That next Monday, Ben was at his bench, early as usual, organizing his work for the day and week. He’d also dug out his already dog-eared copy of the Sound Reinforcement Handbook and looked up each type of cable and termination he was working on.
It gave him a sense of accomplishment to really understand the work as he was doing – even if it was largely “just soldering cables.” He also took pride in the quality of his work. “I could make jewelry if they’d just give me some silver,” he muttered under his breath while soldering a bunch of quarter-inch TRS plugs.
Unbeknownst to Jack and Frank, Ben had also continued to study the issue of power and grounding, both by poring over the handbook and searching online for more info. There were things that still escaped him, but he knew for sure now why to never use a ground lifter.
What he didn’t know was that these were things one needed to know if they were to work in systems. And he also didn’t know that Jack and Frank had plans for him to eventually go to work for Jim Frederick, the Chief Systems Tech.
At about 11:30 that morning, Frank wandered into the shop and shot a knowing glance at Jack, and then sauntered over to Ben’s bench and stood waiting.
After Ben looked up from the panels he was working on, Frank said, “Hey, kid, listen. Would you join me and Jack for lunch today?” Ben was about to tell him that he had brought his lunch that day, but somehow picked up on the importance of the moment and nodded silently. Frank acknowledged him, adding, “OK, let’s go in about 15 minutes, then.”
Ben nodded again as Frank walked out. David turned around to look at Jack, then Ben, but both of them were already back to their respective projects and so missed his dark look. He had never been invited to lunch by the bosses, and wondered what that meant – either the young kid had messed up and was getting let go or…
David didn’t want to admit that he probably knew what was happening.
Taylor Jensen is a freelance pro audio writer. Find the previous installments of this series here.