The Temp
So this temping thing, if nothing else, is at least allowing me to sample jobs I know I'll never want on a permanent basis. Last week I worked in a law firm as a "Legal Assistant". Not having ANY legal background whatsoever made this a particularly interesting assignment, but I learned a few things and that's what counts right? Here's what I took away from that experience:
1. I am so glad my divorce was so amicable and that we used a mediator instead of dueling lawyers. Reading an email from a woman trying to put herself through college who was agast at her $15,000 lawyer bill, as she tried to understand how she had to pay $220 an hour for her lawyer to try to recover $3000 from her ex husband, well, it had me furious for her.
2. I don't want to work in an office where all the clients are mad. This law office specialized in divorce and employment law. Everyone was either breaking off a relationship (at great financial cost) or was recently fired.
3. I'm not a coffee drinker but I would have had to become one if I stayed any longer. They had the COOLEST coffee maker from Green Mountain - it made individual cups of coffee in all different flavors. Even me, a non-coffee drinker, could make a client a perfect cup o' Joe!
4. I'm sure there's a reason for legal-ese, but I don't know what it is. Can't we write up a complaint without "wherefore's" "hereto's" and so forth?
Today and tomorrow I'm working at a sales office for a Section 8 apartment complex. OH.MY.
First of all, there are three people in the office and I don't think any of them have worked there longer than 4 months. The people who used to work there NEVER filed (which is why I'm there). The office people are so amazed with the speed at which I finished work today they aren't sure what to do with me tomorrow but want me to come back anyway. hey, it's your dime! What I've learned:
1. I'm so grateful that I have at least enough $$ to NOT live in that complex.
2. I'm so glad my complaints thus far have been a loud neighbor, carpet that smells like cat pee and shelves that fall out of the refrigerator and NOT roaches, mice and drug dealers.
3. One of the women in the office, a young, tiny little thing just started working there on Monday. I knew here for all of a couple of hours today when she got up from the desk we were working at and walked into her supervisor's office and asked if pantyhose were a requirement. Her boss said, no, it's a fairly casual environment (as if you couldn't tell that by just looking around) and the girl promptly returned to her desk WHERE I WAS SITTING and reached up under her skirt (not a long skirt, either) and removed her pantyhose. She sat back down and laughed and said she felt remarkably better. I cannot imagine how much alcohol I would have to consume before I would EVER dream of taking off underthings in front of ANYONE let alone a complete stranger.
While I am certainly looking forward to regular, full-time employment with benefits and retirement plans and vacation days, temping has its perks - and not all of them come in paycheck form!
1. I am so glad my divorce was so amicable and that we used a mediator instead of dueling lawyers. Reading an email from a woman trying to put herself through college who was agast at her $15,000 lawyer bill, as she tried to understand how she had to pay $220 an hour for her lawyer to try to recover $3000 from her ex husband, well, it had me furious for her.
2. I don't want to work in an office where all the clients are mad. This law office specialized in divorce and employment law. Everyone was either breaking off a relationship (at great financial cost) or was recently fired.
3. I'm not a coffee drinker but I would have had to become one if I stayed any longer. They had the COOLEST coffee maker from Green Mountain - it made individual cups of coffee in all different flavors. Even me, a non-coffee drinker, could make a client a perfect cup o' Joe!
4. I'm sure there's a reason for legal-ese, but I don't know what it is. Can't we write up a complaint without "wherefore's" "hereto's" and so forth?
Today and tomorrow I'm working at a sales office for a Section 8 apartment complex. OH.MY.
First of all, there are three people in the office and I don't think any of them have worked there longer than 4 months. The people who used to work there NEVER filed (which is why I'm there). The office people are so amazed with the speed at which I finished work today they aren't sure what to do with me tomorrow but want me to come back anyway. hey, it's your dime! What I've learned:
1. I'm so grateful that I have at least enough $$ to NOT live in that complex.
2. I'm so glad my complaints thus far have been a loud neighbor, carpet that smells like cat pee and shelves that fall out of the refrigerator and NOT roaches, mice and drug dealers.
3. One of the women in the office, a young, tiny little thing just started working there on Monday. I knew here for all of a couple of hours today when she got up from the desk we were working at and walked into her supervisor's office and asked if pantyhose were a requirement. Her boss said, no, it's a fairly casual environment (as if you couldn't tell that by just looking around) and the girl promptly returned to her desk WHERE I WAS SITTING and reached up under her skirt (not a long skirt, either) and removed her pantyhose. She sat back down and laughed and said she felt remarkably better. I cannot imagine how much alcohol I would have to consume before I would EVER dream of taking off underthings in front of ANYONE let alone a complete stranger.
While I am certainly looking forward to regular, full-time employment with benefits and retirement plans and vacation days, temping has its perks - and not all of them come in paycheck form!
Comments
But geez... the stories you can tell. I look forward to hearing about more of your adventures.
But think of all the exprience you are getting. If nothing else it makes for good story telling when your sitting on your front porch, old with a shawl.
Right?
Nifty, right?