Drinking Tea

CopperBeech · May 6, 2019

What’s with people?

Any contractors here generally get a bacon sandwich at lunch and drinks, snacks, beers at the end etc.

scottish-lleyn · May 6, 2019

I dont know if its a more recent thing( treating contractors like dirt/slaves.) But my dad always tells me when he was shearing back in the day they got in the house for a nice big lunch at every farm they went to as people appreciated them. Now going around shearing your lucky if you get offered a cup of tea and god forbid you ask to fill your waterbottle. Now i dont expect to get a massive feed everywhere the boys go. Tbh i would rather get on but what im trying to put across is this im better that you mentality that some farmers seem to have towards contractor be them silagers or shearers or fencers. Your not losing time or money offering the lads a few cuppas and a roll or biccy a few times a day.

primmiemoo · May 6, 2019

When I see the silage contractors, I always offer them refreshments, but they're so quick about the acres harvested here that they're often gone by the time I'm back from the off-farm job, leaving the bales to be drayed with farm equipment.

More often than not, when offered drinkings or snap, they're either well stocked with their own, or are working near enough to home to go back to a meal part way through the day.

Coximus · May 6, 2019

Politeness and tea costs nothing, Ive always got a gas stove in my truck as I like my tea and coffee and get caught short with sheep all over the place....
Everyone gets offered a tea, With mobiles theirs no excuse not to offer at least! I wont make unless they say so but always offer....
Any job taking a most of a day gets offered some grub, depends on where - near home Ill get something decent in - if not cheese / bacon sarnies and if its mid summer a pack of decent beers goes down well... Some big contracting outfits the staff change everyyear and I now dont use them as theyre always under pressure to finish and go, all that finance on big equiptment!! - Local old boy for baling - get the gossip, news of which old boy is cutting sheep numbers cos hes 80 and theirs tack going.... make sure he gets his doorstop cheese sandwich, black tea with 3 sugars and he has a soft spot for fudge (his mum used to make home made fudge for the village shop 50y ago) - always a neat tidy job, always stacked nice and always makes time for me - even if it means working till 10pm sometimes, He refuses tips or rounding up to the nearest 10.... no wonder some folk have used him for 45 years.... he wont travel far and denies he does any contracting too.... best one ive found!
Find people who appreciate being treated well and they will treat you well. If they say no, so be it, but still offer and be polite...

And a big big one--- pay on time and if you cant, be honest, ive made that mistake! just be honest and make sure something gets over soon.

Pond digger · May 6, 2019

Providing refreshments is certainly the traditional thing to do, but I just wonder, if there's no woman (sorry, don't mean to be sexist) in the house.........Things being what they are, farm wives could well be out working off farm. Perhaps some older farming men just aren't good at catering? We always provided afternoon drinks and a bite for staff, but have to admit, I always found it a bit of a pain in the proverbial if I had to do it myself.

ARW · May 6, 2019

I suppose when one of the biggest problems is getting paid been offered a cuppa is never going to happen

ollie989898 · May 6, 2019

I remember a case in my previous life where a feed wagon got stuck in the snow/ice trying to reach a customers farm. It was at the bottom of a slope not 300 yards from the customers yard.

Customer could see him stuck down in there and still did nothing.

As I've said before: 99% of folk are decent people, the rest are out to cause as much misery for the human race as possible.

Explain to me why you wouldn't help a wagon driver who was trying to deliver your cake to your farm?

andrew830 · May 6, 2019

I always go to the chip shop for the contractors doing silage here,It costs me 40p per acre on average to feed them and its worth every penny.

FIL46 · May 7, 2019

Just sounds like a miserable old sod

kiwi pom · May 7, 2019

Used to get tea at a lot of farms years ago but times change and farms often don't have the time or people to be making food/brews for people.
Shouldn't be beyond the abilities of the contractor to supply a brew or food in the evening if staff are working 12+ hours though.

ollie989898 · May 7, 2019

I've had cups of tea or coffee and even biscuits or even lunch from farms and I wasn't even their agronomist!

Gulli · May 7, 2019

One old boy we picked up for always used to buy fish and chips if we were there on a Friday evening, obviously every time we went to his place it was a Friday afternoon.
Probably just a coincidence though...
That's stopped since he retired most people don't around here but then we'd quite often not see anyone on a lot of farms. Some places offer, some places bring out tea and cakes and you wish they hadn't, some places you can't get a glass of water. Never really bothered me much apart from one of the few places we used to sheet down for and the woman who owned it would point blank refuse us a glass of water or say thanks. That used to annoy me a bit...

ollie989898 · May 7, 2019

Gulli said:
One old boy we picked up for always used to buy fish and chips if we were there on a Friday evening, obviously every time we went to his place it was a Friday afternoon.
Probably just a coincidence though...
That's stopped since he retired most people don't around here but then we'd quite often not see anyone on a lot of farms. Some places offer, some places bring out tea and cakes and you wish they hadn't, some places you can't get a glass of water. Never really bothered me much apart from one of the few places we used to sheet down for and the woman who owned it would point blank refuse us a glass of water or say thanks. That used to annoy me a bit...

Somerset can be a very peculiar place; I've met some peculiar folk about on my travels, that is for sure. I'm sure at least some of them behave in an odd way because they can't handle human interaction in any way. Strangers turn up on their farm and they near have a stroke trying to deal with it mentally. Very sad i reality.

s line · May 7, 2019

We did some silaging on Easter Sunday 2 weeks ago.Sun was shining we did 100 acres.Had the clamp sheeted up by 7pm.
Barbecue for the rest of the evening.

Northdowns Martin · May 7, 2019

My Grandma brought tea and sandwiches out at harvest and drilling time for everyone working. When Grandfather stop working he took over, now my father is tea boy. We cut for another farm and my father supplies their staff with tea sandwiches and cake when we're there, they never offered us a thing in fact when we stop they say 'go on then we'll have one as you're stopping'

tinto · May 7, 2019

Tricky question, when our parents were alive everybody got fed in the house at half six when we were chopping.
Now it's only my brother and me 20 minutes apart, we never get finished in the parlour till half seven and the squad are usually home by that time, if they're still working we will go and get fish suppers but this only happens once or twice a year out of 3 cuts on 2 farms.
Maybe we are bad customers in the contractors eyes I don't know but it's down to circumstances rather than us being reluctant to offer them tea.
The contractor usually comes by a day or two after each cut and gets a cheque and a cup of tea which I'm sure he appreciates more.

exmoor dave · May 7, 2019

ollie989898 said:
Somerset can be a very peculiar place; I've met some peculiar folk about on my travels, that is for sure. I'm sure at least some of them behave in an odd way because they can't handle human interaction in any way. Strangers turn up on their farm and they near have a stroke trying to deal with it mentally. Very sad i reality.

Ollie..... you shouldn't talk about the somerset levels like that

Gulli · May 7, 2019

exmoor dave said:
Ollie..... you shouldn't talk about the somerset levels like that

We are much more normal up in these ere hills.

To be fair I've always been given more food by the levels dwellers than around home, some people do some people don't. I've rarely worried because I'm hardly ever short of food in my packed lunch suitcase

multi power · May 7, 2019

I have not properly read this thread, I can't really be bothered, all I can say is I'm a grumpy miserable sod but I'd never ever think of not feeding the drivers, yes I totally understand that on many farms there maybe nobody home during the day to cook, but in that case there is plenty of chip shops, or at the very least tea and snacks, even if it is only biscuits and crisps
To offer nothing, especially if they sheet the pit is extremely rude

ollie989898 · May 7, 2019

exmoor dave said:
Ollie..... you shouldn't talk about the somerset levels like that

The majority were perfectly normal for the area. Let's leave it at that.

At least the levellers get to sample a wider gene pool every so often when it floods and some flotsam is washed on down to them. Them folks in the Mendips though: I can tell you, living in North Devon left me well prepared for travelling in those parts. Couldn't drive nowhere without finding big rocks left in the middle of the roads- people trying to hijack your truck hoping you had a dog in the back they could eat. I always kept a Greggs sausage roll in my door pocket- throw that out and it would keep em busy till you escaped.

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