After our first day on the job, we moved into our Las Vegas apartment. After unpacking, we decided to see what Las Vegas was all about and we drove downtown and visited the Mint casino. They had a 32 ounce steak dinner for just $3 and that attracted us to their top floor restaurant. We did a little gambling and far too much drinking, but Alex steered us back to reality by reminding us that we needed to get up at 5 the next morning.
And the next morning we began to assemble a crew from the candidates sent out by the local union. We were in luck, as the new Aladdin hotel had just been finished and now there were a few carpenters available that knew one end of a steel stud from the other. (Yes, there is a “right end” and “wrong end” to a steel stud.)
The days went by quickly. Since we knew the Broadway store layout so well, we were able to concentrate on teaching carpenters how to frame with steel studs and that kept us busy. And every night we could be found downtown at the Mint or the Fremont. Trying to win a fortune at the roulette wheel.
We had brought money (cash) with us and we had tried budgeting, but to no avail. The gambling was just too attractive and by Thursday we were out of money and had to have some emergency cash wired to us. What were we thinking? It was a sobering trip home on Friday afternoon. Hungry and thirsty. Well, not quite…between the three of us, we came up with enough loose change to buy a 6-pack for the drive home. (This was in the 1960’s…we didn’t have credit cards then. Honest!)
Friday, March 31, 2006
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Out of Town
Our first out of town job began late on a Sunday evening. Babe and I met Alex at his house in Encino and transferred our suitcases to the company truck. (No matter where we were driving to, it was always Alex’s plan to arrive in the morning of our planned start date.) After saying goodbye to our families, we set off for Las Vegas. Early in the morning we finally saw the glow of lights on the eastern horizon that indicated we were getting close. When we pulled into town, the dawn was complete and we went looking for a place to eat breakfast.
Las Vegas, more than 40 years ago, was very different…it was a small town. The “Strip” was minor in scale and the main attractions were downtown, on Fremont Street. But we saw a sign advertising breakfast for $1 at a “Strip” hotel and we stopped…We must have looked like real hicks, staring at all of the lights and glitter, even at this early hour. Our truck, loaded down with equipment, ladders and suitcases, must have looked equally “hickish”.
After breakfast, we found the local Carpenter’s Union hall and met the Business Agent. He was quite glad to see us, as the local economy was going through a “bust” cycle and he had lots of men out of work. And when we inquired about apartment rentals, he was quite happy to drive us around and help us locate a place near the jobsite. He also took the time to show us the housing development projects that had been shut down by the collapse of the local economy. We drove by block after block of half finished houses and apartments, weeds growing in the sidewalks and windows boarded up.
We found a likely place to rent and thanked the Business Agent; telling him we would probably ask for some men the next morning, but first we had to check in at the jobsite and make certain that they were ready for us to begin.
The Broadway store sat all by itself on a large parcel of desert acreage. The closest building was at least a mile away. Who would drive all of the way out here to shop?
We checked in with the Broadway representative on the job and located where we were supposed to start our work. Then it was time to unload the truck and get ready for the work day. We would spend the first day verifying all of the measurements within a department and snapping chalk lines onto the floor where the walls would go.
By 9, it was getting quite warm and by noon it was hot! Broadway stores had no windows and air circulation depended on open doors and fans; lots of fans! The first floor did have 4 large door openings, which helped, but in the weeks ahead, when we moved to the second and third floors, the heat grew intense.
Las Vegas, more than 40 years ago, was very different…it was a small town. The “Strip” was minor in scale and the main attractions were downtown, on Fremont Street. But we saw a sign advertising breakfast for $1 at a “Strip” hotel and we stopped…We must have looked like real hicks, staring at all of the lights and glitter, even at this early hour. Our truck, loaded down with equipment, ladders and suitcases, must have looked equally “hickish”.
After breakfast, we found the local Carpenter’s Union hall and met the Business Agent. He was quite glad to see us, as the local economy was going through a “bust” cycle and he had lots of men out of work. And when we inquired about apartment rentals, he was quite happy to drive us around and help us locate a place near the jobsite. He also took the time to show us the housing development projects that had been shut down by the collapse of the local economy. We drove by block after block of half finished houses and apartments, weeds growing in the sidewalks and windows boarded up.
We found a likely place to rent and thanked the Business Agent; telling him we would probably ask for some men the next morning, but first we had to check in at the jobsite and make certain that they were ready for us to begin.
The Broadway store sat all by itself on a large parcel of desert acreage. The closest building was at least a mile away. Who would drive all of the way out here to shop?
We checked in with the Broadway representative on the job and located where we were supposed to start our work. Then it was time to unload the truck and get ready for the work day. We would spend the first day verifying all of the measurements within a department and snapping chalk lines onto the floor where the walls would go.
By 9, it was getting quite warm and by noon it was hot! Broadway stores had no windows and air circulation depended on open doors and fans; lots of fans! The first floor did have 4 large door openings, which helped, but in the weeks ahead, when we moved to the second and third floors, the heat grew intense.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Las Vegas
Just when I thought I was home free…almost a journeyman; I was caught by the new apprenticeship committee of our Carpenters Local Union. They had decided that a school would be a nice thing for all apprentices to attend. And although I was within 9 months of becoming a journeyman, they figured that I could do a little time in school…on Saturday mornings…in downtown Los Angeles.
I went, quite reluctantly. After all, I was already being paid journeyman’s wages and I was directing work as if I were a foreman. What could they teach me?
As it turned out, I was right. The class taught us very little. The instructor was a crony, a friend of a friend who knew someone else…and the job paid well. So the “instructor” babysat about a dozen of us for 6 hours every other Saturday, unless we could talk him into letting us go early. Which we always did.
(Strangely enough, despite this poor beginning, in later years I ended up becoming very involved with the apprenticeship training program; even becoming an instructor myself. More about that later.)
During the week I was usually working on a Broadway store somewhere. Modern Drywall Systems had found a small gold mine in the department store construction business. There was hardly a Broadway store in the Los Angeles basin that we hadn’t built or remodeled.
And then it was time for some traveling…The Broadway-Hale people were expanding their horizons and asked us to come along. I think the first out of town job was in Las Vegas; a new store on Tropicana Blvd.
Alex asked Babe and me to go with him and I was eager to see someplace new and do something a little bit different, so I quickly agreed.
I went, quite reluctantly. After all, I was already being paid journeyman’s wages and I was directing work as if I were a foreman. What could they teach me?
As it turned out, I was right. The class taught us very little. The instructor was a crony, a friend of a friend who knew someone else…and the job paid well. So the “instructor” babysat about a dozen of us for 6 hours every other Saturday, unless we could talk him into letting us go early. Which we always did.
(Strangely enough, despite this poor beginning, in later years I ended up becoming very involved with the apprenticeship training program; even becoming an instructor myself. More about that later.)
During the week I was usually working on a Broadway store somewhere. Modern Drywall Systems had found a small gold mine in the department store construction business. There was hardly a Broadway store in the Los Angeles basin that we hadn’t built or remodeled.
And then it was time for some traveling…The Broadway-Hale people were expanding their horizons and asked us to come along. I think the first out of town job was in Las Vegas; a new store on Tropicana Blvd.
Alex asked Babe and me to go with him and I was eager to see someplace new and do something a little bit different, so I quickly agreed.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
History
After a few months, the Fallbrook Square project was history and just in time…as Alex called us back to work. It seemed that our work with the store fixture companies at the May Co. store had impressed them and they were interested in having us bid on some Broadway stores.
We would be third tier subcontractors on these jobs. The owner, Broadway-Hale would have a contract with a general contractor to build the shell of a building. Then, Broadway-Hale would contract with store fixture companies to build the walls in the sales areas. And we would bid to the fixture companies. We would also bid for the work that the general contractor was going to do, but we rarely secured any of that work. And that meant at one time or another, there were two drywall companies working on the same job, but involved in two different scopes of work.
A note on how this all worked…A fixture company would design and build everything needed to create a “department”. Let’s say it’s the Shoe Department; they would build the whole thing, walls, soffits and curtain walls, hangers and shelving. And they would assemble it in their plant, just to verify that it would all fit. Then they would cut it all up into manageable pieces and send it to the jobsite, where we would have assembled the walls that they would attach the pieces to. Simple! Except it had to fit…exactly! The store fixture companies expected us to work to 1/32” of an inch accuracy and that was something that the majority of drywall contractors were unable to do…so we rarely had any competition for the work.
And since the drywall and metal framing industry was relatively new, there were very few rules as to how to build anything. Engineers didn’t have a lot of knowledge about load-carrying abilities and architects knew even less about it. Building inspectors? They knew nothing at all and so they always left us alone. But, we were encouraged to come up with good ideas to present to the engineers, and so we did.
Once again I was able to spend a lot of time reading plans and doing layout, something that Alex now trusted me to do…but at the same time, Alex never let off the pressure to do it faster!
We would be third tier subcontractors on these jobs. The owner, Broadway-Hale would have a contract with a general contractor to build the shell of a building. Then, Broadway-Hale would contract with store fixture companies to build the walls in the sales areas. And we would bid to the fixture companies. We would also bid for the work that the general contractor was going to do, but we rarely secured any of that work. And that meant at one time or another, there were two drywall companies working on the same job, but involved in two different scopes of work.
A note on how this all worked…A fixture company would design and build everything needed to create a “department”. Let’s say it’s the Shoe Department; they would build the whole thing, walls, soffits and curtain walls, hangers and shelving. And they would assemble it in their plant, just to verify that it would all fit. Then they would cut it all up into manageable pieces and send it to the jobsite, where we would have assembled the walls that they would attach the pieces to. Simple! Except it had to fit…exactly! The store fixture companies expected us to work to 1/32” of an inch accuracy and that was something that the majority of drywall contractors were unable to do…so we rarely had any competition for the work.
And since the drywall and metal framing industry was relatively new, there were very few rules as to how to build anything. Engineers didn’t have a lot of knowledge about load-carrying abilities and architects knew even less about it. Building inspectors? They knew nothing at all and so they always left us alone. But, we were encouraged to come up with good ideas to present to the engineers, and so we did.
Once again I was able to spend a lot of time reading plans and doing layout, something that Alex now trusted me to do…but at the same time, Alex never let off the pressure to do it faster!
Saturday, March 25, 2006
More Beer!
Fallbrook Square was not the normal job. And neither was the pay. So we took advantage of it for as long as we could. Even hoping that Alex wouldn’t call us back until we had gathered up every dollar we could from this project.
Day after day, we would hang drywall for 3.5 cents a foot and day after day, Ralph would moan and groan about how we were robbing him. Yet, each afternoon, we would all gather in the general contractor’s office for beer…and Ralph would always buy.
5 days a week, Ralph would come by the job about 2 and bring us more nails. That’s when we would say, “Ralph. It’s getting close to 3…have you bought the beer yet?” “No…not yet.” “Well, you better hurry; we’re almost through here…”
Even though we were making good money, it was sometimes difficult to get the money from Ralph. He would always have an excuse; “Sorry…I forgot my checkbook, it’s back at the office.” We would eventually have to confront him at his home, in the evenings, most weeks…or we would have to threaten to quit. Since we were the only crew he had, it was a pretty effective threat as long as labor was hard to find.
It should be mentioned that since we were piece-working, we had no union protection and if Ralph decided not to pay us, there wasn’t much we could do…and we both knew that. And at the same time we were making big bucks, we weren’t receiving any of the other union benefits and so we had to keep an eye on the status of our health benefits.
Eventually, to regain those benefits, we had to get back to hourly work. And for a lot of journeyman, young and fast journeyman, this became a normal pattern for their employment. They would work hourly just long enough to get their health insurance paid about 6 months in advance and then they would quit and go piece-working for cash. Back and forth they would go…
Day after day, we would hang drywall for 3.5 cents a foot and day after day, Ralph would moan and groan about how we were robbing him. Yet, each afternoon, we would all gather in the general contractor’s office for beer…and Ralph would always buy.
5 days a week, Ralph would come by the job about 2 and bring us more nails. That’s when we would say, “Ralph. It’s getting close to 3…have you bought the beer yet?” “No…not yet.” “Well, you better hurry; we’re almost through here…”
Even though we were making good money, it was sometimes difficult to get the money from Ralph. He would always have an excuse; “Sorry…I forgot my checkbook, it’s back at the office.” We would eventually have to confront him at his home, in the evenings, most weeks…or we would have to threaten to quit. Since we were the only crew he had, it was a pretty effective threat as long as labor was hard to find.
It should be mentioned that since we were piece-working, we had no union protection and if Ralph decided not to pay us, there wasn’t much we could do…and we both knew that. And at the same time we were making big bucks, we weren’t receiving any of the other union benefits and so we had to keep an eye on the status of our health benefits.
Eventually, to regain those benefits, we had to get back to hourly work. And for a lot of journeyman, young and fast journeyman, this became a normal pattern for their employment. They would work hourly just long enough to get their health insurance paid about 6 months in advance and then they would quit and go piece-working for cash. Back and forth they would go…
Friday, March 24, 2006
More Money!
We hadn’t finished the Sears ceilings when Ralph came to us with an emergency. He needed the demising walls completed in the newly framed stores and he needed it done right away. It was time to re-negotiate our prices. We finally agreed on 3.5 cents per square foot and Ralph was extremely upset with that price.
Don’t think we were being cruel to Ralph…Ralph already had a bad reputation as one who would lower the prices quite quickly when the labor market ran in the other direction. And we had heard from a confidential source that Ralph had secured the job with more than enough in his contract price to pay us what we wanted. With Ralph, the hard bargaining was all sort of a drama that he actually seemed to enjoy.
The demising walls (walls separating stores) were about 100 feet long and 20 feet high. We could hang 3 rows high (up to 12’) without using a scaffold and that is where the money was made! We were hanging over 100 sheets a day at a price of $1.68 a sheet. This was at a time when journeyman wages were about $45 a day. We were making close to $90 without straining! On a good day; $100. And we had empty stores for as far as we could see, all in need of our services.
Don’t think we were being cruel to Ralph…Ralph already had a bad reputation as one who would lower the prices quite quickly when the labor market ran in the other direction. And we had heard from a confidential source that Ralph had secured the job with more than enough in his contract price to pay us what we wanted. With Ralph, the hard bargaining was all sort of a drama that he actually seemed to enjoy.
The demising walls (walls separating stores) were about 100 feet long and 20 feet high. We could hang 3 rows high (up to 12’) without using a scaffold and that is where the money was made! We were hanging over 100 sheets a day at a price of $1.68 a sheet. This was at a time when journeyman wages were about $45 a day. We were making close to $90 without straining! On a good day; $100. And we had empty stores for as far as we could see, all in need of our services.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
It's All About the Money
After awhile, even my best efforts (and math errors) couldn’t get us a job. The work at Topanga Plaza slowed to a crawl and Modern Drywall Systems had to lay us off with a promise to hire us again quickly…as soon as work picked up.
When I had made the decision to make construction a career, I hadn’t really thought about the layoffs. And now I was faced with the second layoff in just over a year.
Since Babe and I were laid off at the same time, we connected with a plan to do some piece working. Babe’s uncle, Mike Linkof, knew of a certain contractor (Ralph Stearman) that was just beginning a project nearby, Fallbrook Square. And so we went to talk to him and see if we couldn’t get a job.
Luck was with us. It seemed that Modern Drywall was the only company without a lot of work. The Topanga Plaza mall shops had taken up most of the available labor and Ralph had a very large shopping center to complete and no one wanted to work for him at the usual piece work rates; not when they could work by the hour and work at a slower pace as well.
We weren’t so picky, so after a brief negotiation on the price, we went to work on the Sears store, doing backerboard ceilings. Ralph was paying 2.5 cents a foot and so we needed to hang (install) about 60 4’x12’ sheets a day. And after about one day, it became obvious that there was no way we could hang more than 50 sheets because of the fact that lathers had framed the ceilings and hadn’t done a very good job of it. It was time to re-negotiate!
Poor Ralph. He had about 200,000 square feet of drywall already on the job and more trucks showing up daily. And he had two drywall hangers; us. And we wanted more money. We told him where we would be if he wanted us and then sat in a restaurant across the street from the project and waited for him to decide. It took him about 4 hours before he joined us for lunch and to tell us that he would raise the price. We agreed on 3 cents for the Sears project and all future projects would be subject to new negotiations. And then we gave him the bill for lunch.
When I had made the decision to make construction a career, I hadn’t really thought about the layoffs. And now I was faced with the second layoff in just over a year.
Since Babe and I were laid off at the same time, we connected with a plan to do some piece working. Babe’s uncle, Mike Linkof, knew of a certain contractor (Ralph Stearman) that was just beginning a project nearby, Fallbrook Square. And so we went to talk to him and see if we couldn’t get a job.
Luck was with us. It seemed that Modern Drywall was the only company without a lot of work. The Topanga Plaza mall shops had taken up most of the available labor and Ralph had a very large shopping center to complete and no one wanted to work for him at the usual piece work rates; not when they could work by the hour and work at a slower pace as well.
We weren’t so picky, so after a brief negotiation on the price, we went to work on the Sears store, doing backerboard ceilings. Ralph was paying 2.5 cents a foot and so we needed to hang (install) about 60 4’x12’ sheets a day. And after about one day, it became obvious that there was no way we could hang more than 50 sheets because of the fact that lathers had framed the ceilings and hadn’t done a very good job of it. It was time to re-negotiate!
Poor Ralph. He had about 200,000 square feet of drywall already on the job and more trucks showing up daily. And he had two drywall hangers; us. And we wanted more money. We told him where we would be if he wanted us and then sat in a restaurant across the street from the project and waited for him to decide. It took him about 4 hours before he joined us for lunch and to tell us that he would raise the price. We agreed on 3 cents for the Sears project and all future projects would be subject to new negotiations. And then we gave him the bill for lunch.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Oops!
During the time I was working at the new Topanga Plaza shopping center, I became friends with another apprentice, “Babe” Jones. He had been in the trade a few months longer than I had, but had spent most of that time as a piece worker in the housing tracts. His uncle had told him it was time to learn something about other aspects of the trade and so he had found a job with us.
(We became pretty good friends and it was his experience and connections with the piece work industry that helped me through some rough times when we couldn’t find an hourly job.)
After awhile, we had finished the May Co. project and the Montgomery Wards store was winding down. What to do?
It was around this time that Marshall took me into the office and began training me as an estimator. We needed more jobs and he couldn’t bid enough of them by himself. My job was going to be estimating and bidding all of the small jobs I could find, while he bid the larger jobs that took up so much of his time.
Now I had to dress like an estimator, slacks and a nice shirt…even carry a briefcase. That really felt odd. My preference was for levis’s and boots.
Some of the first jobs that I estimated and bid on were store spaces for the new mall at Topanga Plaza. There were shoe stores and clothing stores, jewelry and furniture stores; mostly small and low budget, but they could keep a few men working while Marshall tried to secure a big job for us.
And not unexpectedly, with my lack of estimating skills, I secured some work! Not profitable…but it was work. And then I had to work on some of those same jobs. How embarrassing!
(We became pretty good friends and it was his experience and connections with the piece work industry that helped me through some rough times when we couldn’t find an hourly job.)
After awhile, we had finished the May Co. project and the Montgomery Wards store was winding down. What to do?
It was around this time that Marshall took me into the office and began training me as an estimator. We needed more jobs and he couldn’t bid enough of them by himself. My job was going to be estimating and bidding all of the small jobs I could find, while he bid the larger jobs that took up so much of his time.
Now I had to dress like an estimator, slacks and a nice shirt…even carry a briefcase. That really felt odd. My preference was for levis’s and boots.
Some of the first jobs that I estimated and bid on were store spaces for the new mall at Topanga Plaza. There were shoe stores and clothing stores, jewelry and furniture stores; mostly small and low budget, but they could keep a few men working while Marshall tried to secure a big job for us.
And not unexpectedly, with my lack of estimating skills, I secured some work! Not profitable…but it was work. And then I had to work on some of those same jobs. How embarrassing!
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Finishing
After a very long time, or so it seemed; I was finished with the escalator framing. I had spent weeks climbing all over the escalator frame and had welded supports and framing pieces at every possible location. The trickiest part was at the juncture of the Up escalator with the Down escalator. That’s where the two finish surfaces had to merge perfectly.
Now I called for help to build the scaffolds and install the drywall. And we had to be creative, as there were few places to support the scaffold. The escalator installers were not going to let us place any part of the scaffolding on their escalator; nor interfere with any of their work space. They were making threats of back charging us for any screws we dropped into the pit and for cleaning any dust we might create. Another dilemma!
We finally got a break and the escalator mechanics left the project for a few days; they had to install the escalator frames in the public space of the mall. With their departure, we could bend the rules a little and we soon had a makeshift scaffold built, using 30’ long painters “picks”; long, very long…and very narrow planks. That made for some nervous moments as we were 20’ in the air and working over the top of the tube steel framework…which didn’t look as if it would provide a very soft landing if we were to fall.
Of course we didn’t fall. And in a few days the escalator was clad in drywall. The superintendent was more than pleased and told Alex that we had done a great job; which made me happy!
Now I called for help to build the scaffolds and install the drywall. And we had to be creative, as there were few places to support the scaffold. The escalator installers were not going to let us place any part of the scaffolding on their escalator; nor interfere with any of their work space. They were making threats of back charging us for any screws we dropped into the pit and for cleaning any dust we might create. Another dilemma!
We finally got a break and the escalator mechanics left the project for a few days; they had to install the escalator frames in the public space of the mall. With their departure, we could bend the rules a little and we soon had a makeshift scaffold built, using 30’ long painters “picks”; long, very long…and very narrow planks. That made for some nervous moments as we were 20’ in the air and working over the top of the tube steel framework…which didn’t look as if it would provide a very soft landing if we were to fall.
Of course we didn’t fall. And in a few days the escalator was clad in drywall. The superintendent was more than pleased and told Alex that we had done a great job; which made me happy!
Saturday, March 18, 2006
On That Day
Once the exterior wall of the Wards store was complete, we began the interior wall work…
A note: everyone remembers where they were when President Kennedy was assassinated. It was break time and I was sitting on a stack of drywall on the second floor of the Montgomery Ward store in Canoga Park when the general contractor came up the ladder from his trailer with the news. We were stunned…
It was certainly a relief to be working inside and away from the sun that summer. Although, the work was mostly high work and that meant I was on a scaffold almost all day long. And then I got a break…
Alex had been frustrated with the progress on the escalator framing. It seemed that everyone that worked on it had a different approach to how it should be framed. And during these early days in the drywall industry, there were few rules for framing. And according to the general contractor, this was also the first time that an escalator was being finished with drywall and not plaster; ever.
And so Alex decided on something quite dramatic…he told the crew that was working on it to go and do something else and he told me to do the framing…myself. There I was, with the escalator, a pile of framing material and 50#’s of welding rod! And no one to tell me how to do it.
Now an escalator without the finish on it is simply a mass of structural tubing (round) and rails for the steps to roll on. No provision is made for finishes and you have to “invent” them as you go. And do it without irritating the escalator builders. They actually do their work without outwardly noticing that you are there, unless you drop a shower of hot sparks onto them! (Escalator/elevator installers are almost always “prima donna’s”. (sp?)
Once again I had to endure the mutterings of the offended journeymen that had been upstaged by an apprentice (me). I’m sure more than a few were hoping that I would fail. And there were a few times when I wondered if I would ever be able to pull it off. But Alex was right; there had been too much input into how it should have been framed and with just one persons view to consider, right or wrong, it began to come together.
A note: everyone remembers where they were when President Kennedy was assassinated. It was break time and I was sitting on a stack of drywall on the second floor of the Montgomery Ward store in Canoga Park when the general contractor came up the ladder from his trailer with the news. We were stunned…
It was certainly a relief to be working inside and away from the sun that summer. Although, the work was mostly high work and that meant I was on a scaffold almost all day long. And then I got a break…
Alex had been frustrated with the progress on the escalator framing. It seemed that everyone that worked on it had a different approach to how it should be framed. And during these early days in the drywall industry, there were few rules for framing. And according to the general contractor, this was also the first time that an escalator was being finished with drywall and not plaster; ever.
And so Alex decided on something quite dramatic…he told the crew that was working on it to go and do something else and he told me to do the framing…myself. There I was, with the escalator, a pile of framing material and 50#’s of welding rod! And no one to tell me how to do it.
Now an escalator without the finish on it is simply a mass of structural tubing (round) and rails for the steps to roll on. No provision is made for finishes and you have to “invent” them as you go. And do it without irritating the escalator builders. They actually do their work without outwardly noticing that you are there, unless you drop a shower of hot sparks onto them! (Escalator/elevator installers are almost always “prima donna’s”. (sp?)
Once again I had to endure the mutterings of the offended journeymen that had been upstaged by an apprentice (me). I’m sure more than a few were hoping that I would fail. And there were a few times when I wondered if I would ever be able to pull it off. But Alex was right; there had been too much input into how it should have been framed and with just one persons view to consider, right or wrong, it began to come together.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Welding
The Wards store took a little longer than expected to get to the stage where we could actually begin work and so I stayed on the May Co. project; and without any more incidents. On the positive side, I was perfecting my welding skills; skills I would certainly need once we started the framing of the exterior walls on the Wards project. Where the exterior walls on the May Co. building were masonry, Montgomery Wards used plaster over structural studs. And despite a claim by the Lathers Union to do that work, we (Carpenters) were going to do it instead.
The Wards store was only two stories in height, about 40’ to the top of the parapet around the roof. And the studs from the floor of the second floor to the roof were about 24’ long. Our job was to haul each stud up and weld it in place around the perimeter of the building. We had to place one stud every 16”. And since they were 6” wide and made of 16 gauge steel, they were quite heavy. With one person helping below and with a length of rope, we lifted them into place and clamped them against the side of the building where we would then weld them to the structure.
Just as it had on the May Co. roof, the sun beat down and made working a real challenge. When welding, we wore large leather gloves and a heavy leather jacket to prevent burns. With air temperature over 100°, the deck we were sitting on became unbearably hot. And the sunlight bounced off the shiny deck, making clear vision impossible. At one point, we restricted our work time to very short periods, a relief welder coming up the ladder from the “cooler” second floor to take your place every 15 minutes.
Despite all of the physical stress, when I went to the parking lot in the afternoon, more than ready to get in my car, turn on the air conditioning and head home; I would look back up at the building and see the work we had done that day. The long wall of red studs, silhouetted against the horizon. And that made it all worthwhile.
The Wards store was only two stories in height, about 40’ to the top of the parapet around the roof. And the studs from the floor of the second floor to the roof were about 24’ long. Our job was to haul each stud up and weld it in place around the perimeter of the building. We had to place one stud every 16”. And since they were 6” wide and made of 16 gauge steel, they were quite heavy. With one person helping below and with a length of rope, we lifted them into place and clamped them against the side of the building where we would then weld them to the structure.
Just as it had on the May Co. roof, the sun beat down and made working a real challenge. When welding, we wore large leather gloves and a heavy leather jacket to prevent burns. With air temperature over 100°, the deck we were sitting on became unbearably hot. And the sunlight bounced off the shiny deck, making clear vision impossible. At one point, we restricted our work time to very short periods, a relief welder coming up the ladder from the “cooler” second floor to take your place every 15 minutes.
Despite all of the physical stress, when I went to the parking lot in the afternoon, more than ready to get in my car, turn on the air conditioning and head home; I would look back up at the building and see the work we had done that day. The long wall of red studs, silhouetted against the horizon. And that made it all worthwhile.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Success?
After our success with a new method of installing the display brackets, the project began to gather speed and I became quite proficient at installing them. And right around this time, Alex left to start a new project. We had secured the contract to build the Montgomery Wards store in the same mall. I was hoping to go with Alex, but he wasn’t going to need any help for a week or two and so I stayed at the May Co.
Bob Barnard was now my boss. And it wasn’t the best relationship. Within a week, we had our first blow up; as I was now expected to show others how to install and finish the drywall around the display brackets. Some of the journeymen resented this and gave me a bad time about it. They weren’t going to take orders from an apprentice…so I went to Bob and told him I that needed a pay increase. To journeyman’s wages. That didn’t go over very well and Bob told me to forget it and get back to work.
In my view, I was doing journeyman work and I deserved it. Heck, I was showing journeymen how to do the work…maybe I should have foreman’s wages? Finally, my idle thoughts overrode my common sense and I told Bob I was quitting unless I got a raise. He told me to go ahead and quit. Not exactly what I had seen as the outcome. It was the middle of the day and I had just quit a job I really loved. What was I thinking?
As it turned out, Alex and Bob talked that day after I left and came to an agreement that satisfied us both. Alex called me at home that night. I would get a raise, to 70% of journeyman’s wages. That put me 6 months ahead in apprenticeship wages. My ego was satisfied and so was Bob’s. I went back to work the next day and oddly enough, the journeymen now respected me.
But, I still wanted to get to work on the Montgomery Wards store with Alex…
Bob Barnard was now my boss. And it wasn’t the best relationship. Within a week, we had our first blow up; as I was now expected to show others how to install and finish the drywall around the display brackets. Some of the journeymen resented this and gave me a bad time about it. They weren’t going to take orders from an apprentice…so I went to Bob and told him I that needed a pay increase. To journeyman’s wages. That didn’t go over very well and Bob told me to forget it and get back to work.
In my view, I was doing journeyman work and I deserved it. Heck, I was showing journeymen how to do the work…maybe I should have foreman’s wages? Finally, my idle thoughts overrode my common sense and I told Bob I was quitting unless I got a raise. He told me to go ahead and quit. Not exactly what I had seen as the outcome. It was the middle of the day and I had just quit a job I really loved. What was I thinking?
As it turned out, Alex and Bob talked that day after I left and came to an agreement that satisfied us both. Alex called me at home that night. I would get a raise, to 70% of journeyman’s wages. That put me 6 months ahead in apprenticeship wages. My ego was satisfied and so was Bob’s. I went back to work the next day and oddly enough, the journeymen now respected me.
But, I still wanted to get to work on the Montgomery Wards store with Alex…
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
May Company
That May Company store represented the beginnings of a huge change in the drywall industry, though we didn’t know it at the time. (1965?)
When we began the project, we were using what were called “nailer” studs. These studs, formed from two pieces of metal and crimped together for create a nailing channel, had been used by lathers for some time. And the lathers still disputed our right to use the studs, but that was the least of our problems. We had to install shelf bracket supports within the wall itself and that meant that we had to weld these “Garcy” unit to the oddly shaped and flimsy studs. It was very frustrating! Days went by while we tried all sorts of solutions. The schedule was slipping. Then, someone…I don’t remember who, placed a few pieces of track on the side of the Garcy unit and then slipped that assembly over the side of a nailer stud. It held. Track, the U-shaped piece of metal that the studs sat in, was a material that we had in abundance. We began to cut up pieces of it and quickly assembled a complete wall of studs and shelf supports. Everyone was impressed, including the engineers from the May Company; they had been fighting this problem for quite some time. They called in the manufacturer of the studs to look at our solution.
After a few days of study, the manufacturer came up with some improvements on the idea and a new product was created, the screwable stud. They began manufacturing it for us on this project and although it was originally intended just for use with the Garcy units, it was soon being used for lots of other applications. In time, about 2 years, it became the standard stud for all drywall framing.
But I wasn’t interested in those things at the time. I was interested in welding. Here was a whole new field of interest for me and I was soon as much of an expert at it as any journeyman. And the layout work that I had been doing with Alex was also a skill that few journeymen possessed. Pretty soon, Alex was using me to direct some of the work…an apprentice “foreman”, and that didn’t go over very well with some of the journeyman.
When we began the project, we were using what were called “nailer” studs. These studs, formed from two pieces of metal and crimped together for create a nailing channel, had been used by lathers for some time. And the lathers still disputed our right to use the studs, but that was the least of our problems. We had to install shelf bracket supports within the wall itself and that meant that we had to weld these “Garcy” unit to the oddly shaped and flimsy studs. It was very frustrating! Days went by while we tried all sorts of solutions. The schedule was slipping. Then, someone…I don’t remember who, placed a few pieces of track on the side of the Garcy unit and then slipped that assembly over the side of a nailer stud. It held. Track, the U-shaped piece of metal that the studs sat in, was a material that we had in abundance. We began to cut up pieces of it and quickly assembled a complete wall of studs and shelf supports. Everyone was impressed, including the engineers from the May Company; they had been fighting this problem for quite some time. They called in the manufacturer of the studs to look at our solution.
After a few days of study, the manufacturer came up with some improvements on the idea and a new product was created, the screwable stud. They began manufacturing it for us on this project and although it was originally intended just for use with the Garcy units, it was soon being used for lots of other applications. In time, about 2 years, it became the standard stud for all drywall framing.
But I wasn’t interested in those things at the time. I was interested in welding. Here was a whole new field of interest for me and I was soon as much of an expert at it as any journeyman. And the layout work that I had been doing with Alex was also a skill that few journeymen possessed. Pretty soon, Alex was using me to direct some of the work…an apprentice “foreman”, and that didn’t go over very well with some of the journeyman.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Growing
Eventually the May Co. store grew to a height of about 60’- three stories. And once the bricklayers had the outer walls completed, we moved into the first floor to begin our work. And at the same time, the fireproofers began their work, which was to coat all of the exposed steel with a mixture of cement and asbestos fibers. The product, SprayDon, was applied by pumps forcing a dry mixture out of a nozzle and then spraying the mixture with a fog coat of water just as it exited the nozzle. This helped it to stick to the steel surfaces. As you can imagine, there was a lot of overspray; material that didn’t make it onto the beams and columns. This floated in the air for awhile before falling to the floor in drifts, just like snow. We always knew where the fireproofers were working by looking for the fog of material that hung around their area of operation. The construction vernacular for this material was “feathers” and it certainly resembled that as the particles floated about.
Alex and I were going to do the layout work and so we were the first ones of our crew on the job. We would try to stay ahead of the fireproofers, marking, measuring, and snapping (with a chalk line) colored lines onto the floor surface where the walls would be. We would then spray paint the corners and intersections of the walls so that after the fireproofers were complete, the lines could be found once again.
Wall layout is tricky at times, as we sometimes found mathematical errors and those had to be resolved before the layout could continue. And when that happened, the fireproofers would catch up to us. Then we would have to work right under the spray, shoveling and sweeping the material out of the way long enough to mark the lines. Delightful!
Once the fireproofers had completed their work on the first floor, they moved on up to the next floor and we tried to stay ahead of them once again. And after about a month, the work was complete and we could return to the first floor and join the crew that was now installing the wall studs.
Alex and I were going to do the layout work and so we were the first ones of our crew on the job. We would try to stay ahead of the fireproofers, marking, measuring, and snapping (with a chalk line) colored lines onto the floor surface where the walls would be. We would then spray paint the corners and intersections of the walls so that after the fireproofers were complete, the lines could be found once again.
Wall layout is tricky at times, as we sometimes found mathematical errors and those had to be resolved before the layout could continue. And when that happened, the fireproofers would catch up to us. Then we would have to work right under the spray, shoveling and sweeping the material out of the way long enough to mark the lines. Delightful!
Once the fireproofers had completed their work on the first floor, they moved on up to the next floor and we tried to stay ahead of them once again. And after about a month, the work was complete and we could return to the first floor and join the crew that was now installing the wall studs.
Monday, March 13, 2006
Broadway
Images 1
Who knew? A website for malls, old and new. This one is of interest because I worked on so many of the Broadway/Weinstock stores throughout the west. They almost always looked the same...inside and out. Did I work on this one? Probably.
Who knew? A website for malls, old and new. This one is of interest because I worked on so many of the Broadway/Weinstock stores throughout the west. They almost always looked the same...inside and out. Did I work on this one? Probably.
A New Project
When I first began to work in the construction business, I was living in Manhattan Beach. After our marriage, we lived in El Segundo. Both cities were distant suburbs of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and that meant that I spent a lot of time on the road, traveling to various jobsites. One day, after a particularly long commute, Laurae and I talked about the possibility of moving so that we might be closer to our work. She was working in downtown Los Angeles and I had seen a trend developing, where I was working more often in the San Fernando Valley. So let’s move to the Valley!
We moved to North Hollywood and that put Laurae closer to downtown and I was now located at the east end of the San Fernando Valley. And that worked…for awhile. It wasn’t perfect, I did find myself working in the San Gabriel Valley at times, but overall, it was a smart move for us.
And after a year of apprenticeship, and working on dozens of jobs…plus some time off because of a lack of work, I was starting to feel more like a craftsman. The fact that Alex had begun to praise me now and then certainly helped.
And it was about this time that the company I worked for, Modern Drywall Systems, bid on a large project in Canoga Park, the Topanga Plaza shopping center, one of the countries’s first fully enclosed two level malls.
We (Modern Drywall Systems) had secured a contract to build one of the anchor stores, May Company, and the possibility was open for us to secure even more work on this giant project as the development moved forward.
On our first day at the project, I was struck by both the size (Immense!) and the remoteness of the buildings. There were farms in every direction and the mall itself sat in the middle of a huge cornfield. Who was going to shop here?
My job for that first day was to climb to the highest floor of the store and to begin dropping ceiling hanger wires through holes punched in the steel deck. This was work that had to be done prior to the concrete being placed on top of the steel deck and that meant I was working with iron workers all around me. They ignored me as they directed cranes to place steel columns and beams for the next floor, but I was certainly aware of them!
And let me tell you about the sun. The steel deck, galvanized and formed into valleys and ridges, made a perfect reflector. You had to wear sunglasses at all times to avoid being blinded by the glare. And the sunglasses didn’t help when you were trying to avoid all of the tripping hazards on that deck. The sun also caused a great temperature differential, with temperatures exceeding 120° on the deck and near 100°, just one floor below. At one point, there were three ironworkers taken to the local hospital for heat stroke. Even Alex told us to take it easy…
We moved to North Hollywood and that put Laurae closer to downtown and I was now located at the east end of the San Fernando Valley. And that worked…for awhile. It wasn’t perfect, I did find myself working in the San Gabriel Valley at times, but overall, it was a smart move for us.
And after a year of apprenticeship, and working on dozens of jobs…plus some time off because of a lack of work, I was starting to feel more like a craftsman. The fact that Alex had begun to praise me now and then certainly helped.
And it was about this time that the company I worked for, Modern Drywall Systems, bid on a large project in Canoga Park, the Topanga Plaza shopping center, one of the countries’s first fully enclosed two level malls.
We (Modern Drywall Systems) had secured a contract to build one of the anchor stores, May Company, and the possibility was open for us to secure even more work on this giant project as the development moved forward.
On our first day at the project, I was struck by both the size (Immense!) and the remoteness of the buildings. There were farms in every direction and the mall itself sat in the middle of a huge cornfield. Who was going to shop here?
My job for that first day was to climb to the highest floor of the store and to begin dropping ceiling hanger wires through holes punched in the steel deck. This was work that had to be done prior to the concrete being placed on top of the steel deck and that meant I was working with iron workers all around me. They ignored me as they directed cranes to place steel columns and beams for the next floor, but I was certainly aware of them!
And let me tell you about the sun. The steel deck, galvanized and formed into valleys and ridges, made a perfect reflector. You had to wear sunglasses at all times to avoid being blinded by the glare. And the sunglasses didn’t help when you were trying to avoid all of the tripping hazards on that deck. The sun also caused a great temperature differential, with temperatures exceeding 120° on the deck and near 100°, just one floor below. At one point, there were three ironworkers taken to the local hospital for heat stroke. Even Alex told us to take it easy…
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Up, Up and Away
Back to the heights…
The next day found us back on the scaffold and hanging on tight, except when we were forced to let go and grab the drywall that Alex was handing up to us. And after another long day, we had finished all of the drywall installation from the floor to the height of the crane rail. And that was where we encountered a dilemma. The crane rail was in the way of the scaffold. We couldn’t go any higher.
Of course, Alex had a solution. We would simply climb up onto the rail and work from there. 20’ above the hard concrete floor below. And to prove how easy that was going to be, Alex climbed the scaffold and did a quick jog and a jig upon the narrow rail to impress us with just how safe it was. Right!
Keeping the scaffold below us at all times, we climbed up and began our work. Slowly.
And at the end of the week, we were proud to survey the room and see it complete. We had done it and I had conquered my fear of heights…slightly. And that was a good thing because working at heights became almost routine for me through the years. Although I never let it become so routine that I forgot where I was.
The next day found us back on the scaffold and hanging on tight, except when we were forced to let go and grab the drywall that Alex was handing up to us. And after another long day, we had finished all of the drywall installation from the floor to the height of the crane rail. And that was where we encountered a dilemma. The crane rail was in the way of the scaffold. We couldn’t go any higher.
Of course, Alex had a solution. We would simply climb up onto the rail and work from there. 20’ above the hard concrete floor below. And to prove how easy that was going to be, Alex climbed the scaffold and did a quick jog and a jig upon the narrow rail to impress us with just how safe it was. Right!
Keeping the scaffold below us at all times, we climbed up and began our work. Slowly.
And at the end of the week, we were proud to survey the room and see it complete. We had done it and I had conquered my fear of heights…slightly. And that was a good thing because working at heights became almost routine for me through the years. Although I never let it become so routine that I forgot where I was.
Friday, March 10, 2006
High!
During my first year of apprenticeship I became faster and more knowledgeable. And Alex began to let up on the pressure…a little. And then came a revelation for me.
Alex, “Pattycake” Celmer and I were on a job in the San Fernando Valley, a mid sized job with perhaps 30,000 feet of drywall to install (hang). It was all routine by now; walls that were 12’ high and we could hang the first two rows (8’) from the floor. To hang the third row, we used wooden “horses” to get up that level. And then we came to a large room and a very high room. This large room contained an overhead crane that rolled on rails set on steel supports that paralleled the two long walls in the room. And those walls were about 30’ high and over a 100’ long.
It didn’t take us long to install the board up to 12’. Then we built a rolling scaffold to reach the rest of the way up the wall. “Pattycake” and I were the apprentices and so we were delegated the responsibility of building the scaffold. And this is when I discovered that heights made me nervous. Not simply height…but height when perched on a single plank while 20’ off the ground.
Scaffold building slowed to a crawl as I tried to do it with one arm wrapped around the scaffold frame. Of course Alex soon returned and began to berate us for our lack of speed. That didn’t help, it only made me clumsy, and that made me hang on tighter. So Alex jumped up on the scaffold and began the job of finishing it. With a few choice words for his two apprentices.
After the scaffold was complete, we were told to climb up and start giving Alex some measurements so that he could cut the board for us. At this point, we were only 10’ off the ground, standing at the mid-section of the scaffold, and it wasn’t too bad…if you could ignore the swaying motion every time you moved.
After Alex cut the first sheet for us, he handed it up. This meant that we would have to let go of the scaffold and use both hands to hold the sheet of drywall. Oh, no! But we did it and then successfully managed to place it on top of the sheet below without dropping it on Alex. We were more terrified of that possibility than we were of the height.
We nailed the sheet quickly and Alex then moved the scaffold down the wall so that we could measure for another sheet. After a few moves like that, we had about 30 feet of wall covered to a height of 16’. Now Alex said, “Jump on up. Let’s get the next few rows before we go much further.” Jump? No way! I crawled up onto the next level…This was going to be a long day!
Alex, “Pattycake” Celmer and I were on a job in the San Fernando Valley, a mid sized job with perhaps 30,000 feet of drywall to install (hang). It was all routine by now; walls that were 12’ high and we could hang the first two rows (8’) from the floor. To hang the third row, we used wooden “horses” to get up that level. And then we came to a large room and a very high room. This large room contained an overhead crane that rolled on rails set on steel supports that paralleled the two long walls in the room. And those walls were about 30’ high and over a 100’ long.
It didn’t take us long to install the board up to 12’. Then we built a rolling scaffold to reach the rest of the way up the wall. “Pattycake” and I were the apprentices and so we were delegated the responsibility of building the scaffold. And this is when I discovered that heights made me nervous. Not simply height…but height when perched on a single plank while 20’ off the ground.
Scaffold building slowed to a crawl as I tried to do it with one arm wrapped around the scaffold frame. Of course Alex soon returned and began to berate us for our lack of speed. That didn’t help, it only made me clumsy, and that made me hang on tighter. So Alex jumped up on the scaffold and began the job of finishing it. With a few choice words for his two apprentices.
After the scaffold was complete, we were told to climb up and start giving Alex some measurements so that he could cut the board for us. At this point, we were only 10’ off the ground, standing at the mid-section of the scaffold, and it wasn’t too bad…if you could ignore the swaying motion every time you moved.
After Alex cut the first sheet for us, he handed it up. This meant that we would have to let go of the scaffold and use both hands to hold the sheet of drywall. Oh, no! But we did it and then successfully managed to place it on top of the sheet below without dropping it on Alex. We were more terrified of that possibility than we were of the height.
We nailed the sheet quickly and Alex then moved the scaffold down the wall so that we could measure for another sheet. After a few moves like that, we had about 30 feet of wall covered to a height of 16’. Now Alex said, “Jump on up. Let’s get the next few rows before we go much further.” Jump? No way! I crawled up onto the next level…This was going to be a long day!
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Extra $$$
The first Saturday spent piece-working was filled with tension as I imagined being surprised by a group of Business Agents, who would fine us for our infractions. Oddly enough, the fine was just about what you might earn for a days work.
As it turned out, no one showed up to fine us and at the end of a day, I had “nailed off” enough drywall to make a journeyman’s wages for the day, about $40. Cash. I had also left a trail of blood on the walls where I had been working. Alex would have been proud!
I was hooked. I enjoyed the extra cash and I must admit that I also enjoyed the camaraderie that existed among the piece-workers. We negotiated the prices and we were free to work or not. It was a very free market!
At the end of six months of employment I received another increase in my wages and the outlook for work to continue was good. The jobs were mostly small ones and “nail on”, not metal framing.
At this time, the Lathers Union claimed to have jurisdiction over all metal framing and were going to court to uphold that claim. The Carpenters Union was ambivalent about the case as they weren’t all that interested in metal framing. Wood framing was their bread and butter and the lathers weren’t threatening that.
The drywall trade saw metal framing as a step up towards legitimacy and so members of the drywall contractors associations were encouraged to bid on and secure metal framing jobs. And when a drywall contractor was successful; the lathers were quick to post a picket line on the job, halting work and forcing the general contractor to step in and resolve the dispute; usually in favor of the Lathers Union.
The drywall contractors position was that a material (steel studs) couldn’t be part of a trade dispute. The manufacturers sold the studs to anyone and so anyone was free to use them. And that was when the Lathers Union decided to claim jurisdiction over the tools that were being used.
In a short time, new tools had been improvised and began to be used. The Lathers were on the defensive now. Exciting times!
As it turned out, no one showed up to fine us and at the end of a day, I had “nailed off” enough drywall to make a journeyman’s wages for the day, about $40. Cash. I had also left a trail of blood on the walls where I had been working. Alex would have been proud!
I was hooked. I enjoyed the extra cash and I must admit that I also enjoyed the camaraderie that existed among the piece-workers. We negotiated the prices and we were free to work or not. It was a very free market!
At the end of six months of employment I received another increase in my wages and the outlook for work to continue was good. The jobs were mostly small ones and “nail on”, not metal framing.
At this time, the Lathers Union claimed to have jurisdiction over all metal framing and were going to court to uphold that claim. The Carpenters Union was ambivalent about the case as they weren’t all that interested in metal framing. Wood framing was their bread and butter and the lathers weren’t threatening that.
The drywall trade saw metal framing as a step up towards legitimacy and so members of the drywall contractors associations were encouraged to bid on and secure metal framing jobs. And when a drywall contractor was successful; the lathers were quick to post a picket line on the job, halting work and forcing the general contractor to step in and resolve the dispute; usually in favor of the Lathers Union.
The drywall contractors position was that a material (steel studs) couldn’t be part of a trade dispute. The manufacturers sold the studs to anyone and so anyone was free to use them. And that was when the Lathers Union decided to claim jurisdiction over the tools that were being used.
In a short time, new tools had been improvised and began to be used. The Lathers were on the defensive now. Exciting times!
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Piece Work
After a few more months of non-stop working; days spent becoming a “sheetrocker” and nights spent working at the Texaco station, I decided that the gas station job had to go. With only about 5 hours of sleep each night, I was worried about falling asleep on the freeway. (I had a couple of close calls)
Now I depended on my one job, plus Laurae’s job of course. She worked as a “Key punch Operator”, a job that is no longer available in today’s world. It was a very technical job at the time, punching that mysterious little rectangular hole into a cardboard card that would instruct a computer to do whatever computers did at the time.
And I also found out that construction work was not quite as dependable a profession as; let’s say, being a window washer/gasoline pumper/oil checker. The tradeoff was in the wages of course. If I continued to work as a sheetrocker, I would eventually make $5 an hour. That’s $40 a day and that would usually give you an annual salary of $9,600. The key word is “usually.” As I soon found out that there were weeks when we had no work at all. Not many, but enough to worry me.
And so I became interested in the “piece-work” jobs. Every week, during the regular work week, the lunch time conversations would usually involve a story about some future weekend project that was going to pay a great deal of money. All based on the amount of drywall installed. And the next week, the conversations included stories of how much money was made. Some of the guys were reporting $100+ days! But what did I know about this kind of work? Not much, but I did hear that an apprentice could hire himself out to a journeyman and do the nailing for a percentage of the money.
I decided to try it. I talked to a journeyman I knew well and asked if he needed someone to nail for him? He did, and the next weekend I was driving up to some apartments, early on a Saturday morning. The apartments had already been “lidded out”, the ceiling crew installing all of the ceiling drywall. Our job was to hang drywall on the walls only. And our other job was to watch out for the Carpenter’s Union Business Agents. Piece-work was not an allowable activity for a Union Carpenter, and we could be fined if we were caught.
That first day, I was quite nervous, wondering about every car that pulled up near the site. In fact, all work would cease when someone spotted what looked like a Business Agent’s car…was that one? And we all had escape routes planned. Out the windows and down the scaffolds! Don’t use the stairs…the Business Agent’s would have them covered.
Now I depended on my one job, plus Laurae’s job of course. She worked as a “Key punch Operator”, a job that is no longer available in today’s world. It was a very technical job at the time, punching that mysterious little rectangular hole into a cardboard card that would instruct a computer to do whatever computers did at the time.
And I also found out that construction work was not quite as dependable a profession as; let’s say, being a window washer/gasoline pumper/oil checker. The tradeoff was in the wages of course. If I continued to work as a sheetrocker, I would eventually make $5 an hour. That’s $40 a day and that would usually give you an annual salary of $9,600. The key word is “usually.” As I soon found out that there were weeks when we had no work at all. Not many, but enough to worry me.
And so I became interested in the “piece-work” jobs. Every week, during the regular work week, the lunch time conversations would usually involve a story about some future weekend project that was going to pay a great deal of money. All based on the amount of drywall installed. And the next week, the conversations included stories of how much money was made. Some of the guys were reporting $100+ days! But what did I know about this kind of work? Not much, but I did hear that an apprentice could hire himself out to a journeyman and do the nailing for a percentage of the money.
I decided to try it. I talked to a journeyman I knew well and asked if he needed someone to nail for him? He did, and the next weekend I was driving up to some apartments, early on a Saturday morning. The apartments had already been “lidded out”, the ceiling crew installing all of the ceiling drywall. Our job was to hang drywall on the walls only. And our other job was to watch out for the Carpenter’s Union Business Agents. Piece-work was not an allowable activity for a Union Carpenter, and we could be fined if we were caught.
That first day, I was quite nervous, wondering about every car that pulled up near the site. In fact, all work would cease when someone spotted what looked like a Business Agent’s car…was that one? And we all had escape routes planned. Out the windows and down the scaffolds! Don’t use the stairs…the Business Agent’s would have them covered.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Making Alex Happy
After a less than a week, the Kinney’s shoe store was finished and we moved on to another small nail-on job. Somewhere else. In fact, there were small jobs like that all over southern California and I was soon driving the freeways in every direction as I went from project to project. Most of them lasted less than a week and Marshall always seemed to have another one for us to do as soon as we finished the last one.
Of course I was delighted with all of the traveling and the challenge of a new project every few days. And I was learning something every day. But I was also growing frustrated as I couldn’t seem to please Alex. No matter how fast I tried to nail, he could come in to the room I was working in and push me aside, “Here! This is how you do it…” and he would quickly nail two rows faster than I could do one. And the faster I tried to be, the clumsier I became. The Plumb #2 Box Hatchet became an instrument of torture, smashing my fingers and taking bites of my skin as I tried to finger the nails into place before the descending hatchet head struck. Ow!
In fact, Alex wasn’t really happy…or so it seemed, until the walls in the room had been covered by little spots of blood from my thumb and forefinger. “Not enough blood on the walls! You’re not trying!” was his favorite expression. And then, if you did get a lot of blood on the walls, he would warn you, sternly, that the painters were going to complain, as blood was hard to cover up.
Would I ever win?
Of course I was delighted with all of the traveling and the challenge of a new project every few days. And I was learning something every day. But I was also growing frustrated as I couldn’t seem to please Alex. No matter how fast I tried to nail, he could come in to the room I was working in and push me aside, “Here! This is how you do it…” and he would quickly nail two rows faster than I could do one. And the faster I tried to be, the clumsier I became. The Plumb #2 Box Hatchet became an instrument of torture, smashing my fingers and taking bites of my skin as I tried to finger the nails into place before the descending hatchet head struck. Ow!
In fact, Alex wasn’t really happy…or so it seemed, until the walls in the room had been covered by little spots of blood from my thumb and forefinger. “Not enough blood on the walls! You’re not trying!” was his favorite expression. And then, if you did get a lot of blood on the walls, he would warn you, sternly, that the painters were going to complain, as blood was hard to cover up.
Would I ever win?
Monday, March 06, 2006
Flying
The weeks went flying by and the Leon Apartments were about to become history. I had my first pay raise at 3 months and I had learned to hold my own in lunch time conversations. My tools now had a respectable patina of use on them. I was learning every day. All was well.
So well in fact that I (We) was going to get married. With the money I was making with two jobs, and with Laurae’s job, we certainly could afford it. Wedding planning went into high gear.
And shortly before our wedding, I learned a new word; layoff. The company that I worked for, Modern Drywall Systems had a temporary shortage of work. No one had told me about this! What was I supposed to do? I was about to get married and I didn’t have a job?
Marshall assured me that work would pick up and that I would soon be employed again. In fact, he and his wife came to our wedding. The wedding with an unemployed groom!
Marshall was right and it wasn’t long before I was back on a jobsite with Alex, Bob, Blackey and “Pattycake” Celmer. The job wasn’t a big project like the apartments; it was a shoe store. (Kinney’s) And it was a “Nail-on” job. Until this job, I had been working with metal lathing studs. Now we were working with wood framing and it was a completely different ball game. We didn’t use screws and screw guns to fasten the material, we had to nail it. And we were expected to do it very fast! The apartment job had been a Time and Material job, with the owner paying for it all; no matter how long it took. Now we had jobs with fixed price contracts and speed became a priority.
This was when I decided that Alex must hate me…From the moment I arrived in the morning until the minute we quit for the day; he was riding me! Faster! Faster! What’s taking you so long? C’mon…get going! And I couldn’t seem to do anything right. You dummy!
After a few days of this kind of treatment, I decided that I wasn’t going to let him do this to me. I was going to be faster…fast enough to beat him and make him take back those things he had been saying about me.
(Eventually I learned that this was exactly what Alex was trying to make me do…)
So well in fact that I (We) was going to get married. With the money I was making with two jobs, and with Laurae’s job, we certainly could afford it. Wedding planning went into high gear.
And shortly before our wedding, I learned a new word; layoff. The company that I worked for, Modern Drywall Systems had a temporary shortage of work. No one had told me about this! What was I supposed to do? I was about to get married and I didn’t have a job?
Marshall assured me that work would pick up and that I would soon be employed again. In fact, he and his wife came to our wedding. The wedding with an unemployed groom!
Marshall was right and it wasn’t long before I was back on a jobsite with Alex, Bob, Blackey and “Pattycake” Celmer. The job wasn’t a big project like the apartments; it was a shoe store. (Kinney’s) And it was a “Nail-on” job. Until this job, I had been working with metal lathing studs. Now we were working with wood framing and it was a completely different ball game. We didn’t use screws and screw guns to fasten the material, we had to nail it. And we were expected to do it very fast! The apartment job had been a Time and Material job, with the owner paying for it all; no matter how long it took. Now we had jobs with fixed price contracts and speed became a priority.
This was when I decided that Alex must hate me…From the moment I arrived in the morning until the minute we quit for the day; he was riding me! Faster! Faster! What’s taking you so long? C’mon…get going! And I couldn’t seem to do anything right. You dummy!
After a few days of this kind of treatment, I decided that I wasn’t going to let him do this to me. I was going to be faster…fast enough to beat him and make him take back those things he had been saying about me.
(Eventually I learned that this was exactly what Alex was trying to make me do…)
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Weeks Later
The weeks went by quickly as I was really busy with two jobs. And I was really beginning to enjoy the construction work. I would leave the jobsite at 3:30 and then sit for a moment in my car. Looking up at the building I could see that something had happened that day. Some walls had been built, some windows added, concrete poured. Everything combined to bring the building one step closer to completion. And I had been a part of it. A small part, sure, but I never grew tired of that feeling. After awhile I couldn’t imagine working somewhere where you would face the same task, day after day.
To add to that good feeling of accomplishment, I was finally being allowed to wear my tools and even use them on occasion. Alex was sending me off to work with a different journeyman each day and so I was always learning something new as well. I was still a “Go-fer” but a new apprentice had been added to the crew and so I had moved up one step and no longer had to dodge falling debris from around the Buck hoist.
A little something about the Leon Apartments…As I said, they were a 9 story lift-slab construction. That is an abandoned construction practice now, but at the time it was “cutting edge.” All 9 floors were poured on the ground, one on top of the other, with release agents between pours. After the slabs had all been cured and tensioned, they were jacked up, one at a time, to their final location by using the steel columns and a complicated hydraulic jacking system.
Alfred Leon was the owner, developer, and general contractor on this building. Alfred was tiny Jewish man who loved to change things, every day. When we saw him come onto the floor we were working on, we would make bets as to how long it would be before we were asked to tear apart something we had just built. Move a door? No problem. Add a window. Sure thing! The only problem that this caused was the fact that Alfred thought we would make the changes out of the goodness of our hearts. We quickly learned to refer all of these requests to Alex. And once or twice a day we would get to watch a classic Arab/Jewish confrontation as Alex argued with Alfred as to why it was going to cost Alfred some money to move a door.
And since it was an Owner/Builder development, it became a very unique job for this apprentice. Alfred wanted us to do everything on the job that he didn’t already have a contract for. And so I learned how to install windows and doors. I learned how to install wood backing and hardware. Insulation. Cabinets. In the end, we were sweeping the floors and bringing in the furniture. A job like that doesn’t come along very often.
To add to that good feeling of accomplishment, I was finally being allowed to wear my tools and even use them on occasion. Alex was sending me off to work with a different journeyman each day and so I was always learning something new as well. I was still a “Go-fer” but a new apprentice had been added to the crew and so I had moved up one step and no longer had to dodge falling debris from around the Buck hoist.
A little something about the Leon Apartments…As I said, they were a 9 story lift-slab construction. That is an abandoned construction practice now, but at the time it was “cutting edge.” All 9 floors were poured on the ground, one on top of the other, with release agents between pours. After the slabs had all been cured and tensioned, they were jacked up, one at a time, to their final location by using the steel columns and a complicated hydraulic jacking system.
Alfred Leon was the owner, developer, and general contractor on this building. Alfred was tiny Jewish man who loved to change things, every day. When we saw him come onto the floor we were working on, we would make bets as to how long it would be before we were asked to tear apart something we had just built. Move a door? No problem. Add a window. Sure thing! The only problem that this caused was the fact that Alfred thought we would make the changes out of the goodness of our hearts. We quickly learned to refer all of these requests to Alex. And once or twice a day we would get to watch a classic Arab/Jewish confrontation as Alex argued with Alfred as to why it was going to cost Alfred some money to move a door.
And since it was an Owner/Builder development, it became a very unique job for this apprentice. Alfred wanted us to do everything on the job that he didn’t already have a contract for. And so I learned how to install windows and doors. I learned how to install wood backing and hardware. Insulation. Cabinets. In the end, we were sweeping the floors and bringing in the furniture. A job like that doesn’t come along very often.
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Normal?
You will have to excuse me if I seem to be focused on the first days of my career in construction. But; like all “firsts”, the memories are clearer.
The days at the Leon Apartments became weeks and I continued to work as a stocker of materials and never used my new tools, except for the aviation snips, used to open the bands that held bundles of studs together. Looking back on this, I see that it made sense for me to learn the materials first. Although, at the time, I thought it was a form of torture! My body ached every day after running up and down stairs and carrying heavy loads of studs, screws and anything else that Alex wanted moved from point A to point B.
I should mention something about the rest of the crew and something about the drywall trade itself. At this time, the early 1960’s, the drywall trade was a “stepchild”. The Lather’s union had been offered jurisdiction over the trade and had turned it down. They were convinced that it wouldn’t last. The Carpenter’s didn’t want it either and only took it on grudgingly. We (drywallers) were put into a specialty crafts local union, along with scaffold builders, acoustical ceiling installers and soft floor layers. The Carpenter’s didn’t want to spend any money on training, so there was no formal apprenticeship. And at this same time, since drywall was growing in popularity, parole officers decided that this would be a good trade to direct some of their parolees to. And sure enough, there were parolees among our crew. Lunch room conversations sometimes turned to the topic of prisons (the “joint”) and life behind bars. I had never met a real ex-con before…or so I thought. But I found them all to be quite normal. Work was what we all did and as long as we did it well; all were respected equally. Made sense to me.
I should say “normal” except for some of the names that were used among the crew. Harry “The Hat”, and “High Sheets” Heisler, “Patty Cake” Celmer and our boss, Alex “The Arab”. Just some of the colorful names that were used. I don’t remember being given a name and I’m quite happy to have been left out.
The days at the Leon Apartments became weeks and I continued to work as a stocker of materials and never used my new tools, except for the aviation snips, used to open the bands that held bundles of studs together. Looking back on this, I see that it made sense for me to learn the materials first. Although, at the time, I thought it was a form of torture! My body ached every day after running up and down stairs and carrying heavy loads of studs, screws and anything else that Alex wanted moved from point A to point B.
I should mention something about the rest of the crew and something about the drywall trade itself. At this time, the early 1960’s, the drywall trade was a “stepchild”. The Lather’s union had been offered jurisdiction over the trade and had turned it down. They were convinced that it wouldn’t last. The Carpenter’s didn’t want it either and only took it on grudgingly. We (drywallers) were put into a specialty crafts local union, along with scaffold builders, acoustical ceiling installers and soft floor layers. The Carpenter’s didn’t want to spend any money on training, so there was no formal apprenticeship. And at this same time, since drywall was growing in popularity, parole officers decided that this would be a good trade to direct some of their parolees to. And sure enough, there were parolees among our crew. Lunch room conversations sometimes turned to the topic of prisons (the “joint”) and life behind bars. I had never met a real ex-con before…or so I thought. But I found them all to be quite normal. Work was what we all did and as long as we did it well; all were respected equally. Made sense to me.
I should say “normal” except for some of the names that were used among the crew. Harry “The Hat”, and “High Sheets” Heisler, “Patty Cake” Celmer and our boss, Alex “The Arab”. Just some of the colorful names that were used. I don’t remember being given a name and I’m quite happy to have been left out.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Heights!
The afternoon dragged on and by 3:30, I was exhausted. I had been using muscles that had never been so abused before and I knew exactly where each of those muscles was located. Gathering up my tools and my lunch pail, I got into my car and drove home, wondering about this career I had embarked upon.
After some deliberation, I thought that I had actually enjoyed the experience. It was something new and I liked that. I had made $20 (before taxes) and that was good. It had been a challenge and I had met it. Also good. OK, I would show up tomorrow and do it again.
I worked my shift at the Texaco station that night and then slept soundly from midnight to 5, when the alarm clock sounded and it was time to get ready for the drive back into Hollywood.
That morning, Alex had a new job for me and Blackey was given another apprentice to confuse. My new job was to stock materials on some of the higher floors and another apprentice and I would be using the Buck Hoist to do it. The hoist was located along the backside of the building and consisted of a tower that reached to the full extent of the 9 story building and a flat platform (4’x8’) that was attached to the tower. A large Wisconsin V-4 engine powered a rotating drum that held the cables that pulled the platform up and down the tower. There were 3 levers and a throttle to operate. We were given a quick lesson on how to start the engine, pull the brake lever and which levers were “up” and which were “down”. And the most important lesson…always be ready to dive into the small space beneath the edge of the building whenever you heard the word, “Headache!”
And so we began. We would load the platform with material (from a list) and then I would start the engine, rev it up, pull the “up” lever and the platform would lurch upwards. The tricky part was stopping it at the level of the floor. Peering up and trying to determine that precise measurement was especially difficult when the platform was 80’ above you. The other apprentice would be on the upper floor and would yell down, “Up a little…hold it! Too much, back down a little.” All very difficult to do with a hoist that wanted to move in increments of 4’ or more…
Once the hoist was located at the proper height, I would take a ride on the man hoist, the Alimak, and head up to help remove the material from the Buck hoist. This platform had no side rails and so it was quite unnerving to step out onto it at those heights. The tower would creak and sway and you couldn’t help but wonder if the brake was really set. And if you looked down and saw anyone near the hoist controls, you jumped off the platform and yelled down to let them know you were using it.
After some deliberation, I thought that I had actually enjoyed the experience. It was something new and I liked that. I had made $20 (before taxes) and that was good. It had been a challenge and I had met it. Also good. OK, I would show up tomorrow and do it again.
I worked my shift at the Texaco station that night and then slept soundly from midnight to 5, when the alarm clock sounded and it was time to get ready for the drive back into Hollywood.
That morning, Alex had a new job for me and Blackey was given another apprentice to confuse. My new job was to stock materials on some of the higher floors and another apprentice and I would be using the Buck Hoist to do it. The hoist was located along the backside of the building and consisted of a tower that reached to the full extent of the 9 story building and a flat platform (4’x8’) that was attached to the tower. A large Wisconsin V-4 engine powered a rotating drum that held the cables that pulled the platform up and down the tower. There were 3 levers and a throttle to operate. We were given a quick lesson on how to start the engine, pull the brake lever and which levers were “up” and which were “down”. And the most important lesson…always be ready to dive into the small space beneath the edge of the building whenever you heard the word, “Headache!”
And so we began. We would load the platform with material (from a list) and then I would start the engine, rev it up, pull the “up” lever and the platform would lurch upwards. The tricky part was stopping it at the level of the floor. Peering up and trying to determine that precise measurement was especially difficult when the platform was 80’ above you. The other apprentice would be on the upper floor and would yell down, “Up a little…hold it! Too much, back down a little.” All very difficult to do with a hoist that wanted to move in increments of 4’ or more…
Once the hoist was located at the proper height, I would take a ride on the man hoist, the Alimak, and head up to help remove the material from the Buck hoist. This platform had no side rails and so it was quite unnerving to step out onto it at those heights. The tower would creak and sway and you couldn’t help but wonder if the brake was really set. And if you looked down and saw anyone near the hoist controls, you jumped off the platform and yelled down to let them know you were using it.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
A long day
With my new tools fastened tightly in place around my waist and a hard hat sitting on my head, I was as ready as I could be for my first day at work in the construction business. Blackey, whose real name I learned much later was Calvus J. Ucey, was going to be my “boss”. And the first thing I had to do was to try and understand what he was saying to me. Blackey was from Louisiana and had been a deckhand on a shrimp boat before he wandered into the drywall trade, and so his accent was not one that I was at all familiar with. And he spoke that Creole patois at a very fast pace! I quickly learned that I was now called “Babe”; in fact everyone that Blackey spoke to was called “Babe”.
And the first thing that Blackey told me to do…was to take off my tools. I wasn’t going to need them; I would be stocking material for the journeyman working on the project and the tools would just slow me down. He began by telling me how much of each item needed to go into the various rooms. If I couldn’t remember, the count had been written on the floor next to the door of the unit. But the names were baffling. No one had told me that I was supposed to know about “core board” or “mud”. I tried asking questions, but after a few minutes of trying to decipher Blackey’s answers, I gave up and tried to figure it all out on my own.
I learned quickly. And I also learned that this stuff was heavy! I watched some of the journeyman as they picked up the sheets of core board and they seemed to do it quite effortlessly, while I grunted and stumbled under the weight. By the time lunch break came, I was eager to sit down for awhile.
The lunch break was announced with a loud blast from the air horns of a catering truck that had pulled up in front of the project. Everyone hurried down to get something from the truck and then we retired to the lunch room, the room where I had previously been introduced. And once again, Blackey took center stage, eating his sandwich and telling some story while kneeling in the center of the room and beating the concrete with his cap to accentuate a point he was making. Most of his stories involved his dog, “Rex”, and although Rex had gone to “doggie heaven” a long time ago, Blackey’s tales brought him back to life every day.
Alex, the foreman, sat and watched Blackey and didn’t say much. But 30 minutes after that horn had sounded, he was on his feet and urging us all back to work. Oh, no! I was already sore. Could I make it to 3:30?
And the first thing that Blackey told me to do…was to take off my tools. I wasn’t going to need them; I would be stocking material for the journeyman working on the project and the tools would just slow me down. He began by telling me how much of each item needed to go into the various rooms. If I couldn’t remember, the count had been written on the floor next to the door of the unit. But the names were baffling. No one had told me that I was supposed to know about “core board” or “mud”. I tried asking questions, but after a few minutes of trying to decipher Blackey’s answers, I gave up and tried to figure it all out on my own.
I learned quickly. And I also learned that this stuff was heavy! I watched some of the journeyman as they picked up the sheets of core board and they seemed to do it quite effortlessly, while I grunted and stumbled under the weight. By the time lunch break came, I was eager to sit down for awhile.
The lunch break was announced with a loud blast from the air horns of a catering truck that had pulled up in front of the project. Everyone hurried down to get something from the truck and then we retired to the lunch room, the room where I had previously been introduced. And once again, Blackey took center stage, eating his sandwich and telling some story while kneeling in the center of the room and beating the concrete with his cap to accentuate a point he was making. Most of his stories involved his dog, “Rex”, and although Rex had gone to “doggie heaven” a long time ago, Blackey’s tales brought him back to life every day.
Alex, the foreman, sat and watched Blackey and didn’t say much. But 30 minutes after that horn had sounded, he was on his feet and urging us all back to work. Oh, no! I was already sore. Could I make it to 3:30?
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
First Day
(I should probably note here that I didn’t give up my night job when I took on this new job as an apprentice carpenter. I continued to work at the Texaco station 6 nights a week.)
Before my first day at work I took some time to investigate the new tools that I had “purchased”. (Alex Akoury, the foreman…had selected them, I was going to pay for them.) I had a tape measure, carpenters pencil, aviation snips, “Keel” (lumber crayon), drywall knife, circle cutter, drywall saw, and a Plumb #2 Box Hatchet. All of this was combined with a tool holder and a nail pouch attached to a military style web belt. Very impressive and very heavy. I was also given a hard hat and told to buy some work boots.
Very early on a Monday morning, I made my way to the office of the local union and was given a dispatch to the jobsite. After a little bit of wandering around in the residential sections of Hollywood, I found where the Leon Apartments were being constructed and located a parking place.
The apartments were very impressive; 9 stories of concrete lift slab construction.
There was an orange colored Alimak construction elevator attached to the side of the building and it was at the base of the elevator where I spotted Marshall. He introduced me to Alex Akoury, my new boss. Introductions were short and we headed to the corner of the building and up the stairwell, Alex leading the way at a fast pace, while I stumbled and tripped over the unfamiliar and rough terrain of a construction site. We exited the stairwell on the third floor and went to a large corner apartment where the “gang box” was located. This room was also the lunch room for the crew and all were there for coffee break. I had arrived just in time to be introduced as the “new guy” and a “cub” as well. (Apprentices were “cubs” and very low on the construction social scale.) When we walked in, I could barely see. The room was quite dark, but I noticed that there were about a dozen people sitting on rough benches located all around the room. And in the middle of the room, one man was down on both knees and slapping the floor with his cloth cap as he punctuated the telling of some sort of joke? What was this? What was he saying? I couldn’t understand a word…
Alex said something and the man on the floor jumped up, startled. Alex began the introductions with him; “Blackey, this is Steve. He’s your new apprentice. Steve; Blackey.” Then a quick introduction to the shadowy figures located around the room. I did notice that there were two other apprentices among the men, but I was still the newest one. Seniority counts when you’re an apprentice!
After a minute or two, Alex looked at his watch and said, “Get a move on. Break’s over. Steve, go with Blackey. Blackey; show him what you need done.” The room quickly emptied.
OK, so much for polite cit chat…my first day had begun.
Before my first day at work I took some time to investigate the new tools that I had “purchased”. (Alex Akoury, the foreman…had selected them, I was going to pay for them.) I had a tape measure, carpenters pencil, aviation snips, “Keel” (lumber crayon), drywall knife, circle cutter, drywall saw, and a Plumb #2 Box Hatchet. All of this was combined with a tool holder and a nail pouch attached to a military style web belt. Very impressive and very heavy. I was also given a hard hat and told to buy some work boots.
Very early on a Monday morning, I made my way to the office of the local union and was given a dispatch to the jobsite. After a little bit of wandering around in the residential sections of Hollywood, I found where the Leon Apartments were being constructed and located a parking place.
The apartments were very impressive; 9 stories of concrete lift slab construction.
There was an orange colored Alimak construction elevator attached to the side of the building and it was at the base of the elevator where I spotted Marshall. He introduced me to Alex Akoury, my new boss. Introductions were short and we headed to the corner of the building and up the stairwell, Alex leading the way at a fast pace, while I stumbled and tripped over the unfamiliar and rough terrain of a construction site. We exited the stairwell on the third floor and went to a large corner apartment where the “gang box” was located. This room was also the lunch room for the crew and all were there for coffee break. I had arrived just in time to be introduced as the “new guy” and a “cub” as well. (Apprentices were “cubs” and very low on the construction social scale.) When we walked in, I could barely see. The room was quite dark, but I noticed that there were about a dozen people sitting on rough benches located all around the room. And in the middle of the room, one man was down on both knees and slapping the floor with his cloth cap as he punctuated the telling of some sort of joke? What was this? What was he saying? I couldn’t understand a word…
Alex said something and the man on the floor jumped up, startled. Alex began the introductions with him; “Blackey, this is Steve. He’s your new apprentice. Steve; Blackey.” Then a quick introduction to the shadowy figures located around the room. I did notice that there were two other apprentices among the men, but I was still the newest one. Seniority counts when you’re an apprentice!
After a minute or two, Alex looked at his watch and said, “Get a move on. Break’s over. Steve, go with Blackey. Blackey; show him what you need done.” The room quickly emptied.
OK, so much for polite cit chat…my first day had begun.
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