{"id":7045,"date":"2025-10-25T19:02:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T19:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websterart.com\/wordpress\/?p=7045"},"modified":"2025-10-26T20:01:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T20:01:05","slug":"grandmas-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websterart.com\/wordpress\/2025\/10\/grandmas-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Grandmas advice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is a feel good article in the WaPo<\/a> this morning about Jewish grandma’s setting up shop on the sidewalks of New York and offering free advice to random passerby’s. It reminded me of how much I miss my dad. At 32 we had a one year old and I was stuck in a dead end blue collar printing job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’d worked there 11 years running simple machines and needed a change. Imagine an oil change guy who wants to move up to repairing engines for more pay. The shop was so small there was no where to go up. It was a family run business and they had the administrative jobs. Not that I wanted them, I enjoyed working with my hands. But I knew I was capable of a lot more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through one of the visiting ink salesman I heard of a job 30 miles aways where I’d grown up and my parents still lived in the old family home. I knew the company was on shaky ground but it was a bigger machine and I desperately needed a change. I took the job and six months later they fired me and promptly went bankrupt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got let go at noon and went for a walk around my old teenage stomping grounds. I ended up at the State Supreme Court where dad worked as the bailiff, a job he’d had since ’65. When court wasn’t in session his job was pretty chill and he could take breaks whenever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ever since I was a stoned out hippy I knew he was always there and happy to see me. I could have easily dropped by to see mom up the hill, but I gravitated toward dad. He knew I was supposed to be at work and was surprised to see me walk into his office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got fired dad.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ah, I’m sorry to hear that, I knew you had high hopes for your new job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, they said I was too slow and I was hurting their profits.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well I’m sure it was more than that. They have been in trouble for years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hey, did you know I got fired more than a dozen times?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What!! No way. I’ve never heard that. You only had two jobs in the last 30 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yup, it’s true. Before I got that city desk job at the newspaper where you kids were born I bounced around reporting jobs for years. I’d work for a while, make the editor mad or the paper would close and I’d get fired. It happened over and over. The newspaper business is much more volatile than the printing trade. I had jobs at papers up and down the west coast from Sitka to San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geez dad, I had no idea. You were a rock as long as I can remember.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took me years to learn how to keep a job. I reported on some hot button issues and would get all worked up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, I feel better now. This is the first time I’ve been fired. I had that cushy job for 11 years. I was the foreman there and they loved me.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It won’t be your last if you are anything like me. There is always another job out there. You are a smart, honest young man with a lot of skills, you’ll be fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Grandpa’s making music<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I walked out of there feeling much better and began pounding the pavement. I developed a routine where I’d hit as many print shops in day as possible. I even developed some subterfuges to get past the front desk. I quickly realized that I had to get past the desk to the foreman who could hire and fire. If I walked in and asked for the foreman the secretary would say he was busy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned to call first and ask for the foreman’s name, saying I wanted to mail him a resume. Then I’d walk in the front door with a big smile and ask for Bob. Many times the desk lady thought I was a personal friend, otherwise why would I be smiling and know his name?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other times I’d walk straight in the back entrance. Shops back then always kept the alley door open for ventilation and deliveries. Printing uses a lot of solvents and creates clouds of paper dust, air circulation is critical. I’d circulate in and talk shop with the pressmen, resume in hand. That particular time I got a job in ten days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found a shop up in Silverdale whose pressman had quit. The guy was desperate. I heard about the job from another boss nearby who didn’t need help but knew someone who did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Me and the grandkids<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I meant this to be a blog post about grandmas. I’m married to one now. The kids and their kids come over regularly, or we drop by their houses. We just hang out. Sue does a lot of babysitting when they get in a pinch. Neither has a sitter. They both take turns with their spouses watching the kids, and rely on grandparents for un-avoidable complications. Both of my kids spouses have parents within an hours drive. Unlike a lot of people, our kids never left the state, or even the county, for college. So there is no need to ask advice of a bubbe on the sidewalk. They just come home. We are very fortunate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I made my first YouTube short!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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