As a boy apprentice my tasks were simple, age-, position- and experience-appropriate. There was no doubt my position on the totem pole was bottom. When Jack Collins finished work each day he insisted we put our tools away sharp. It was a given for us to spend ten minutes after sweep up to sharpen up the tools so we were ready to go next day at 7.30. He insisted the tools be stowed in our toolboxes. After a while, Jack being the foreman and total a-alpha male shop controller, I noticed his insistence never extended to his workbench and that he always left his bench piled high, unswept, unkempt and totally disorderly when it came down to tools. So anyway, one night, tired, above my station, a little belligerent, I asked Jack if he needed help to tidy his bench. He said, “No.” I went on and asked why he never put his tools away. This was tantamount to suicide for a “boy” my age. He said, “Well, if someone breaks in here and wants my tools I’m not packing them up for them. If they want my tools they must pick up and pack each one if they can indeed find them. The first tools to go will be the boxes packed and filled neatly with sharp tools ready to go.” Then he said, “Sweep the shop.”
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 23:14:31 +0000