I started my job at the nursery on Saturday, arriving early (9:40am) working from 10am to 3pm.

The owner told me to take orders from an employee who knew the ropes. I was told to concentrate on one section and she'd show me the next step. I was working for almost 30 minutes covering an area of approximately 50 feet circumference.

The owner began yelling at me in front of employees and customers screaming that I was "too damn slow"! I was so shocked that I had nothing to say.

She commenced by showing me "HOW it's done" (which was quickly pulling off the "agregious" dead stuff) and moving on to the next plant.

Still in shock, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The employee who knew the ropes just seemed to ignore everything.

As I progressed through other areas, she was following me, commenting and mumbling things to herself. Two hours later, she had me work on junipers, removing all the dead stuff. After that, it was climbing 8 foot ladders to remove dead leaves off several trees.

At this point, it began to sprinkle so she and the employees put on their jackets. I kept removing debris and working as quickly as possible. I didn't stop for my jacket or the 2 hard boiled eggs I was planning to eat for lunch.

I never took a break or lunch and worked until 2pm. She told me to work on another section and asked me to identify some very exotic looking plants. Well, I had no idea what they were, so she called me a liar!

Last week at the interview, she asked if I was familiar with plants and I said yes, explaining that I did the landscaping around our apartments and help my mother with her garden.

Her words: You don't know ANYTHING about plants and you lied to me! How can I expect to keep you if you are living a lie?

My words: I wasn't lying to you. I know quite a few plants but not those in particular.

Her words: You just THINK you know plants! You're not going to learn about them on MY time, so if you want to keep working here, you BETTER go to the LIBRARY and other nurseries to EDUCATE yourself!!!

I was so stunned that there was nothing I could say.

Two employees were shaking their heads and giving me a knowing look of sympathy.

At 3pm, she paid me cash and told me she'd call toward the end of the week to see if I could work for her.

After 5 hours straight of climbing ladders, bending and lifting, my back was pretty sore. My body was too tired to process the emotions, so I took some Aleve and went to bed.

Hubs and son knew something was very wrong and let me have my space. Next day after hearing about everything, they both said I'm not to go back and it's no wonder she can't keep anyone. Bitter old woman.