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Somedays I wonder why I chose this line of work. That ever frustrating paint that has dried inside and on top of cans lids. Always guessing your production techniques and its results. Sometimes wrong I might add. Deadlines. Feeding the other hand (Bills & Taxes & payroll). Weather and outside work. Weekends. Man O Man the list goes on and on. But then you receive a excited customer's reaction to your handy work and the phone keeps ringing from referrals...Thats what keeps me going and loving it.
-------------------- Signs Solutions, Inc. Matthew Rossi Midlothian, VA, 23113 signsol@earthlink.net Posts: 139 | From: Midlothian, Virginia | Registered: Nov 1998
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Yes, there are days when I want to impale myself with a stiff, dried-out 1" fitch. Summer mornings when you go to check on the previous night's work and find a big dead mosquito dried into your sign. Winter mornings in the garage when it is so cold your nose hairs freeze before the heater kicks in. Adding Lustre-Mold to Alumalite edges....I invariably cut myself and bleed all over the sign. (usually a white one) The fierce hot sunburn on the back of your neck after being on a ladder painting a wall all day, not to mention the way the arches of your feet feel. Air Bubbles in Vynull....and telling the customer "the sun will take care of those". It never will. Trying to gild something and having holidays in the lettering, yet the gold sticks brilliantly to the background where you DON'T want it. Spilling a can of 1-Shot at a job site, usually in a place that is clean enuff to lick the floor. (This never happens in the rickety lean-to where you are lettering an old cruddy truck!) Being so broke that you WILL cut an all-caps Old English windshield sticker for a pimply, pierced teenager's car. Packing carefully for a job an hour away, making sure you have every last thing you need and some things you don't....but forgetting something anyway. These are just a few things that came to mind. Some days, those rare golden moments when everything is going just right and you feel you can grab the world by the butt because IT IS YOUR OYSTER BABY, well, they make it all worth the bad times. Love- JILL
-------------------- That is like a Mr. Potato Head with all the pieces in the wrong place. -Russ McMullin Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6712 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Jill...Love your reply....It's funny to hear other peoples trials and tribulations.
Not to mention this topic might be a bit of a strees reliever..Taking stock on whats frustrating and satisfying.
-------------------- Signs Solutions, Inc. Matthew Rossi Midlothian, VA, 23113 signsol@earthlink.net Posts: 139 | From: Midlothian, Virginia | Registered: Nov 1998
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A bit like Rick says- it just grows on you, and in the end it's a marriage!
or the opportunity to work for yourself, rather than a boss (yeah well, all customers are sortof your boss), opportunity to be creative? need for money? talent? perseverance?love of it? desperation? lots of half reasons...!
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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Jilly, you nailed it! Along with the feeling you get when your brush swings around that absolutely perfect curve and you stand back and say "Yeah"!
MUR
-------------------- Murray MacDonald OldTime Signs 529 Third Ave S Kenora, ON. P9N 1Y3 oldtimesigns@gokenora.com Posts: 781 | From: Kenora, ON | Registered: Jan 2003
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You know what.. I wouldn't want to do it any other way... I can't help but Laugh readin all that stuff.. Having grown up in it, I had no choice.... Getting to the Jobsite, Only to have no stabillos, No Tape, Where is the Pattern, Did you get the Pounce wheel, Dad can we eat first, NOT Until we get everything set up..
Or how about all those cool lil' Antique shops you stopped at. Or that Nice old Farmer you and Dad shared dinner with him and his Family. All those cool lil' towns you passed thru'
Or in My Case.. Having spent Ever non-school attending minute WOrking with My Dad. It wasn't all Fun, But I did get to hang with him.. He is still alive, Just missed him re-reading this...(gonna call him when we're done)
I have met so many cool People. And been to so many Cool places.. Minus the Non-Retirement Program. I am Wealthy, Won't pay the Bills but it has been a Fun ride... Gonna get better in 2005 in Minnesota... " Vinyl People COme around... Leave the Squee gee.... LOL
Nice post.....thanks
Work Hard today..... Nah have fun, enjoy what you are doing... Ahhhh! One shot,
-------------------- Mike Contreras MAX Sign & Design Gladstone , Michigan Posts: 84 | From: Gladstone , Michigan | Registered: Jun 2000
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Here's why I stay in this line of work...sorta the flip side of the coin.
Summer mornings when the paint dries so fast mosquitoes can't get there fast enough and your work day goes by quickly. Winter afternoons when the heat finally kicks in and your brushes feel like a part of you...every stroke is quick and clean. Climbing up a ladder, getting some fresh air and a view that folks in an office job may never see. NOT getting airbubbles on a job becuase you were painting all day. Laying down some gold outdoors and a little dust kicked up by the wind into the sizing, only making it look better. (Ask Bill Riedel about that one...lol) Working at a job site that is clean enuff to lick the floor. Cutting a cool windshield graphic for a teenager and having him tell his buddies where he got it. FREE ADVERTISING!!! Packing for a job 2 hours away, making sure you have every last thing you need and some things you don't....and winding up needing only a couple of brushes, a stabilo and some One Shot to do the whole job. Heaven. Trying something new and having work on the first attempt! Even better is when you make a mistake, but later discover it can be useful for a job.
Rapid
-------------------- Ray Rheaume Rapidfire Design 543 Brushwood Road North Haverhill, NH 03774 rapidfiredesign@hotmail.com 603-787-6803
I like my paint shaken, not stirred. Posts: 5648 | From: North Haverhill, New Hampshire | Registered: Apr 2003
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At out shop we experience those same frustrations and that same joy.
Theres the joy of negotiations for a project, the elation of sitting at the design board dreaming up and drawing fantastical ideas. And the sadness as the owner cuts back the budget for the project forcing some compromise. Much pencil sharpening and figuring to make sure I've covered all the angles.
And there's the drudgery of getting the endless approvals, and waiting for the owner to get all his ducks in a row for financing.
Our frustrations are many... The work is hard and heavy.. I get so tired sometimes from the enormity of it. The preparation sometimes seems to go on for days and days with seemingly little progress. Lots of little burns from the welding, and cuts from putting on the diamond lath. Battle scars.
And then at last the first mud goes on and we get to do some creative carving. By the time the paint starts flying this thing we are creating comes alive. It doesn't just live in my head any more.
The cartoon sculpture makes us laugh as we pull it carefeully out of the huge shop doors into the sunshine and we see it as it was meant to be seen.
It's a kick to drive down the freeway loaded to the max with outrageous works of art strapped onto the flatdeck trailer. Cheerful waves, thumbs-up and smiles mean we have done our job well.
The look of amazement as we pull onto the worksite are wonderful, everyone including the owners forget what they were up to. The main attraction is our work until it is safely craned and bolted into place.
And my favorite is standing anonamously to the side as guests experience for the first time the themed world we have created. The look of wonder and amazement on their faces is so cool. They are truely in another fantastic world. All their daily cares are left behind for a while as they have fun in the place we have toiled for months and months to create.
It's magic for them and for me!
-dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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GREAT post for the REALITY minded among us! Was thinking about this after reading Mark Rogan's post,as they are one in the same. My desire to help others came to fruitration by being in the sign business. The best approch that also happens to be the most honest.Is that it is my job to help the customer make MORE money, via signs! The double talk of image,advertising,value of... never appealed to me or the customer.By directing the public into the front door of the customers business is the objective of signs. NO MAGIC FORMULAS HERE. I know how much it cost me to be in business and how much I am worth! It helps the customer,and it helps me.
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