u/littlelivethings

I have a phd and was a professor of architecture history. This is a second career for me. I’m just an apprentice at a woodworking shop. I was just a woodworker hobbyist, and my boss knows that I’ve never worked in a factory before. I’m not afraid to ask questions and learn quickly. But he’ll ask me to do things with language I have never heard before and get annoyed if I ask what he means. I waste a lot of time wandering around the factory looking for tools/hardware/material because it’s so disorganized and no one told me where anything is kept. I have to find someone to show me how to use every stationary power tool (even if I have used it before) because they are old and have their quirks and aren’t precise if I don’t know how to account for variations.

Anyway…I don’t misrepresent myself as experienced. I’m essentially self taught and eager to learn. But I’m not an idiot just because I’m unfamiliar with the environment. I’m also only one of two women in the whole place, and I don’t want to get angry or cry because my boss is already uncomfortable around women 🙄

Edit: I’m not having an attitude about the work, and I haven’t told anyone about my degrees aside from college. I ask a lot of questions because I don’t know what’s going on or understand the terms, and I don’t appreciate being treated like I’m stupid for not knowing. It feels like everyone I work with forgets I’m an apprentice. When my boss asks me to do something, I ask him to clarify and show me how, and he acts like I’m stupid for not knowing. What set me off this morning was that he told me to do something using a term I hadn’t heard before and then walked away. I asked my coworker what he meant, and he wasn’t sure at first but figured it out. Then he told me to do one thing, and boss came back and acted like I was stupid for doing it wrong. I told him I needed clarification to do things correctly, and he said that the term was a standard term in every woodworking shop and that the way of positioning everything was common sense. I took a walk to the bathroom to collect myself, and when I came back, my coworkers had set everything up for me using additional materials that I didn’t know we had—let alone that I was supposed to use them.

I’m fine with being treated like a student because I am one! But I’m not a mind reader. And I’ve never worked in a factory before, so being expected to know what it’s like is really unreasonable.

It can also be incredibly stressful because our clientele have nearly impossible standards. I don’t get to practice any tasks before I work on a piece. I never have any idea what the end result is supposed to be, and half the time when I ask someone, they don’t know either. I think what frustrates me most is my boss expects everyone to be a mind reader but can be dismissive and impatient with me because I’m an apprentice (and probably also because I’m a woman).

There are tons of really nice people who help me too, but I’m often made to feel like I’m stupid when I ask for help/definitions/instructions when logically it would be fucking stupid of me to go ahead and do something if I’m not sure what I’m actually supposed to do.

I’m a woodworker (started about two weeks ago), and I’m on my feet all day. I like my Ariat boots, but I need something more than the insoles they came with. My REI hiking insoles are too firm, and my brand new Dr Scholls ones got flattened after two days. I want my feet to feel cushioned and supported like Hokas without having to replace my insoles constantly.

Recommendations?

I recently started a job as a woodworker in a warehouse/factory. The company produces some beautiful artisanal work, but I’m an apprentice and definitely don’t do any of that yet (or probably ever at this particular workplace). This is a second career for me; until recently, I was a professor of architecture history. I’ve always liked working with my hands and studied sculpture in undergrad (wood mostly), and I needed to change careers because my teaching/scholarly field is dying.

Apprenticing is fine. But it’s kind of boring—I do the same tasks multiple days in a row—and I have basically no PTO or sick days (6 total my first year). I miss having winter and summer break and the intellectual/creative aspects of teaching. In my dream world, I would build my skillset with woodworking and parlay that into some kind of architectural / mid-century furniture preservation to combine my creative and intellectual background with the physical/craft skills I’m developing. I’d also like to have a little more autonomy over my schedule and break up the kind of work I do on a given day to be less monotonous.

I have strong skills in carving and detail work, which of course isn’t what I’m doing as an apprentice. I feel that I have a lot to learn now, but I need something more creative and engaging long term. For those of you who reached a more artisanal status, what is your background? How long did it take? Where do you work?

My daughter will be three at the end of October. We have been working on potty training for a while, as her daycare will not work with us at all. We have gotten to a point where my daughter is fine with going bare bottom diaper-free at home and even asks to use the potty when she knows she has to go.

The problem is that she won’t pee on the potty. I think she’s anxious and actually can’t. She will eventually cry for a diaper or dribble a tiny bit in the potty or have a small accident and then keep holding until bath time or she has her daiper/pull-up for nap, bedtime, or daycare. I think she’s physically unable to release. She hasn’t pooped on the potty yet, but she doesn’t get the same level of distressed when she tries.

We tried small rewards (fruit snacks, little toys) and give her lots of encouragement when she tries to sit and cheer if she gets any pee in the potty. I think that is making her more anxious.

I have tried reading to her, having her play with warm water, blow into instruments/bubbles (she refuses), making snake noises, watching videos of waterfalls, giving her privacy (I think this is actually what helps, but she cries and gets off the potty if I leave), offering a choice between the toilet and two little potties.

I have no idea what to do. She doesn’t want to wear diapers anymore—and we need her at least somewhat trained for preschool in the fall—but she just doesn’t seem able to pee on the potty.

I waited for my daughter’s speech delay to resolve, and I think I missed my chance to train without a huge toddler power struggle fight.

My daughter is 2.5 and in daycare. I’ve been doing diaper free (naked bottom or in underwear) after daycare most days for a few weeks. My husband doesn’t want to be stuck at home on weekends, so we use diapers on and off on weekend days too instead of going full in. I know I’m going to have to take her out of daycare for a few days to do an oh crap style thing because my husband isn’t being helpful on weekends.

That said, I’m so frustrated with the power struggles and want to be prepared for when I rage her out of daycare to go all in. It’s clear from our “training” so far that my daughter figured out how to connect the pee feeling to peeing. She tells me she needs to go. But if I take her to the potty to do it, she screams and refuses to sit. Eventually she either goes in underwear, floor, diaper, or bath. She’ll sit and not go. She has peed in it twice in all our days of trying, and I think not completely emptying the bladder either.

My daughter is in daycare, so we can’t do the Oh Crap method blocks indefinitely (especially in the 20-30 month old range, because we just hit the end of it 😵‍💫). My 2.5 year old daughter is not responding to advice in Oh Crap when I’ve tried after daycare and on weekends. If I move her to the potty mid pee, she screams and locks her legs straight so I physically can’t move her. She also is very good at stopping herself from peeing more. She can hold her pee up to four hours it seems. I have tried prizes too, which get her to at least sit on the potty, but she doesn’t go. I think she can’t release on the potty anymore (she did at 18-20 months then suddenly stopped). I’ve tried Oh Crap’s advice—shhhh-ing in her ear, blowing bubbles, handling water, allowing some privacy, offering a choice between the potty and the toilet (she will not sit on the toilet ever). We have tons of potty book. She clearly has the bladder/bowel control to use the potty, I just can’t figure out the right approach for her personality. Any advice for other books is appreciated!