Many farmers hire help to get their work done. One person just can't do it all.
Farm help has become very frustrating with laws and regulations and help who get into trouble.
Here is a message from one of my email friends:
"I will try and cut to the chase and keep this simple. About 1:00 this afternoon my wife calls from work and one of her co-workers who is on the ambulance crew heard on the police scanner that the cops are trying to get a hold of Paul cuz someone was getting arrested. The boss was out of state and had no cell coverage. She sent one of the guys at work down to the A&W drive in to give the cops my phone#.
About the time I grab one of the other guys and get headed down town, the cops get a hold of me and tell me that my one guy had went off the deeeeep end ( Basicly he is delusional and should has been on meds. He also has a medical pot card which is just an excuse for him to smoke pot in my opinion. We get down to where this is going on and the cops explain to me that they need consent to search the pickup. I told them to go ahead.
They procede to pull out a couple of cardboard boxes out of the inside, then another one or 2 things out of the toolbox. Boxes contained enough pot to smoke the whole town . I didn't get a real good look at it but I also seen a pretty thick roll of cash in a tackle/small tool box that I didn't recognize. Later found out he had 5lbs of weed on him. He had just taken the weekend off to meet up with an old girl friend supposedly. I got to thinking later and I'm not so sure that he didn't maybe even take the farm rig on his run. Don't know can't prove it. We let him take his pickup home at night, only lives a few miles from the shop.
After I get home tonight I had a call on the cell phone from jail. I ignore that one. Then a few minutes later the caller Id comes up on the house phone "Unknown caller" He comes on the voice mail and is begging me to come bail him out tonight. If I undrstood right he needs $ 4000 in bail. Pretty much crying and wanting me to go get Paul and get the money. Was saying that people are making him sell his medical marijuana and he didn't want to. (Oregon you are allowed to have 24 ounces) Also said he had commited to crime.
What the cops originally pulled him over for was for tresspassing. He had had a meltdown and was saying that us, a neighboring farmer, the mormon church, and the cops were trying to take his kids away from him. He's divorced and kids live with the mom. I'm still not too sure where the tresspassing occured though.
He had gotten pretty nutty earlier this summer but had been ok since about wheat harvest time but his work had really went down hill this fall, lazy, quiting early,dinging up stuff, ran a tractor out of fuel, enough things that I was going to have a talk with him before he laid off for the winter that things were going to change or I was going to make a permanant change. I Know I'm a pretty poor boss because I won't really jump on people when they have it coming at the time and I should have addressed some things that were going on earlier but I don't like confrontations or being Human resources manager but the boss is worse than I am at this stuff.
I suppose I am going to have to go over the county court tommorow and see what he is looking at. The poor guy really needs some mental help and I will mention that to the D.A's office when I go. I guess I get to look for a new employee this winter.
Thanks for letting me vent tonight "
This is what farmers put up with and a lot of other employers I am sure. I remember years ago when WalMart came to town and only half passed the drug test so this has been building for a long, long time.
I wouldn't bail him out right now, let him cry awhile, if becomes too bad the sheriff will take him for help himself.
What bugs me is they get more help on Medicaid than I get on State Teachers Health insurance and I worked 31 years.
Fortuantely I work with the finest people I ever met. I couldn't tolerate much of what my friend has.
Ed
Farm help has become very frustrating with laws and regulations and help who get into trouble.
Here is a message from one of my email friends:
"I will try and cut to the chase and keep this simple. About 1:00 this afternoon my wife calls from work and one of her co-workers who is on the ambulance crew heard on the police scanner that the cops are trying to get a hold of Paul cuz someone was getting arrested. The boss was out of state and had no cell coverage. She sent one of the guys at work down to the A&W drive in to give the cops my phone#.
About the time I grab one of the other guys and get headed down town, the cops get a hold of me and tell me that my one guy had went off the deeeeep end ( Basicly he is delusional and should has been on meds. He also has a medical pot card which is just an excuse for him to smoke pot in my opinion. We get down to where this is going on and the cops explain to me that they need consent to search the pickup. I told them to go ahead.
They procede to pull out a couple of cardboard boxes out of the inside, then another one or 2 things out of the toolbox. Boxes contained enough pot to smoke the whole town . I didn't get a real good look at it but I also seen a pretty thick roll of cash in a tackle/small tool box that I didn't recognize. Later found out he had 5lbs of weed on him. He had just taken the weekend off to meet up with an old girl friend supposedly. I got to thinking later and I'm not so sure that he didn't maybe even take the farm rig on his run. Don't know can't prove it. We let him take his pickup home at night, only lives a few miles from the shop.
After I get home tonight I had a call on the cell phone from jail. I ignore that one. Then a few minutes later the caller Id comes up on the house phone "Unknown caller" He comes on the voice mail and is begging me to come bail him out tonight. If I undrstood right he needs $ 4000 in bail. Pretty much crying and wanting me to go get Paul and get the money. Was saying that people are making him sell his medical marijuana and he didn't want to. (Oregon you are allowed to have 24 ounces) Also said he had commited to crime.
What the cops originally pulled him over for was for tresspassing. He had had a meltdown and was saying that us, a neighboring farmer, the mormon church, and the cops were trying to take his kids away from him. He's divorced and kids live with the mom. I'm still not too sure where the tresspassing occured though.
He had gotten pretty nutty earlier this summer but had been ok since about wheat harvest time but his work had really went down hill this fall, lazy, quiting early,dinging up stuff, ran a tractor out of fuel, enough things that I was going to have a talk with him before he laid off for the winter that things were going to change or I was going to make a permanant change. I Know I'm a pretty poor boss because I won't really jump on people when they have it coming at the time and I should have addressed some things that were going on earlier but I don't like confrontations or being Human resources manager but the boss is worse than I am at this stuff.
I suppose I am going to have to go over the county court tommorow and see what he is looking at. The poor guy really needs some mental help and I will mention that to the D.A's office when I go. I guess I get to look for a new employee this winter.
Thanks for letting me vent tonight "
This is what farmers put up with and a lot of other employers I am sure. I remember years ago when WalMart came to town and only half passed the drug test so this has been building for a long, long time.
I wouldn't bail him out right now, let him cry awhile, if becomes too bad the sheriff will take him for help himself.
What bugs me is they get more help on Medicaid than I get on State Teachers Health insurance and I worked 31 years.
Fortuantely I work with the finest people I ever met. I couldn't tolerate much of what my friend has.
Ed
My helper has disappeared for the winter. He still calls and says he is coming in to work, but somehow he doesn't actually make it. I have no idea how he lives through the winter. Heavy child support payments. $500? plus rent $600. Instead of making him want to work, the dept makes him feel hopless and not want to work. I need to just let him go. We will probably be out of money this year so I will not be real hard to do...
ReplyDeleteThe sort of people you get to work on a farm is not the same sort of fellow I remember as a little kid. Hardworking responsible fellows who had being a hired hand as a life vocation. Or even kids working in the summer while going to college. Now it is people who can't get other jobs, people who like to think of themselves as farmers but are just morons. Recovering drug addicts. Doesn't matter so much what you pay to start them out. It kind of the luck of the draw on who you get. If you get a good guy you better do whatever it takes to keep them!
I think it is all part of de-evoloution...
De-evolution, now there is a term! I do know our society is hurting and too many people are in a mess because of wrong choices.
ReplyDeleteBudde, I work with five of the finest guys you ever met. They each have talents that are blended together.