That’s good news. I know the blue collar union has really faded at the school I went to, so I’m glad to hear something working...

Yeah, I was thinking more about the faculty and, decreasingly, the union staff. I grew up in the shadow of one of the district’s state schools. The students, largely, came from the surrounding community and largely mirrored it, even though their being there meant there was hope I could encourage something other than…

Plattsburgh and Watertown are both in the district and, if not as notable as Saratoga, both relatively important locally as the media hubs. The area also has a large number of colleges that skew some areas bluer than you might expect.

I share your pet peeve, even though recently I’ve had more experiences with more than one person trying to take out order. It’s a better version of the same problem, in that someone isn’t communicating effectively. The most recent time it happened, it’s because we were at a place with fifty numbered tables and the…

You know, I’m going to admit that it never crossed my Old mind that people might mean “bites” and “for the table” or whatever weren’t the traditional appetizer-entree-dessert model I grew up with.

I’ve had experiences where it was really cool to watch something on the big screen surrounded by people who were also really into it.

Yeah, I’d generally agree with this. I used the factories as our most glaring example, because those are jobs that pay quite well, but it really is all the unskilled sectors. But you’re right that there is a lot of variation in that category.

I’m a cis het white old. Nothing is happening to me as long as I keep my liberal mouth shut in this new era. But I am so scared for the women in my life, because I know way too many “compassionate conservatives” who want nothing more than women as slaves.

I get really scared when I think of what a Trump-picked replacement would look like. Like crushingly depressed about what will happen to people I care about. 

I grew up in that district. It’s a lot of old white people, D and R, who would never vote for a D woman and will hold their nose about an R woman just to have the R win, and bonus points if the old guys in their NRA hats can leer at her.

She’s my hometown congressperson, which isn’t saying too much identifiable because her sparsely-populated district is probably larger than some states. She’s generally seen as a empty-suit carpetbagger with a rich family that has an Adirondack place, but as long as the “R” is next to her name, a good portion of the…

My parents were undereducated blue collar workers who lived in fear of making the boss mad. They taught be very bad lessons about what was acceptable, because having a job was always more important than self-preservation. 

My first (on the books) job was a local grocery store. It was one of the first times in my young life that no one cared if I was smart or competent in anything but moving boxes from A to B. But it was also the first time I was around kids my own age who were from outside my small town (store was next town over) and I…

One of the best experiences for me was getting fired from my first real (ie, working papers and paystubs) teenage job. I’m not sure I’m all the way to (c) yet, but it really brought home (b) and made me rethink what I wanted to do with myself. 

It’s always the same in the comments.

I’m still seeing a disconnect, if anecdotal, because all of the people I know that fit your first paragraph are max 15%, unless there’s cleavage, and then my FIL goes up to 50%. 

Not disagreeing with your general point, but the factories in my area can’t get unskilled labor to fill numerous open vacancies. In many areas there is a dearth of truly unskilled labor. 

I’m okay with that. I’d rather everyone paid equally than getting an angry server after Church People left 0% on a $150 bill. 

I really want to highlight that last point. Most of the people I know who are waiting tables are reasonably intelligent people doing it because the money per hours invested calculus works in their favor. Some make okay money. Some make limited money but like the hours. There’s this idea that everyone waiting tables…

Same, except for the part where you’re competent and remember to mention it. I just end up throwing down some cash and hoping to recoup it elsewhere.