Spring

Well, into Spring we go. Now as I don't usually work in the rain, fertilizer we use is dry and doesn't flow well when wet but the boss does want to get something done, so we are on standby. Which can be a good thing, but on standby till 11 am is a bit of a stretch. so he says 11 to start; get to the shop set up the truck, cover everything in case of rain again, we get to the first lawn by noon; this is essentially a wasted day, or to get any decent work done we're out till 5.

Pirate is not liking the sound of this. I like to be done working by mid afternoon, not the early evening. These rain days can sort of back fire.

See long ago when I made the move from landscape to lawn care one point really grabbed my attention. Normally in the interview the lawn care manager will explain to you start time, do the work, when finished and truck reloaded for next day you clock out, 40 hours guaranteed; AND YOU DON'T WORK IN THE RAIN. Well now Pirate says to himself so long ago, this could work to my benefit. In my experience the company always, I repeat, always comes out ahead. See the company (now this is how it used to be; not like this now) would pay you on a salary, essentially 40 hours, lets say $400 (for a newby) then hands you a stack of invoices to cover a week. You route it out, call those that need called and service the lawns. Usually the company has the "quota" set a bit on the high side, and you can get this all done in say, 45-47 hours (that's the breaks, you do what you have to do). Well dear old Chemlawn/Davey/Scotts/etc will be paying you $400 for your 40 hours. The additional 7 hours or "Chinese Overtime" are what they term as 'half rate' or half your hourly rate. Chinese overtime pay scale would look some thing like this:

$400 for the 40 + 1/2 rate all hours exceeding 40. so the $400 dollars now covers we will say 47 hours, which brings the hourly wage down to $8.51 cut that number in half brings your additional earnings to about $4.25 an hour for the final 7 hours on your paycheck.= $429.75 before deductions
Obviously the more you work the less your time is worth.

to actually put this whole thing in perspective, figure an average factory job, same salary =400 for the 40 + time and a half x 7=$505


Seems kind of a rip but consider most professions you work salary; instead of per hour you work $x per year, with no real bonus for overtime. So I get my 40 hours whether I do the job in 35 hours a week or 45 hours a week. The weeks it takes me longer, I simply make a few bucks chump change in the process. What really kills on this schedule is 1 day of rain out and company needs the numbers, you work Saturday, by the time Saturday rolls up you have say 38 hours, as you work the other days longer to keep above water, then Saturday, you work 2 hours at your reg salary and the rest of the day is chump change.

I have been in this industry many years, nearly 2 decades, seen alot of change and I no longer work on this crazy pay system. Fabio (name boss earned years ago) knows what it is like to go out do your best and not get rewarded for the extra effort. He pays us fair, no Chinese overtime, Its great working for a small company.

Thing is though, in the forecast/weather sites I have seen this morning we may get some of this ------------------->

do you remember my post with rain condition names? link

I for one don't like getting caught in anymore than a drizzle.*

I remember a time with another company I worked for. I did really like this company till they got some x Chemlawn (Truegreen) managers to run the place into the ground. A few years later, my x employer Greenlon Inc had been sold and was now Truegreen Inc.
Getting off topic here...

One day at Greenlon, I was on the westish side of town, more north but nontheless, I saw an incredible sky show that day, I watched a thick thunderous band of clouds with an almost straight beveled edge just come rolling in from the west (as our weather here Cincinnati normally does). I was on a large commercial property hose pulled out to the full 300 ft, doing my 'applicator' thing. It sarted raining, skip the drizzle that normally precedes a rain, it just started coming down and grew to be shovels and pitch forks* by the time I had my hose rolled up. Sat in the truck for about 45 mins, called asst manager, Chuck (very cool guy) he said bring it on in and finish tomorrow as it was getting toward normal quit time. So I am still soaking wet, drip drying a bit, pull up to the fill station at the shop to reload the liquid (this is outside) and I see the same freaking storm come rollling in while I am filling my truck with 200 gal of liquid. I am standing there, alread been dowsed once still not completely dry so I just stand there, for the 5 mins or so to fill my tank. Guess I could have ducked for cover but it was already 3:45ish and I wanted to get all my paper work done so I just ...