Ocho dólares por hora...

Ok, about the "employment agency" from yesterday. Around Houston, and likely many other places in the US, there are large populations of people (In Houston, they are generally Mexican) willing to do just about any type of labor at a reasonable cost. They congregate in certain spots waiting for someone to come along and hire them. My preferred "employment agency" is at a Shell Station a few miles away from my house.

Yesterday morning, I drove to said station and there were probably 40 or 50 guys standing around. I got out and started pumping gas, and the guy closest mentioned something about work. I asked if he spoke English. He said no, but quickly got someone who spoke some broken English. I've hired guys both ways, but with my very limited Spanish vocabulary, having someone that knows some English sure makes things easier.

By this time all 40 or so of those suckers were clamoring to get in my truck hoping to get some work. It's a little un-nerving to negotiate with 2 guys with so many onlookers, and they weren't scattering until they were sure they weren't going to get work. You have to sort of respect the willingness to work, especially hard outdoor work for relatively low pay. We negotiated $8 per hour, and I guaranteed the two of them at least $50 each for a good job.

Now, some people probably pick these guys up and work them like dogs with little regard for them as humans. These guys probably expect that sort of thing, but not at my house. I probably build high expectations for the other people that hire them. I show these guys my garage fridge and tell them they are welcome to anything that's in it (sodas, water, Gatorade, etc). It never fails, these guys are ALWAYS partial to red Gatorade. At lunch time, I got them a bucket of chicken, and they wiped it out.

After 7 hours, the job was through, and they had done a great job. Their hard work netted them a bonus making their pay about $10 per hour. Well worth it to me.

Now, why was I so tired yesterday? Well, these guys work hard, but you have to SHOW them how you want everything done. You want the bushes trimmed, you trim the first one and they take over. I had them weed all of the flower beds, trim the shrubs, trim back all of the oleanders in the backyard, build a little rock wall around the flowerbeds (out of the rock I gathered at the ranch), and spread 2 yards of mulch. I between showing them how things needed to be done, I mowed and trimmed the yard (I prefer to do that myself), made a dash to the store for several bags of ice (for the Father's day party), and made a killer salsa for the party.

The weather was bad today, so I didn't take any pictures today. I'll try to get some tomorrow to share.