More often than not it is not always the case that a master has only one apprentice. Though at the onset a master starts by himself until his business reaches a certain stage where he feels he needs the service of an apprentice. In rare cases the family of the apprentice may bring him to a master who is not yet established because they do not have the resource to take care of the would-be apprentice. Sometimes the master will take in an apprentice based on family ties; as a brother, cousin, nephew or kindred without having to be established as it is a responsibility to blood ties.
So, as the business grows and the master opens new branch(es) of his business, he will require more hands which translates to more apprentices as he can afford or as the business needs. Some masters who experience huge returns in their business have as many as 10 or more apprentices serving them. When a new branch is opened, a senior apprentice, that is, one who has more years than another in service is usually sent to manage the new shop, with the master doing a constant oversight function for all his shops by visiting them anytime he chooses.
The master may have all his boys in one big shop like a Walmart store and they all have one assignment; to make profit for the enterprise. It is important to point out that each apprentice is always an encapsulation of many departments found in corporate institutions; he is at once a secretary, customer service, a procurement officer, a marketing or publicity officer, etc. the only ceremonial title the apprentice may have is to be called a manager and this title always goes to the most senior apprentice. In this case he can take some decisions through his greater experience than the other apprentices in the place of the master; like finalizing hard deals or difficult bargains, compensating customers and deciding what stocks to procure.
Serving alone or with others like him has advantages and disadvantages for the apprentice depending on how he sees it. For example, if he is alone, he will make more money from the running market and other side runs which we talked about in one of the preceding series, but if there are others with him, they will have to find a way to balance money making opportunities, at times this can lead to conflict which will threaten the smooth running of the business and the master may not be aware.
Not being the only apprentice also means that home and market chores will be done among them, so one apprentice does not bear the burden of burning out in a big house with so many duties. Then there is also the social aspect of it where he will not be the lone soldier in the barrack.
The fact is that whether he is alone or has 10 other apprentices under the master’s tutelage just as him; an apprentice’s stay is an individual race at the final analysis and each will be settled differently on the basis of seniority. Yet, the experience is not the same for an apprentice serving alone or with other apprentice(s).
