I was working in distribution at the local newspaper. I was on the "commercial crew", which entailed stacking outside companies' tabloids, some in-house stuff, and mostly stitching and trimming newsprint coupon books and the TV guides that went into the Sunday paper.
Occasionally, the advertising department would sell a cover to the TV guide, which meant we had to use two different pockets in concert to produce it. Basically, the normal "guts" of the TV guide would be folded and dropped on the chain, and a single-sheet glossy preprinted cover would be folded and dropped on top of that.
Since we seldom used the first pocket on the machine, it was prone to malfunction. If it failed to feed, the reliable second pocket containing the cover would continue to feed, and it's light weight would bind in the stapling portion of the machine and cause jams.
I started researching, and then designed and installed a photoeye-relay-prox. switch-valve apparatus that would only feed a cover if the photoeye saw the white back of a TV guide on the chain. The satisfaction I enjoyed once I had the setup timed and dialed in was priceless. (Looking back, that little DIY project I did was not to code and fairly dangerous. I learned later on my modifications were removed after workers started receiving shocks!
)
When my ex-wife's boss mentioned his EC friend was hiring, I got an application in and got hired on as an apprentice wiring houses. It was wildly different than what I had imagined while I was working at the paper, but I found it to be a good line of work.
