That is Priceless by Steve Melcher for September 25, 2020

The first thing they had to teach the new printshop apprentice was not to drink the ink.

“Don’t judge me, this is a stressful job.”

Kyle took an extra cup – he knew that he did his best work when lubricated. Otherwise, there was no way he would be able to write stuff that could out-sell the verbal diarrhea that the president tweeted out.

“Hey, if the printing press gets lubricated before every run, then so can I!”

Tommy was an unabashed ink drinker. But he figured it made more sense than painfully injecting it into his skin with a needle. Tommy was smarter than he looked.

“Mmmmmmmmm! Jameson’s 12 Special Reserve!!! So smooth, spicy, sweet. A blended whiskey of delight! Just the thing when we’re running an edition of Ulysses !”

I’ve been trying and trying to do something with “printer’s devil” but it’s just not happening.

That’s the way it’s always is. You stand there posing and posing, but nothing happens. But just when you decide to grab a quick sip, THEN he paints the picture.

kyle definitely preferred the red ink to black, tastewise…

At Maxwell House it was good to the last drop.

A cup of coffee was a good excuse for Kyle to get another look at Miss November on the wall.

He thinks he’s a hot type.

“This job has driven me to drinkin’, but I’m saving up to buy a hot rod Lincoln!”

When work gets you down, the “pause that refreshes” always goes better with a good slug of rum.

Illustration from Oxford Press on how new words enter the English language.

Nothing like the push button printing of today.

They told me when I was a youngster that drinking coffee at my young age (11 or 12, or thereabouts) would surely stunt my growth. At 6’1", it’s a good thing it stunted my growth, I suppose, or I might have been a real freak.

The employees hated it when the owners son showed up to “play boss”

He thought it better to drink ink than the disinfectant that Uncle Donnie recommended…

Lipton ad before the child labor laws were passed.

Kyle had thus far failed to convince his co-workers that the huge gains he’d made in musculature were all due to drinking several cups of acai berry juice an hour – a product which incidentally could be procured from him at only $21.95 per bottle.

Damn Suzie. Leave it to a woman!

So I told the young lad … I don’t mind if you have a little eye-opener in the morning and a little pick-me-up around ten. Everyone likes a couple of nooners with lunch and cocktails at Happy Hour. Dinner goes down better with good vino and then after-dinner ports and brandies never goes amiss. A toddy or two before bed is good for sleep… But … this sip, sip, sip all day has got to stop!

Typesetting left a lot to be desired when Bobby was on one of his binges…

The Village Printing Shop, Haarlem, the Netherlands: 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Frederick_Ulrich_-_typesetter_at_Enschede_Haarlem.jpg 

(best viewed by Google Chrome, which can automatically translate most webpages as necessary) has info and links that point to more info about this roughly jumbo envelope size painting.

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/ulrich_charles_frederic.html 

https://collection.terraamericanart.org/view/people/asitem/items$0040null:372/0?t:state:flow=2f80c8d9-c77f-4665-a838-abdb24acea73 

https://www.askart.com/artist/Charles_Frederick_Ulrich/23417/Charles_Frederick_Ulrich.aspx 

https://maryrangallery.com/charles-frederick-ulrich 

all have info, or links that point to more info, about this artist (again, askart.com can be read in full for free on Fridays), perhaps in addition to what’s pointed to by the title URL. First work by him used here.

Again, a larger strip image is shown by (⌘- or Ctrl-) clicking the image in Mr. Melcher’s MASTERPIECE #2543 (September 24, 2020) blog entry, accessible by the Check out the blog! box after the last comment.

Paul the boy typesetter, used a fifth of gin ever day, otherwise how could he print the bad news that is in every paper.

Confucius say: Typesetter who drink on job will soon be in for a bad spell. :>)

Aah, for the good old days of child labor.

Some get paid by the hour, others … get paid by the drink.