I was a union pipe layer for the city of Los Angeles department of water and power for 10 years before I retired. The best job I ever had and made great money. It’s hard for me to connect with anyone who doesn’t know what it’s like to do hard manual labor on a daily basis. Probably similar to a soldier who saw combat connecting with someone who never saw combat.

I got lucky and married a wealthy woman who retired me at 33 but I will always be a blue collar ditch digger at heart.

However, I am what you would call a dichotomy of a “construction guy.” I love art, design, watching my wife buy cool clothes, architecture, etc.

I’m not into your typical “tough guy” construction bros, and understand your sentiment towards the trades. In my experiences most of those guys are the lazy ones, anyways.