Between You, Me and the Lamp
Post
Day 47: Temp assignments
Yesterday I mentioned that
I’m ready to jump out the window because of the awful temp assignment I’m
currently doing.
While some people give
preference to a full-time job, others think temping is rather cool. By going
from one organization to another, one gets to meet a lot of people, the work
never gets boring, new things are learned, hours are more or less flexible, and
at any time the temp can take time off. It sounds ideal.
Unfortunately, it isn’t.
True, temping has a lot of perks, but it also has some down points. There are
lots of new beginnings, and new beginnings are usually difficult.
Some people temps meet are
friendly and helpful, others are rather arrogant. And not all jobs are nice,
there have been one or two where I walked out never to return.
Still, the majority of temp
assignments are nice and the people are welcoming. Of course, they are
welcoming, the temp is there to help out, to make their lives a little
easier, to do a job nobody else wants to do.
I remember my very first
assignment ever. It was for Flink bakery in Benoni, South Africa. Oh boy, and
what an assignment that was.
Every morning the office
staff was presented with freshly baked bread with real butter, two types of jam
and honey. With it came coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Not in mugs mind you,
but in three silver pots along with dainty cups and saucers.
At 10:30 more coffee and tea,
along with a selection of muffins, bagels, and tiny pancakes.
At lunchtime, a trolley was
pushed in the office holding again warm bread, and a variety of cold cuts and
cheeses.
Coffee and tea to wash it all down.
At 3:00 once again coffee
and tea, this time with a huge plate with slices of cake.
I just loved working there
and was more than a little sorry when after three weeks the person I was
standing in for returned.
My most interesting
assignment was working for Ermetek, a military company where I was responsible
for typing manuals for tanks. How to take them apart in case of a problem, and
how to put them back together again.
Before starting with the
company, I had to take the oath of silence. I couldn’t talk about my job to
anyone, not my husband, not any member of my family, not with friends, nobody.
Not only that, I had to keep this code of silence for 7 years after leaving the
company.
Yet another wonderful
assignment was working for Lever Brothers.
Beautiful offices, wonderful people,
interesting work, and the benefits … Every month I received a bag with 3 boxes
of washing powder, 3 bottles of fabric softener, 3 bottles of detergent, 5 bars
of soap, plus some other little goodies. The bag was so heavy, one of the men
had to hoist the bag into my car. The day I left, after my 18-month assignment,
my department took me out for dinner, and presented me with a dozen long-stemmed roses.
The bottom line is, with
temp work you never know where you’ll end up or what is expected of you. When
it’s good, you're sorry having to leave, when it’s bad, you know it’s only for a
limited time and then you can wave goodbye.
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