First day at garden center......

[livetogarden]

I spend a small fortune on plants each year....water and ground ones. With our 2nd child entering college this fall I was thinking I should cut back my  plant spending this year so we don't have to tell him we would love to help him some but all our extra money is planted in the yard, literally.    That is until I saw a notice that this garden center needed summer help. Today was my 1st day. Woohoo.........life is looking good!!!  I'm bushed because I'm not used to being on my feet for 5 hours at a time but I know that will get better every day. I had a blast!!! The manager thinks I have an illness because I saw a section of sad plants that only needed yellow leaves and old blooms trimmed off. I asked if I could try to fix them up. She said "Go for it. We thought we would have to toss then because of their condition". By the time I finished they looked like new and were placed back on the shelves.
They started me $2/hour higher than the usual starting pay for a new employee because of my 33 years of gardening experience and I get a 10% discount, which I'm sure I'll have no problem using.
I'm a happy gardener!!
Cath

[happyoutsidegirl]

Wow Cath, did you ever score! I wish I could quit my job and go to work in a nursery or garden center. 

[small fish]

Wow,that sounds great for you    and that gives me ideas for my next career ... I was wondering what I would be doing when I retire   

Myra

[SheilaJ]

Cath, congratulations! Buy a big bottle of Advil - you'll need it until you get toughened up (I know, I did the same thing you did!)

It's a nice job to work part-time with kids. I enjoyed it, although sometimes customers can be real jerks. Have fun!

PS - After two years, I got tired of sitting around all winter not working, so I went into the field of interior landscaping instead (maintaining office plants).

[Cindi]

Congratulations....sounds like you made out all the way around!   

[EagleEye]

Cath, I have been pondering what kind of job that I would want after retiring. A garden center would be GREAT

Glad you are enjoying your new job. Plus all the bennies,IE: discounts, new plants, and working with plants

Steve

[tracey_shafer]

Maybe next time you should just ask if you can take home the sad looking plants that can't be saved . It would save you a lot of money.

[Bonnie]

What a great job!
Just hope that we'll still hear from you.... don't forget us!

[SheilaJ]

True story about my early days working at the garden center...

It had been bought out by a large local chain and they were sending trucks and trucks of plants daily to stock the place. No one had time to price anything; everyone was too busy unloading trucks. Then the customers started coming in droves and I had to guess what the prices were. I asked one of the managers - they said the green hanging baskets were $6.99, the tan ones were $x, the white ones were $x, and so on.

So I ended up selling LOTS of Boston Ferns at $6.99, cuz they were in the green pots. I had no idea that we were probably selling them way below OUR cost until one of the managers said something later. I had to explain that they were in green pots, that's what I'd been told to do. No one bothered to mention that the tropicals had a separate pricing system, even though they were mixed in with the floral hanging baskets.

I'm still embarrassed about that one, even though it wasn't really my fault.

[Teresa]

Congrats Cath!  How fun to work with plants all day . . . do hope that you don't come home to find that you just can't do it for another minute!!  I'd love to work in a garden center - we have some really neat ones here and I'd come home every day with more plants that I don't have time to take care of!

Sheila that is too funny!  You're lucky they didn't fire you!

[SheilaJ]

Maybe not so lucky. I ended up with rotator cuff damage from moving the stupid flats every day for a solid week when different levels of management had different ideas about how the place should be arranged. It didn't show up until later so I never got to make a worker's comp claim for it. It still hurts if I do lots of heavy lifting or digging, or if I twist certain ways. 

[livetogarden]

Thanks for all the nice replies. All of you guys would understand how a garden center job would be fun. Some people think I'm nuts because I'm so excited about this. Gotta' be a plant lover to 'get it'.
I will still be on here. The manager said he would like to have me there 32-40 hours 'because of the garden knowledge I have'. I told him I still need time to manage my own yard and my church's. So I hope to keep it around 20 or so. Since they gave me a decent starting wage 20 hours should do fine.
Funny story Sheila.  Costly for them but funny anyway.
Mon. was my first day and Sunday night I had this really stupid dream. Here it is....when I got there the manager told me he needed to have me do one thing before he could actually start me. He took me to a work room and there sat a pumpkin. He said I had to make a Jack-O-Lantern then have him check it out. So I did and when he came to see it he said "Great! We just wanted to see if you had enough talent to help our store". How goofy was that???
Cath

[happyoutsidegirl]

  pretty goofy Cath, glad it was just a dream tho!

[marla]

We had a garden center (chain) open here late last summer.  I applied, and they wanted to hire me on the spot, but it was a longer drive and less money, questionable job security in the off season, then I make at my present retail job, so I passed.  There are days now that spring is comming that I wish I would have taken it, I'd rather be working outside then in.  Maybe someday

[livetogarden]

My 2nd day and I'm in heaven!!!! Today the manager asked if I thought I could do anything to make some bushes that got a light frost look any better. So I started pulling off frosted leaves and pruning off damaged parts. Out of 38 I was able to save all but 5, they were too far gone so will be tossed. However....I found out these others will be marked down 1/2 price, then they are on sale for 25% off plus employees get an extra 10% off so I am getting some great steals!!! I'm thinking this job was a very wise move!!
Cath