Typing

I got my hands on a manual typewriter in the 10th grade and in about a week could type words without looking at the keyboard.  I had no idea my speed but I was able to turn in book reports, etc. and had time to do other student’s papers after a time.  I know.  I know.  It sounds like a weird thing to do but I was bored.  At the time, I had nothing better to do.

When I went through the CETA program in 1978 and applied for their Word Processing class, it had been about 7 years since I touched a keyboard.  Amazingly enough I hadn’t forgotten the keyboard even though they said my speed was just 12 wpm.  I had to do 55 in about a week.  I don’t know if it helped but now they had electric typewriters and in a week when I took the test I scored exactly 55 wpm (taking off for all my mistakes).  You see, I tried to get in their welding program, which may pay $19/hour when I got a job, but there was a year waiting list.  I had never been scared of heights and the pay sounded good.  WP operators made about 1/2 that but they started their next class in a month.  Well, when I passed all their tests (their written ones I aced as they just wanted to know if I could add and speak English), I only had to wait a few weeks for class to start. 

I finished a 9-month course in about 1-1/2 months.  (No brag - the government wanted to make sure that all students had a chance to pass, no matter how slow.)  I learned what Pica and Elite type were (you mean you don’t just type top to bottom and left to right?).  I had 4 machines under my belt (IBM, A.B. Dick, Xerox and _____ (ask Gov Perry what it is as I forgot!) and although I didn’t type much faster, most of my typing errors were gone.  I heard employers can take more for each mistake.  I stayed in my class almost two more months.  Why?  I procrastinated because I was told I would have to interview for any open positions.  I was used to filling out an application and asking “when do you want me to start?”  I felt strange answering questions even after filling out an application.  My self image needed shining up, considering all the dental work I had done since the 2nd (or was it 3rd) grade.  I had quite an overbite and speaking publicly was not something I looked forward to.  I was ok if I built up my confidence by knowing my subject matter and after 2 months, I got the first job I applied for at Crocker National Bank in their WP Dept.  We started with 12 girls (I was the only guy) and when I left 5-1/2 years later, it was just me.  I also found out I read what I typed (which included all the training manuals for every banking job) and could see typos on a page (or eventually screen).  This helped me a lot with proof reading then and throughout my career.