My Apprentice Teacher

Don't want to mention names, locations, etc as I don't want to jeopardize my position, but I have no one to ask so I figured I'd post...I'm dead serious in my question, thus the LONG DETAILED PARAGRAPHS: I spent a good week driving to every shop (10-15) 30 miles in all directions from my place, for a tattoo apprenticeship, in the summer. Got some offers, got some we don't have times, but mostly the shops that said they'd take me on wanted $5,000 or so, so I gave up. As I'm a European immigrant only-child, without any family but my mom that works minimum wage. I'm 21 in college for a FORCED changed major in the winter from industrial design to digital multimedia two years in, this I don't care for and made me feel used because the school deleted my purpose of being there...ANYHOW I was happy to hear that a new tattoo shop opened 15 miles from me because I was upset about having wasted two years in college for nothing!! Basically I just want to draw, design, tattoo, anything where I can create art with my hands for money. Drawing is all I've ever been great at! Not to sound egotistical, but it's really all I have, anything you see I can replicate on paper, as well as any idea you have I can produce visually. I brought my painting and sketching portfolio in November '10, got accepted to a shop with two multiple award winning tattoo artists, and another piercer/tattoo artist. I OK'd simply a contract for $100 a month until 1,000 hour completion, and I buy my own equipment to be apprenticed by the head artist/owner...who I later find out is a multiple felon (past is the past) but he's ALWAYS been a dick to me. I'm the calmest person you'll ever meet and there's nothing but negligence and improper use of authority that can anger or even cause a twitch in me, so I don't care if he makes me the joke in front of others. Realistically alpha males always lose in the end! It's now April. I spent the winter creating a 50 page flash portfolio of custom triplets, and have tattooed 5 honeydew, and 14 people as of last month to the present (all my friends brought into the shop) I'm getting the hang of getting my lines concise, my colors shading into one another, and setting and tuning my equipment, but it was skills learned from another artist at the shop! My boss won't let him take me under his wing, so he secretly helps me because he says I'll advance beyond them :D This brings about my question: Why am I paying a shop to guess how to tattoo? As my boss/teacher doesn't sit in with me on tattoos (longest was 5 minutes for my first) I have to ask him 5 times to come into the room when I have a question, give him half (which isn't much cause I'm charging $40 tops for a tattoo) plus buy my own gloves, paper towel, etc when he can write it off?! Is this how apprenticeships work, I have no one to ask...my friend got her apprenticeship two years ago for free and became an artist last month (that shop now requests 5g) and she said she was just at a desk most of the time getting hit on...her boss has always paid for her supplies and they have community shop equipment and she's damn good now (tattooed 6 of my tattoos, and you can see a major difference from a year ago to two months ago). I get better every tattoo as well, but keep figuring out easier ways of doing things by messing up and trying not to repeat my mistakes, BUT I can do this from my apartment. I go to school 4 nights a week, work 39 hours a week, my mom is in Chemotherapy so 80% of my paychecks now go to basic life necessities for both of us, I'm just overwhelmed and think I'm wasting about $200+ a month that I could be saving. Should I just get apprenticed by the artist that wants to help me: out of his house? Should I stick with it until I get my remaining 500 hours complete? I brought this up to my boss; asking him to be more helpful, sit with me, TEACH me, well he agreed but basically just waved me off and kept doing what he was (he's my only option of being in a shop). ANY ADVICE WILL HELP! I'd rather get negative feedback than be ignored.

Welcome to the industry hahaha

Alright so I'm not the only one, good! My friend did say most tattoo artists are selfish, and would rather text or play with technology than answer a face to face question.

yep, sounds like you're in the tattoo world. get used to it. but for God's sake dont tattoo out of anyones house...tattoo related blood borne disease passing doesnt occur in health dept. regulated/licensed professional tattoo shops, it happens in houses.

Didn't plan on it, don't even like tattoo parties much. The shop is where I wanna be!