Feeling frustrated ~ hope its okay to vent.

[ali1257]

Feeling kinda frustrated tonight. Sure hope it's okay to vent. If not, send me a note and I will delete this thread.

Guess I am learning the hard way we need to ask more questions before taking a job. But having never done this before not sure what questions we should have asked. We finally got our trees delivered this morning ~ only 22, thought we would have more. Hubby going to call tomorrow and see how this works? Because all the trees we have are $61 or more! Who can afford those? But the price list shows some as low at $9...where are they?

Our frustration started on Wednesday when we were told no trees till Friday. Had originally been told to be here on Tuesday to start work on Wednesday. If we had known no trees till Friday we would have stayed in Blaine to spend more time with our son, his girlfriend and our granddaughter as well as squeak in a couple more visits with friends.

So brings us to today. We get the trees delivered. We have no drill ~ was supposed to be delivered along with the trees. Drill finally showed up this afternoon about 1:00 along with a guy to cut the lock on the grids (what we set the trees up on). The key we were given did not work the lock. Told that to the owner on Wednesday.

Just feeling frustrated and very alone in this adventure. We had three customers - had one buyer. Am thankful for that. Maybe I will go to bed early tonight and hope tomorrow is a busy day of selling Christmas trees.

[snowball]

I hope that it turns out well for you! do you have Christmas music playing lots of lights? and yes 61 dollars is a lot for a tree never ever spent that much on a tree
we will hope that they follow through and give you the tools you will need to be successful! Are you in a area that is having bad weather?
sheila

[ali1257]

Thanks Sheila...yes we have Christmas CD's playing we put up lights around the lot. Finally got the drill thingy and it worked well. The trees are all up and out. We had bad weather through Wednesday - snow and cold...now it is raining. I know things will work out, just felt a little down. Thanks for your reply.

[BarbaraRose]

You are more than welcome to vent! That's what we are here for! Can totally understand your frustration. Can you contact the owner and find out where the rest of the trees are, etc?
I am sure once you get everything you need and get set up, that it will all work out fine! It's just the "not knowing" part that is frustrating, especially when things are not what you thought.
Hope you get it all worked out soon! Let us know...

[bikerchic777]

God knows I have done more than my share of venting on here I can relate to your situation. I was so desperate for this workamping job after the other one fell through, that I let it slide when they told me there was no job description or contract. I guess I should be thankful my job was actually here when I arrived Wasn't really sure what to expect, though. I will not let that happen again! I tend to learn things the hard way At least it is paying the rent and utilities and is not a stressful job.

Just keep telling yourself that it is a short term job and will soon be over. What are your plans when it is over? I have been seeing some workamping jobs on Workamper News and other sites for northern CA, etc.

[Bethers]

Ali, I sure hope they get you some less expensive trees. I know they have gotten rediculously expensive over the past few years, but I agree - $61 for a starting price seems too high. And 29 trees doesn't seem like enough.

I talked to another workamper who has sold trees several years (in the east) and they say it's worth it. But each owner, I'm sure, is different. Hopefully this works out to be a good adventure and money for you - with such a start, that's really questionable.

Of course, you can vent! Wish we could do more than listen --- but listen we can do!

[dayspring39]

Oh my how frustrating Ali... but remember it is a new adventure they always come with misgivings... My son Chuck and daughter Margie would go with friends who had a tree farm and trim them in the spring and help cut them in the fall... free labor but they loved it and had so much fun... when we got our huge home soon to be an Adult Foster Care Home, Grandpa Slate told Chuck pick out any tree you want it is yours... Chuck having big dreams picked the most expensive tree... it was huge and would have cost nearly $50 that was in 1974... so they can be very expensive depending on the kind of tree they are... but I agree they should have included some less expensive ones...
Keep looking up the sky will clear...
Kathleen

[mitch5252]

..

You vent all you want - we're here to listen and encourage!
It'll go fine and it'll be December 26 before you know it.

PS: What's the drill for?

..

[ali1257]

Thank you all for your encouragement. I so appreciate it.

Linda ~ what other sites do you use. We get Workkamper News. And we get their hotline notifications.

Our plans for right after Christmas - Christmas Eve night we will find a church to attend services. Guess that's another part of my emotional roll ~ knowing we are not going to be involved in our normal church activities: Christmas Dinner Boxes, the children's program, listening to the carols (though we do have CD's) and then on Christmas Day we are off to Spirit Lake, ID to meet up with our son, Brandon and his family. Brandon's basketball team is in a Christmas tournament on the 27th & 28th. It will be so good to be with him and his family. We will then go to Lewiston, ID/Clarkston, WA on the 29th and stay till the morning of 1/8 when we will head back to Blaine. Ron has jury duty from the 10th to the 21st of January and then ?????

Beth ~ the drill is to drill a hole in the bottom of the tree to stand it up on the grid. The grid is a metal square with 4 points where we stand the trees.

I will be posting pictures on my blog tonight of the trees. I was too tired last night to do that.

Today is a new day. I had donuts for breakfast and a hot peppermint mocha - I am good to go

[Colliemom]

Ali, sorry things aren't working out just right. And yes, you can vent. We all understand. I'm sure that there will be more trees. Any tree lot owner worth his salt is not going to try to sell just a few expensive trees unless he's out to make big bucks. But he won't get far with that. He might be doing that at the moment to see if he can sell those more expensive trees first and then bring in cheaper ones later. People don't have much choice, so they pay top price or no tree type thing.

Once you get through all your holiday activities, and get back to Blain. Then you can start thinking of your next job. I would highly suggest that you might consider working for a state park. Those jobs are usually always open in the spring-fall times or perhaps a private campground like KOA. Unless you want to go back to the carnival again.

I'm snooping around too, looking for something. I do have my job waiting at the park again in spring, but I'm kind of looking for a change of scenery after 14 years. Got to get a subcription to Workamper News and see what's up out there. I know smmer jobs will be posted after the holidays as they are going to start looking for employees.

Good luck and keep warm.

[Nasoosie]

Glad things are looking up a bit on the Christmas tree lot, Ali. Venting about things is what friends do, and, after all, we have all been there in frustrationland and needed a chance to cry a bit about it. We all need to share agonies and anxieties as well as joys and accomplishments! Lord only knows, I have done my share on both ends of the spectrum! I am so thankful for all of your encouragements as I agonized about my decision to head south this winter. Better days are ahead for us all!

[Redetotry]

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((HUG)))))))))))))))))))))))))

[AlmostThere]

Keeping you both lifted.

[BirdbyBird]

((((hugs))))) and I keep thinking "this too shall pass..." Do you get paid per day or a percentage of the sales? The lack of inventory is a pain either way. Either money wise...or the fun of watching more families pick out trees. I remember that was a father daughter tradition growing up...between my father and I.....he always said he couldn't do it without me... I was good at picking the best tree with maybe just one tiny hole ....that went next to the wall or back in the corner

[ali1257]

Thanks everyone for your encouragement. Talked to Fran today. She is the collector. Said we should get trees either today (didn't_ or tomorrow (hoping) as people have been asking for smaller, cheaper trees. Just got interupted to sell our 2nd tree ~ whoo hoo! We did have about 3 or 4 customers who came to look.

Payment is 15% of sales. We get paid 75% of what we have sold on the 20th of December and the balance the middle of January. Something else we should have asked about...another learning curve.

Again, thanks for all your encouragement.

Ali