Ageism in the landscape

Ageism is wrong. Clearly. Ageism in the landscape is also plainly wrong. But this blog post is meant to be positive. I had one workplace brush with ageism and I moved on. And you  will never read a blog post where I’m crying like a little bitch. This whole episode is actually quite comical.

Blur

My entire landscape career from 2000-2015 was a blur. You fight to gain some skills as a rookie and then you move up to relief supervisor. Your responsibilities increase but not your pay. So you fight some more.

Eventually you make it to full supervisor and you get a tiny raise. Your responsibilities increase. Your skill set improves. Then it’s time for certifications and landscape testing.

To survive in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland, you gladly take on side-gigs. The extra work gives you more experience and more cash.

You plug away season after season in all kinds of weather; with all kinds of people.

Dream job?

Then, with two little kids at home, you score a major break. A municipality offers you a seasonal full-time job.  You know the pay will be fine and the experience priceless. So you give it a crack and the first season turns out to be your best-ever. Only it has to end. In November. You knew this would be the case because it was part of the deal.

Winter work

This is where it gets interesting. My buddy runs a landscaping company and welcomes help from an experienced worker. I welcome the winter income because it means the kids will eat.

Of course, the most senior crew leader on staff wasn’t excited about my presence. A sad-looking smoker, his one claim to fame was almost killing a co-worker by letting his standard truck slide down the road inside a strata complex. His second claim to fame was accepting average as the norm.

Here we go….

So one day I found myself mowing the outside of a complex and I left my grass tarps on the boulevard for later pick-up. Of course, I had no idea that the boss would be later mowing the long stretches with his ride-on mower. Otherwise I would have moved my tarps out of the way.

Back at the truck, the crew leader got angry, telling me that a man over 40 should be able to remember to grab his tarps. What? Excuse me? What has age got to do with this? How about giving clear instructions to new workers on site? And smoking less….

Then it hit me. Ageism! I can’t print what I was thinking at that moment. All I can tell you is that I didn’t express myself intelligently. As a landscape professional with experience and Red Seal Journeyman Horticulturist papers, this amateur was out of line. I was hitting university when he was still in diapers and drooling.

The key

Once the shock wore off, I called the boss. Big mistake.

Lesson number one: the smaller your company is, the less likely it is to have any mechanisms for dealing with ageism. People laugh it off and move on.

Lesson number two: success is a long-term ride. If you want to master a trade, you will have to invest lots of time.

I finally stopped my blurry ride which started in 2000 and reflected. Yes,  I was a mid-40s landscape professional with two little kids to feed. I was getting up there. But I was also a proud Red Seal Journeyman Horticulturist with a Bachelor’s science degree.

Lesson number three: always take the time to reflect on your life, your goals and the direction you want to take. To this day I have very little respect for the average crew leader who insulted me. But the whole episode was actually good for me. It forced me to evaluate everything, pause and reflect.

Not washed up

Today I have a great supervisor position at a private landscaping company. I’m the oldest employee on staff and the most experienced. And I still have lots of goals. I have them written down and on top of the page are the words: massive action!

Ageism is wrong but if you know who you are and where you’re going, you’ll be fine. So just remember to take massive action and stay away from average.