Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find this post very interesting, especially the comment about dating/marrying a firefighter. I work as a firefighter (Captain) with Washington DC Fire Department. I feel as if I'm a combination of blue and white collar. I manage dozens of people, make decisions under the most stressful circumstances (literally life and death decisions), I manage inputting time for payroll, discipline, training, public relations, and dozens of other activities. However, at any time I can be in side of a burning building or working a shooting with blood everywhere. Sounds horrible, but I love thy job. I also wonder if most people realize what firefighters earn here in DC and I wonder if it would make a difference in the minds of everyone when it comes to viewing our "social status". Most young firemen make in the neighborhood of $80 to $90,000 per year before overtime and holidays. As a Captain I bring in around $150,000 base and around $200,000 after overtime. To be honest I don't even know how this stacks up against most of you...is it a decent salary for a "white collar" worker? Also, I know many, many other firemen who own businesses. Our unique schedule give us that opportunity that few other professions provide. We work for 24 hours straight, followed by 3 days off. In other words I work 2 days a week, allowing me 5 days a week to build my business. (We sleep at night between runs, so I may start the day a bit tired, but I'm functioning). I know more millionaire firemen than you would ever imagine. So does this put us in parity with other men in the potential dating pool for the average DC area female? Granted, most of the guys I work with are more into beer, football, hunting and fishing than many in the white collar world (I personally love fishing but don't get the chance to do it much), many of us enjoy the arts, history, dressing up and going to nice restaurants and the such. I personally love these kinds of activities. I have a bachelor's degree from a major university, speak another language and learning a third, just in the middle of starting my own company with several big contracts already in the pipeline. Now both of those things are independent of the other. My income and my interests. Many people have higher income and no interest in the arts, and many make much less and probably love these things even more than I do. I think you have to ask yourself which one of these are more important to you. I personally think the most important thing is finding a person who shares the same interests (and has others as well), whom you become best friends with. I also believe another thing about the guys you might choose to date in this area. It seems to me that although nice, many of the guys here can't even change a tire or do anything remotely mechanical. Many seem kind of feminized and have forgotten or never knew what it was like to me a man.
Why am I writing this? I'm not entirely sure, but I've been trying to figure out the dating scene around here. I've been divorced for about a year, so this is all new to me. I guess I'm just trying to figure out how I rank when it comes to other DC guys.

I'd date you if I wasn't already married! Also, your post kind of makes me want to be a firefighter...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find this post very interesting, especially the comment about dating/marrying a firefighter. I work as a firefighter (Captain) with Washington DC Fire Department. I feel as if I'm a combination of blue and white collar. I manage dozens of people, make decisions under the most stressful circumstances (literally life and death decisions), I manage inputting time for payroll, discipline, training, public relations, and dozens of other activities. However, at any time I can be in side of a burning building or working a shooting with blood everywhere. Sounds horrible, but I love thy job. I also wonder if most people realize what firefighters earn here in DC and I wonder if it would make a difference in the minds of everyone when it comes to viewing our "social status". Most young firemen make in the neighborhood of $80 to $90,000 per year before overtime and holidays. As a Captain I bring in around $150,000 base and around $200,000 after overtime. To be honest I don't even know how this stacks up against most of you...is it a decent salary for a "white collar" worker? Also, I know many, many other firemen who own businesses. Our unique schedule give us that opportunity that few other professions provide. We work for 24 hours straight, followed by 3 days off. In other words I work 2 days a week, allowing me 5 days a week to build my business. (We sleep at night between runs, so I may start the day a bit tired, but I'm functioning). I know more millionaire firemen than you would ever imagine. So does this put us in parity with other men in the potential dating pool for the average DC area female? Granted, most of the guys I work with are more into beer, football, hunting and fishing than many in the white collar world (I personally love fishing but don't get the chance to do it much), many of us enjoy the arts, history, dressing up and going to nice restaurants and the such. I personally love these kinds of activities. I have a bachelor's degree from a major university, speak another language and learning a third, just in the middle of starting my own company with several big contracts already in the pipeline. Now both of those things are independent of the other. My income and my interests. Many people have higher income and no interest in the arts, and many make much less and probably love these things even more than I do. I think you have to ask yourself which one of these are more important to you. I personally think the most important thing is finding a person who shares the same interests (and has others as well), whom you become best friends with. I also believe another thing about the guys you might choose to date in this area. It seems to me that although nice, many of the guys here can't even change a tire or do anything remotely mechanical. Many seem kind of feminized and have forgotten or never knew what it was like to me a man.
Why am I writing this? I'm not entirely sure, but I've been trying to figure out the dating scene around here. I've been divorced for about a year, so this is all new to me. I guess I'm just trying to figure out how I rank when it comes to other DC guys.

I'd date you if I wasn't already married! Also, your post kind of makes me want to be a firefighter...

Firefighters and cops are literally raping local government budgets. Why the f$$$k they need to work so much overtime. I had a fried who performed an internal audit at Fairfax and exposed all of the looting that goes on. Don't get me wrong...I appreciate public safety staff but I also know most hire under the "public safety" BS and just steal $$ from tax payers. Now...does this enhance your reputation?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find this post very interesting, especially the comment about dating/marrying a firefighter. I work as a firefighter (Captain) with Washington DC Fire Department. I feel as if I'm a combination of blue and white collar. I manage dozens of people, make decisions under the most stressful circumstances (literally life and death decisions), I manage inputting time for payroll, discipline, training, public relations, and dozens of other activities. However, at any time I can be in side of a burning building or working a shooting with blood everywhere. Sounds horrible, but I love thy job. I also wonder if most people realize what firefighters earn here in DC and I wonder if it would make a difference in the minds of everyone when it comes to viewing our "social status". Most young firemen make in the neighborhood of $80 to $90,000 per year before overtime and holidays. As a Captain I bring in around $150,000 base and around $200,000 after overtime. To be honest I don't even know how this stacks up against most of you...is it a decent salary for a "white collar" worker? Also, I know many, many other firemen who own businesses. Our unique schedule give us that opportunity that few other professions provide. We work for 24 hours straight, followed by 3 days off. In other words I work 2 days a week, allowing me 5 days a week to build my business. (We sleep at night between runs, so I may start the day a bit tired, but I'm functioning). I know more millionaire firemen than you would ever imagine. So does this put us in parity with other men in the potential dating pool for the average DC area female? Granted, most of the guys I work with are more into beer, football, hunting and fishing than many in the white collar world (I personally love fishing but don't get the chance to do it much), many of us enjoy the arts, history, dressing up and going to nice restaurants and the such. I personally love these kinds of activities. I have a bachelor's degree from a major university, speak another language and learning a third, just in the middle of starting my own company with several big contracts already in the pipeline. Now both of those things are independent of the other. My income and my interests. Many people have higher income and no interest in the arts, and many make much less and probably love these things even more than I do. I think you have to ask yourself which one of these are more important to you. I personally think the most important thing is finding a person who shares the same interests (and has others as well), whom you become best friends with. I also believe another thing about the guys you might choose to date in this area. It seems to me that although nice, many of the guys here can't even change a tire or do anything remotely mechanical. Many seem kind of feminized and have forgotten or never knew what it was like to me a man.
Why am I writing this? I'm not entirely sure, but I've been trying to figure out the dating scene around here. I've been divorced for about a year, so this is all new to me. I guess I'm just trying to figure out how I rank when it comes to other DC guys.

I'd date you if I wasn't already married! Also, your post kind of makes me want to be a firefighter...

Anonymous wrote:I’m a lawyer and my husband in a cop. It works beautifully for us. I admire what he does, and he is very good at it. I don’t think any less of him for having a blue collar job—I respect him very much for it.

Anonymous wrote:I find this post very interesting, especially the comment about dating/marrying a firefighter. I work as a firefighter (Captain) with Washington DC Fire Department. I feel as if I'm a combination of blue and white collar. I manage dozens of people, make decisions under the most stressful circumstances (literally life and death decisions), I manage inputting time for payroll, discipline, training, public relations, and dozens of other activities. However, at any time I can be in side of a burning building or working a shooting with blood everywhere. Sounds horrible, but I love thy job. I also wonder if most people realize what firefighters earn here in DC and I wonder if it would make a difference in the minds of everyone when it comes to viewing our "social status". Most young firemen make in the neighborhood of $80 to $90,000 per year before overtime and holidays. As a Captain I bring in around $150,000 base and around $200,000 after overtime. To be honest I don't even know how this stacks up against most of you...is it a decent salary for a "white collar" worker? Also, I know many, many other firemen who own businesses. Our unique schedule give us that opportunity that few other professions provide. We work for 24 hours straight, followed by 3 days off. In other words I work 2 days a week, allowing me 5 days a week to build my business. (We sleep at night between runs, so I may start the day a bit tired, but I'm functioning). I know more millionaire firemen than you would ever imagine. So does this put us in parity with other men in the potential dating pool for the average DC area female? Granted, most of the guys I work with are more into beer, football, hunting and fishing than many in the white collar world (I personally love fishing but don't get the chance to do it much), many of us enjoy the arts, history, dressing up and going to nice restaurants and the such. I personally love these kinds of activities. I have a bachelor's degree from a major university, speak another language and learning a third, just in the middle of starting my own company with several big contracts already in the pipeline. Now both of those things are independent of the other. My income and my interests. Many people have higher income and no interest in the arts, and many make much less and probably love these things even more than I do. I think you have to ask yourself which one of these are more important to you. I personally think the most important thing is finding a person who shares the same interests (and has others as well), whom you become best friends with. I also believe another thing about the guys you might choose to date in this area. It seems to me that although nice, many of the guys here can't even change a tire or do anything remotely mechanical. Many seem kind of feminized and have forgotten or never knew what it was like to me a man.
Why am I writing this? I'm not entirely sure, but I've been trying to figure out the dating scene around here. I've been divorced for about a year, so this is all new to me. I guess I'm just trying to figure out how I rank when it comes to other DC guys.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up working class blue collar and now have a doctorate and high income. I think this could work if the still blue-collar person has a good reason for not having gone to college. Maybe they had ambition but life didn't work out as they hoped, or maybe they had ambition that manifested itself in something like carpentry expertise or electronics. Otherwise, you probably would have opposing world views and this would doom the relationship. Most of the guys in my neighborhood who didn't go to college had no curiosity about what was on the other side of town, much less of the country or the globe. They didn't care about books or art (other than heavy metal rock band music) and sneered at my interests. I know someone from back home who wanted to become a painter but he couldn't afford to go to college or art school. He now does painting of people's kitchen cabinets or baby murals in your nursery, and paints on his own time. He sells a few of his paintings now and then. But he's traveled around the US, Canada, and Mexico and has a thirst for beauty in nature and architecture. I'm pretty sure he's been to Europe to see the museums and buildings. Somebody like that could be a good match for a person with a white collar profession. Kinda like the guy on Sex in the City who Carrie was with but dumped after he renovated her apartment.

+1. Good insightful post.