apprentice

The job they called me to work on was a floor in two new stores.

We thought of them as large grocery stores, but by today’s standards they were pretty small, maybe 2 or 3000 feet each.

The tile was newly available Vinyl-Asbestos tile (there was no danger from this asbestos- to us at least). It was about 3/32 thick (not quite an eighth of an inch) and was quite heavy.

The trick was to pick up a stack about 4 or 5 inches high, bend over and put a tile in position, kick it in a bit tighter with the foot and then do it again and again.

Hard work, and a bit tedious. The tile had to be set tight or all sorts of problems would show up.

At the end of the jobs, Miles said to me. “Dave we have lots of work to do, but you don’t know how to do it, so I guess that is all we can use you.” That is a fairly standard line to a beginning worker.

In a fit of brilliance (brilliance comes and goes in my life, goes more often than comes, I fear) I said to him: “If you will teach me, I will work for free.”

Hmm, he said, I will need to talk to Otto.

They decided I was worthy and I began going to work every day, lunch in hand, just like I had a job, I just didn’t get paid. I don’t remember how we lived, I know we didn’t have much money. Miriam may have finished her nurses training by the and had a job, I don’t remember.

The guys were pretty smart. They taught me one small part of the business that I could make them a profit on, and so I could be paid.

Ceramic tile had recently become available to the Floor trades. There was one real Tile Setter in town, but the method of installation was close to what a mason might do, that is lots of cement (like they make concrete out of), sand and such.

We used a thin ceramic tile a bit over ⅛” thick, imported from England. We used a mastic (glue) and stuck the tile right on sheetrock. It was a bad idea, and it did not last too long (typically 8 to 10 years) but it was the best affordable thing available to us right then.

The trick was that the mastic we used was lethal. It was taken off the market a LONG time ago, for good reasons. In 45 minutes to an hour it would make you so dizzy you could hardly stand up.

I learned to set a tub wrap (about 5’ high around a bathtub) before I got really dizzy, about 45 minutes.

Before too long they bought me a nice tool box filled with the tools they thought I should have, they gave me a company truck to drive, and paid me $1.75 an hour. Considering that minimum wage was 75 cents an hour, I was being paid very well.

That is how I became an apprentice, how I learned the trade that fed us much of my life. As trades go it was a good one. The pay was pretty good, the work was inside, warm in winter and cool in summer, it was fairly clean most of the time and Otto and Miles were good to work for.

Arline was a baby, Miriam was beautiful, life was good.