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Young coworker in the spray streamers fight
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Those who start vocational training have to be prepared for something: In many companies newcomers are greeted with a prank.
Often you have to fetch something from the warehouse that doesn't exist.
They have to ask themselves about the new company, get to know several of their new colleagues - and are taught, for example, that compressed air is not transported in buckets.
We asked you about your experiences - and we are overwhelmed by the response: So many readers have told us about their apprentice jokes that the anecdotes don't even fit into an article.
There is now a first swing with dough planers, lead lice and bubble levels.
And once you have thoroughly ventilated the cold store, we will submit more.
In advance, we particularly liked the variant followed by a welcome drink, which Andreas J. told us about:
“In the science institute where I worked in the early 1980s, new trainees were regularly sent all over the house to look for the 'bit support'. The last stop was always the data center, where they were welcomed with a crate of beer for a happy debut. "
The classics
A frequently requested utensil seems to be the air hook.
We received a number of reports on the equally practical (and unfortunately counterfactual) invention, with which the heaviest loads can be fastened freely in the air.
One reader even wrote us a little cheat sheet for the part:
»The Siemens air hook was developed in 1928. This special hook is required for difficult fastenings in space. It is available for both lighter and heavier loads. The heavy-duty hook is characterized by a rough left-hand thread. In addition, the threaded part is coated with a slightly sticky blue varnish. "
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Azubischerze: "Go collect leaves, today we're making puff pastry" By Matthias Kaufmann
Reader Daniel M also knows irritating jobs for running errands:
“Here, go get a bucket of electrons. And take the cable with you when you fill it in . "
" Get the spare air bubbles for the spirit level. "
" Get the click cartridges for the torque wrench. "
Other trainees were also sent around the area less to study and more to have fun:
“As a trainee in dental technology, I was sent to fetch the waterjet bending pliers, without success. Then later the gold magnet, although gold is not magnetic. But the best thing was to get a bag of Diastima from the pharmacy. Diastima is the gap between the front incisors. "
"When I worked for a regional television station many years ago, interns and beginners always had to get text and image scissors."
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"During my training as a banker, apprentices were often sent to a competitor's branch to fetch balance pliers - that should then be used to pull a balance." (
Gunnar J.)
Stones in the way
Sometimes the paths also lead to other companies, so that the newcomers to their branch are introduced to the whole region right away, as Hendrik-Johannes K. from Wedel writes:
»In 1986 I learned to be a baker in a village in Münsterland. During the first week, I had to fetch the dough slicer on foot from the second bakery in the village, 800 meters away, with an apron and a boat on my head. A heavy, sealed box. When I came back drenched in sweat, the journeymen were already lying on the floor laughing. The box was filled with bricks! I thought it was funny and had to promise not to tell it in vocational school. A week later the new apprentice from the other bakery came to us on foot: 'Hello, I'm supposed to pick up our dough slicer again.'
Another reader started his apprenticeship at the bank hauling bricks:
“At the time I was sent to the bank with a sealed box, which later turned out to be four bricks, to have the money printer refilled. My new colleagues had already warned the bank that I was coming, and the bank employees promptly directed me to the nearest bank, which in turn was being prepared for my arrival.
The game repeated itself until I finally presented my box to four different banks. All in all, I dragged the heavy thing around for around four hours, much to the delight of my future colleagues and less to my enthusiasm. After that, however, I had a great apprenticeship, and I never took offense at the 'trainee blow'. "
The trick is to learn something
Ideally, a trainee joke creates relationships that are important for the entire professional life:
“As an apprentice to a banker, my trainer sent me to the vault in the basement. I was supposed to get the 'golden coding iron' there. I have made. The colleague in the safe smiled and said: ›Aha, you're the new pen. Come to me if you have any problems. 'In fact, the Lord became my unofficial instructor during the entire training period, from whom I learned the most. "
Others report valuable lessons in the new professional field:
»In 1956 I began an apprenticeship as a typesetter in a large printing company. Letterpress was still the predominant printing technique and was denied in lead type with letters. When first getting to know and explaining the letter-filled type cases, reference was made to a lead louse that feeds on lead dust and which should be avoided if possible.
Over the decades, some dust from different origins had accumulated in the compartments of the wooden type cases. So we paid attention to this ominous lead leak during the first settling exercises. Naturally, this was in vain, and so it soon dawned on us, also due to the grinning inquiries from the journeymen, that it was all just a joke. After all, due to our increased attention to the real and alleged contents of the large and small compartments, we quickly understood the assignment scheme of the type cases. "
Is "The trick is to run the trainee or Azubine several times"
,
a reader says another lesson, "until they have realized that they need to ask if they something is not completely clear," His example is playing in the locksmith's shop.:
»› Get me the right-angled sense of proportion from the tool dispenser. ‹The apprentice runs to the tool dispenser. There: ›For right or left?‹ Trainee runs back. ›Don't be fooled, right and left are the same.‹ When tools are handed out: ›Okay, was that a joke, vertical or horizontal?‹ Trainee thinks: ›Both are definitely the same.‹ Says: ›Vertical.‹ Receives a heavy one Metal part. Go back. Master: 'Oh man, I wanted one for horizontal. You can see that, look at the table, everything is horizontal.
In the following example, a lot has been learned about steel processing:
»During my basic internship before my studies, I was in a training workshop where mechatronics and industrial mechanics were trained. During the first exercises on a vice with a file, the U-steel is often swapped out by one or two trainees beforehand in the hardening furnace, so that it is no longer so easy to work with. When the young colleagues are in despair, an older colleague shows how to do it right. To do this, he takes a U-shaped steel prepared with flint stones, which then causes sparks to fly when filing. They have certainly never been bored. "
When trainees fool back
»When I started my training as a hearing care professional, there were a few trainee jokes at the start of my career. This included callback requests from imaginary customers (for example, ›Ms. Enis‹ under the number of the local Beate Uhse store) and it happened that Grandpa Heinz wanted to try out the next pink hearing aid. At least that's what it said on the order list. Of course, I got surprised questions when I placed the order with the manufacturer over the phone.
The two initiators also knew who you can do this with and who you can't, they respected boundaries. We laughed a lot and it was actually like team building. In the meantime, the two of them are bosses in other branches themselves and we miss them and the jokes very much. "
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Sometimes the trainees also fool back, as Rainer W. reports:
»At the beginning of the 1970s I was an intern at the inland fishery in Potsdam / Werder-Havel. Traditional rinsing taps have been used there for centuries. These are fishing boats that usually have a cistern in the middle of the boat to keep fish or bait caught alive. These boxes each have holes in the sides of the boat's side wall so that fresh water can always flow into them. This is exactly the box I should use.
I was told that it had rained on the boat, that I should empty it - they probably thought I had no idea. But I smelled the roast. Unnoticed, I plugged the holes with rag and cloth remnants. So I was actually able to dry out the box. When I told my colleagues that I had done everything, they were completely taken aback and couldn't believe what I was saying. I was thievingly happy and deserved the necessary respect. Otherwise I would probably have drawn water today. "
What did you experience with trainee jokes, dear readers? As a newcomer, were you also led onto the ice? And was that rather charming or embarrassing? How did you react?
We look forward to your submissions to this email address!
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