Throughout reading Callings, I have come to see people who have
found the profession that truly makes them happy. Reading through this I came across
man named John Maycumber, which was a man who found his “calling” as a bridge
tender. He talked about how it made him not regret going to work and how he
enjoyed every minute of it. This made me interested in this profession and made
me want to learn more.
A bridge tenders house we see today
Researching this topic was hard
because it really didn’t have a lot of information out about it. After digging
through some websites, I found out some things that surprised me. As in requirements
go for this job, you must have at least 20/40 vision or better, you must be
able to distinguish between red, amber and Green colors, you must be able to
hear normal and pass a screening test, you must be 18 years or older, you must
be drug free, and must be capable of cranking and/or removing a bridge gate.
For such a simple sounding job, there was a shocking about of requirements.
As for this history of this job,
Bridge tending wasn’t really a thing until the 1850’s. In Chicago in the 1850’s
brought the first movable bridges which gave birth to the first bridge tender positions.
In these early days, it was not uncommon for the bridge tenders house to be
placed on top of the center of the swing bridges.
An older style bridge tenders house
Going back to requirements bridge
tenders must be able to work at least 8 hour shifts, must be on time, and must
be able to work past shift if the relief shift doesn’t show up. Also, along
with opening and closing the bridge a bridge tender must also be able to do maintenance
on their bridge. Training for this job only takes about a day and is valid for
12 months. All these skills needed for this job have not changed. After researching
this profession, I could not find anyone famous who worked in this position.
This is actually one of my favorite stories in the book "Callings". I thought about doing my research on this topic so it was nice to see that someone researched it so I could learn from it. I also liked the picture you chose for your caption because I couldn't really picture it in the book. Now that I have seen your picture I have seen this when I went on some of my trips.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have guessed that the requirements for the bridge tinder would be so much. This job actually surprised me that its such a simple jobs it seems but someone can be so passionate about it. Shows if you find your passion you will succeed.
ReplyDeleteI did not know much about what the occupation of a bridgetender entailed. I don't think that it would be for me, but the man found his passion and that is very important.
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