Teaching Someone to Prime

    It has been a rather eventful week and a half at work. I have been the main primer at work for about six months now, and before that, I was the secondary/backup primer for about six months as well. A few months ago, it dawned on me that the next time we hire a new painter or primer, I will be the one training them in primer.

    Primer itself is not a hard job. Its a skill set to be learned for sure, but not actually hard. At times stressful, but that's because I'm a worry wort with anxiety and constantly question myself. Anyway, I have also trained lots of people over the years at different jobs and it all went fine. I'm a good teacher. I even taught a coworker how to drive and she passed her G1 exit test and received her G2. So I have the ability to teach. A week and a half ago I quickly learned that teaching primer would be a whole other ball game. It's an epic balancing game. You want the parts to turn out good with no runs or light spots, which of course a trainee is likely going to do both because they are new and likely have no idea what they are doing. You are also against the clock. Aka, the line moving parts in and out of the booth. Plus my booth is eight feet wide. So not much room for teaching or personal space.

    One way to describe it is the ultimate test of giving up control. Of which I am in therapy. I have learned that control issues are simply surface level issue with lots of other underlying issues. In my case trust issues and fear. In regards to primer, I don't trust that the trainee will do a good job. I know that they will do their best, but until they know what they are doing their best likely won't be very good. Which of course is not their fault. When you are brand new you tend to suck. I'm also afraid that the parts won't turn out well and because I'm the trainer and "in control" of the situation, the bad parts will be on me. Which is true in a sense. 

    A coworker then reminded me that all we can do is direct traffic and hope for the best. The key to training is balancing which parts the trainee can handle and which they cannot. You want to put them on the easier ones first and then gradually move them to the harder ones. You want them to get lots of practice because how else will they learn? But if the parts aren't turning out good you want to take over and have the trainee watch you prime for a while, but you don't want them to feel bad or at least I don't. I also don't take criticism well so I don't want to give it out to someone I don't know. I also know that perception is huge and even if I say a part turned out good vs great the trainee might misinterpret it and think that you think that they suck, more than what is expected as a new person. I had one trainee, and while I was fiddling with my respirator my safety glasses started falling off. I took them off and tossed them on my stool in the booth because the part was about to exit the booth and it needed fixing. The poor trainee thought I was frustrated with him because I tossed my glasses. I wasn't and explained myself later. It's also hard to communicate in the booth because it's loud and you are wearing a respirator.

    Long story short, I had to learn how to train someone while training them. It was quite the experience. A few days later that trainee was ready to move onto the next stage and I received my next trainee. The second round was much easier because I know what I was doing.

    Its been a month now, this all happened at the beginning of December, but I haven't had time to type up any journal posts. I shared the stress and struggle with my therapist about this experience and she encouraged me that if they didn't trust me with the task they wouldn't have given me people to train. Encouraging me that I'm good at my job and good at training. Just what I needed to hear. So, if you are facing a stressful or challenging situation at work, remember that there is a good chance that your boss put you in that situation because they believe you can handle it. And now all you have to do is believe that you can handle it. Easier said than done, I know.

Have a blessed week friends and a happy new year.

~Hannah

Missing the snow.