To My Fellow Americans

[Tasdik]

If you're sitting around kind of not really doing anything with your life, dissatisfied with your current situation, whether it be financially, mentally, or whatever. Then I highly encourage you to do what I've done over the past few months.

1. Move to Williston, North Dakota.

2. Get a job working for an oil company.

3. ????

4. Profit. (aka: Make a shit ton of money and become far more content with yourself then you ever have been.)

I've been up here for about 4 months now. Currently working for an oil servicing company where I build tank batteries (Where the crude oil gets refined upon extraction from the earth). And I have to say, I never pictured myself as the type to do manual labor, and actually enjoy/be good at it. Let alone working 90+ work weeks. But I am, and I couldn't be happier with my current situation.

There's something about a good hard days worth of work that is extremely satisfying as a man.

Anyhow, I figured I'd give a little life update on what I'm doing. If you don't know what you want to do, or who you want to be, then coming up here could be the perfect solution for you.

I know it was for me.

[Squirt]

Do you thrust a giant hammer throughout the day as the suns rays glisten on your rippling abs... errr, Hows the pay?

[Tasdik]

Bahaha.

I have spent days swinging a sledge hammer building pump jacks.

Spoiler!

And I'm currently making $18hr, with a shit ton of over time. $18/hr is fairly typical for newbies to the oil field. But if you get certain positions, you can make like $50/hr easily.

And to give you a point of reference, Mcdonalds pays people $15/hr up here. So, yeah.

[.curve]

A field like this, or solar farms/windmills are the jobs my friends and I have been looking into.

[Tasdik]

Do it!

Aside from great pay, interesting work, you also get the additional benefit of being in the best shape of your life. Since I've been up here I've gained like 25lbs of solid muscle.

[Avalanche]

Sorry but that aint shit. If you think making $18/hr is decent you need some perspective.

[Squirt]

Sorry but that aint shit. If you think making $18/hr is decent you need some perspective.

Growing up in a poor family 18$ an hour is fine pay... You can live a modest life with that. Sure you can't take vacations whenever you want or you can't own the latest cars. But you can damn sure live a modest life with that. (Eastern US)

[inky]

Sorry but that aint shit. If you think making $18/hr is decent you need some perspective.

Really depends on where you live as well. The lower the cost of living, the lower the pay (usually). $18/hr in NY, for example, would be alright if you have a husband/wife that works as well. It can definitely support a family but as far as having extra money to buy some luxuries, you'll have to hold off on a lot of things if you want to save up. I don't think I can live with $18/hr (40hrs/week) in NY just because I'm terrible when it comes to spending even though I don't have kids to support yet.


In any case, doing manual field labor sounds rewarding and it definitely beats sitting in an office chair in the city. I used to do office work and I really can't imagine myself being stuck in a cubicle feeding off of stress and boring paperwork the entire day. Picture yourself spending most of your life's waking hours sitting in an office working on papers so some asshole can get even more rich. Blah.

[Rawr]

Sorry but that aint shit. If you think making $18/hr is decent you need some perspective.

It all matters where you live and how you spend it.

$18 an hour here will easily get you a newly built 4 bedroom house with a decent amount of land and a $40k+ car while having an extra ~$800 or so monthly.
In NY that'd be enough to get you an apartment the size of a closet, a bicycle, and you'd be living on stale bread and milk.

[CrimsonNuker]

90+ hours a week? That's 12 hours a day lol; sounds like there's little work/life balance

[*BlackFox]

Well, at least it's a pretty "decent pay" for a newbie.. lulz

[Tasdik]

90+ hours a week? That's 12 hours a day lol; sounds like there's little work/life balance

We dont work Sundays. So more like 15 hour days.

But yeah, there are some jobs where you can work less, and some where you can work more.

And I know $18/hr isnt crazy. But when you consider the 50 hours of overtime in, I make about 6k/month. After taxes. (which are a bitch).

Plus, given the fact that you don't need a college degree or anything, its pretty good.

[Fiction]

Nothing finer than a pipeliner. If you really wanna make bank, without actually having to spend a ton on college(lol I still did) pipeline is a great field to get into. Round where I live I bring home 8-10k a month depending on how many days I'm working. For reference, McDonalds pays 7.25 an hour round here, and cost of living is one of the lowest in the country.

[Tasdik]

Ooh. Looks like im moving in with Fiction. Ha.

But no, really, where do you live again?

[Fiction]

Oklahoma. Starting wages for just a laborer is about 5k a month. Per diam is not taxed and usually about 100 bucks a day starting no matter if you actually worked that day or got rained out. (Im talking in take home... Depending on your situation they could take more or less. I have a wife that's an RN, so we're taxed pretty generously.)

[Tasdik]

See you in two weeks then.

*puts his two weeks notice in*

[Fiction]

Lol For real. Most guys are from out of town and just live out of motels/hotels or campers, so it's not a hard thing to just pick up and move.

[sneaky]

See you in two weeks then.

*puts his two weeks notice in*

What will Fiction wife say?

[I Am Vegeta]

considering you guys got like no social service compared to here 18$/h seems low :s

[Tasdik]

Lol For real. Most guys are from out of town and just live out of motels/hotels or campers, so it's not a hard thing to just pick up and move.

Yeah. That's pretty much how it is up here. Plus, itd be nice Being closer to TN would be nice.

See you in two weeks then.

*puts his two weeks notice in*

What will Fiction wife say?

Free house slave ftw?

considering you guys got like no social service compared to here 18$/h seems low :s

Not really. I mean, if you're only working 40hrs/week, then yeah. But even still, back home thatd be pretty good

[Avalanche]

Working 15 hour days manual labor? Enjoy hell. I'd rather work the normal 40hr/wk, get paid better salary, and skip the hard labor. Seems like you took the easy route out because you didn't want to sit through school.

[Blindfire]

You should look into the oil sands in Alberta. The work is usually 20 days on 10 days off and some companies will fly you home for your 10 days off.

[Fiction]

Working 15 hour days manual labor? Enjoy hell. I'd rather work the normal 40hr/wk, get paid better salary, and skip the hard labor. Seems like you took the easy route out because you didn't want to sit through school.

I don't work close to 15 hours a day, and sit in A/C 95% of the time. Lol and I still "sat through school". I bring home more than my wife does and she's got her bachelor's in nursing, and works for the best paying hospital around. (of course she'll out earn me as she's still getting degrees)

[Avalanche]

Working 15 hour days manual labor? Enjoy hell. I'd rather work the normal 40hr/wk, get paid better salary, and skip the hard labor. Seems like you took the easy route out because you didn't want to sit through school.

I don't work close to 15 hours a day, and sit in A/C 95% of the time. Lol and I still "sat through school". I bring home more than my wife does and she's got her bachelor's in nursing, and works for the best paying hospital around. (of course she'll out earn me as she's still getting degrees)

I'm talking about Tasdik's job

[Fiction]

Aww yeah, just saying cause the similarities. You don't need a degree to make what I make in my field.

[Tasdik]

Eh, the manual labor doesn't bother me any more. Guess I've just gotten used to it.

Also, Fiction, what kind of pipelining shit are they doing in OK?

[Tasdik]

Working 15 hour days manual labor? Enjoy hell. I'd rather work the normal 40hr/wk, get paid better salary, and skip the hard labor. Seems like you took the easy route out because you didn't want to sit through school.

Oh, and if I stick with this job for like 5-10 years, I'll be able to retire at age 32 and never have to work a day in my life again.

Also, School was easy. Too easy. Made the Dean's list/got straight A's my first semester of college, without ever studying. But yeah, I didn't have a specific degree I wanted to work towards, so I figured I'd try and figure that out while making some moolah.

[BuDo]

Ya no thanks...I've already did my tour of duty working my fingers till they looked like bloody prunes working on a fishing boat for years...And then did a couple of years climbing electrical power poles to hang communication gear/equipment/lines...I went back to school for a reason...Money should work hard for me...not the other way around...If I want manly adventures I can always go out camping/fishing/kayaking etc...(which I do in the summer anyways)....

[Fiction]

Lol you post a picture of a bunch of rough necks. Building pump jacks and tank batteries or working pipeline is nothing like what the old rough necks went through.

Tas, we're doing mainline work atm, but you can find just about everything round here or even in states like SD, PA, TX, CA. I just prefer living and working in OK for now.

[Deadfear]

you work too much nig