Employer: Shovel and Spoon Farm

I wanted to believe that these employers were good, honest people. They weren’t. They don’t keep promises, they make excuses, they change their minds, they don’t prioritize employees safety or well being. They motivated me to do free and extra work for them, with the promise that I would get a share of the profits at the end of the year. A month into the farming season, the owner started doubting that we would make a profit, questioned the legality of cutting me a share, and basically went back on their promise. I spent all winter driving around to restaurants, free of charge, getting the farm new accounts. When I started on the farm, I was working 50+ hours, and getting paid a “salary” of $13/hr. However, the pay stubs did not reflect a salary, as they read 40hrs/week at $13/hr. Also, paying $13/hour salary (assuming the employee is working over 40 hrs) is an illegal amount in my state. They were severely underpaying me. In reaction, I asked for a raise. I also asked for reimbursement for all of the product I was harvesting from my personal garden, and selling to their accounts (to boost my likelihood of receiving a share of profit). Initially, they said yes, and we set new terms for my employment. A couple of weeks later, they sat me down on a very cold way and let me know that they’ll be keeping me at $13/hr and taking away a tiny bit of responsibility. I quit. It wasn’t worth it to me to work alone on their farm, without any direction, for people that only had their best interests in mind. Not to mention, the owner builds things in a very unsafe way. He dropped a heavy metal greenhouse rod on my head. They are doing too many things at once, and expect people to go above and beyond for them. Not for $13/hr, homies. Get a grip.