As far as hiring is concerned, so far I've had some luck with the people I get to harvest my crops, trees, and flowers. I've had a number that just leave without leaving a thank-you note even if I was hired to do some work on another farm, or don't even say "your welcome" or "no problem" or whatever even when I thank them. But, I've also had a number that were kind enough to say "thanks" for being hired. And I appreciate that, and even say as much to them.
As far as the plowing is concerned, I've been pretty lucky (knock on wood) that I haven't had anybody get snarky with me if I don't hire them to plow. There's a reason that I don't want them to plow, and its either a) because I need to clear some fields to make some necessary improvements to where all my capital and assets are going to be, or b) because I would rather do it myself. If they have a problem with me not hiring to plow fields, well that's just too bad: it's their problem, not mine. Just ignore them (and I don't mean by pressing the ignore button on them) if they start getting their panties in a knot, and they'll eventually give up and leave.
I've had one guy who I hired that came too late to harvest anything, and to say the least he was a bit disappointed. But I didn't say anything back, there was no need since everything was done already. I didn't get rude with him and tell him that he had to leave because everything was all done, I just patiently and quietly went about my business on my farm until he finally got the point and left.
There's no reason why someone should be so crabby because they never get to plow someone's fields. All it takes is just a touch of courtesy and etiquette to politely ASK if plowing needs to be done. If someone doesn't hire me to plow and they're on the same field with me, all I do is just ask "Can I plow for you too?" And if I get hired, great! If I don't, either by a simple "No," "No thanks" or no response after a minute or two, then I just tip my hat and take my leave and say thanks for the hire anyway. This goes for the same thing if trees need to be harvested or chopped and flowers need to be harvested. If they don't want me to harvest/chop trees and flowers, that's just fine. I've done my job there, thanks for the hire, and move on to something else.
As far as the activity of being hired, I find that the less you say the more likely you'll get hired.
I put anybody who starts screaming that they want to be hired on my ignore list and that includes anybody who starts creating these unnecessary messages that are long and irritating (like "HIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" repeatedly over and over again) or anything similar, they go on my ignore list. I've had to block another user that looked like he had ants in his pants he was moving around so much! Yeah, you can move around a lot, but not so much that you can't even sit still long enough for an employer to click on him to even hire him! If you're going to be acting like that, you might as well be playing PacMan than getting hired on FarmTown.
I like solo (and yes I know about the act of sharing too, don't worry about that, for those of you who despise players who like to do solo work) for the reason that I don't have to be literally fighting and competing with users that are faster clickers than me or have "All Tools." I agree that a lot of users need to back to elementary school to learn about sharing. Every time I get hired on with a bunch of other people I get this sense that it's a game of who-gets-to-harvest/plow/chop-the-fastest-and-the-most. It's really annoying, especially when someone who is arrogant enough to not leave the little patch of crop or harvested field for me to finish up and "helps" you finish it. Help my ***!! (I admit, though, that I've been bad for doing that to other people too, on occasion, and that is something that I've been working on. Usually I'm good about leaving a patch for someone else to clean up while I work on it) Sometimes I've also had someone work on the same piece that I'm on even though there's a whole farm to work on. If they're going to be like that, I just either move to a different part, or if they're being consistently rude, then I just leave to wait for another hire.
But the main reason, as I mentioned above, that I prefer solo work is that I don't have to worry about whether the other person or people being hired are going to start playing a competition game with me. I have several farms to work on, and I'll stay there until the job is done, and literally work at my own pace without having to break the Guinness World Record for number of mouse-clicks per second. My finger gets a little sore after a while because I don't have all the tools yet, but at least it's a little extra money in the bank and some extra stuff to sell on the market, and I'm satisfied that it's one more farm that has a job done.
I've also been hired to something that's already been done. Part of the time it's my fault because I was either away from the computer or working on something else on a different page and didn't see the hire request come up. I have to accept the request anyway because who knows what work is left on the farm for me? If there's no work to be done, I just leave, sometimes saying thanks for the hire, but everything looks to be done already. Other times it's the fault of the employer because they hired too many people at one time to harvest one field, or harvest one that had the 5x5 combine tool. I've had a couple of experiences where one "farmer" (more of a swindler than a farmer) hired a dozen people only to find that the field or whatever was done already. A few weeks ago I and a number of others were hired to a farm where there was a message written in the field that said "SUCKERS!" How in the heck can someone be so benevolent?? Sure it's a joke to them, but you wonder how they would feel if someone did that to them? I'll bet your boots that they wouldn't appreciate it any either!
I know I could go on forever (and beat a dead horse in the process, as I'm sure this has been discussed over and over again on here), but I think that pretty much covers my say on the hiring and being-hired process of Farm Town. But don't get me wrong: this is actually my favoritest (if that's a word) farm/agriculture-related game on Facebook. I've played on a bunch of others, and none of those games can hold a candle to what FarmTown has to offer.
