Month: January 2003

It was the strangest thing. Reliant Energy sent out Christmas cards this year with a coupon inside for a free rental at Blockbuster. I appreciate the thought, but isn’t there something better they could use my money for than sending me a card thanking me for being their customer? (At inflated rates, I’m sure.)

Mike & I took advantage of the free movie rental and picked up “Haiku Tunnel“. This movie is the “Office Space” of the temp world. It is absolutely hysterical, and if you have ever worked as a temp, worked as a secretary, worked at a law firm or dealt with attorneys in general you MUST see this movie. Ok, I don’t really care if you have done any of those things – Mike laughed through it all almost as hard as I did and he hasn’t. So just go pick it up. My gift to you – tipping you off that this is a GOOD movie.

Let’s analyze this. I get paid (when I temp) an ok salary to do relatively little. This is an accepted fact for the most part in the temp world, especially on the short term assignments. Let’s take today for example – I was only there from 12:30 to 5:00. If someone is only going to be there for a day, you don’t want to bog them down training them on something they don’t need to know later. Why bother? So basically you get paid to sit there and look pretty. Any work handed to you is mindless busy work like stuffing envelopes or putting labels on stuff. Meanwhile you answer the phone and forward calls. Easy-peasy, couldn’t ask for more.

A month of doing this has left me questioning things, much like Josh – the main character in the movie. Working on short-term assignments, you show up, you save the day (he is from “Uniforce!” which is best said with an attitude) and then you go home. No cares, no worries … and no permanence. You are greeted by the other employees with friendly head-bobs and smiles. No one really talks to you because you’re just the temp.

This changes to some extent when you temp on a long-term assignment. If you’re going to be there two or three months, people figure they should talk to you and at least get to know you a little bit. You may never be invited to the after-work happy hour, but that’s ok. You’re a temp and you know it.

This changes dramatically when you go perm. That means … you have a job. Are you really doing what you want to do? Why are you there? What is your real goal in life?

Which leads right in to where I am at today emotionally. Temping is fun. It’s nice and relaxing. I didn’t realize just how stressed out I was until I wasn’t stressed out anymore. I’ve been in that high stress mode for over 3 years. Do I really want to live my life that way? No. I don’t like sitting on the edge of the technology world worrying when it will be my turn again to be pushed off. I will always have my websites, and I will always have Blogomania, so my techno needs are fulfilled. But … I need to go perm. I need the benefits. The insurance. The stability of the day-to-day routine. I’m looking at Administrative Assistant positions. Secretary jobs. This is a huge pay cut for me compared to where I was in the tech world – but the tech days with the bloated salaries are gone too. I don’t need or want the stress.

But am I throwing my talent away? Am I settling for something easy? Am I finally going for that “American Beauty” job? You know – the scene where Kevin Spacey says at the fast-food restaurant that he wants “the job with the least amount of responsibility.” Is that who I have become? Not having a college degree stands in my way time & time again too. It is quite simply frustrating. However, I know I am going in on the entry level – which is silly if you ask me since I have 10+ years of similar work experience. I feel just like I did 10 years ago though. No one wants to hire you without experience, so I finally asked someone that was interviewing me, “Just how do you expect me to get experience anyways when no one will hire me? Huh?” She didn’t have an answer. At least it’s not quite that extreme now, but I feel like it is.

I got a call today about a temp-to-perm job. This is a good thing – they are more likely to try you out because if they don’t like you they don’t have to take you on permanently. It’s for a huge group here in Houston that is quite prominent. The pay is low, but they move people up quickly and promote from within and they are a large group. They should have my resume by now, so I just have to wait to see if they want to set up an interview. The other firm from last week is still making a decision and I’ve been told they may not know anything until the end of the week. This is when it all gets stressful.

I want a career. I want a job with a firm that I will be with 10, 15, 20 years from now. I want peace and serenity. Now if only I could figure out what I want to be when I grow up… and if only I could write a haiku to sum all of this up!