Living to work is not how I want to live my life. I also acknowledge that we must earn income somehow in order to get the things we desire. Sadly money does make the world go round and it does not grow on trees. To have this outcome at my first cannabis job was a big let down for me. After being laid off from my radiologic technologist job for not healing in a “decent amount of time” I felt lost. I truly thought working in a hospital was going to be my career. This unfortunate event that occurred allowed me to open my eyes to a career in cannabis. Then I had my unfortunate event in my new cannabis career which forced me into job searching again.
Lost. Many times in my life I feel like I am wandering, lost, trying to find where I fit. Sometimes I wonder if when my cousin called me exotic I took it too far. However, I read a little post more recently about being rare. There are 8 billion people in this world. Many are similar in some ways and many stay true to themselves and to others may seem eccentric. I find myself wondering why I cannot fit in or find a place where I belong. That's the thing though, some of us just are so rare and multifaceted it is difficult to achieve this feeling.
A major role in humanity and development are relationships. We are social beings that have this innate feeling to belong. Similar to the idea mentioned in an earlier post about going to the open doors, sometimes you may come to a few closed doors before you find one that is open for you. The in between may be confusing and full of trial and error, however when you find what is meant for you it will be a relief and release, or so “they say”. Whoever they are…
After my first cannabis job, I found myself job hopping to find a good fit. That summer I worked at an outdoor cannabis cultivation facility. It was the first job that would hire me for an okay wage and it was still in my desired industry. I worked on farms from high school till I moved out to Western Massachusetts. Hard labor is a type of work I thoroughly enjoy.
I started working there in July 2021. One thing they did say was that I would need my COVID vaccine in order to work inside without a mask. I hated that there were workplaces that had rules regarding the COVID vaccine. My stance on this is highly opinionated and we will probably get more into it later. I did not want to get “the jab”. My winter ski instructing job was also adopting a similar policy. With my favorite career and my job at the time pushing this stupid shot, I got it. I remember getting my first Pfizer jab sometime in July and the other early August. Both of them I felt pretty ill after and regretted starting the process.
At this outdoor cultivation, we were tagging and planting auto flowers at first, then moved on to defoliation and pest management. There was one wicked rainy day that it was easier to get around barefoot and by the time you left your feet were pruney. There were many hot hot days in the sun covered in dirt. One of my worst sunburns in the last few years was working in those fields one day. It made my soul happy. Eventually I noticed some funky spots on my skin. Very quickly my health took a turn, per usual actually. My skin went from slightly irritated to all over welts. Health issues with the vaccine is a whole post on its own, so I digress.
Luckily, I was already in the works of locking another cannabis job. This would be full time, year round, and the same pay.
Once I left the very short interim weed farm job, I was in full hustle mode for a new store planning to open In Northampton. This is also around the same time I started to sell my jewelry at a local shop in southern Vermont. I was excited as I love budtending, but also frustrated as I was aiming for a higher position. The store owners told me with it being so new it was hard to do that, but If i showed them my true potential we would talk. I brought with me my budtender guide and all my knowledge. Personally, I believe I had a major role in helping these owners open their cannabis shop. I aided in developing the inventory system, provided education material to the other budtenders, as well as the basics such as stickering and merchandising.
The opening of the store went well and the business flourished. At some point, the owners took me out for dinner and offered me the store manager position. I was grateful and the pay still was not good enough. It was a job though and I did not want to be searching for another anytime soon. I became more involved with marketing and purchasing. Guiding my boss/owner about what products to carry and what new business to contact was part of what made me an asset. I helped bring in some really cool brands to their store. There were times that my boss did disagree with my opinion, which is ALWAYS reasonable, but I did find it funny when we would struggle selling something I advised that we did not carry. At many times, I witnessed my bosses breaking compliancy. Which to me is so unfortunate as it isn't hard to just follow the rules.
One major benefit of working at this place was on Fridays they did Shabbat dinners. I love my culture and do not celebrate it enough. Celebrating shabbat and being around jewish people is something I cherish. As time went on, we all got in a groove of setting up the store and selling great bud day after day. One of the owners was quite rough around the edges, and that is putting it lightly. I have not mentioned this, however all the partners in the business are Israeli. As someone with a massive Israeli family I love that energy and culture, nonetheless sometimes people think Israelis come off harsh. This guy just happened to be a jerk. I have never walked out of a job in my life! Leaving a shift early was never something I would do, however there was one day this man was being, excuse my french, a fucking prick, and I left for the day.
Walking back in for my next shift was one of the biggest mistakes. I stuck it out there for a while only to be horribly treated by the boss and owner to the point I walked out and never looked back. This man was a jerk, sexually harassing me by grazing my butt with his hands in passing, and could not be held accountable. The day I left he made a mistake on his own register. I did not learn about this until closing that night. My coworker brought this to the attention of one of the other owners. Due to this, the asshole boss/owner came in yelling his head off. All of this anger was directed towards me, saying things like “I own this place I can make whatever mistakes I want”... This same day he also wiggled his finger on my rump. I did not take this treatment and no one should. With this grown ass adult man yelling at me I stood my ground. I asserted myself, I raised my voice, grabbed my things and left. I received multiple demanding texts from this jerk that I MUST apologize to him, and that I MUST talk about it, and I MUST ACT PROFESIONAL! Now that is just laughable. This place broke so many laws no matter how many times I tried to get them to do things the right way. I was happy to get away.
I wish this place was not still up and running. With so many cannabis businesses in that area I do wish the ones that were horrible were shut down. Sadly, justice is almost never served.
Due to the fact I still needed income to pay rent and other bills I went into skiing almost full time! Winter 2021-22 I skied the most I have in a season in my life and despite other emotional things happening, I was happy!
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