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If you ask any of the Munros about their staff over the years, you will hear some “colourful” stories. Alison has said she could write a book about all the crazy stories they’ve had, and that people often can’t believe the things that have happened over the years.
One memorable story was of a landscaper who decided to leave Kiwi after getting a scratch on his leg – he was concerned about getting any scars that could negatively impacting his exotic dancing career. He decided that labour work wasn’t the right fit for him.
Getting small scratches on a leg may be a typical part of working in landscaping, but the unique conditions of a tree farm can introduce other, less typical hazards. Namely: tree holes. With varying sizes of tree spades, you may find holes around the nursery up to 6 feet deep and wide which, if you were wondering, happen to be large enough to drive a vehicle into. One member of the landscaping crew unfortunately discovered this fact while driving a Kiwi truck out of the Nursery, when she wound up with one tire in the hole and the other three spinning in the air. Those holes can also be hazardous when walking, as Kathryn learned in the early days of having retail clients in the fields, when they were walking along and all of a sudden Kat’s client disappeared – down a hole! If you’ve been in the field, you’ll have heard staff instruct about hole safety and may have noticed “OPEN HOLE” signs around the property.
As the Nursery became open for retail, Kiwi started hiring sales staff to remain onsite helping clients, but quickly learned that staff that do not have a supervisor can easily take advantage of the situation. They have stories of finding staff napping in amongst the trees, going for joyrides in the side-by-sides and getting stuck on piles of dirt, coming to work in a bikini, or giving away freebies to clients because “they were nice”.
Although they have countless interesting and often surprising stories, they have the same number of stories of dedicated, loyal employees who gave their time, skills and experience to Kiwi through times of stability, growth and transition to help make it the company it is today.
