The School of Jack

[Dinosaur]

...[SIZE=2]the budding commercial archaeologist (The School of Jack prefers the term circuit digger)...[/SIZE]

What, you bringing back tents, subsistence, and, indeed, a Digging Circuit? [where you could return to same ongoing multi-year excavations each year, hence the term 'circuit'] Good Man! :face-approve:



One of the 'Fabled Old Lags'

[Jack]

Lesson 2: Subsection 1: Attendance[SIZE=2]

As a commercial digger, you will be expected to turn up for work on time (preferably 10 to 15 minutes early), ready and in a fit state to work, each and every day. Starting from the first Monday to the last Friday (or some such).

'It is better to be present with ten men than absent with 10, 000.'
-Tamberlane

Good intentions, it wasn't my faults or I was planning to....don't count for jack.

This may seem obvious, but the practicalities of doing so are often no so simple. The working world, and any ties to the slack world of University that remain, will conspire to thwart your good intentions.

The School of Jack accepts few excuses. It is the responsibility of the digger to make this happen. 'My alarm didn't go off.' or 'I slept in.' do not suffice.

Neither does 'The traffic was bad,' or 'there was a flood.'

Be prepared! States The School of Jack. Take responsibility for yourself and your own actions, set two alarms, set off early enough to avoid any incidents, go to bed early enough and get up early enough to make sure you get to work.

Now obviously, the lesson of attendance takes time to master. Most supervisors will have gone through the same in their early digging days, so may at first be lenient.

But beware! The harsh working world is just a hair-breaths away. The client is ever watchful for slackers, later arrivals and professional loiterers. After all, it is they who are paying for you to be there. Form pipeline snitches, to site managers, to safety officers or even that friendly dumper driver...they are all looking out for themselves, and they see and gossip everything.

Slackers reflect badly on the archaeological supervisor and hence the archaeological company. In the harsh working world, a company cannot afford to be seen to be employing useless slackers as they will not win any follow-on work. So guess what, slackers, loiterers and can't-make-it-in-on-times don't get their contracts renewed.

So turn up early, sober and ready to work. Don't stay out all night boozing. If your not going to make it in, ring the supervisor and the company office (usually before 9am) and apologise and explain why. Learn from the events and mistakes that prevent you from being on site on time. Be reliable and responsible, these are the virtues that make you very employable.

In recent years The School of Jack has seen an employee not turn up one day without a word and never return, leaving the team a man down. Another took two weeks to make it to site through snow, mechanical problems, arguments with neighbors and family issues, once this person did make it to site, it turned out they were on holiday the next week.........not good enough!

'In the old days, the unit director would take a likely student candidate out to the pub with the other supervisors. Over the night he'd feed them a whole bottle of whiskey. If they made it to site the next day, he'd offer them a job on the spot.'
- Maximus Apilus (The Prophet)
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[kevin wooldridge]

I recall the ocassion when a large UK contracting unit had to lay off a small number of staff. The unit had established a set of criteria for establishing who would be on the redundancy hit list, but it was a surprise to a number of folk when told, that having considered all other criteria (qualification, experience, length of service, skills etc) and found most staff to be equal, the redundancy would be decided by considering attendance and time-keeping. Some folk seemed shocked that supervisors were keeping track of peoples time-keeping and there were mutterings along the lines of 'Mates wouldn't do such a thing'. Personally I agree with Jack, it should be a given that people arrive on time and do their hours...or beware the consequences

[BAJR]

Personally I agree with Jack, it should be a given that people arrive on time and do their hours...or beware the consequences

I am with you on that.

I love to see some commitment rather than owedajob

[Jack]

Doesn't that mean that the digging is therefore being done by the, on average, less experienced diggers? (and less of it) - of course depends on exactly how much time the supervisor spends checking paperwork, there's always the danger of them becoming the least experienced digger...and if the supervisor is in the hut checking, who's supervising the digging?

Also, since the modern digger seems unable to e.g. write their context sheets anywhere other than inside the hut (with the jenny running even in the middle of summer), isn't it a bit selfish the supervisor taking up critical recording space?

The School of Jack welcomes your response and has filed your comments appropriately. However, your comments are answered in Lesson 95 'so you think your ready to run a site?.' please refer to the second year course material.

[Jack]

Lesson 2 Professionalism: Subsection 2: Craftmanship (Craftwomanship)[SIZE=2]

Field archaeology is a craft that can only be learnt in the field, on site, from more experienced diggers.
It is difficult, there is much to learn through application and practice.
An archaeologist starts as an apprentice, with time and experience they may gain the skills of a journeyman and eventually those of a master.

Archaeology is physical, the practicioner must become skilled in multiple techniques, must become experienced in recognising the tantalizing traces of past activity in differing geologies.

The apprentice remains so until they have mastered the basic tools of archaeology. Cleaning, finding the edges, taking photographs, drawing sections and plans, recording and filling in registers, and the succession of digging tactics, section, half section, dogleg and digging in plan to capture all the relationships. These are not the end of an archaeologists training. These are the tools, that once mastered can enable an archaeologist to start to learn.

'When you can admit you don't know, you are ready to learn.'
- Ben (The beard)

The practitioner takes pride in their work. Each slot is an opportunity to be better, a chance to learn something new. Everytime an archaeologist breaks the soil they are asking it to give up its secrets. It must be respected. Keep your sections straight and vertical, make your doglegs square and sharpen up and clean out the bottom of your slot.

'Look at those sections, they are a work of art. I love a great, straight section.'
- Mr Swear
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[CARTOON REALITY]

Craftmanship (Craftwomanship)

Get it right Jack - it's craftsindividualship. Your keyboard will last longer.

An archaeologist starts as an apprentice, with time and experience they may gain the skills of a journeyman and eventually those of a master.

And it might be added, for those who eventually become masters - 'I know one thing, know nothing.' - Socrates.

[Dinosaur]

Personally I agree with Jack, it should be a given that people arrive on time and do their hours...or beware the consequences

Some people used to manage to be late every day even when they were camping on site... :face-crying: .

[BAJR]

[SIZE=2]

'When you can admit you don't know, you are ready to learn.'
- Ben (The beard)


[/SIZE]

I may use that soon.

Too many people are ready to sit back and think they already know.

I got where I am today... an arrogant gin soaked old twat... by not taking the time to listen to my older and better but more bitter gin soaked and older twats

[Seedy Girl]

Do we get a certificate for 'attending' the School of Jack? :face-approve: