was originally very outdoor oriented and mostly is still, chiefly because the founders believed we had gotten too far away from our rural roots and that city life was inherantly bad. The same feeling is found at the beginning of other movements, all from around the same period, too, roughly the turn of the century.

The best plumber we have ever used, the only one, in fact, went to high school with my next door neighbor's son. Even in a big suburb, such things happen. The best mechanics I have ever used were Indian--but from Trinadad and Tobago. While I doubt their skill was any better than anyone elses, their attitude was always positive and they were always accomodating. When we had two cars with over 140,000 miles, we often had need of help. Now we have one car a year old and another a three months old. I almost feel like we're cheating them somehow.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

One of the most thorough instruction books I ever read was one for a cattle crew's cook. For instance, the recipe for cooking steaks for a cattle crew in the field started with a live steer. There were clear directions how to slaughter the animal, bleed the carcass (a crane in the bed of a pickup truck helped a lot), dress the carcass, skin it, butcher it, and finally get the steaks in a pan, cook and serve them. Personally, I prefer to buy steaks in the supermarket but I guess if I had to do it from scratch, I'd know how.

 

[LizzieMaine]

To be honest, I once had a female mechanic, and as a fellow woman, she never spoke down to me and explained things clearly.

The experience's I've had with male mechanics could fill a book. By far not all, but man, some of them were obnoxious. Like the time I drove my car in for an inspection and they told me I had no front wipers so it would be $100 to replace them (it was heavily raining when I dropped it off... I had wipers) or the time they refused to replace my taillight that I had a recall on when it was OUT because they looked at it and it was "working fine"...

We have a good contractor that we've worked with. He shakes my hand first, listens and answers my concerns and questions. He is great. We interviewed a few other contractors (all men) and we refuse to go with someone who offers to shake my husband's hand but not mine... which quite a few do. I can totally see the appeal of a contractor being female... simply because s/he is suspected to be more open to listening to the female owner.

By far, most people in these businesses are decent. But they also have a reputation.

In dealing with mechanics, I find that the only way I can avoid the "little lady" treatment -- and I'm not especially little -- is to make it absolutely clear on first contact that I do know my way around a car. I'm as specific as possible in spelling out what the symptoms are and what I think the problem is, and ask them very specific questions in subsequent discussions. And I won't do business with anyone who can't handle that.

 

[vitanola]

I've noticed women driving trucks but I don't really see construction workers, in spite of there being projects going on everywhere around here. You should feel lucky to be living where there is new construction. Where I'm from, they're tearing things down. Traditionally, workers have ultimately had to go where there was work. People and politicians naturally want it the other way around but that rarely happens.

A great many long haul truck drivers choose to live in our county, for it is centrally located, the cost of living is low, and the quality of life is quite good. It is common for the wife of an interstate truck driver to get her CDL as soon as the kids are out of the house and then go out on the road with her husband. T
or two drivers in a tractor with a properly outfitted cab can keep on the road nearly twenty-four hours a day, and of course the manifold troubles which can arise from loneliness on the road or at home are done away with. One of our local contracting companies makes a positive effort to seek out female drivers for this work, for they have been found to be more reliable...

 

[Fading Fast]

To be honest, I once had a female mechanic, and as a fellow woman, she never spoke down to me and explained things clearly.

The experience's I've had with male mechanics could fill a book. By far not all, but man, some of them were obnoxious. Like the time I drove my car in for an inspection and they told me I had no front wipers so it would be $100 to replace them (it was heavily raining when I dropped it off... I had wipers) or the time they refused to replace my taillight that I had a recall on when it was OUT because they looked at it and it was "working fine"...

We have a good contractor that we've worked with. He shakes my hand first, listens and answers my concerns and questions. He is great. We interviewed a few other contractors (all men) and we refuse to go with someone who offers to shake my husband's hand but not mine... which quite a few do. I can totally see the appeal of a contractor being female... simply because s/he is suspected to be more open to listening to the female owner.

By far, most people in these businesses are decent. But they also have a reputation.

As a guy, I have had mechanics try all the tricks you noted and more (and I'm sure you have more stories as well). Maybe they try it more often on women, but they try it on men too. I live in a city and haven't driven / owned a car in decades, but when I did, I was reasonably informed about how a car worked (did some work myself) and could spot 80% of the BS.

What I found was if I showed I was knowledgable too early on, I didn't learn if the mechanic was playing me or not. So I'd usually go in, explain the problem without showing any real knowledge and see what they said. Well more than half tried to cheat or at least left the door wide open for cheating, but a meaningful minority played it straight and those, obviously, were the ones I used.

While, again, I am not disputing (I have no evidence one way or another) that male mechanics try take advantage of women more than men, I am saying they do it to men, too, and your best defense (same with every single thing in the world where you go to hire someone) is - man or women - to be as informed as possible. My girlfriend has shot down many needless medical tests by having done a good amount of research for us before going in - after all, a doctor is just a mechanic for the body.

 

[Big Joe M]

Glad I wasn't an Oakie

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

My father's family were Dustbowl Okies. When living conditions got too awful to stay, they packed up and left. Unlke the Joads, they didn't go west to California, but south to Texas. My grandfather was an oil driller, and had heard that there were new oilfields coming into use in south Texas. They looked around and decided this was a good place to wait out the hard times. Nobody had much money but it was good farm and ranch country in the '30s, so food was cheap and most people were self-sufficient, not depending on industries or banks. When I lived there in the '50s the area was in serious decline and continued to decline in subsequent decades, but recently it's booming again because of fracking.

 

[TimeWarpWife]

In dealing with mechanics, I find that the only way I can avoid the "little lady" treatment -- and I'm not especially little -- is to make it absolutely clear on first contact that I do know my way around a car. I'm as specific as possible in spelling out what the symptoms are and what I think the problem is, and ask them very specific questions in subsequent discussions. And I won't do business with anyone who can't handle that.

Lizzie, my husband is the service manager for a local dealership and he would love to have a customer like you come into the shop. Most people in our area are absolutely ignorant of anything to do with their vehicles. All they know is you start the car, put it in "D", and go. There are some customers dh has told stories about who should have their licenses revoked...and I'm not so sure they should be allowed on public transportation with the rest of us either.

 

[Fading Fast]

Lizzie, my husband is the service manager for a local dealership and he would love to have a customer like you come into the shop. Most people in our area are absolutely ignorant of anything to do with their vehicles. All they know is you start the car, put it in "D", and go. There are some customers dh has told stories about who should have their licenses revoked...and I'm not so sure they should be allowed on public transportation with the rest of us either.

I agree with the implication that drivers should have, at minimum, a conceptual understanding of how a car works. I learned a lot as a kid and, while the digital technology revolution has taken away my ability to effect repairs (also, I haven't owned a car in almost three decades), I still understand the basics of a combustion engine, transmission, drive train, electrical system, etc.

That said, all technology is a magic box to my mother. I'm sure she has no idea how a toaster or refrigerator works let alone a car (and a computer to her is super-duper magic). Yet, she has proven over the decades to be a very good driver as she sees driving as a serious responsibility (as it should be to all of us) and she is well aware of the rules and general safety issues.

Hence, to me, I can't really understand how someone would drive and not want to know the basics of how a car works as it does impact your approach (for example, you brake differently with manual vs. ABS brakes), but again, I can't fault the driving record of my "completely oblivious to how a car works" mother.

 

[BlueTrain]

A good driver is a good driver, not a good mechanic. I have an idea of how an internal combustion engine works but there's no way I can fix very much on either of our cars. And on our previous cars, replacing the headlamp is a job for a ten-year old girl because my hand is too big.

But as far as computers go, I haven't a clue as to how they work.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I don't know anything about computer theory or programming, but that didn't stop me from replacing the logic board on my laptop when it fried a few weeks ago. I might not know how it works, but I can turn a screwdriver and replace connectors and apply thermal paste to a heatsink, and I'd rather do that than pay $500-up to hire some geek to do it.

 

[p51]

I went through Commerical Art school in my late teens and got a old-school education on hand-rendering everything. Computers for this kind of thing were just coming out and weren't part of the course at the time.

So, I could easily get into illustration of cartooning if I'd had to go to the 1930s.

My day job is auto liability insurance claims, which I'm positive I could handle if I had to in a paper environment.

 

[Dirk Wainscotting]

Going back to the 30s would probably be good for me in some ways because my job had more of a future then than it does now. More competition then, but many more customers.

Speaking of female construction workers...at the weekend I was in an ice-cream shop and over the road there was a crew who are starting to demolish part of an old university building. They were removing a large concrete canopy. The boss of the crew was a woman and one of the crew members was also female. The boss was utterly ravishing, but then I saw she smoked and I was disappointed.

 

[Big Joe M]

I made money as a newspaper boy as a young man. Not many newspaper boys any more

 

[csmorris]

Blacksmith / knife maker. I've never tried and may have no actual aptitude in the field but it sounds much more fulfilling than my day job.