That's a good idea, you'll probably have more stature within the company if you learn the equipment etc. Garden centers are stores selling merchandise first and plant places second, I never got anywhere with multiple jobs at multiple garden centers because when it boils down to it plant knowledge doesn't count for as much as the other stuff. Last big place I worked at, where the approach was to put red vests on workers so shoppers can easily find them - and then tell the workers not to engage visitors unless approached first* - they had me unloading racks and watering all the time, would call me on the radio with a plant question or send someone to me with one about once or twice per month. The rest of the time I was on the level of the carry out boys or below. The more useful employees were the ones who could run a till all day, were good with a fork lift, or were willing to mix and apply pesticides by the gallon, for hours (this was a combined growing and selling operation covering acres). Actually knowing anything about the plants beyond what seemed to keep them alive at the nursery served to marginalize me instead of put me into a good place with the company, time after time.

So I went on to do my own thing, which pays much better anyway. You may get to that point as well.

*I'm seeing other places here doing this or similar in recent years, is it some kind of trend?

It's always risky making generalities but I think one's value to a retail nursery or garden center depends a lot on the philosophy of that operation. My experience with multiple positions at multiple garden centers is that the more plant knowledge one had, the higher up the ladder one climbed, typically resulting in buyer/manager status. Of course customer service skills are equally, if not more, important. But bboy's right - you won't get rich in any retail position unless possibly you are the owner :-) Which is why I moved into the much more lucrative (and stable) wholesale end of things.

And while it was a period of constant activity and very long hours, this was the time period in retail I enjoyed the most - trucks with fresh stock arriving constantly, hoards of shoppers, lots of questions, etc. But our spring (if you can call if that) has been very late in arriving and extended cold, wet weather (we had snow Friday!) has set back retail nursery sales here to a point where some smaller operations may have a hard time recovering. Not to mention usual seasonal stock that has been lost due to unseasonably cold weather.

So no, not too much fun in retail nursery land here :-(

Historical pattern here, probably throughout industry seems to be to fragment into numerous individual companies with comparatively small numbers of long-term employees (if any).

bboy,

What did you ultimately move on to doing? Something plant related or totally different?

Your experience in retail garden centers definitely resembled the last one I worked at. We had red tee shirts too. I knew plants more than most employees, but they just wanted people to run a cash register, unload the trucks, and load mulch.

Most of the companies here too have only a few long-term employees, with lots of part-time and seasonal help for the spring and some at Christmas.

I for one did NOT enjoy the insane pace of the springtime rush. So I got into interior landscaping, where the weather is better (indoors!) and the pace of the work is fairly even all year (except a little extra work at Christmas). I found the pay a little better too. And now I'm working for myself, which is great fun and pays better still.

By the way, once they let you drive the big machinery, DON'T run over any of the sprinkler risers. You'll never live it down. Don't ask me how I know this...

>Don't ask me how I knowOh-oh.

Mostly I do pruning and consulting now. Occasionally do some planting for pruning customers. Have also been working (on speculation) for years on a reference book, only to now have the market for these be killed by the internet. (May end up producing or co-producing some kind of internet alternative. First I have to get the damned thing done).

Another ironic thing I've noticed is professionals having similar limited knowledge or point-of-view as the customers being served doing better due to the two groups relating to one another better.

Pushing myself into management I had neither the training nor the ego for so if a place didn't want to set me up as their In-house Expert there really was nothing for me.

Last one I "applied" at I drove by their freeway sign asking for a plant expert for some time before I drove in and ended up having an on-the-spot interview with the owner. Let slip that the previous place basically wasted me on unloading racks etc. - and as this second place was set up and run as though imitating the other - he called me later to say that my comment about the racks ruled me out as that was "almost all we do here".

After that the sign was changed to say they wanted somebody who was friendly or something like that.

Well, we had one sunny day in March, and it never got above 40 degrees. So, although there was plenty of work to be done, we made about as much money in March as we did in February, which wasnÂt much. And bills came due, nonetheless.

The weather finally broke around the first of April, and business is picking up reasonably well. Kansas gardeners are pretty irrepresible, they are going to garden whether the weather is ideal or not. So, weÂll see what kind of spring it turns out to be. Like all small independent garden centers, we make the majority of our yearly income in the 3 months of springÂ

This means every employee does whatever needs to be done on any given day. Shoot, I am the resident "woody plant expert" here, but I wear many hats  nursery manager and buyer, chief cook and bottle washer, permanent latrine orderly, truck un-loader, equipment operator, rack mover, standing-at-the-end-of-the-hose waterer, and so forth and so forth. It means that my seasonal help also does all this stuff. And since they are gonna get laid off sometime in June, they get hired on not for their horticultural knowledge, but for their willingness to work for 3 months at a low wage. Recent hort school grads rarely apply for this work -who can blame them? That is the reality of this kind of business, and it ainÂt gonna change.

I guess I like it well enough  this will be my 12th spring at this position., I get to goof off royally in January, IÂm on salary, so the 50 to 60 hour weeks now balance out for the winter down time. I guessÂI really , really do enjoy working with the customers, that is an immense source of satisfaction to me. I wish I worked at a garden business where the circumstances were a little different  Believe me, I have tried walking around with a pencil behind my ear, holding a clipboard, and looking like an expert, but pretty soon a truck comes in, and I get dirty just like everyone else.

But, yes, I am having fun this spring.

That is the reality of this kind of business, and it ainÂt gonna changeÂ

I have spent many hours doing likewise and my point wasn't that I hoped or expected to be a prima donna. Meanwhile, every time I come on the title of this thread I hear

Everybody Wang Chung tonight

Not that I liked that song particularly...

I love this time of year! It is unseasonable cold at the moment but the nursery customers and the plant unloading and organizing keep me very busy.

Course, I only work at the nursery 2 days a week. The rest of the time I'm doing garden designs and consultations. Much better money, but I stay at the nursery because of the amount of contacts I meet while working. This time of year, dusk to dawn 7 days a week. Yeeha!

After 48 hrs. of solid rain, I arrived at 8:45 a.m. w/ the first of 6 trucks for today pulling up (ok, one came twice, but they needed their carts back, 16 first visit (& we had 4 carts left last week we used for the 9am delivery), 8 the second an hour and a half later), 200 roses on pallets (wish I had gauntlets while I was checking them in), the other 3 were manageable, but it was 3 pm before I had a chance to grab water (time to go home & meet the kids at the schoolbus)

-Hey, we wear lime green shirts, used to be a rainbow of colors, but now it's standardized-I don't care, I have a ton of tshirts & hoodies, & its a great place to work, even if there is alot of employee turnover-it's where I would shop if I were a lady of leisure, who was into gardening...(I DO buy alot of stuff)

At one of the independent garden centers I went to today the cashier was recording which clerk(s) had assisted each patron previously. I noticed the last salesperson I talked to had their name printed on their name badge in big letters that most people would be able to read easily.

At our garden center, there's lots of radio traffic-if you don't have an answer, ask!-when I started as a cashier, I asked ?s all the time, even if I thought I had an answer, just to have confirmation...maybe someone will chime in-some customers need more handholding than others, any extra help is appreciated...

Just be positive. I pass the handholding off to my employees. Employees are the bottom line. No retirement benefits because they are making more than me. I'm really trying to offer great plants at a discount price. I work. work. work. find the best deals, and am told I'm too expensive. I will print darn you cheapscapes, because when you think I'm ripping you off with my high priced nursery stuff you can tell me I'm stupid because I have stuff that is way cheaper down the road. It isn't fun, hundreds of households thinking that my nursery is overpriced. Honestly I search for the best deals and pass them on. The bottom line is fair and cutomers have the benifit of the doubt.

I am sure most venders get that, if one item is spotted that is more than it was someplace else the whole store is "expensive". I've seen it reported that what became Wal-Mart was started on its way by putting cheap stuff on the ends of the aisles and having the rest the same prices as everywhere else. So "everything" there was cheap while they raked in the money made from the same pricing as other stores had.

Probably much of the time telling you that you are overpriced is an attempt to get a discount. Some stores actually offer this opportunity, if you can show them evidence of a lower price they'll match or beat it.

You have to be willing and able to deal with everyone who walks in the door.

I almost hate to reply to this thread-all the 'baby cashiers' we hired a month ago are gone-couldn't handle it! I walked in the other day, went on the register, & didn't leave...I have high hopes, though, we have a new cashier, & it looks like he might be up to the task. We have tons of plants, fast turnover (although we look after our plants), I just want to make it through the early summer...

So which turns over faster, the plants or the 'baby cashiers'? ;)

How young are the cashiers, anyway? I am great with computers but was a horrible cashier on the antiquated machines they had at the time.

One big wholesale nursery I worked for owned the aging mainframe and was therefore making us at the converted-to-partly-retail branch store use a slow invoicing system that printed full page wholesale-style receipts for every customer, retail or wholesale. The home office insisted we not let anyone out the door without one of these, yet often the printer did not work. This combination enabled me to live the seafood restaurant scene from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, as I had a customer that wanted a quick accomodation for a small purchase while the company president happened to be visiting. As I am standing there trying to enforce the clumsy procedure and policies the home office had always insisted upon the president walks up and asks why I'm not giving the customer what he wants - exactly like in the movie.

They of course wrote that scene with the idea that it was a common or at least representative situation.