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Seasonal/migrant work in the US?


crackalackin

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Do not- I repeat, DO NOT- come to northern CA to work the weed harvest unless a ) you know what you're doing and b) have something solid lined up. Otherwise you will end up sitting in a shitty redneck town with a bunch of oogles trying to get work, and if and when you do find work your odds for getting screwed to some degree (if not totally) are around 100%.

 

 

Some friends of mine did that before.

They had connects lined up and everything.

They no longer speak to each other.

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Some friends of mine did that before.

They had connects lined up and everything.

They no longer speak to each other.

 

It amazes me how many people come out here without doing their homework...and when they do, how often they disregard all of the horror stories. The only work I've done up north was clearing land in late October for the following season, and that was more or less making good on a favor (even though I got paid).

 

You can be involved with the grow from day one, and your chances of getting hosed by your partners will still be better than even money. More often than not growers are into some heavy shit...amphetamines and guns figure into the business way more than people seem to want to admit, even though 90% of the time it's right fucking there when you get to the job site. The down side to working for mellow hippies is that some of them aren't cutthroat enough to get paid up front, so you'll either be waiting around on them or will get paid off in product you can't sell in a buyer's market.

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Shai fails to mention the fact that a good portion of the time when you do find work and get paid the people who pay you rip you off right after. I've heard stories of people getting drugged and having everything stolen from them and waking up in town somewhere with no idea of how they got there. Getting picked up hitchhiking and getting guns pulled on them. Getting picked up hitchhiking by someone who is friends with the grower who just paid them and set them up to get robbed. Fake police raids orchestrated by the growers so they can get out of paying people money. So much more I've heard about go down. Of course you could be lucky and get a chill job up there make lots of money and have an awesome time. But my money isn't on it.

Also if you do choose to ever try to find a job out here, DON'T WORK FOR THE MEXICANS! Seriously, it's all bad news. You got about the same odds of getting paid as you do of getting a bullet in the back of the head and are more likely to get raided and get in deep shit when you do.

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When I said the odds of getting ripped off were around 100% that's what I meant. That's why I won't even go to Humboldt on a non-business trip...there's no soul left in that place, everyone's there to either log the few remaining trees or monocrop the shit out of what was left behind, and I can't support that.

 

The product is great, but for the most part the industry that creates it sucks.

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it's called dishwashing

 

you're all making this harder than it needs to be.

 

you go somewhere and look for a job. when you get tired look for something else / move. there are lots of jobs you can get fast in restaurants or day labor... if it sounds too good to be true it probably is lots of scam jobs in door to door sales/promotions or telemarketing in big cities

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o yea and a heads up i don't think you're cut out for this judging from the thread question but who knows.. right now there are a LOT of jobs involving oil in North Dakota and if you can do hard physical labor you can make excellent $$$$ working a few months at a time.. That's one concrete opportunity I can think of to make a lot of cash fast

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it's called dishwashing

 

you're all making this harder than it needs to be.

 

you go somewhere and look for a job. when you get tired look for something else / move. there are lots of jobs you can get fast in restaurants or day labor... if it sounds too good to be true it probably is lots of scam jobs in door to door sales/promotions or telemarketing in big cities

 

Dishwashing = $7.25 an hour.

I'm sure this dude isn't trying to sleep on the street and then get fired for smelling like he sleeps on the street.

What in the fuck are you talking about?

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The only on the books job I can get right now requires me to dress nice, pays $8/hr and tops out at 20 hours a week. All that would do is cut my EBT in half, which already doesn't get me through the month...it certainly wouldn't house me or make my life appreciably easier.

 

I'm not opposed to working a legit job but lately it seems like the goal of employers is to make me see them as the least logical choice.

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Typical traveler in Oakland around August- "Dude, I'm gonna go up north and trim, make a bunch of money and smoke weed, then I'm gonna go to New Orleans for the winter, leave after Mardi Gras, it's gonna be sick!"

 

 

Same traveler in November, back in Oakland, looking rather discouraged- "Dude, I sat in Arcata/Garberville for a month with a bunch of douchebags, finally got picked up by some tweaker who only paid me for half my work and half of that was in weed...hey, do you want to buy some weed? I need to get rid of this shit before I go to NOLA and no one back home wants to wire me any cash."

LOL

 

Good lord

+1

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I've never earned 8 dollars an hour in my life, even when i was working fast food jobs. The US wage system is incredibly depressing.

 

It's absurd...The last time I made $8/hr is 1997. But that was full time at a small business and my rent was $150 a month.

 

The minimum wage in SF is 10 and change now. I told the job this and they weren't interested.

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When I do get seasonal workers through for agricultural work, I always try and get Koreans. Australians and Americans are so fucking lazy it's a joke. Also, there's always a 'problem with such and such' - Koreans just work, they keep their personal life at home. I've had countless Korean women prune a row faster than an Aussie bloke.

 

Canadians are pretty good. Irish are good.

 

Indians are slack as fuck.

 

I know I'm a bit off topic, but you blokes have been talking about weed for two pages...

 

To the OP. Basically, be prepared to actually work. Not 'have an experience' or 'find yourself' - people pay you to WORK.

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Dishwashing = $7.25 an hour.

I'm sure this dude isn't trying to sleep on the street and then get fired for smelling like he sleeps on the street.

What in the fuck are you talking about?

 

You find yourself in a new place with immediate needs, you get a shitty job until you have enough for rent or find something else. You don't just go somewhere and expect it all at once right away or you are setting yourself up for failure..

 

If you're clever, you take that shitty $8 job and get some hustles on the side.. Sell on the side.. Get that coke connect from your Mexican coworkers.. You don't buy food cause you're eating on the side and getting food from work free. If you don't have housing work is also a good place to look for a quick share or a place to crash.

 

Min. wage jobs suck.. But you can be miserable and have that mindset, or you can use it as an inroad for info and connections. I'm assuming this guy has very few credentials and not too much experience. I might be wrong, but if I'm right this is one approach.

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You find yourself in a new place with immediate needs, you get a shitty job until you have enough for rent or find something else. You don't just go somewhere and expect it all at once right away or you are setting yourself up for failure..

 

If you're qualified and have decent references I don't think it's unreasonable to at least get a chance somewhere to show an employer what you can do. Unfortunately employers use the "It costs X amount to hire someone, whatever shall I do" and put that on the applicant when they should simply recognize it as the cost of doing business.

 

If you're clever, you take that shitty $8 job and get some hustles on the side.. Sell on the side.. Get that coke connect from your Mexican coworkers..

 

Have you ever sold coke? Do you know what the clientele is like? Would you want that to be your first impression of a city and their first impression of you? I think I'll pass...I have a conscience and a reputation/rap sheet I'd like to keep relatively clean.

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If you're qualified and have decent references I don't think it's unreasonable to at least get a chance somewhere to show an employer what you can do. Unfortunately employers use the "It costs X amount to hire someone, whatever shall I do" and put that on the applicant when they should simply recognize it as the cost of doing business.

 

So you put in an application and go from there.. If you don't like an offer you can walk away.

 

Thing is, it's a lot easier to trade up when you're already working to begin with. I get that it is really difficult to start over when you haven't had a legal job in a decade, and getting a job cuts into EBT.

 

However, I was in a position similar to what you describe less than a year ago and I changed it, so I disagree.

 

You said "The only on the books job I can get right now requires me to dress nice, pays $8/hr and tops out at 20 hours a week."

 

I don't believe you. How often do you look for jobs and what kind of jobs are you looking for? Your thinking smacks of fatalism.

 

It all comes down to your motivations and what you are satisfied with I suppose.

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Holy shit this thread took off. Is it just me or is 12oz starting to exceed speeds of dripping pitch again? Anyway sorry for the no reply, I was hiking. Firstly, I believe myself cut out for the work, I was raised on a farm and spent a considerable portion of my childhood working for nothing more than 'the roof over my head' (which isn't unreasonable). My parents also recommended the North Dakota oil fields (my stepmom being from Fargo), though I think that may be a bit too much for me. I know better than to try to join the Humboldt pot harvest, my cousin did it and had some pretty awful experiences. I'm thinking my best bet is WWOOF, although I'm mildly worried about getting stuck somewhere seeing as my parents are far too poor to provide any kind of financial assistance, even in an emergency. And as someone said, I am entirely prepared to spend a lot of time camping. In fact, that's the main reason I want to do it.

 

Currently I live in San Francisco (minimum wage 10.24) and work a dead-end food service job. I support myself entirely and have been for a few years. I work very hard but living in such an expensive place is seeming less and less feasible to me. I'm really beginning to fucking hate this place, which sucks because San Francisco is so cool.

 

Anyway, thanks for all the advice. I've been meaning to drop KIR a line, seeing as this is his area of expertise. Does anyone have any experience with WWOOF they'd like to share?

 

EDIT: And no selling drugs or anything of the like, I've already got one strike.

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