If you’re allowed to put on a pair of headphones at the office, you should pretend you’re “in the zone” and instead rock out to “Just a Temp”, a hilarious song by comediennes The Hazzards. Our favorite line is “Work is just like high school, and temps sit all alone.” The Hazzards follow one of our cardinal rules of workplace protocol: even if you’re miserable, you might as well have a sense of humor about it.
Check out the song here.
I’ve temped at two different points in my career for several months at a time and some of the myths are actually true. Most perm employees treat temps like they have the plague, staying as far away as possible lest they catch some temp employment disease. Others are nice, normal people who treat you just like any other human being. Some treat you with disdain simply because you are temping and haven’t landed a real job like they have, so by their faulty logic, you are a total moron. The rare few can be pretty cool, asking why you’re temping or what you’re into outside of work with genuine interest. Basically, it’s a crap shoot.
All that being said, I still recommend temping to people who are unsure of what to do next with their careers and are in need of some quick cash. My last round of temping led to my current perm job in addition to three job offers from places where I was “just a temp.”
My advice: make even the slightest effort to be a decent employee and they will think the sun shines out of your nether regions. Seriously. Most employers hire temps because they are in dire need of a body with some brains attached, minimal skills, a place holder for the perm employee. They usually don’t expect much, so if you can spell your own name correctly and can follow instructions, you’re golden. If you’re trying to get a side project (script, book, home-based business, whatever) off the ground, temping is an easy way to make some cash without committing too much.
And, if the place totally sucks and the people are complete nimrods, remember that you can leave at the end of the day (or even call your agency midday and scream, GET ME OUT OF HERE!), and never return. Those suckas are STUCK there! Of their own accord.
Fucking brilliant song.