Hey Reddit,
I was a gardener for a small organization (SO) that is owned by a local non-profit.
I started at the SO in 2018, and the retainment rate has been horrid due to conflicts between staff members and a certain management member from the non-profit.
On average we lose 3-4 staff members a year/season due to stress or anxiety issues caused by the non-profit manager, and are constantly re-staffing and training as a result.
Here's the best-of list for 2021 that caused me a nervous breakdown in 2021 and how I eventually got out.
Some are mildly infuriating, others are downright insane.
Please keep in mind, for the majority of the season I was the only worker, and have a well known attention disability due to head injuries. My writing isn't the best either, so bear with me.
- I am expected to return a completed key ring at the end of each growing season. I have done so every year for the past 4 years, and usually get a scavenged keyring in return with the expectation to cut more keys. At the beginning of the 2021 season the non-profit manager (hereby NPM) gave me a manila envelope containing 100 assorted keys, and told me to “figure it out”. That was a bad day for my brain injury, and I was a bit insulted by it. However, the best part was that the key I needed to get the tractor barns doors open wasn't in the envelope as they had lost it. That meant I had to spend the start of the season tilling our fields by fucking hand.
- When I was coerced into my contract for the 2021 season I was told I would have an assistant to help my work in the garden. I told the NPM what was feasible given the promise of an experienced assistant, and we agreed on the contract. I then got the name of the individual who would be assisting me, and I was relieved as it was someone I had worked well with before.
After a solitary months worth of hard work in the garden, I made an instagram post detailing the future gardening season and the person I thought would be helping me. Within 5 minutes I received multiple texts from the NPM demanding I take the post down. I asked why, and she bluntly told me the person she assured would be assisting me wasn't actually doing so and that I was spreading false information. The NPM then stated “oh wow, it seems like you have a lot of work, do you still need an assistant?”
Apparently the hour I spent discussing terms and my contracted assistance with the NPM went in one ear and came out the other. I also later found out that the assistant I was promised during my contract negotiation hadn't actually been contacted by the NPM. She later came on site to apologize for demanding I delete my personal post, and get this, BLAMED HER BEHAVIOUR ON THE RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL FINDINGS. She isn't indigenous by the way and apparently isn't aware she has patterns of behavior.
3) The garden I work out of had a portion of the farmhouse leased to a local lady hosting a field school. I had met her the previous season in 2020, and was promised that her students would not be in the fields because compaction isn't ideal for our soil. I was also promised I would still have access to my office within the farmhouse to start the thousands of vegetables we need for our short northern growing season.
Fast forward to my first day of 2021, I find 4 picnic tables on the compacted soil in the greenhouse and my office/growing equipment has been packed up and moved into my harvest shed. The food-safe harvest bins were also occupied and ruined by school supplies. My office was turned into her office while the the greenhouse was used for recreation during the winter. 5 years of soil work down the drain, and nowhere to harvest perennials or start the new stuff.
When I asked the NPM to do her job as the land lord and ensure our agreement was upheld, she rebutted that “it wasn't a big deal.” This was also the response I got from the NPM when I reported that the school teacher attempted to bar me from using the farmhouse washroom during school hours despite the fact I passed a criminal record check which includes the vulnerable sector.
4)The NPM informed me I would not be able to have volunteers assist me during 2021 due to COVID-19 policies, however, she still requested I do an apple pressing workshop and other tours for her child's class….for the third year in a row.
5)The NPM informed me I would be donating a pumpkin to her child's class despite the fact I had already promised one to the local day care. She made me carry it for her.
6) I donated fry bread that didn't sell at the end of my work day to a local blockade that was erected. The NPM, losing all sight of irony, got upsetti spaghetti and created an MOU to discuss our “conflicts of interest”.
7)The NPM openly and negatively discussed a former volunteer and his political affiliation while in the workplace before a meeting. He has saved my ass and the garden on so many occasions before COVID hit, and to hear someone in a place of power tear him down as useless for his political beliefs broke my heart a little.
8)The NPM would bring her dog on site, and multiple times it would either piss or shit on produce or equipment, which I would be expected to clean off. No apologies, only e.coli.
9)The NPM would bring that same dog into team meetings, where it would bark and nip at me during the entirety of the meeting. The NPM would carry on like nothing was out of the unusual, and then get upset afterwards when I couldn't recall what was said during the meetings. Again, keep in mind I have a well known attention disability from head injuries. Honestly I think this was my breaking point, and I no longer looked her in the eye when communicating.
10) The NPM promised me two week mental health break in the winter season as our contracts were extended due to funding. When I inquired, I was told no such promise existed, and that we follow their holiday business schedule. What they fail to say is how they receive vacation time and we do not.
11) The NPM promised me medical benefits in the new year, and when I inquired about our group plan number during the start of my breakdown a couple months ago, she wanted to have a team meeting about the feasibility, including the dog.
12)The NPM made the executive decision to convert the tractor/fertilizer/curing workshop into a cafe. This decision prevented me from being able to cure hundreds to thousands of bulbs of garlic as well as service tools and equipment. The café conversion wasn't completed by the contractor in a timely matter due to NPM's management timeframes, so the majority of my winterizing and maintenance had to be performed in the elements without being given proper PPE.
The only upside to the entire predicament is that I've gone public with what has happened in my local community, and no one has put a resume in despite their best attempts at hiring a replacement. Now the NPM is expected to be in charge of the farm, the entire community is watching to see her progress, and she doesn't even understand what an N-P-K value is or why we hill potatoes.
On that note, 4 years ago they attempted to get me to sign a non-disclosure agreement (we're a farm, not apple for fuck sakes) and I faxed them back an unsigned copy they probably regret not checking until now.
You might be asking, “Hey, dumb fuck tomato head, why did you put up with all that?”
The answer is simple, I was able to single handedly grow and provide over a ton of produce to local community members during a pandemic who would otherwise be starving, all “free” of charge thanks to government funding.
Happy Ending: I now have a sweet government job with pension, benefits, vacation pay, and a isolation living allowance. I'll also have paternity when my wife and I start our little family.
My back is strong, my personal garden will overflow, and the future is oh so bright.