When I was an apprentice, there was a jeweller who came to my workshop and who impressed me. My boss used to tell me that he had worked for the greatest, so it was quiet! He never spoke to me, not even a hello, nothing. Going to make deliveries at his place was a torment. After all, I was the apprentice. At Christmas, my boss would hang a stocking on the wall for me. The tradition came from her apprenticeship and she kept it alive. The customers would put my Christmas presents in it. I remember that famous Christmas because I found a 200 franc note in my stocking. That was a lot for an apprentice. When I found out that it was from this jeweller, I was astonished. My boss said to me, “You keep quiet, you listen and you learn. These are the only things that matter to him. And even if the job takes a while to come in. You’ll have to go and thank him in January.”
M., polisher for 15 years.
Exigency
The requirement as a lifeline is me. I have my magnifying glass riveted to my eye, I check everything all the time. The slightest pitting, crack or oddity in the metal earns the right to go back to the workshop to be reworked, not to mention the setting. A...