The following is an excerpt from my upcoming book, "The Journeyman."  Writing about Apprenticeships, I address one of the areas of reluctance that I hear from employers: training folks only to watch them leave when they've finished their training and received their "papers." It happened to me a few times...here's one of the more extreme cases. All I can do now is laugh about it and shake my head. But it wasn't so funny when it happened many years ago.

Let’s begin with the fact that I won’t be using any real names here. This happened over 25 years ago, and it’s water under the bridge at this point.

But I still remember every single detail.

My brother had a good friend who happened to be a toolmaker at a local tool & die company here in Erie. Let’s call it the “Smith” company. The Smith Company was where toolmakers went to heaven, as they were owned by a giant corporation and the pay and benefits were outstanding. State-of-the-art equipment, air conditioned, you name it, they had it.

My brother told me that his pal had a son who wanted to get into an apprenticeship. I asked him why his buddy couldn’t get him in at the Smith Company, since he already worked there. Well, lo and behold, you couldn’t get a job there unless you had your “papers.”

See where this is going? I didn’t. But I was young, so I forgive myself.

I should also state for the record that the Smith Company was literally two doors down from me in the industrial park where I was located at the time.

So I put his kid - not the sharpest tool in the shed - through our outstanding apprenticeship program for four years. He graduated, and I ordered his engraved gold watch, something I gave to all of my apprentice grads. I bought them nice watches - not heirloom quality - but at the time about $200.00.

A few days after he got his papers, he came into my office to inform me he was quitting.

When I asked him why, he told me that he thought that the trade wasn’t a “good fit” for him. Wow, I always kind of thought the same thing, but why quit now?

He informed me that his girlfriend’s father owned a farm, and had offered him a job. Which quite frankly made sense to me. We shook hands, and I wished him good luck.

The very next morning, his car was parked at the Smith Company, now hired because he had his “papers,” due to yours truly.

I can tell you one thing: that little bastard never got his gold watch.