Well since I’ve been mostly in customer service jobs I’d like for people to know that the reps don’t make the rules or decisions. When there is something about a store or service that’s undesirable such as prices then it’s something to bring up to upper management or just let them lose you as a customer. But you can be as nice to the reps as they are to you.
I work on a farm. Where I live (in Canada), farm workers don’t have the same rights as other workers. We don’t even have to be paid minimum wage.
Oof! Hello, fellow Ontarian here. I had no idea this was the case for Ontario farm workers! Is it common for people to be paid less than minimum wage and not get breaks? Is it just for specific times of year (ie harvesting) or for the entire growing season?
This may sound weird, but: thanks for the work you do in agriculture and feeding us! 😛 I’m in / from Toronto, and try to buy local when I can.
We should absolutely normalise thanking those who work to produce our food.
I work on a small farm and am treated well but my understanding is that the big farms that supply the grocery stores employ almost exclusively underpaid temporary foreign workers (TFW). A lot of the farms that sell at farmers markers also employ underpaid TFWs or idealistic young people who will work for food, a room to sleep in, and a $50 a week allowance.
Ah, TFWs. If you go by the news, neither big farms nor Tim Horton’s can survive without them. I’m glad you’re treated well. It pains me to think about how much exploitation is in the industry.
It’s a dream of mine (and a handful of friends) to start a commune / cooperative farming thing (closer to the hobby side of things) east of Toronto once we pool enough money, so insights into the industry are fascinating to me. And yeah, we know it’s going to be more work and recurring failures than we can possibly imagine (especially to start) but we’re determined and going to be diligent in research and preparation before we jump into it.
WTF? That is insane what you are not entitled to. If you don’t mind my asking, can you not find another job than being a farmer?
I chose to do it. I like it. I have a good boss who pays well and gives me a lot of freedom and flexibility. The vast majority of farm workers aren’t as lucky.
It’s usually family business, and they have a lot of write offs and incentives usually, so it prevents abuse of the system, but it also applies to non-arms length employees since farms trade work all the time as well, so bobs mid works for me and my kid works for him.