Thread: Apprenticeship

ha! i remember my indenture papers, ornate writing, lots of rules, lots of fine print, my boss made it clear just how much of a favour he was doing me and that i was lucky to get paid at all (traditionally no pay-yeah right, this is the 20th century boss!didnt bother him none though), which frankly we didnt get paid for all our hours early on until i made myself more valuable to him than he could do without....i think a marriage contract had heaps less to it..much of it had the same intent to that document although i dont remember anything about taverns or playhouses, maybe my boss had them deleted, because as i remember he encouraged that sort of thing


cheers
chippy

Originally Posted by ch!ppy

i think a marriage contract had heaps less to it..much of it had the same intent to that document
cheers
chippy

At least in the apprenticeship they are up front about the no fornicating

An apprentice was the original labour saving device and once he started making the master some money, the master would naturally want to keep him fit to work and locked up for awhile.

Early on I worked with a Jamaican cabinetmaker. He came up in the English system. When a tricky job came up the apprentices were sent off to do some grunt work. The tradesmen did the job. If the apprentice could figure out how the job was done, the tradsmen would explain how they did it. Not like that today.

Originally Posted by Ball Peen

An apprentice was the original labour saving device and once he started making the master some money, the master would naturally want to keep him fit to work and locked up for awhile.

Early on I worked with a Jamaican cabinetmaker. He came up in the English system. When a tricky job came up the apprentices were sent off to do some grunt work. The tradesmen did the job. If the apprentice could figure out how the job was done, the tradsmen would explain how they did it. Not like that today.

Ain't that the truth and then some!

Worse still are the bosses who take on school based apprentices and then give them the flick once the |Gov. money is gone!!

Originally Posted by Ball Peen

An apprentice was the original labour saving device and once he started making the master some money, the master would naturally want to keep him fit to work and locked up for awhile.

Early on I worked with a Jamaican cabinetmaker. He came up in the English system. When a tricky job came up the apprentices were sent off to do some grunt work. The tradesmen did the job. If the apprentice could figure out how the job was done, the tradsmen would explain how they did it. Not like that today.

definitely a labour (saving) device, its no good having a dog an barking yourself and its not unusual to give apprentices certain tasks while doing some of the more complicated, delicate, or more enjoyable work your self, thats one of the perks to being boss, other work you might delegate to a more experienced worker and the newest apprentice gets the more menial tasks. a keen apprentice (that wants to learn) is a good thing and when you pick one your always looking for that, it can wear you down a bit though because they are always asking questions, all day every day, so sometimes its worth making them jump through hoops

funny you mention about keeping them fit to work and such, i had many apprentices, being young they all go through some sort phase and thats just life and such, now and again and apprentice or even qualified tradesman would come to work severely hung over, its made known that its unacceptable, you have to being boss but thats life and it happens, i did let one young apprentice go though, he would repeatedly come in to work still stoned from the night (morning) before, tried everything to get him on the straight and narrow but he just kept doing it, it was a waste of time having him when he was like that and he was a danger to himself and others so sadly i had to let him go, shame really because other than that he was a good lad



cheers
chippy

Originally Posted by artme

....

Worse still are the bosses who take on school based apprentices and then give them the flick once the |Gov. money is gone!!

i've often heard of that, as a rumour, but i've never seen or heard of it, actually happening. frankly i wouldn't see any advantage whatso ever, the dollars they give you dont make you rich, its just a token payment, it doesnt even put you in front, you lose an apprentice once a week to trade school but still pay him, that money subsidises that for a little while but then your a pair of hands down, which at the beginning is more a blessing because they make things go slower for a while when they are new, or worse they cost you money because they muck something up, in later years its a real pain to lose them to trade school for a day even though they still dont know everything they come to be a worthwhile cog in your team so you lose far more money in lost production. on rare occasions you let an apprentice go, they just dont work out, sometimes its their choice (too hard for them), i've sacked one because his smoking weed interfered with him doing his work, had to let a fine lad go once because of his father whom became such a nuisance it made life impossible, he was extremely religious and didnt want the lad exposed to language of any kind or even seeing people drinking, wanted him home at exact times etc etc, he could not look at TV's or magazine or advertisements, he drove me crazy with constant phone calls and waiting on my door step, which was shame for the 16-17 old lad...no way could i shield him from those things on building sites or even in the workshop. sometimes i've taken on lads that didnt work out with other tradesmen, usualy ones i know and i know they are hard to work for so i figure its worth taking them on, otherwise i like to have one new so they havnt picked up any bad habits and learn things my way.


cheers
chippy