The life of Tree lopping and Garden bag pick ups

Well I’ve been working for a month already and it’s been bitter sweet. First the bitter part, my boss, a guy named Mal (short for Malcolm) is difficult to work with at the best of times. Mal is the type of boss that lets me make the mistake before he tells me what I’m doing wrong, if I’m lucky. Other times he’ll just yell at me and say “what are you doing that for?” He has no problem raising his voice in order to make a point, but in his defense the job can be very dangerous. What also makes this job tough is how physically demanding it is. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but trees are freakin heavy. It’s a great full body work out so there is no need to get a gym membership here to stay in shape. Now the sweet part, I make $20 an hour cash and work 35-40 hours a week. It’s also a great way to meet real Australians and in their backyards too. So what exactly does a tree lopper do? First of all Mal is the actual tree lopper and is the one responsible for taking the actual tree down. He climbs the tree using foot spikes and wears a harness that ropes himself around the tree so he can cut branches off with the chainsaw. The reason why the job is so dangerous is because obviously these branches and frongs for palm trees are falling to the ground in varying weights so he has to be aware of where I am at all times. He also has to cut the branches in a way that reduces damage whether to the actual home or to the ground which may have patio stones underneath it, landscaping, bird baths, flower pots etc. So what am I doing while Mal is busy in the tree trimming it up? I’m basically the lackey who is cleaning up the ground from the falling branches. I then feed the branches in a wood chipper and then do it over and over and over again. Even though it might sound monotonous, you have to be so switched on and aware of what’s going on around you at all times that there is always something that can be done. While I’m clearing, Mal could be yelling at me over the noise of the chainsaw to get him new equipment, whether a pole saw, the ladder, a rope used to safely pull areas of the tree down or just to tell me I’m doing something wrong, which happens a lot! Like the title suggests Mal’s other part of the company is picking up full garden bags that are provided for a customer to fill with whatever they want. Basically the customer is provided with a garden bag which is roughly a square meter in size that sits on a frame that they leave in their yard or place of business. The bags can and will have anything and everything in them as long as there is no dirt, rocks, bricks or alcohol in them. 90% of the bags are just full of lawn clippings, tree prunings and other garden rubbish. We simply drive around and pick them up and replace them every two weeks. This is the part of the job that I like! It’s also great because I get to meet lots of people and see areas of Perth I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to see otherwise. Even though he is a hard ass, I learn a lot and come home filthy dirty and tired.