News Flash: The trades are officially exempt from “Political Correctness” (PC)!
One of the great parts about being in the trades is that no one expects you to ever be PC. Just like the legend goes, Gypsy’s are forgiven for stealing because they took Jesus’ nails to ease his suffering. If you are in the trades you automatically get a special divine “Not PC” dispensation! LOL
If you ever were the new person on a crew you know what I mean. You either grow a thick skin fast or they will run you back home to your mommy before lunch.
Seriously though, because of the hard physical nature of the work, in most of the trades we only survive because of the humor that is part of the work day that happens on every work site, each day, around the world. It keeps the work fun and helps us to learn how to dig deeper into one ’s self to get that little bit of extra strength that you discover you really do have when the chips are down. There’s nothing to build your self-esteem like discovering you really can do what most people consider to be humanly impossible!
I have many fond memories of some of the people I have met over the years who were so funny, that the days working with them just flew by and the job didn’t even feel like work. We also seemed to get more done those days than the days when everyone was unhappy, complaining, and taking themselves way too seriously.
I so very vividly recall certain people I’ve met in the trades over the years. They were some of the most politically incorrect individualsyou could ever meet that could still identify themselves as human beings. They had one-liners that would rival Henny Youngman, Rodney Dangerfield, or Chris Rock for just all out, piss your pants funny! LOL
We would tease these self-proclaimed Andrew Dice Clay’s of Construction. More often than not, we would just shake our heads in total disbelief at what they just said. We would tell them how broken they were, or just make fun of their skills as a trades person by telling them “at least you have comedy to fall back on!” In this overly PC world we now live in, most would probably take that teasing as a personal insult. But, in the trades, when teasing, we were just paying them a compliment by recognizing they had a special comedic talent; though at times very warped, it was also very funny.
For some great examples of job-site humor, you can listen to: “I Love My Tools: the Radio Show” over at the America’s Blind Tradesman YouTube Channel, or over at the Discovery Channel you can catch Mike Rowe’s award winning TV show, “Dirty Jobs”.
Mike has a great sense of humor and says some of the funniest things you will ever hear while he is hands on doing some of the most disgusting jobs you have ever seen.
As a closing thought, my heart goes out to those people who don’t have fun at work, that’s not the way it’s supposed to be. I think all of America could learn from our hard working, blue collar, tradespeople. If other working people found ways to bring more humor into their workplace we would become a far less stressed and more productive nation.
Stay safe, stay productive, and keep laughing!
Mike DeZinno, “America’s Blind Tradesman”
© 4/11/2016
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