said by zach3:Thanks Well Bonded,
I learned Brazing, Stick, Tig/Heli Arc, & Mig back in those days and I might even have some of the terms messed up by today's standards.
Helped pay my way through college...
As a pre-teen a friend of mines father was a certified welder who traveled all over building pressure tanks, he knew welding inside and out.
But he had this attitude that all young boys must learn how to use their hands, repair work wood work and of course welding and when he was home usually for a few weeks he trained both of his sons and I on the art of brazing, cutting and welding.
I was interesting to learn and he always seemed to have an endless stockpile of scrap metal to practice on to keep us busy and out of trouble when he was out on the road.
He also brought home enough expendables and gas's so we never ran out of supplies.
He did have one hard rule, we where the only boys who could touch the equipment, friends could watch, but they could never touch any of the equipment, until he decided they understood enough to work safely.
He had a second hard rule, if any tools where left out and became damaged or rusted, all of us not just the offender would get a good strapping, it seldom happened, but when he found something that was not properly stored and rusted, off came his belt and we knew what was going to happen next.
What I learned worked out very well for me in my late teens early twenties, I applied for a job as a welder at new company in town called Waste Management, the guy doing the hiring was the weld shop foreman, a heavyset guy with a short cropped haircut and what looked like a head attached to his shoulders, what little neck he had, was red.
I was told to go to the weld shop and find him which I did, he glared at me with a look that could kill, I a skinny 19 year old guy with long blonde hair hanging well over his shoulders, wanted a job.
So you want a job as a welder eh, yes sir, ok see that dumpster over there with the crack in the corner, yes sir, fix it, I'll be back later.
Oh the torch's are over there, use that welder and there's an old hood and some gloved in that cabinet, I declined and explained I have my own hood, gloves and what ever else I needed to wear in the trunk of my car.
Himm, really, I'll be back later.
I got out my gear a couple of good sized hammers and went to work.
Now repairing dumpsters is fun stuff, even with a shop fan it's hot and being a maggot home it stinks even after being pressure cleaned, and then when the metal is heated red hot it gives off a special aroma that permeates your clothing, right down to your underwear.
I would get off work at seven in the morning looking kinda nasty and smelling like I lived in a pile of garbage, go into a place for breakfast and when I sat at the counter I discovered I had invented social distancing, long before the CDC even existed.
Well the foreman came back and looked at my work, he mumbled something that sounded like sunna of a b****, I was told to go back to the trailer and tell the lady I had been hired for the midnight shift.
She had me fill out some paperwork, told me I needed to get a tetanus shot and to come in Sunday night before midnight.
As I was leaving she asked me if I wanted to know how much I was going to be paid, I thought that would be nice, she got out a binder thumbed through it and pronounced I would be starting at eighteen an hour for my first six months.
I thanked her, but it didn't sink in, on the way back home it hit me, did she say eight or eighteen, after a few minutes of thought I realized she said eighteen, heck after three years a friend of mine who had just been promoted to store manager at a NAPA auto parts store and was now making a whopping eight per hour, I'm walking in the door welding dumpsters and am starting at eighteen.
Later after nearly a year I figured out why they paid what they paid, even working in the middle of the night, when it was cool, it was disgusting nasty work and I saw many a welder, most older than I just walk off the job and never come back.
·