Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2005-02-26 11:37:16 - Graham Ellis
I took a lazy fortnight's narrowboat holiday many years ago - Napton and Warwick, Kingswood and Stratford-upon-Avon, Tewkesbury and Worcester, Tardebigge and Birmingham. One of the things I didn't do during that fortnight was shave - and "the beard" grew. . The family, I know, expected it to be shaved off before I returned to my training role but, frankly, I was tired of shaving daily - or if I had an important evening event then twice daily. And so the beard became something of a trademark.
In those days, I was a contract trainer teaching C programming, Shell Programming and Solaris in parallel with a number of other tutors. Contracts were awarded on a "Muggin's turn" basis - in other words to each member of the pool in turn - unless their was a particular request for a tutor who had given a previous course to be provided; the beard became something of my "trademark" - a way that past students could ask for my particular services when talking with the booking office.
The trademark still works. A trainee this week had found us online, looking for a niche course ("there aren't too many places to choose from") ... and had been sold on ours because I had taught him, and he recalled a good course, the best part of 10 years ago. How had he recognised me? "The beard".
. The family, I know, expected it to be shaved off before I returned to my training role but, frankly, I was tired of shaving daily - or if I had an important evening event then twice daily. And so the beard became something of a trademark.