Mike Rowe

From Mike’s Mud Room on Discovery.com Q: a) If you are a minimalist and don’t want things, what do you perceive as the purpose of having money? Is it to have something to benefit others and to be able to give when needed? Or just to be able to retire at an age when you are still young enough to enjoy your life? When you are still intact! b) Has your definition of minimalist changed? I am not trying to pry or invade your personal space so I apologize if the question is inappropriate; I just think people’s views on Read More

From Mike’s Mud Room on Discovery.com Q: Dear Mike Rowe, -Lisa Uh..Oh. I have visited your modest website, mikeroweWORKS. You have a pretty good idea but although your intentions are good ones sir, you are preaching to the choir. I don’t mean to be. If my intent were to reach choir members, I’d have simply used The Mudroom to sound off. Setting up a new site seemed the only way to reach those not currently in the “choir.” The people who watch you and your show already know what is going on with the work force in this country but Read More

From the MRW Water Cooler Q:Well, I’ve already posted on unions, which could potentially be a contentious topic. So, I may as well go ahead and step right in it, since I already have my boots on. Another topic that’s been on my mind as I read the posts in this forum is: IMMIGRATION. Actually, I’ve been thinking more about illegal immigration and its economic effects, but legal immigration has an effect on the U.S. labor force, too. As my inability to sleep continued on Saturday night, I saw what I thought was a very interesting program on BookTV. Mark Read More

From the MRW Water Cooler Q: What am I doing to form mikeroweWorks? That is what I’m finding myself pondering. Mike is not up for a decent discussion. He hangs around the break room or derails work room threads. I’ve been thinking that he is tapped out by discussing this with everyone and their brother. I can’t blame him for that. -???Kathy ??Hi Kathy, ??Forgive me, but it seems as though maybe you can? ?? But I have a very hazy idea of the point of my “help” with this. Hey, the unexamined life…blah, blah.”? You seek clarity, in a Read More

From the MRW Water Cooler Q: Can’t wait to see what you have up your sleeve. I’m sure it will be great. -Twane Twane, If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this business, it’s the importance of managing expectations. That usually means lowering them. Allow me to do so now. What you will see this evening at mikeroweworks.com is merely a holding page. On it, will be a 10 minute video of yours truly, trying to explain what the hell I’m doing. There will be a transcript from another exclusive, one-on-one interview with me, conducted by me. And there will Read More

From the MRW Water Cooler Q: I’m not sure I fully understand what you are doing but I am hoping that you will shine the light on it soon. -Mandy Hi Mandy, that makes two of us. Let me tell you what I know for sure. Dirty Jobs has survived far beyond it’s anticipated shelf life. It’s still on today because the viewers of the show have had an actual impact on what the show looks like. If I’ve learned anything these last few years, it’s not to plan too far ahead. So, if mikeroweWORKS, works, it will be because Read More

From the MRW Water Cooler Q: So…the success of mikeroweWORKS, to you, will be dependent on getting your views out there in the public eye?” -Tia Hi Tia As I’ve said before, I try and set modest goals. For now, I can say with certainty that a message that no one hears is nothing more than a monologue. So yes, I’ll feel successful if I can get the message out to a sizable audience. Believe me, it’s not easy. After that, I’ll take my cue from whatever response the message elicits. As to where I want mikeroweWORKS to “end up,” Read More

From the MRW Water Cooler Q: Mike’s not going to read through 8 pages of thread. -Lisa Ya just never know, do you? Amazing thread, great topic. The truth is, Lisa’s questions are best answered in a book, or perhaps, another venue, both of which I plan to undertake, in the unlikely event I find myself with several consecustive weeks off. Till then, a few brief comments to the original questions. I am curious as to why you are considered the hero of the working man? Obviously, that can only be answered by those who consider me as such. I Read More

From the MRW Water Cooler Q: Everyone seems to be knockin’ the white collar guy! -Nat Hi Nat, That strikes me as a rather amazing observation. Please provide us with a few examples of how white collar jobs are being disparaged. I’m having trouble finding any. “Don’t we need each other to reach our full potential?” Of course. I’ve always maintained that blue and white collar should not be portrayed as opposites, but as two sides of the same coin. Have you read something to the contrary? Rationally, we all know that a healthy workforce needs both blue and white Read More

From the MRW Water Cooler Q: Slipping down a path is much easier than clamoring up it. And as humans we will put up with a great deal of nagging that all is not well before we will actually act. But the moment comes when a path must be chosen instead of randomly wandered down any further. -Kathy Hi Kathy, “Random wandering” is a lot less random than people believe. There are times, more for some than others, when we tell ourselves that we are just “going with the flow.” However, this philosophy, when intentionally applied, is really no less Read More

From the mrW Water Cooler Q: How do you beat the blues? – Ann In my opinion, you don’t “beat the blues,” you listen to them. I assume you’re not talking about depression. That’s controversial to say the least, and I have no advice on how to handle a feeling that some consider to be a disease. I do however, believe it’s naive to try and rush away or minimize a feeling of grief or sadness that may exist in your mind for a very good reason. What if, like physical pain, the blues are there to help us? What Read More

From the MRW Water Cooler Q: Do you consider “Dirty Jobs” an environmentally friendly show? If so, why? I’m ambivalent. On the one hand, I can think of no other program that positively impacts our environment more than Dirty Jobs. On the other hand, that impact is entirely coincidental. Dirty Jobs celebrates hard work, sweat, pain, capitalism, and humor. I have no environmental agenda, and no interest in publicly promoting the notion that our planet is in peril. In fact, I’d like to see the death of anthropomorphic propaganda. The Earth is not my “mother.” It’s neither loving nor angry, Read More

From the MRW Water Cooler Q: Crumbling infrastructure? Decreased enrollment in trade schools? How about letting the rest of us read it? -Moose Hi Moose, If I send it, you’ll see it, as will everyone else, since it will be an “open letter.” I haven’t decided yet if I want to go there, but if I do, it will be part of a dual effort to promote the show, while doing something worthwhile with this nightmare of a resume. Though unqualified in almost every way, I have been afforded an audience with the kind of workers both candidates seem desperate Read More

From the MRW Water Cooler Q: Mike, this goes way beyond the infrastructure crumbling because we cannot attract workers in the trades. When did this become acceptable? Society went from Catholic guilt to Protestant work ethic, to half done is good enough. Is this a natural progression? -Kathy Hi Kathy. Like the trades and the crumbling infrastructure, the issues you describe are not really problems – they are symptoms. The problem is the fact that we have turned work into the enemy. Today, we portray most work as a form of drudgery, and rarely celebrate any payoff beyond remuneration. As Read More

From the MRW Water Cooler Q: Lately Mike and others have been alluding to the fact that DJ’s is much bigger than just a TV show, and that it will now (or possibly has always) been/be a vehicle for a much larger agendas/goals/themes/whatever. – Arica Hi Arica, The notion of working for a living is, and has always has been, in my opinion, a large and encompassing theme – larger and more encompassing than a TV show – and something we all share, trust fund babies excluded. Dirty Jobs however, is nothing more than a TV show, driven by a Read More