this post was submitted on 13 Apr 2026
110 points (99.1% liked)

No Stupid Questions

47687 readers
763 users here now

No such thing. Ask away!

!nostupidquestions is a community dedicated to being helpful and answering each others' questions on various topics.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All post titles must include a question.

All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.



Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.

On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it's in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.

If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.



Rule 7- You can't intentionally annoy, mock, or harass other members.

If you intentionally annoy, mock, harass, or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here. This includes using AI responses and summaries.



Credits

Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!

The greatest banner of all time: by @TheOneWithTheHair!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I'm in the US, no degree, and absolutely sick to death of working in retail.

I've tried all the jobs website. They haven't even gotten me an interview. The only job search method that's ever given me results is to think of businesses near me and apply to them directly. But that only leaves me working more retail, since public facing businesses are all I'm interacting with.

I just want a job that pays my bills, and lets me work on a consistent schedule. I'm so sick of having my hours constantly whipped back and forth. I just want to go to bed at the same time every day.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Get on as a construction helper. Zero experience required, just show up on time with some basic tools every day.

Emphasis added.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 8 points 2 days ago (3 children)

what would basic tools be. Seems wierd they expect the person to show up with tools for a general helper job.

[–] discocactus@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Measuring tape, speed square, pencil, bags, durable and weather appropriate clothes/shoes. Lunch. Water. It's just the industry standard.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

thats not to bad but I honestly do not know what a speed square is unless its that little 90 degree angled metal thing maybe?

[–] FudgyMcTubbs@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's that little 90 degree angled metal thing.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

ok so thats not to bad. really everything discocactus listed is pretty common in any job except for the pencil, tape measure, and speed square. The speed square is then the only not common thing.

[–] blarghly@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah. "Bring your own tools" is a pretty common policy in a lot of blue collar work. The company might technically provide the tools you need - but they will typically provide the cheapest, shittiest versions. So the workers will bring their own tools, which are higher quality. And since they are personally owned, they are less likely to get broken or "walk away". And since everyone is bringing their own tools, the guy at the job site who is supposed to bring the tools gets lackadaisical about that part of his job.

So you show up as the new guy, first day on the job, and they say

"where's your hammer?"

"I dunno, I thought you guys had hammers"

"Joe, we have any hammers?"

"We got some at the office"

And now you're just gonna stand around all day not doing shit, feeling embarassed that you don't have a hammer. And then you go to the hardware store and buy a hammer after work that day, so Joe is able to continue slacking off at his job of remembering to bring the hammers.

[–] Cheesus@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)
  • Unless you're in Europe. Having to bring your own tools is a north american thing. Here all tools are provided, even pencils and tape measures. Hell, my last construction job even provided clothes and work boots, but that might be company specific. Also, generally north american construction companies require you to have your own hand tools, but not expensive power tools like large drills and saws. Cordless power tools can go either way but I always had my own.

Source: worked 15+ years construction in NA, and did a year in Europe before changing careers.

[–] mangobanana@discuss.online 1 points 13 hours ago

Personally it's that companies in America are so shitty that they don't want to pony up the money for tools. I work for a local government parks dept and all the tools are provided for the trades staff

If youre super green (no experience at all) they wont expect much. You wont need much for the first year other than being able to show up, listen to directions, and not hurt yourself or others.

A framing crew will expect you to have basic hand tools more than a general construction company would. One is teaching you a trade and the other just wants a laborer.

Being a good helper gets you started toward something better. A lead, a contractor, whatever. I work for myself now, and that is very achievable for anyone.

Depends on the trade but tape measure and pencil+sharpie is standard. Framers will need hammer and speed square, electrician will need strippers, lineman pliers, etc.

Most stuff will be provided by whoever youre working with but you'll be expected to invest in your tools periodically. If you have to borrow something twice, you should pick it up.

Also, good protective shoes. Im a big fan of my Keens.

[–] West_of_West@piefed.social 2 points 2 days ago

I was going to recommend this as well. Or going the apprentice -> journeyman route.