Discussions about Hiring and Hiring Practices

[medixgrad]

Originally Posted by Hessel

I posted this on another thread, but I think this would be a good idea and wanted to share it with others. It seems lately there are more and more players who bail out of a job before it is done, leaving crops and or plowing not finished. Some just leave a few squares, other players leave a LOT. Some bail out before they even start if they dont like what you have to pick.

I think it would be great to add a pop up item to rate the employee after the employee leaves. Having a numerical rating beside the players ID would be good for players who go to the marketplace to hire someone. This way you would know what your getting, and when hiring a lower rated hire, you could hire an extra worker to make sure the job is done correctly. Also, this would discourage those players who tend to accept a job and then bail out early.

Some peeps post that they want to work alone. I dont mind hiring someone who does good work and wait for them to finish. All to often these days though players bail out on you.

I have that problem alot too, people "bailing out" on me and leaving my farm half harvested or half plowed. Some of those people are probably lazy or not interested in harvesting a low paying crop but some have reason for leaving in a hurry. I had an emergency Thursday while harvesting for someone. I had to drop everything and take my husband to the hospital because he fell and broke his hand. That's why I don't think a rating system is a good idea because someone might have a legitimate reason for walking off the job.

[RN2GO]

I don't think a rating system would be very fair. I "bailed" on a good job the other day because my internet connection went down. Even if I had an easy way back it took me about half an hour to repair my connection.

I do leave jobs that are overstaffed. I usually say something about the overstaffing, but not always. I play on several computers, but even the fastest slows to a crawl with too many workers (or too many animals). I'll work my clicking finger off on a difficult job - I get every tree (if hired to do trees), every field, but I won't crawl along on a farm overloaded with workers for a few coins or XPs.

[MaryLouW]

It really ticks me when people are rude when harvesting or plowing and one person keeps jumping in front of others to grab what they can. When I am working on someone's farm and a rude person does that to me, I make sure they know I felt it was rude, I also note their name, and I make darn sure I never hire that person.

A lot of people plant their farm in little squares. If someone is working in that square, the other workers should just back off and let that person finish the square. Everyone isn't a speed demon and it's unfair for those that are to jump in that square and grab the half a dozen squares that are left.

There.. now I've got that off my chest, I think I'll go find a plowing job!!

[lano]

Originally Posted by Ms Soliloquy

I've been FarmTowning it for a year now and pretty much seen it all.

I hire exactly how I myself like to be hired which is:

One person on each farm to harvest with an offer of ploughing after. I ask if they want the work for themselves or need help. 100% of the time they're happy to work on their own (I can relate to that).

I plant crops that I myself enjoy harvesting, in other words high yield crops such as pineapples, cotton, peppers etc.

If I want to level up, I plant raspberries and harvest myself then offer the ploughing at the MP to people with good manners standing around the edges keeping themselves to themselves. The only 'test' I'm interested in, is whether people have good manners or not.

With regards to silly little games people play - Example: Was hired yesterday with 4 others to harvest 3 trees then got told to stop standing there and hop to it LOL - Seriously, I left laughing. Some people are too sad and pathetic to get mad at, they really are.

From an employee point of view. I'll happily do any work that I'm hired to do be it trees, grapes, ploughing etc etc. I actually like the element of surprise especially when it's a big field of pineapples - Aren't they the best?

I would NEVER stand in the MP and state 'solo plough only' or 'don't do trees' or 'only harvest pineapples' - I'm sure progression in the game with that attitude is slowwwww.

Best way to get hired is to clearly state that you're available for work once every 2 or 3 minutes.

As far as glitches go, I've been booted by the server that many times I've lost count and then felt really guilty that the hirer may have thought I just left without saying thank you - But what can you do when it's not your fault? When my farm is half harvested/ploughed I just think it's a shame they lost the work because of the server.

I've also left farms where other employees are being down right rude by moving in on a patch that I'm clearly methodically working - There's no need for it.

Got in a squabble only once with a lady who ploughed a divide line down the ahem "middle" of a field. I counted the rows, the ratio was 18:13 in her favour. I knew she'd laid out a boundry that I WASN'T to cross so when my 13 rows were ploughed I crossed it to see if she'd say something. Sure enough, she soon started to complain so I just ignored her, ploughed two more rows, said thank you to the nice farmer and left...

I've learnt that you have to take this game with a very big pinch of salt. If people behave in a way that you don't like, either walk away or put them on ignore. Simples.

Very sound indeed!

However, as far as Raspberries go, most of the good folk on my buddy list are more than willing to harvest them for me. I send them a msg stating I only have raspberries and ask if they are keen - almost all of the time they are at my farm in a flash. When I do plant raspberries, you can guarantee I have planted all three of my farms full and ask my kind helper if they want all three to themselves (to hopefully make it worth their while) - again, almost all the time they are keen to do so. If they are not keen, for whatever reason, I do not hold it against them and let them know that. If they are a little slow, I have no gripe either; the way I see it, they are doing ME the favour!

These good folk I talk of BTW, are always first on my list when I have a higher yielding crop.

If none of my buddies are online, then I look for folk at the MP to hire. I state clearly that I have Raspberries and ask if anyone is willing. The first person to show that they have read my request (use my name, say they dont mind Raspberries, are polite, etc) gets the job. In fact, this is how I make half my buddies in the first place - keen, polite folk who are more than happy to help regardless of the yield. Generally I am not concerned about a workers speed or their level or even whether they chat or not (if they want to chat, I'll chat, if not, I leave them to it). If they get in and get the job done without any fuss and are polite, most of the time I will add them to my buddy list so I can offer them a higher yielding crop when I have one.

That all being said, unfortunately as of late, the MP has been *very* buggy for me and approx. 90% of the time I am not seeing most of the people there or their names in my chat box, so I will look for those who stand there flooding the chat box with their begging (only the full on beggers though - i.e. those who relentlessly flood the chat box and/or use foul language and insults) and hire 3 or 4 of them at a time. If they are that desperate to work, they really shouldn't mind sharing even the smallest of yield, should they....?

[MaryLouW]

I've been playing FT for about 2 months now and find it to be highly addictive! I love to harvest and plow and I find the very best times to get hired are the wee hours of the morning (Pacific time) - like between 3-5am. I haven't had a single problem getting hired. I've reached level 80 and have my third farm and a ton of money and it took a whole lot of jobs to get it all.

If someone is obviously working in a given area, I dont' go near them.. let them finish what they started. But, I too have noticed that as of late, people tend to leave 5-8 unplowed plots or a group unharvested crops or trees. I end up doing them myself. They don't check before they leave to make sure it's done.

One farm I plowed, I no more than got there when he wanted to put me in his buddy list. He said if I should get booted out, I could get back to him via the buddy list and be rehired. I thought that was a rather nice idea.

I would really like to see the levels of people before I hire. I'd like to give some of the newer ones the same opportunities that some people gave me but it seems that everyone I hire is 76-80. I don't care if they're fast or slow as long as they are not rude. One lady told me to get the he-double L out of there and that she was going to do the whole job by herself. Well... it sort of hit me the wrong way and I reminded her that I too was hired and that I intended to stay. Will have to say, she later apologized and said she was having a bad hair day.

I've some people plow faster than I can blink my eyes. How do they do that? Is there a special gaming joy stick or mouse? I can't imagine any mouse holding up very long under someone clicking that fast.

Bottom line, it's a fun game but harder than heck to get neighbors so you can get gifts and such.

[Cozie]

When I have a huge crop of pineapples ready, I like to go to the marketplace and ask "who would like to harvest a huge field of rasberries all to him/herself?" And whoever says yes, I hire that farmer, and then he or she gets a pleasant surprise when they get to my farm.

[krbrown2000]

I think you've hired me before, LOL! At least that has happened to me before.

Originally Posted by Cozie

When I have a huge crop of pineapples ready, I like to go to the marketplace and ask "who would like to harvest a huge field of rasberries all to him/herself?" And whoever says yes, I hire that farmer, and then he or she gets a pleasant surprise when they get to my farm.

[deelberger]

I think my biggest peeve is how rude ppl are in the marketplace who are looking for work...they'll jump right in front of you and type the word please with 100 letters in it...I find that just finding a spot a bit away from the crowd and waiting patiently gets me hired 99% of the time. And, when hired, I will do whatever the person who hired me needs done, no more, no less and most importantly, NO WHINING! I'm just grateful to get hired...period. I don't ask if they want me to harvest trees, because my thought is if they did, they would have asked me to. I also will finish the job I start. I've had a few ppl that I hired leave in the middle of harvesting. My farm is pretty straightforward, with few buildings or other items. I'm pretty low level so far and am using most of my space for crops so it's very easy to harvest/plow my farm. I don't have a lot of barriers to get around, etc. We really do need to get back to basic ettiquette though...if you don't like something, that's fine, it's your opinion, but don't blast me, b/c I have just as much right to mine and to do what I feel like doing where MY farm is concerned...period. Thanks for listening...I appreciate it!

Deanna

[deelberger]

Originally Posted by Hessel

I posted this on another thread, but I think this would be a good idea and wanted to share it with others. It seems lately there are more and more players who bail out of a job before it is done, leaving crops and or plowing not finished. Some just leave a few squares, other players leave a LOT. Some bail out before they even start if they dont like what you have to pick.

I think it would be great to add a pop up item to rate the employee after the employee leaves. Having a numerical rating beside the players ID would be good for players who go to the marketplace to hire someone. This way you would know what your getting, and when hiring a lower rated hire, you could hire an extra worker to make sure the job is done correctly. Also, this would discourage those players who tend to accept a job and then bail out early.

Some peeps post that they want to work alone. I dont mind hiring someone who does good work and wait for them to finish. All to often these days though players bail out on you.

I don't think it would be a good idea b/c I my get a lower rating for a few reasons...

1. I don't do a lot of jobs b/c I am currently working on a project that takes me away from the games and

2. I've lost my connection and was unable to get back in very quickly, or there's a glitch within FT itself and it tells my my game is out of sync, etc.

3. I had a bit of an emergency a few nights ago when I was working a farm...I was close to finishing but I had to get up quickly for about 10 mins. When I came back, the work was done and I felt awful about not finishing.

Do some ppl just leave b/c they're rude? Of course, but not all of us are and I wouldn't want anyone who wasn't being rude to be penalized.

Thanks for listening!

Deanna
Level 33

[MaryLouW]

I would like the market place to have a few more options. If you go there looking for people to work, It would be nice if you could go in as invisible in that your avatar wouldn't show.

The reason for this is, I can't count how many times I have tried to hire someone only to get the "No Thanks" message. If the only avatars you saw there were ones who came looking for work, it would be so much nicer. You'd KNOW they were there to work and not to hire.

One problem I have is, when hiring, you cannot see the names of people because they are hidden behind someone. If they can create objects that didn't overlap, such as the river parts, they could surely make avatars that didn't overlap. One night, there was a very rude person who jumped from one person to the next so he/she would cover over the other person. Very annoying.

And one more thing that annoys me. Someone asks if you want to plow for them.. you attempt to reply to the popup, but in the meantime 2-3 other people have attempted to hire you too and you lose out on the job you really wanted. They overlay one another before you have a chance to respond.

I think that's all my gripes... for now!