Actually, my husband and I did the sugar beet harvest in Sydney, MT in 2014. Express Employment rented the fairgrounds in Sydney for our RVs. We shared an electrical pedestal with one other RV, but for water we had to use a Y connector on a long hose that all the RVs in 2 aisles shared. This meant that we could only fill our water tank off it and hope that no one else was trying to fill theirs at the same time. A truck came around twice a week and sucked out our gray water and black water tanks. We didn't have to be there when they did it. For Workampers who had dogs, the park host would go to each camper and take the dog(s) there for a walk once or twice a day.
To say that you'd be working in Sydney doesn't indicate exactly where you'd be working. There are 3 sites within driving distance of Sydney. Ours was about 20 miles away.
There are 3 positions that they hire for, but some people get 1 of 2 other jobs if they are very lucky. Generally they only hire men for operating the piler or the skid steer. Women are relegated to the task of being a tare helper. My husband was originally hired to be a piler operator (even though he'd asked to be a skid steer operator) and I was a tare helper.
At our location in the Sydney area, one of the managers was an efficiency expert. My husband was doing fine on the piler until the efficiency expert started working with him. He got the piler working at double speed. Not only was it difficult for my husband to keep track of everything at that speed, but it was also very stressful for him. For those of us tare helpers it was extremely confusing because we had difficulty figuring out which of 2 trucks was unloading if we had to take a sample from one load. Within a week and a half I was so exhausted I couldn't walk straight and they let me go. My husband was so stressed he left at the end of the same day. They moved us down to Glendive, MT (Fairview) where the pace was a little more manageable, but they also demoted my husband to tare helper there.
I don't know why they give women the job of tare helper. It's heavy work and you get mud and grease dropped on you all day. The most dangerous thing is the sugar beets that fall off the belt and hit you. Sugar beets can weigh up to 10-15 lbs each and even with a helmet, if you get hit on the head it can bring tears to your eyes. The beets can leave bruises wherever they hit your body.
The pilers were bought in the 1920s or 1930s and things are constantly breaking on them. In Glendive my husband and I were both taking tare samples on one side of the piler. A truck had just pulled up all the way to the 20 foot beet pile to have its dirt returned to it when the boom on the piler broke and fell and dropped all the beets that were on it. My husband and I were trapped there because of the truck behind us and things were dropping and popping all around us. Fortunately we weren't hurt but it was very unnerving to say the least.
There are days when you can't work because the weather isn't conducive and you only get paid for 4 hours. Then there are times when you work every day for 12 hours plus drive time to and from work. For breaks you are required to sit in your car. You can't leave without permission and there are no break rooms to go to. You need to have towels on your car seats and floor because you are so dirty and muddy all the time.
The ground is completely bare so when it's wet it's muddy and when it's dry it's dusty. Dust gets in your eyes. My husband and I finally bought goggles to protect our eyes, but we got dirt up our noses, in our hair, down inside our shirts, in our mouths... When they grease the machinery parts, that drops down on you too. The piler is so noisy that even with ear plugs you hear the noise incessantly.
If you make even the smallest of mistakes you get yelled at. When the efficiency expert started working with my husband on the piler, my husband thought he was going to be fired and that added to the stress of the job. If you catch something that could possibly damage the piler and tell someone about it, they either ignore you or they fix it, but there's no kudos.
We have decided that the job isn't worth it and won't be doing that to ourselves ever again.
