the temp

Let it never be said I don't make friends easily.

My closest friends have been made through work, through roommates, and one through standing at a bus stop.

In general, throughout my life, I have made friends, I find it easy. I have always gotten by on my sense of humour and my genuine interest in other humans and their life stories.

I collect stories like I collect dust on the treadmill, ferociously and almost constantly. People love telling their story and this is often how a friendship is struck, though camaraderie; a shared experience, or similar life occurrences - mostly revealed through story telling.

This is why it’s so hard to be a temp.

While most (this is for you mama) would insist that you can make friends anywhere, and I mean ANYWHERE (whilst waiting for a colonoscopy my mother recently met a widow she now lunches with on a regular basis), being a temp means being, at best, a temporary ‘friend’.

You don't get enough air time to make a meaningful connection with anything other than your keyboard and mouse.
By the time you finally learn the job well enough to allow for free time to chat about your weekend, or the office gossip (thereby, through unknown means ensuring you target the said gossip without becoming one yourself, very tricky), or why your boss is awesome/awful/away - your contract is up.

It’s like getting yanked from the final quarter of game show - just when the grand prize is being announced, commercial break.

In your circumstance this commercial break (and often long break between pay cheques, also super fun playing the will-the-bank/wont-the-bank collect game) is fairly permanent.

I have now temped (is this a noun? or is it not significant enough to create a name for, much like my office door never actually displaying my own moniker) at one company 3 times, for 6 months apiece. In any full time position, this year and a half time frame would provide ample opportunities to seek out a fellow lost-soul or two in the office to confide in, be merry with, and most importantly, hide out with at the company holiday party.

Because my work terms are split up between different buildings and diverse teams of individuals, I am constantly the new kid.

For those of you who've had the luxury (and believe me, as much as you may complain about your work gig, it is luxurious in this day and age to have a full time, permanent job to call home) of having permanent 'residency' at a company, perhaps it is hard to empathize. Let me help you with that (my daily mantra in all office settings, as I am constantly the lowest rung on the ladder). It is akin to that first day of high school, that first job interview, that first visit to the pap-smear doc. Nothing short of awkward, bizarre, painful and often humiliating (getting the head honcho's name wrong because everyone refers to him or her by their acronym for example). It is every bit the nightmare of showing up to school in your knickers.

And it never ends.

You are constantly making mistakes; being told So and So always did it this way when you don't know who So and So even is; and conquering learning curves so far outside your comfort zone, you might as well be learning a new language each day.

Don't get me wrong, the flexibility temp-work can provide can be stimulating. Learning to become a Jill of All Trades, getting to try out new professions before committing to anything – all good things. The downside will always be there but there are great ways to put it into perspective: Never knowing where your next pay cheque is coming from even though you work 50 hours a week and are constantly updating your resume can really keep you on your toes. Finding new and impressive ways home to avoid the collection agency hoping to get their hands on your $500 car will keep you in great shape. I will give it this - it is NEVER dull. And if it ever were, you are only at a job long enough to notice everyone else feels the same, and then your contract is up.

But the worst part, for my anyways, is the social “losing out”. I don’t get invited to coffee chats, smoke holes (alright this I am fine with, but still), gossip rings, or lunches. Its not that people don’t like me, they just rarely ‘consider’ me. It makes total sense and really, I don’t judge anyone for this. Of course there would be little reason to get to know someone who will be someone else in a few months. But I gotta tell ya, it makes those months pretty damned lonely for the temp.

Everyone has friends outside of work, naturally you won’t get along with everyone in your office, and I accept all these things and take them in stride. But there is something to be said about sharing the common experience.

Even just a few minutes of “Oh my word, can we please talk about the person leaving cookies in the break room all the time? They need to start paying for my gym membership” helps make the day more balanced, sane and shared. Few problems ever escalate when you have someone to bounce ideas off.

So why are there so many temp jobs now? The money makes more sense this way, fewer benefits to pay for (ohhh dentist, its really been a while now huh?), fewer pension plans to top up, and so on. I find it unreal now to hear my parents generation talk about how they just walked in the door to their job, with a high school diploma (or not in many cases) and this position now pays upwards of 6 figures.

You now need a high school diploma for McDonalds; a masters for an executive assistant position; and a doctorate for a temporary, assistant professorship – the kind that were handed out like candy in the 1970’s to anyone accepted to a PhD program at all.

The course my dad took in college is now only offered in a 4 year intense university program, followed by a masters program. What took him 2 years and under $2000 in fees, will now cost the average student 6 years minimum and no less than $100,000 in tuition. All for the final goal of securing a position which has now been turned into 5 part time jobs, all of which pay poorly, are ten times the work, and carry no benefits whatsoever.

When my dad retires, and keep in mind he stuck with the company through years of turmoil and at least one hostile takeover – 3 people are being groomed to take his job. Not interviewed – groomed. None of them will get his full time job, and none of them will get benefits (my dad can call a doctor to come to his house at 3m on a Sunday morning, no charge). I live in constant fear of slipping on the ice and being unable to work the next day – I do not get sick days. I will be replaced without warning by another temp. I will not have a job to go back to once I am on the mend.

I am sure there are full time gigs out there. I am sure there are people who hate their full time, permanent jobs. But I for one, would love one. Love it like a little kitten who takes me to the dentist and let’s me have paid vacation time; and provides training for the position; and invites me to coffee and lunch with the ‘gang’; and who calls me Paula instead of “new So and So”; and who… well the list goes on.

Back to ‘work’

Paula