Page 11 - SteelGreen_Sayi_1_ENG

How did your apprenticeship period affect
your life?
After 64, I worked as a journeyman for the We have worked hard!
masters who trained me. My master was
Hasan. He was the big Hasan and I was the There are a few drops of
little Hasan. We were a workshop of 20 people. sweat and a few drops of
Now the callers were looking for both me and blood in every penny I earn.
my master. In the evening, I wouldn’t leave
my master alone. My master would open the When the children came,
technical drawing, and I would wait by his side we worked even harder
to see if I could get something. The moment together.
we were going to close, my master would say,
“Aytekin, in the morning, have these irons cut,
have these irons straightened. I would come
in the morning and start the sentence with
“My master said...”. They wouldn’t accept the What did you do after retirement? How is retirement life?
commands from me. Then, time after time, After I retired, I worked a little bit again, so to speak. I got
they understood the situation, some of them interested in fishing, we ate a lot of fish. I retired from the
accepted, some of them said, “I don’t take factory, but Fatma Hanım didn’t retire me from home. She
orders from an apprentice” and left. But my sent her housekeeper, and the two of us get by. We used to
master never left me. We both had loyalty. argue once a week, now we argue every day. So it’s fun.
Even in our arguments we learn from each other. The tone of
our voices is very important. From the tone of each other’s
I took a step forward voice, we can tell if they are criticizing? We know if he is
among my peers, among giving guidance. Sometimes I call them to ask something and
my colleagues. There were I can tell from their tone whether they are available or not.
We are a family integrated with our children. This is actually
those who appreciated the most important reason for our success.
this, and there were those
who tried to pull me down We didn’t take many photos in the past. We
because they wondered didn’t appreciate them and didn’t keep the ones
why I took a step forward. we took. This is all we have. Actually, there was
I guess they are still taking advantage of you in these matters. a photo I put up for a prize, but I couldn’t find
it. I’m 16 years old. During the assembly of a
Ofcourse, ofcourse. Now there are 20 illustrators and engineers in the dough machine, I wrote H. Aytekin on the bowl
When exactly did you retire? factory. But Bülent says to me, “Dad, we need something like this.” I know of the machine. I took a photo with him. It’s so
I completely broke away in 2020. They said, what Bülent expects from me. While he’s telling me, I’m focusing on which precious to me that if I ever find it, I’ll hang it
“Dad, go fish.” But as long as I have ideas, we materials to cut, and I’m starting production in my head. Then Bülent As I said, even though I on the wall.
still discuss them. Not if my children don’t hears that I’ve come to a part of the machine. This time he says, “Dad, did retired from the factory,
overtake me. When I argue with my children, you have this drawn? Did you have the experiments done?” After all, they I couldn’t retire from
I am usually wrong, but I still continue made a huge investment. Now it’s very different, you draw the machine and home. Mrs. Fatma was Were there conflicts with children in this new process?
because I think that even if I am wrong at that you can see everything in front of you. But I have already overcome these making jewelry as a What can I still learn? How can they develop? After all, I
moment, they will evaluate what I say later. things in my head. For example, these are the issues we mostly fight about. hobby. I realized she may say it now, but when the time comes, they will surely
We don’t only work in the factory. You get We had a mold made for 14 thousand TL. I’ll never forget, the angle of this needed to pull thread. I remember what I meant and say, “My father said something
stuck on something, I don’t know how the mold didn’t work. Bülent gave me a tip that it needed to be changed. He sat down and did it. The like that.” Of course, they are way ahead of us, like the horse
silver wire is integrated
3-hour drive went, if you can believe it. For drew me the angle, normally they would have it made for 14 thousand TL with the thread, and has already passed Üsküdar. Of course, they have to.
example, when the machines were being built, and deliver it in 7 days. When he came in the morning, he saw the mold on she was buying it from Sometimes we still argue, we eat each other. Then I say,
I always preferred the highway, it was a one- the machine. Of course, it has no visual appearance, but it has a function. outside at a very high “Why did we argue? His aim is the same as mine. His ideas
way road. It would be 8 kilometers long, but I have always made machines that have a function, and those that have a price. Mrs. Fatma is my are beyond my knowledge.” And he is probably right! I
I would finish an assembly in my head. If I visual appearance were made original when they made money. most valuable customer have a soft tone of voice. I immediately talk to them and
remembered something at night, I would keep I know that we cost 40-50 thousand for a 300 thousand machine with so far. remove the resentment. Or they would call me and we
a pen and paper by my bedside for years so the parts we collected from scrap dealers. But as I said, we always did it would somehow resolve our resentment. Mrs. Fatma would
that I wouldn’t forget it in the morning. I look with difficulty. I found a technique to make the mold. Our neighbor had a get fed up with us, “For God’s sake, don’t talk about work,”
at a position of the screen and think if I can milling cutter to be given to a scrap dealer. I said, “Is it working?” He said she would get angry with us. But we have come a long way
make something out of it. And most of the yes, but it needed some work. We bought it right away, we worked with it. by talking and discussing. We are the pioneers of important
time I do. Yes, I am a primary school graduate, We made a lot of molds with that bad milling cutter. Of course, at the point details in greenhouse farming and we created this by putting
but I am good at practical intelligence. we have reached now, we can do a lot with new technologies. forward our ideas and discussing them.•
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