I am in a much better assignment. People leave me alone, generally. I have discovered a new tactic I haven't tried before in temping that seems to be paying off. I'm dressing more office-y. I'm finding this helps me give the perception that I care more than I do. So I can be generally lazy, but if someone comes over and I look all corporate, I MUST be doing something efficient! I am also using a more commanding, serious voice with my bosses. A voice that says "I am incredibly attentive and perky!" Inside I am just pretending I am on Mad Men.
...this could change tomorrow on my whim. I am not sure how long I can keep up the dressing up thing. It's a pain, but a fun experiment!
26 August 2009
21 August 2009
Dumped
Well, it has to happen to every temp sometime, and it is happening to me. I have been "re-assigned." No one has said anything, but I'm guessing it's because I HATE THIS CURRENT ASSIGNMENT and have done a gloriously crappy job of even being present. I am working in a promotions department that is so utterly busy and insane that I just can't keep up with it. And no one is helping me keep up with it. (Always try to avoid promotions departments wherever possible)
Here's the hard thing about being a temp: if you have a doctor's appointment or an act of God that keeps you from being at work, no one is on your side to back you up. My case this week: my flight home was cancelled so I had to miss a day of work, then got back and was very ill and needed immediate doctor's care, then had an audition the next day, then had another doctor's appt., then I had to leave early due to a pre-arranged half-day. These things HAPPEN. But when you're a temp, people do NOT appreciate it.
It is very hard to walk up to a perfect stranger you've just started working for and say, "I am in physical therapy and need to be at a doctor's appointment twice a week during lunch." You never know what you're going to get. A good majority of people will be kind and considerate and have no problem. And then you'll get an office like this, where it is a MAJOR inconvenience. But DO NOT sacrifice your health or real career (in my case acting) for these people! If you need to go to a doctor, GO TO THE FREAKIN' DOCTOR. The office is not going to burn down in your absence. The calls will be taken care of. The reports will be filed.
It is never good if you are on a job where you have to report to someone if you are leaving your desk to go to the bathroom. RED FLASHING LIGHT, fellow temps! Do what you can to get out of jobs with this kind of setup. This means that every minute is monitored. This means that you are beholden to someone else when it comes to your lunch hour so that "all the phones can be answered on the first ring!" No, no, no. This will not do. My tactic in this situation has been to just go to the damn bathroom, and if someone calls you on it, look at them with horror and say, "are you serious?" This just might change their mindset or help them see their current pathetic existences in a new light.
...or it might get you transferred out. Which, come on, as much as my pride is hurt, I am glad to be out of here. This place blows. I hate feeling like a failure but the great thing about temping is, THEY WILL FORGET, and NO ONE CARES. I already have a new assignment for Monday. OUT!
Here's the hard thing about being a temp: if you have a doctor's appointment or an act of God that keeps you from being at work, no one is on your side to back you up. My case this week: my flight home was cancelled so I had to miss a day of work, then got back and was very ill and needed immediate doctor's care, then had an audition the next day, then had another doctor's appt., then I had to leave early due to a pre-arranged half-day. These things HAPPEN. But when you're a temp, people do NOT appreciate it.
It is very hard to walk up to a perfect stranger you've just started working for and say, "I am in physical therapy and need to be at a doctor's appointment twice a week during lunch." You never know what you're going to get. A good majority of people will be kind and considerate and have no problem. And then you'll get an office like this, where it is a MAJOR inconvenience. But DO NOT sacrifice your health or real career (in my case acting) for these people! If you need to go to a doctor, GO TO THE FREAKIN' DOCTOR. The office is not going to burn down in your absence. The calls will be taken care of. The reports will be filed.
It is never good if you are on a job where you have to report to someone if you are leaving your desk to go to the bathroom. RED FLASHING LIGHT, fellow temps! Do what you can to get out of jobs with this kind of setup. This means that every minute is monitored. This means that you are beholden to someone else when it comes to your lunch hour so that "all the phones can be answered on the first ring!" No, no, no. This will not do. My tactic in this situation has been to just go to the damn bathroom, and if someone calls you on it, look at them with horror and say, "are you serious?" This just might change their mindset or help them see their current pathetic existences in a new light.
...or it might get you transferred out. Which, come on, as much as my pride is hurt, I am glad to be out of here. This place blows. I hate feeling like a failure but the great thing about temping is, THEY WILL FORGET, and NO ONE CARES. I already have a new assignment for Monday. OUT!
01 July 2009
Filled With Secrets
Well, today was a weird day. I am assisting a dude I will call Mr. Snarly. He is a world of fun (and by fun I mean not fun). When I first met him my gaydar went on full effect and I was surprised to find out he was married to a woman. He's flouncy, snarky, pays attention to labels and handbags and crap that no self-respecting straight dude would care about. I figured that he's just closeted but events today have revealed I am ever-so-wrong (or, actually even more right than I think).
Snarly is really actually quite great in that he is easy to work for, makes very little demands, realizes I am a human being and lets me go to auditions, and generally wants to be left alone. Fine with me! His wife is practically the only person who calls all day. He likes to brag about his expensive house and the expensive gifts he gives his wife. He is all about wealth and status and being terribly, terribly bored by the world. I might be mistaking gayness for wealthy ennui.
We've had a bit of an awkward time getting to know each other. His mother died the week before last, and the way he handled it was chilling. They apparently didn't have a good relationship. He knew she was in decline, and the day it happened he off-handedly told me that his mother had just passed and that it was "totally ok, I'm just glad it's over." I realize this could just be the office persona so I'm willing to give him a pass on this one. He clearly has more than one persona, which I will get to below.
This week his position changed to working under a different boss, so we have to move. We've been packing up his office and mine. He's got a lot of crap on his shelves so I've just been throwing it all into boxes (what care I to go through it? Hello, temp!). I pulled out a bunch of old binders and found behind them a stack of porn-ish naked lady trading cards.
This is just not something you want to deal with in your work situations, but these things happen. What does the good temp do? You conjure up your best Joan Holloway and get that stuff out of there immediately, and discreetly. Maybe he saw, maybe he didn't, but I quickly grabbed it and threw it into a box by his desk as if I didn't notice what it was. Fine, whatever.
Then he had left for lunch and left his personal email inbox up on the screen. We had had a conversation the previous day about Twitter, and he was asking me if I was on Twitter and what did I think of it and how silly it seems and stuff. Well, in his inbox was a Twitter "someone is following you" message. Whuh? I'm sorry but I couldn't help but look to see his screenname (for completely innocent purposes of befriending, thinking maybe he'd set up an account after our talk).
...and that's when I found Snarly's other life. A twitter handle not related to his real name, and only a few followers, the first of whom is an LA escort. His very first tweet is something to the effect of "must make time for XXXXX (the escort)." WOWZA, jackpot!! So this dude has a whole lotta other life going on. Very, very strange, and really the only things surprising about it are the following:
1) He speaks to his wife ALL DAY long, they are clearly best friends.
2) I still can't get it through my mind that he's straight.
This all just goes to show a few things: secretaries know your business, people. There's nothing that escapes us. You've been unaccountably gone for hours during the day? We know where you are. Making weird calls or emails? We know what is up. Treat us accordingly and we can either help you or destroy you. Also, WHO THE HELL is stupid enough to cheat on their wives on Twitter? That is just stupid. You WILL be found out eventually, and there's a very public record! THINK, people!
My assignment with Snarl is set to end next Friday, with the possibility of extension. I will report back.
Snarly is really actually quite great in that he is easy to work for, makes very little demands, realizes I am a human being and lets me go to auditions, and generally wants to be left alone. Fine with me! His wife is practically the only person who calls all day. He likes to brag about his expensive house and the expensive gifts he gives his wife. He is all about wealth and status and being terribly, terribly bored by the world. I might be mistaking gayness for wealthy ennui.
We've had a bit of an awkward time getting to know each other. His mother died the week before last, and the way he handled it was chilling. They apparently didn't have a good relationship. He knew she was in decline, and the day it happened he off-handedly told me that his mother had just passed and that it was "totally ok, I'm just glad it's over." I realize this could just be the office persona so I'm willing to give him a pass on this one. He clearly has more than one persona, which I will get to below.
This week his position changed to working under a different boss, so we have to move. We've been packing up his office and mine. He's got a lot of crap on his shelves so I've just been throwing it all into boxes (what care I to go through it? Hello, temp!). I pulled out a bunch of old binders and found behind them a stack of porn-ish naked lady trading cards.
This is just not something you want to deal with in your work situations, but these things happen. What does the good temp do? You conjure up your best Joan Holloway and get that stuff out of there immediately, and discreetly. Maybe he saw, maybe he didn't, but I quickly grabbed it and threw it into a box by his desk as if I didn't notice what it was. Fine, whatever.
Then he had left for lunch and left his personal email inbox up on the screen. We had had a conversation the previous day about Twitter, and he was asking me if I was on Twitter and what did I think of it and how silly it seems and stuff. Well, in his inbox was a Twitter "someone is following you" message. Whuh? I'm sorry but I couldn't help but look to see his screenname (for completely innocent purposes of befriending, thinking maybe he'd set up an account after our talk).
...and that's when I found Snarly's other life. A twitter handle not related to his real name, and only a few followers, the first of whom is an LA escort. His very first tweet is something to the effect of "must make time for XXXXX (the escort)." WOWZA, jackpot!! So this dude has a whole lotta other life going on. Very, very strange, and really the only things surprising about it are the following:
1) He speaks to his wife ALL DAY long, they are clearly best friends.
2) I still can't get it through my mind that he's straight.
This all just goes to show a few things: secretaries know your business, people. There's nothing that escapes us. You've been unaccountably gone for hours during the day? We know where you are. Making weird calls or emails? We know what is up. Treat us accordingly and we can either help you or destroy you. Also, WHO THE HELL is stupid enough to cheat on their wives on Twitter? That is just stupid. You WILL be found out eventually, and there's a very public record! THINK, people!
My assignment with Snarl is set to end next Friday, with the possibility of extension. I will report back.
03 March 2009
Back From The Undead
My (mostly) wonderful assignment of over a year and a half ended last week, so I am "back on the market," as it were, and back here ready to report on my findings in the Magical World Of Temp. I will certainly miss my long-term gig, and if for any reason I am invited back I will certainly take it. It was a good gig, where I didn't have to answer anyone's phones and people generally left me alone.
I am already on a short assignment in a new place and trying to remember how to be pleasant and phone-friendly. It's amazing, too, how quickly you forget how to operate machinery you don't care about once you've been away from it. I haven't used the phone system for admin assistant purposes for a long time and I'm a bit rusty. I already dropped a major boss's call today. Which on some level pleased me. YOU DO NOT OWN ME!
So far the current assignment is quiet and nice, or at least was until my supervisor just dropped in, looked around and saw that I was somewhat at peace, and came up with a Pointless Busywork task for me to do. I broke the cardinal rule of temping, which is Always Look Busy. Will have to correct that by taking forever to do this task, therefore keeping me from being assigned any more random stuff.
More soon, I'm sure.
I am already on a short assignment in a new place and trying to remember how to be pleasant and phone-friendly. It's amazing, too, how quickly you forget how to operate machinery you don't care about once you've been away from it. I haven't used the phone system for admin assistant purposes for a long time and I'm a bit rusty. I already dropped a major boss's call today. Which on some level pleased me. YOU DO NOT OWN ME!
So far the current assignment is quiet and nice, or at least was until my supervisor just dropped in, looked around and saw that I was somewhat at peace, and came up with a Pointless Busywork task for me to do. I broke the cardinal rule of temping, which is Always Look Busy. Will have to correct that by taking forever to do this task, therefore keeping me from being assigned any more random stuff.
More soon, I'm sure.
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