Stories from temping...
I’ve recently been doing a bit of temporary work at a couple of places - a bank call center which I quit after 2.5 weeks coz it was BULLSHIT, and a few days this week at a housing exhibition in a Hilton Hotel. I reckon I’ll be doing bits and bobs of temp work for a while while I get up and running in other parts of my life so I figured it might be good to note down some stories from my experiences.
Forget about the call center, it’s boring. Apart from one exercise we did in training to demonstrate what happens if you’re late for work and are unable to take your calls:
We all had to stand in a circle holding a cup of water. Then the trainer would point at one of us and we would hand our cup to someone else and sit down. The more people she pointed to, the more cups the remaining people had to hold until there were only two people left holding all the cups. AND THEN with a smug grin on her face the trainer pointed slowly at one of them. As they handed the cups over it soon became painfully obvious that it was impossible for the remaining person to hold all the cups.
OH HOLY SHIT I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND NOW IF I AM LATE FOR WORK IT MEANS MY COWORKERS CANNOT HOLD 10 CUPS OF WATER AT ONCE. WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST SAY THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE SO WE COULD ALL GO HOME EARLY?
I felt like I was back at secondary school at that place. I met some cool people though, who seemed to be in the same boat! One of them, Lee said that I was the “master of the subtle classroom rebellion.” Silly things like:
her- “Ok, we’re going to have a mini test tomorrow so be prepared!”
me- “THAT’S GOOD BECAUSE I KNOW A LOT ABOUT MINIS HAHAHA!”
Once I got on the phones and had a taste of what the work was actually like I quit the shit out of that place. I don’t agree with some of their practices, and plus some customers are pissed off and I don’t want to bear the brunt of that all day when it’s their fault for being stupid, or arseholes, or the bank’s fault for being a dick.
The past three mornings at the exhibition were great fun though! I was working on the registration desk handing people their name badges. It was easy, and busy so the time flew like nowt. Met some cool people there too! A couple of actresses and a TV producer in between jobs.
A couple of funny names I encountered:
1. Mrs Thorndick. When I asked her to spell it she said Tee Aych Oh Arr En fine, but kind of whispered the dee aye see kay part.
2. It was Mrs Bigstaff or something.
Anyway, I can’t remember that much funny stuff now but I think I’ll try and get an anecdote down each day when I’m at a job from now on, when the memories are fresh. I’m quite enjoying these experiences, but it feels good to know they are temporary and not my career!