Had a foreman in Austin yell at me for using too much mud on my first taper job

I was fresh off the apprenticeship, maybe 2 months in. This old foreman, Rick, watched me load up my first butt joint. He walked over, grabbed my hawk, and dumped half the mud back in the bucket. Told me "You're not buttering bread, kid." I was using too much mud on the taper. It was slowing me down and making extra sanding. He showed me a lighter hand with the knife, just a thin coat. Has anyone else had a boss save them from bad habits early on?

2 comments

2 Comments

stellafisher4d ago

Yo, did he ever tell you about the "mud fairy"? I had a buddy who had a foreman do the exact same thing. He'd been plastering for years and came over, grabbed his knife, and just scraped half the mud off the joint right in front of him. Called it "the mud fairy visit." He told my buddy to think of the mud like peanut butter on a sandwich - you don't need a whole inch of it to hold it together. It really stuck with him and he said it cut his sanding time in half after that.

troyjackson4d ago

Wait, he just grabbed the knife out of his hand without asking?