Page 253 - Michael Frost-Voyages to Maturity-23531.indd

Naturally, the study of law does not give rise to much narrative energy; nor
did some of the part-time jobs that Judith found for me; I was the worst fork-lift
driver ever taken on by Eatons, as I was on one job charged with moving furniture
from the highest of storage shelves to waiting customers, all with a fork-lift, 30 feet
up in the air, with a pencil-like joystick to control a machine of sixty horsepower.
Several furniture items duly received irreparable damage. On another occasion, I
and a friend, the son of a lady working with Judith, were drafted into a group to
complete installation of beds and cupboards in a hotel that Eatons was supplying
with room fixtures (side-tables etc.). We had difficulty putting up the rooms’
bedheads, as a .22 staple-gun was used to shoot the staples into the wall to affix
the brackets upon which the bedheads were hung; the problem was that the gun
needed constant adjustment. Sometimes the staples seemed fine, but when the
bedhead was put in place, it fell right off the wall. The contrary, however, was
worse; if over-adjusted, the staple would shoot right through the whole wall! Our
supervisor, a young fellow called Bill, was appalled at our incompetence.

There was a good ending to the story, however. Bill, in need of an advance
on his pay, went into the personnel office and asked the appropriate person –
who happened to be Judith. She signed the requisition but asked how the two
fellows that she had sent along were doing. He didn’t hesitate; “They are the two
most useless individuals I’ve ever seen,” he declared, “Why do you ask?” Judith
mumbled some vague reply and off Bill went, blissfully ignorant.

For some reason, we were never fired, nor even warned. But, as I said, these
menial tasks paid for the groceries.

Suffice it to say that at the end of first-year law school the summer of 1973 did
not present the employment difficulties that I had expected to encounter. There
was no West Star; Holland America brought two of its smart 25,000-ton vessels
over to jump-start the new trade (as did P&O, who delivered Spirit of London and
Arcadia to operate from Vancouver). However, given the experience that I had
gained, I thought that there might be other opportunities, so I looked around.

252