.:: Keypicking :: Anything And Everything For Locksmiths, Hobbyist Lock Pickers, Locksport, Lock Picking, lockpicks, cutaways and Security. Simply The Best Lockpicking Forum Around!

Alera wrote:So when I talked to him, I kind of made a fool of myself, and the conversation lasted a total of about one minute, and he rejected me.
He said "Nope, maybe in the summer. I'm making it pretty well as a one man shop around here." Is there any coming back from that without pissing him off, or am I screwed?

hixen976 wrote:Ok, buy a lawn mower and mow lawns for a few years and use the money you make to buy tools and practice. Then place a phone book ad in the local phone book and in a few years that guy would of wished he hired you.

hixen976 wrote:You should go in the and ask him to make you a SC1 and a KW1 key with 99999 bitting and see what he says. LOL j/k dont do that.

hixen976 wrote:Ok, buy a lawn mower and mow lawns for a few years and use the money you make to buy tools and practice. Then place a phone book ad in the local phone book and in a few years that guy would of wished he hired you.

ARF-GEF wrote:I think you should wait more than a week. I think patience is a key skill in locksmithing, (especially at the beginning for example at repining locks).
And don't worry to much if you made a bit of an ass of yourself. Everyone does that now and then, and everyone knows that everyone does that .

Just go in sometimes and ask a few questions. Most locksmiths (at least the ones which will be presumably the best teachers) won't resist to have a nice chat about locks and maybe even teach you a few things about specific locks. Maybe buy something small now and then and use that occasion as a conversation starter.
A good intelligent talk always leaves a good impression.
If you do that once every 2 weeks or so he might offer you a job himself in a few months. I think of it like that: in the worst case I had a nice chat with someone who knows a lot more about locks than I do. Just don't bother when he is busy, simply ask him whether he has the time to chat around. My experience is that the pleasant ones which I would like to work with can usually spare a few minutes pretty much any time.
I did just that and I got offered a job a few times even though I wasn't looking for one. Although eventually one made an offer I couldn't refuse <insert Godfather theme song here>.

And as others said: be nice, polite and respectful. Show that you want to work and that you are motivated. I think I got the job because the owner saw the potential in me: that I know the locks a little bit and that I have enthusiasm and diligence.(At least I hope so... To be honest I've never dared to ask why he wanted me to work there so much, I'm just happy that he did.)

easy-e wrote:

Alera wrote:So when I talked to him, I kind of made a fool of myself, and the conversation lasted a total of about one minute, and he rejected me.
He said "Nope, maybe in the summer. I'm making it pretty well as a one man shop around here." Is there any coming back from that without pissing him off, or am I screwed?

How did you make a fool of yourself?

I had a similar situation. When the liquor industry privatized in my state I decided to try to apply at the largest distributor because I had been handling their largest suppliers deliveries for the past few years. Each week I arranged about 10 full container deliveries and 10-15 special orders we pulled from stock we held at our warehouse every we. It took a few months, but they called me in for an interview that ended with me feeling pretty dumb. I was uniquely qualified but it turned out to be a management position instead of a logistics/analyst position. There are very few people they could have hired who already had full knowledge of most of their products but I have almost no management experience. Anyways, they asked me "What exactly does a Spirits Account Manager do?" At that moment I realized I phrased it wrong on my resume. I should have put "Logistics Specialist" because it sounds better and doesn't need as much explanation. My explanation made it sound like I don't do much work, but it's a small company and I wear lots of hats. I would have done better applying for an IT position because I'm also a programmer/embedded systems guru and they have a crazy computer controlled conveyor system. Either way, it was a good experience and every interview I've messed up has taught me something that made my next interview that much better.

I would wait a week and ask him if you could get any locks he's planning on throwing away to practice with.

hixen976 wrote:Ok, buy a lawn mower and mow lawns for a few years and use the money you make to buy tools and practice. Then place a phone book ad in the local phone book and in a few years that guy would of wished he hired you.

^or this.