So the college was the backbone of my knowledge in printing and to a degree I was in debt to college for me being able to move to a more secure job. It would be several years before the firm went bankrupt to the tune of £500.000 to £750,000, and at that time the printers firm owned by the surrounding shoe manufacturers, good for them. There was another printer who I didn’t really get on with and for good reason. THE MAN WAS A CHEAT, A THIEF AND A LIAR. I wouldn’t name him because although everything I say about him I wouldn’t want to be branded as a slanderer.
It transpires that the man in question was an ex poster who had behaved criminally by taking post home instead of delivering it to customers. Also Christmas mail especially the packages that obviously had bottle or bottles inside, – smashing and drip feeding via a funnel into another empty bottle. I am sure that one could only describe this as criminal. There were occasions when it was necessary to work overtime on a Saturday and it was one of these Saturdays when myself and another were in on such a Saturday. We heard noises below us and on looking down to the road saw him putting reams of paper into his car – Theft. As time went on it would transpire that he was even more of a wrong one than I initially thought. Criminal acts were regularly practised, from childminding several children without having the legal requirements, and as such probably wouldn’t have been permitted to do so. He was sacked from the Royal Mail for the things said earlier in the paragraph. Another unlawful act was driving his car to a secluded spot and setting it on fire in an act as to claim on the insurance filed under theft. Unfortunately for him a fire engine was close by and was able to extinguish the fire before substantial damage was done. Other criminal acts were done on a regular basis, mainly petty theft from shoplifting and regular theft from work.
Taking all the wrong doings into account, it is a struggle to see how he was employed as a printer and an unqualified one to boot. The final thing was for him to be caught rummaging in the Managing Directors office in a bid to find that I was being paid in excess of what he was, mainly due to the fact that I was qualified and a better all round printer and worker. He was quietly asked to leave his post and so the hard work started. The main reason that I got the job was because I was a teacher at college and because of this the M.D. didn’t want references, so as anyone can imagine this gave me a big boost and a head start in the new post as senior print manager.
Because I was now left as the only printer in the firm all the workload was put on me and it became evident that we needed an apprentice to start ASAP. Once we had got an apprentice the hard work began in training a novice in all aspects of the job. Things went smoothly in training the lad and in a relatively small period of time was capable in operating two of the four presses that we had. After a few years it was obvious that something within the firm was happening. As before the feelings of upset within the firm was rife and following a meeting that I had with the boss, it transpired that the building was to be sold to a law firm next door for their expansion. We were to relocate into a bigger building across town. The moving was traumatic and it was to become apparent that the premises were actually smaller than the previous location, so everything was crammed together in quite a small space. The builders were only part of the way through alterations to accommodate us and all the machinery.
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