When Michael and I started dating people would always ask me what he did for a living. "His family owns a greenhouse" I would always say. "That is so cool!" they usually replied. Other frequent responses are:"That sounds like so much fun!", or "I would love to work in a greenhouse!"
This is my 9th year helping run this greenhouse. From day 1 I took over the hiring and it never fails that people come looking for work with a very different idea than what it really is. Just last week a young man said to me "I think this would be a cool job." When they come to me for a job I try to paint a realistic picture of what the job is. It is dirty. It is wet. You are frequently too cold or too hot. You will be on your feet all day. There will be times when you will be uncomfortable and yes, at times you will be bored. There are many interesting things about working on a greenhouse, but if you have to stick cuttings for two or three hours straight you will probably get bored. I have have had many applicant who brag about how they can handle it because they grew up in a farm, or their family had animals or gardens and they know what it's like. Very few of those have lasted.
Another question I frequently get is about qualifications. What kind of background is required to work in a greenhouse. Yes, there are specialized positions. There will always be one or two horticulture alums. But what people do not understand is that we are a production facility, and so we welcome people with a manufacturing background. We are, after all, a plant factory. Sure, our line is different from the line of a sowing plant, but the sowing plant is different from the car plant, the burger plant, etc. Many of the same skills are needed. I have hired lots of people who have worked in chickens houses, and construction because one is similar and the other requires an affinity for hard, physical work.
I do not know where the romanticism of a greenhouse comes from. People who do not know think that we walk around with sun hats and gardening gloves - talking about which hybrid tomato is our favorite. This season we will produce over 10,000 tomato plants and few people understand how much work goes into it. And that is just tomatoes, there are also, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, squash, strawberries, watermelons and those are just the fruit and vegetable plants. We are mostly annual growers. The vegetables are a tiny portion of what we produce.
I don't know if there is romanticism like this with other professions. I imagine to a certain extent you see it in every field to a degree. You just do not know what exactly is required in any given field until you are in it. I used to be an international student advisor. I would meet people and tell them what I did and they always said "Very cool". I guess in their minds they pictured me talking to these kids from all around the world and singing kumbaya. Sure, there was some of that. But mostly my job involved reading through very boring government regulations and explaining to the students what the law said. And lists. Lots and lots of lists. It was still a cool job, but not what most people think it is.
We have owned the greenhouse for almost 9 years, two kids 6 & 7 who have grown up in and around a greenhouse. They don't even know what we do. They know we grow plants. Big picture. But if you ask my 7 year old she will say something like "My mommy sits at a computer most of day working on stuff (a lot of data entry). She enters and processes orders. And she walks around the greenhouse to help do stuff which gets her dirty." That pretty much sums it up. Except for those days when I have to talk to people about their bathroom habits and personal hygiene. Granted, I think other business owners may have encountered this problem too.
My theory is that after working here they go home and think about what they did all day and it did not mesh with the picture in their head of what they thought they would do. This, sadly goes for the recent Horticulture grads I have hired as well. There is a significant amount of them who think "I did not go to college to do this much work." And yet, that is exactly what they went to college for - they just do not seem to know that. I have had people leave because $10 an hour is not enough enough money for the work they are doing, yet two months earlier were happy to accept the job at that pay. I have had people who worked until lunch and never came back from lunch. I have had people work just one week. The thing I hear the most is "It was not what I thought it would be" but few things are. I think a lot of folks think they are going walk through the door and within a couple of hours they will be watering and pruning exotic plants. Like anyone would give you a pair of pruners on day one and set you free on a crop. It takes time. Most people spend their first day putting pots on a conveyor belt into a soil machine. Or dragging a cart to set down pots. You have to walk before you run child.
I leave you with one of Michael's favorite stories. He likes to tell employees that in Japan few people are hired to be a sushi chef. You are hired in the sushi restaurant and they make you wash dishes. You wash dishes day in and day out until one day they look at you and say "Hey you! Go make sushi. You should be ready." You were supposed to be paying attention. Some people make sushi within weeks. Others never do. What I am trying to say is for me right now it feels like the dishes are piling up and I cannot find any good chefs.
This is my 9th year helping run this greenhouse. From day 1 I took over the hiring and it never fails that people come looking for work with a very different idea than what it really is. Just last week a young man said to me "I think this would be a cool job." When they come to me for a job I try to paint a realistic picture of what the job is. It is dirty. It is wet. You are frequently too cold or too hot. You will be on your feet all day. There will be times when you will be uncomfortable and yes, at times you will be bored. There are many interesting things about working on a greenhouse, but if you have to stick cuttings for two or three hours straight you will probably get bored. I have have had many applicant who brag about how they can handle it because they grew up in a farm, or their family had animals or gardens and they know what it's like. Very few of those have lasted.
Another question I frequently get is about qualifications. What kind of background is required to work in a greenhouse. Yes, there are specialized positions. There will always be one or two horticulture alums. But what people do not understand is that we are a production facility, and so we welcome people with a manufacturing background. We are, after all, a plant factory. Sure, our line is different from the line of a sowing plant, but the sowing plant is different from the car plant, the burger plant, etc. Many of the same skills are needed. I have hired lots of people who have worked in chickens houses, and construction because one is similar and the other requires an affinity for hard, physical work.
I do not know where the romanticism of a greenhouse comes from. People who do not know think that we walk around with sun hats and gardening gloves - talking about which hybrid tomato is our favorite. This season we will produce over 10,000 tomato plants and few people understand how much work goes into it. And that is just tomatoes, there are also, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, squash, strawberries, watermelons and those are just the fruit and vegetable plants. We are mostly annual growers. The vegetables are a tiny portion of what we produce.I don't know if there is romanticism like this with other professions. I imagine to a certain extent you see it in every field to a degree. You just do not know what exactly is required in any given field until you are in it. I used to be an international student advisor. I would meet people and tell them what I did and they always said "Very cool". I guess in their minds they pictured me talking to these kids from all around the world and singing kumbaya. Sure, there was some of that. But mostly my job involved reading through very boring government regulations and explaining to the students what the law said. And lists. Lots and lots of lists. It was still a cool job, but not what most people think it is.
We have owned the greenhouse for almost 9 years, two kids 6 & 7 who have grown up in and around a greenhouse. They don't even know what we do. They know we grow plants. Big picture. But if you ask my 7 year old she will say something like "My mommy sits at a computer most of day working on stuff (a lot of data entry). She enters and processes orders. And she walks around the greenhouse to help do stuff which gets her dirty." That pretty much sums it up. Except for those days when I have to talk to people about their bathroom habits and personal hygiene. Granted, I think other business owners may have encountered this problem too.
My theory is that after working here they go home and think about what they did all day and it did not mesh with the picture in their head of what they thought they would do. This, sadly goes for the recent Horticulture grads I have hired as well. There is a significant amount of them who think "I did not go to college to do this much work." And yet, that is exactly what they went to college for - they just do not seem to know that. I have had people leave because $10 an hour is not enough enough money for the work they are doing, yet two months earlier were happy to accept the job at that pay. I have had people who worked until lunch and never came back from lunch. I have had people work just one week. The thing I hear the most is "It was not what I thought it would be" but few things are. I think a lot of folks think they are going walk through the door and within a couple of hours they will be watering and pruning exotic plants. Like anyone would give you a pair of pruners on day one and set you free on a crop. It takes time. Most people spend their first day putting pots on a conveyor belt into a soil machine. Or dragging a cart to set down pots. You have to walk before you run child.
I leave you with one of Michael's favorite stories. He likes to tell employees that in Japan few people are hired to be a sushi chef. You are hired in the sushi restaurant and they make you wash dishes. You wash dishes day in and day out until one day they look at you and say "Hey you! Go make sushi. You should be ready." You were supposed to be paying attention. Some people make sushi within weeks. Others never do. What I am trying to say is for me right now it feels like the dishes are piling up and I cannot find any good chefs.
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