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When I was 15 I worked for a farmer to pick up cucumbers. We would arrive in the field at 7hre with our pillow. To pick up cucumbers everybody lies on a platform pulled by a tractor... about 15-20 kids aligned. You need a pillow under your chest because the position is very uncomfortable. Cucumbers have spines so you have to wear plastic gloves. In the morning there is water on the leaves and it gets inside the gloves. Our arms would become all red, a kind of allergic reaction.
They would ask us to come even when it rained. The tractor would get stuck in the mud and we would have to push it. We were entirely covered with mud, soaking wet and freezing. Or once, there was an electric storm.... still, the boss wanted us to stay there. Once, we saw a tornado starting to go down, at the end of the field...
The conditions were hard, but the worst was the heat. We were roasting on the platform. The manager had to splash us with buckets of water. Of course, he was watching us. He was walking behind the platform and when he would see pickles in your lane he could threaten you to lower your salary, or fire you. We had one day off a week, one half an hour off for lunch, and a 5 minutes break every hour to piss.
It was from 7hre to 4hres, for a month. It was far from the city, it woudl take 30 minutes to get there. We were paid 4$/hour. And they were taking 4 buck off our pay check every week, to make us pay for our pair of gloves, even if we brought it from home. Most people I know quit after a few days. I stayed there the whole month.
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