Monday, 13 June 2021
Port of Ilwaco
Weeding the boatyard and the Powell gallery gardens at the port had been today’s work plan. Instead, we went to the boatyard to take down our please leave the flowers signs, which we made and can maybe use elsewhere. I made this garden as a volunteer in the mid 1990s. It became a paid job in the mid 2000s after having been torn out for a construction project. The port had missed it and hired us sometime around 2006 to replace it.
I asked Allan to take photos walking from north to south. It’s pretty weedy, and isn’t getting the weeding session that it deserved. Nor will the gardens at the port, not by us. However, Time Enough Books has already hired us to care for their curbside garden. Owner Karla had hired us to do it years ago, before the port hired us to do them all, and she has asked us to return to that arrangement.
Goodbye, boatyard. You can walk along with Allan in this slideshow.
So you might wonder exactly why we are walking away.
We had had a situation that came to light on Saturday when I opened the envelope with my check from the port. I found a corrected invoice where I had made a mistake on the hours, forgetting to double them for two people. So one line read $200 4 hours. Ooooops! The bill had been pencil corrected by the finance person, the $200 changed to $100, and $100 plus tax shaved off the check. I emailed the finance person saying you can always count on the dollar amount to be correct, sorry I made a stupid mistake on arithmetic re the hours, forgetting to double the, for two people, please send the $100, next time please call or email me if there is an error, and then I sent a corrected invoice. This morning I got this reply, with my name misspelled.
“Skylar,
From an auditing perspective, your invoice was inaccurate and incomplete and I was not obligated to pay it at all until it was corrected. You have made errors in the past, which I have corrected without comment.
In the future, please double check and verify your invoicing because I will not issue payment until it is accurate.”
I read it to Allan and said, “Should we quit?” We had already been considering it because of the money having been deducted from our check without notice. He said, “Yes. We don’t need this.”
So we resigned from the job immediately via email to the new port manager, forwarding to him the email thread re the invoice. I later that day got a phone message from him saying he’d look into it, sorry we were resigning immediately but “It is what it is.” His closing words. Yes. It sure as heck is exactly what it is.
I have worked as a gardener on the Long Beach Peninsula since 1994, including for many resorts with good accountants, and have never had anything like this happen before. The thing is, we do not need to work…but we do work for money as well as for love.
The accountant’s notice was the tipping point straw upon the backs of hard-working and over-worked gardeners. On the bright side, it will give you more opportunity for other pursuits, be they your own garden, or simply rest and leisure activities.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The proverbial straw.
LikeLike
Yes, you do not need that. You and Allan have taken wonderful care of those beautiful gardens. You deserve better.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I will be sad to see these beautiful garden spaces you created waste away 😦 so can’t imagine how hard it will be for you to witness 😦
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you. Not easy. I could avoid going there (even though it’s a block south of me!) but…I’ll be doing Time Enough Books garden I’ll witness it closely.
LikeLike
I agree with Teri Griffin. The difficulty will be the abandonment of such an important project, regardless of how much more rewarding (appreciated) work is out there. I know that this particular project was rewarding, but I also know that a lack of appreciation is degrading. Heck, appreciation is why I am still at my ‘part time’ and ‘temporary’ job, which I was supposed to leave a long time ago for something ‘better’.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Appreciation is why we took Long Beach job back. They flatter us, praise us, and stroke our egos. It works. 😹
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t understand people like that accountant. So you made a mistake–big deal. (S)he could have handled it so much more graciously. Put your time into something where you and Allan are appreciated, not criticized.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m still feeling really shocked.
LikeLike
Allan’s walk through showed how much work was involved in that job. They will miss you two.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Mr T!
LikeLiked by 1 person