Yes! thought I was the only one with that worker in her employ!! Could also be a distant relation of the fellow who wore clean kahkis or dress pants and a pressed long-sleeved button-down shirt as he could not abide t-shirts and jeans(this was the same employee who filled watering cans while looking into the sky and missing the can by a foot) . . . we soon had a written rather than a verbal dress code.
G.

Yup, I had to write up one of them too, but more because of the baggy & saggy pants issue (we do run power tools, after all).

Also had I guy ask if he could wear a "wife beater shirt" (tank top). I said sure, as long as he didn't call it that.

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to why?

Well I will attempt an answer to my own question.
In my opinion the reason why the green profession attracts people such as these is because gardening is not held in very high esteem. We had a discussion here recently about what else to call ourselves so as to avoid being confused with something as lowly as a gardener. Consequently, gardening is the last thing people want to be doing as a job. This is an industry wide problem that will only be solved when the true value of those who care for the environment is realised.

I think it is also because we attract those who are willing to do seasonal work - those who enjoy seasonal work as they can then go on unemployment for 4-5 months, go on vacation for 4-5 months, live off their girl/boy friend, parents, etc. for 4-5 months. . .

If we could offer gardeners year-round work with benefits, we could go a long way towards attracting people with better work ethics, knowlege, skill, etc. We need to be able to pay people a living wage. This is impossible to do as a small business after paying liability/vehicle insurance, workman's comp,advertising,tools and equipment, blah, blah, blah. Living wage here in NH is $15.00/hr. Minimum wage is $5.15. You get what you pay for. Manual labor is not valued. If I could pay my workers $15.00/hr year-round with benefits I would have an excellent crew. It comes down to a complete re-structuring of society, INKognito. Agree?

I've noticed that gardeners are second only to "pool boys" as the love/lust interest of horny millionaire wives in the grade B Hollywood comedy movies...

I agree ginger, it is a major turnaround and I am not sure that it is possible but it does help to look at the bigger picture. The labour force, as is, is something we have to work with and it is always better to face up to rather than ignore a pain in the hope that it will go away on its own.

INK: I was going to ask "why what?", but I try to avoid posting like that.

I agree...it's hard to get solid workers who are willing to endure the off-season. I offer a 20 minimum hr/week guarantee through the winter for people who opt in for health insurance, but that's all I can afford...if it's a snowy week, they're put to work doing jobs around the barns and house.

Cady: ew, ew, ew! I had a guy working for me a couple years ago...rich kid who was required by his PO to have a job. Great worker, but very creepy...was real into "MILFs"...my wife made it clear that he was not invited to parites. Ended up firing him because my female employees refused to work on any crew he was part of.

I guess " why? " is a big question on it's own but I am glad you made the effort. Are you the guy carrying the flag? You sound like the kind of person we Europeans came here to meet.

Um, I have a Pennsylvania flag by the door...my fellow expats and I living in New York City declared ourselves "Pennsylvania Nationalists," and are now campaigning to secede :).

Where are you from, INK?

guess thats a good part of me being Catholic...
if I need a good, hard working, respectable mexican, they arn't hard to find.

Hispanic labor force seems to be filling many hort jobs, including maintenance and installation positions here now. Wholesale nurseries in Oregon were relying heavily on this resource years ago.

Ginger: been runimating on the "restructuring of society" thing a bit, and it brought up an old pet peeve of mine:

Why-oh-why don't university horticulture depts offer a winter semester? Or anyone else, for that matter? I personally am kept busy until Dec. 23 (last 2 weeks of that are mostly regular prunings for folks who want to use their own pine and holly for the house)...then there's that "emergency season" lasting until late-Jan, followed by the "can you give me a winter deal" crowd who start calling in mid-Feb.

Might make it a better deal to offer (and cheaper than busy-work), if we could just give our favorite workers a scholarship for a few credits, and let 'em get unemployment for 7 weeks or so!

Though we'd have to further reconstruct the health insurance industry to do that mindfully...:(

Good points. Woody Plants, for instance, is always offered in the Fall it seems. Such a good course for gardeners/landscapers. Wish it were Jan-beginning of Apr rather than end of Aug-Dec.

Don't get me started on health care . . .!

Ginder nh and Organic Johnny
We are fortunate here in the Baltimore region. One of our community colleges has developed an execellent hort program because the director is sensitive to the industry. The
"fall sememster" ends in early November so those students in the florist or christmas tree industry can still benefit and the "spring" sememster starts in early January and ends by April 1. There is an intense semester in the summer in that brief period between spring sales and mum season.
There is no way a university could offer one program on a completely different schedule, but through perserverence the community college really filled a need here.

That is a good lead - we could approach our CCs with the Maryland schedule as an example . . . could you e-mail me the name of the college, a contact person, or phone #, MDaughn?

Thank you for the reply and information. Right now I have one of my employees in a certificate program at our local technical/community college. A schedule that befits the seasonal nature of our work would be very useful.

G.

MDaughn: actually, could you post that info here? I bet a lot of us would be interested in such info...

Yes, I want that info too!

The community college link is below, but I thought I would start a new thread.

Here is a link that might be useful: Community Colleges of BaltimoreCounty

Thanks!

In the middle of spring planting...wondering why in the world I got into such a business....and now I have some good laughs--thanks yall!

Hi
The best two laughs I had was the guy,as a full time employee,on his first day ,brought his 8 year old son to work with him,it was during the school hollidays,
I asked why,was his wife ill? or working? oh no he said She cannot stand to having the little brat around her all the time.Brat was the correct word the youngster was all over my customers house When I told the guy not to bring the youngster any more,he said if he could not do so his wife would not let him work.His employment lasted one day.

The another guy a labourer, came to work in a dress suit,complete with bow tie and a brief case, out of his brief case he took some overalls ,scarf and gloves ,so that he was well covered up.After work he had a wash down, got dressed and went home.He was the best worker I ever had.
I found out later that he was a Ladies man and did not want any of his neighbors or girl friends to see that he was a labourer ,it did not matter what his wife thought.

I've really enjoyed reading this thread this morning. I'm wondering how old your average worker is? As an "age impaired", very hard working, extremely dependable woman of 57, I got tired of the rejections because of my age (though they didn't say so) and started my own small nursery. When I needed some help this spring, I called the local high school and got a couple of young men from the careers program. They did a good job and would go that way again. Just wish there weren't so much discrimination because of age.

Teresa

being 47 I understand your sentiment about age discrimination. I am just on the cusp of it, but still at work I get called the old man.

What I think is interesting is you yourself went and hired some young bucks to work for you.

jb

Being 42, I figured that I was still safe to start up my own little business...and Im happy to say last Saturdays work day went just fine...moving rock adnd flagstone. I survived with minimal aches and pains.

As a side note for Lenh, my 2 boys 11 & 12 gave me a hand...and no gripes, they dug right in and helped. Now I ddid see 1 other boy fade fast but that has a lot to do with having a work ethic. They made this "ole" man proud.

Have a great and blessed Memorial weekend.,
Neil

Funny this comes up because my two newest employees are in their 50's...both looking for a change of pace. Both are great employees so far!

try the opposite end of the spectrum...
I am 25years old currently and have been in the greenhouse industry 9years, owning my own wholesale nursery for 3 1/2 now.

when I worked at other nurseries I was always given the grunt work when I often knew more about the plants than anyone else.

No one mentioned not hiring family members. I was naieve enough to try it twice. Still gives me chills.

Was that because the family members didn't think you knew what you were talking about? This is supposed to be a common behavior: the ideas and possessions of intimates don't merit the same respect as those of strangers. I have to deal with this in my own family.

you havn't met CleanCut's family either Ron...

cleancut, I heard you were workin with this redneck yankee import....
be careful of them too!

LOL after reading all this I'm scared to hire anyone...

in fact I just fired everyone..........

The ones we think are fine turn out to be the worst and the ones we think are a risk turn out to be the best.. I needed help and one guy came up looking for work,, the first thing he said was hes been in the Federal Prision at Lompoc Ca for the last 10 years and was at San Quinten before that............. hes the best person weve ever had working for us

We had 65 cubic yards of mulch to spread. 3 hrs in to spreadind i find the new guy laying under a burningbush on his side holding his head up with one hand and spreading mulch with the other his first and last day

These are hilarious posts!

But how about us poor employees who've been tortured by crazy horticultural bosses, hrm? ;o)

catalina, thats more than likely WHY most of us started our own companies.

I mean... if there is going to be a crazy horticulturalist, it might as well be me.

drew

How about some of our own stupid things we did as employee's? I remember one job in college I had as an insurance receptionist, I was about 19, I went and bought some "nice" dresses just for the job, wore a particular one about 3 times in two weeks....was let go after that 2 weeks, then found out that my dress was totally see through in the light in that office with sunlight behind me, but I hadn't noticed that in my rather dark apartment, I felt pretty embarrassed when that came to light....that was the end of the job, and the dress, he he.

Or the other time I started work at a nursery, was hired to do ONLY transplanting, paid by the peice, came in on my first day with the flu (told them that but they still wanted me to come in), had a 102 temperature, and they had me UNLOAD A TRUCK!, which I did without complaint, and they told me I was SLOW!!! Geez, I felt like living death and they had me lifting huge plants out of a truck. Oh well, they didn't know me from adam, so I don't hold it against them, I still shop there, although it has been years since I worked there so they don't remember me....I hope, he he.

I have to go get my medicine after 1/2 hour of work. Never saw the kid again, he happened to be the next door neighbor!! That is my funniest one.

But on a side note, what about employees that have worked for a period of time, lets say a year or two and then one day, they don't show up anymore. They will not return phone calls & when you finally do catch up with them, they don't even have any excuses as to why they left.

How are you retaining & actually finding competent breathing employee??

How about some of your supposedly disabled friends that constantly hound you for work ,they get to the site and after about a half an hour into the job you see them sitting in the shade of something and when asked why aren,t you working all they can say is I,m disabled how can you expect me to do that Iam disabled ,it,s too hard but wonder if they can still get paid anyway.Then you are the creep for not calling them back . I know they should not have been hired in the first place ,but ! N.N.

I hired one eager worker. Sent him off to clean up a garden, do some weeding, etc. I drove by the property and couldn't find him. I just wrote it off to experience and got out and did the work myself.

He shows up the next morning all eager to go at it again. He was dismayed that I was upset with him.

Here's the kicker. He had gone to the wrong address and cleaned up somebody's property. Nobody home. Not a customer. We both got a big laugh out of it. I'm not sure which of us messed up but I thought it better to give the kid the benefit and make out it was my mistake. I think back on my first jobs and know how enthused I was to prove myself. He worked for me the rest of the season and was an A-1 worker.

Did I tell you about the time we had 8 cubic yards of soil delivered to the wrong .....?

So funny this thread's been resurrected...had a guy start this morning, doing his training day at the farm. About an hour after we started, he asked if I'd mind if he ran to his house to get some shorts (poor guy was already soaked in sweat...a bit overweight for this sort of work). He lives about 1/2 mile away, so I said "no problem, it's 7:45 now, so I'll just take you off the clock until you get back."

15 minutes later, I said to the other trainee, "I don't think he's coming back, so let's go down and start in the next field." She was genuinely shocked at this behavior, and even more so that I wasn't at all phased by it.

Thanks to all of you who have posted on this thread...has definitely enriched my sense of humor about this sort of thing!

Try hiring a mom w kids, even though she might mis work on ocassion if they are sick she definitely has some sense of responsibility, getting places on time, doing for others etc etc.

Deja Vu, A friend who is slightly disabled who begs for a job ,and when given a task ,he says I,m disabled I can,t do that !! Notho

I thought you said that same thing three or four months ago Notho deja vu indeed.
One summer almost forty years ago I did some market gardening I had a tractor but shared some of the attachments with a neighbour. The neighbours son couldn't walk straight but could plough as straight as an arrow. One day I went round to exchange attachments with the idiot son, I couldn't shift that pin. Down from his tractor came the spastic wobbly thing and popped it like shelling peas. I learned something that day. The look on Ronnies face is with me today, I can't quite explain it.
Gardening has always been done by special people, give me any number of Ronnie's to replace the "I coulda been a contender" characters.
The short version is that disabled people are not the dregs of our society.

Hi everyone,
Im cracked up and gobsmacked at some of your stories. Glad Im not in America. The same problems in Australia though. I work in a wholesale nursery on about 500 acres so not only get to play with plants, but also get to plough the paddocks. I also do a few months in the biggest nursery in Australia. And am also in the throes of starting my own garden business.
The off season study sounds like a great idea.
One of the biggest problems that we have is that boss's dont like to give proven workers anything - pay, encouragement, training, automation, independance, thanks - the list goes on. Having said that, thats the worst of the boss's. The best of them have people queing at the gate.
Did notice that there wasnt a reply posted about the working mothers???? I'm one and I would employ them with just as much enthusiasm as anyone else, probably more.

One of the biggest problems that we have is that boss's dont like to give proven workers anything. . . .

This has always amazed me, and it is more the norm than the rare exception. So many employers across all occupations insist upon paying the least possible and have no respect for their employees. So many of them are so cheap that they hire on a project by project basis, grabbing the first loser that they come across figuring he will work for damn near nothing, rather than taking the time to find someone that has their act together, and maybe throw in a bonus if the employee is worth it.

Yes, I understand people start a business to make money, but most of the businesses that have been around for any length of time are there because they have good employees that helped them build a good reputation. Sometimes money can be tight, but having an employee like that is priceless.

You get what you pay for. If you are going to pay fast food wages you are going to get fast food quality employees.

Well, I'm a little embarassed to admit it - but our company pays much less than the starting wage at any large fast food franchise. Sooooo.

My first interview this year was with a reasonably presentable young fellow, with some experience in the industry. As I looked over his job app, I was suddenly overcome by a miasma of garlic fumes. I mean, a potent cloud that wrapped itself around my head and tried to throttle me. I actually cried out, "What the Hxxx! Who's been eating garlic!" The young man said oh, that's me.

I talked with one of his referrals, an acquaintance of mine, and he said the kid's a good worker but he has some odd dietary habits - every morning he drinks a big glass of some green concoction that made life in a crew truck a test of endurance.

This was a retail position he had applied for - needless to say "Garlic Boy" won't be hired...

Brian

-the guy who stands hose in hand filling watering cans--but missing by a foot as he stares up into the sky. When told to watch what he is doing, he does so; 2 minutes later--same thing--missing the can by 2' this time

-the one who can't follow you to the next site without "getting lost"; consistently "gets lost" even when only two turns are required and on back roads at that!

OMG! We have a guy that fits BOTH of these! Any takers?

So funny how this thread keeps being resurected from time to time (and popping up in my email). I'm putting out my newspaper ads next week for the spring newbies...the comedy begins again! :)

Brian: LMAO at "garlic boy"...I've not hired a few folks who were a bit too fragrant (Patchouli (sp?), "farenheit" cologne, and BO being the most memorable).

Tonyon: ummm, bitter, are we?

Hey, I am about to be one of those interviews - I have a couple coming up for weekend/parttime garden center and hort work for spring-summer. I'll try to avoid garlic.

- The teenager who blew up the nursery truck while the boss was away. Skid marks?

- The woman who inspired all the male workers to quit. It is 7:00 AM; do you know where your subliminus is?

Real easy way to get rid of a worker : lend him money.

>One of the biggest problems that we have is that boss's dont like to give proven workers anything. . . .
This has always amazed me, and it is more the norm than the rare exception. So many employers across all occupations insist upon paying the least possible and have no respect for their employees. So many of them are so cheap that they hire on a project by project basis, grabbing the first loser that they come across figuring he will work for damn near nothing, rather than taking the time to find someone that has their act together, and maybe throw in a bonus if the employee is worth it.

Yes, I understand people start a business to make money, but most of the businesses that have been around for any length of time are there because they have good employees that helped them build a good reputation. Sometimes money can be tight, but having an employee like that is priceless.

You get what you pay for. If you are going to pay fast food wages you are going to get fast food quality employees.Exactly, on all counts.