I've been FarmTowning it for a year now and pretty much seen it all.
I hire exactly how I myself like to be hired which is:
One person on each farm to harvest with an offer of ploughing after. I ask if they want the work for themselves or need help. 100% of the time they're happy to work on their own (I can relate to that).
I plant crops that I myself enjoy harvesting, in other words high yield crops such as pineapples, cotton, peppers etc.
If I want to level up, I plant raspberries and harvest myself then offer the ploughing at the MP to people with good manners standing around the edges keeping themselves to themselves. The only 'test' I'm interested in, is whether people have good manners or not.
With regards to silly little games people play - Example: Was hired yesterday with 4 others to harvest 3 trees then got told to stop standing there and hop to it LOL - Seriously, I left laughing. Some people are too sad and pathetic to get mad at, they really are.
From an employee point of view. I'll happily do any work that I'm hired to do be it trees, grapes, ploughing etc etc. I actually like the element of surprise especially when it's a big field of pineapples - Aren't they the best?
I would NEVER stand in the MP and state 'solo plough only' or 'don't do trees' or 'only harvest pineapples' - I'm sure progression in the game with that attitude is slowwwww.
Best way to get hired is to clearly state that you're available for work once every 2 or 3 minutes.
As far as glitches go, I've been booted by the server that many times I've lost count and then felt really guilty that the hirer may have thought I just left without saying thank you - But what can you do when it's not your fault? When my farm is half harvested/ploughed I just think it's a shame they lost the work because of the server.
I've also left farms where other employees are being down right rude by moving in on a patch that I'm clearly methodically working - There's no need for it.
Got in a squabble only once with a lady who ploughed a divide line down the ahem "middle" of a field. I counted the rows, the ratio was 18:13 in her favour. I knew she'd laid out a boundry that I WASN'T to cross so when my 13 rows were ploughed I crossed it to see if she'd say something. Sure enough, she soon started to complain so I just ignored her, ploughed two more rows, said thank you to the nice farmer and left...
I've learnt that you have to take this game with a very big pinch of salt. If people behave in a way that you don't like, either walk away or put them on ignore. Simples.