Like they always say that wich does not kill you makes you stronger!! We are ok landing on our butts not our feet, but getting back up is not so bad. Angela

Hi Laurie - I love the last photo. Even though there's a tangle of mess there...some how every thing looks to be in harmony. The leaves on the plumeria looks robust and by the look of the leaves, I'm guessing that maybe it's an Aztec Gold plumeria. Since it's been growing for awhile I'm sure that the root system is well established and it does not look like it will die if you deprive it of water. You have rain and humidity right? So this one will not die, nor will the vines and cannas and what ever else is there. And thank you for clearing things up by providing more information pertaining to this topic. At first I was really, really angry...but it turn into sadness, as I can see by responses to your post that honesty is not the best policy for everyone. I know this is an open forum and everyone's opionion is his/her own. And even if the owner says no, life will still go on and you'll continue to grow more beautiful plumerias. Okay I'll stop ranting now. Good luck Laurie. Kasie

I don't know if I'd call it unethical to work for two companies - sometimes this is referred to as moonlighting but as long as you're not required to sign something prohibiting concurrent employment in a similar industry then it's your business not theirs. I just think it's not smart to work for the two at the same time. If you're doing this strictly to help pay the mortgage then I'd just look for a full-time position or wait it out at your current position and see if you can get more hours and in the meantime get an additional part-time job doing something else in the hort industry or a different job altogether. From personal experience (in another field) more hours and salary is not necessarily a better thing especially if you have a good repoire with your current boss. She could be the sort of person that could make a good mentor (you mentioned she had higher standards then the other company) which is especially helpful if you decide down the road to go into business for yourself.

Blitzy: Are you saying that when you got less-than-quality photo prints, you just paid, said "Thank you" and went home thinking "Oh, too bad I made the decision to get my photos done there. My bad"? I expect quality work for my money--and I have rejected bad photos at the CVS--whether bad prints or when working with their PictureMaker machines. Quality stores stand behind their work. And to LindaKathy and others who raise this point about salespeople: So are we all to assume that all salespeople are like the bad stereotype of a used-car salesman? I expect them to know their business -- and their competitors'. And if he didn't--maybe he was a low-wage hourly employee--he had no business saying that, because then he just turned into someone just wanting to make the sale and not someone concerned about a customer's satisfaction. There are salespeople in this world who will tell you honestly that he/she doesn't know the answer to your problem but that he'll call the manager. This guy didn't. Alisande's salesman basically told her it was the best quality she would find ANYWHERE. That's called pressuring the customer. She relied on his "expertise" to make the purchase--don't many of us do that when we're hiring a painter or a contractor or a health-care aide, who you've gotten good references for? But she should go back to find out why the quality between the 2 shops was so different and make sure that it wasn't because her salesman didn't know how to make the proper brightness adjustments. That store wouldn't still be in business if they turn out poor copies all the time, so I have to believe this wasn't solely the fault of a worse machine. And the store owner or manager needs to know that he or she is losing business over this -- whether the owner volunteers to refund her money or not (and in my book, if I were the shop owner, I'd be PO'd that I was beaten by another shop and do whatever it takes to get another chance with a customer).