i think that as with lots of other employment you have to keep up with current trends and college can help with that but....lots of people do have a certain gift for floristry and produce some fab designs without the need to go to college,myself i prefer to have some kind of certificate behind me just to prove my worth.i wouldnt want to go to say a doctor or chiropractor or acountant with out any qualifications (maybe slightly different than a florist but ya get my drift)
anyway.... as with every proffesion there are good and bad in all,its just that the bad make us who are good look like we are all bad
the worst of all are the flower arrangers who firmly believe that they are more than capable of doing a florists job and love to tell you all about it.
as for bucket washing etc i have always had a rule that everyone does everything be it bog cleaning,making tea or anything that needs to be done. in the shop wgere i work we all wash t cups,buckets etc but only the trained make up orders,but if your crap you dont get to do it again until youve had in shop training as to how things are expected to be done and we certainly would not send anything out that looks crap