well, the definite non-careerness of temping takes the edge off it some for me. What I'd really like is a nice, three month gig using my IT skills. Coming off three years working pretty upper-level university IT training jobs to answering phones is kind of... huh.

I temped for 10 years by choice since I could afford to take about three months off out of a year to write. I worked my way up to where I got the plumb assignments filling in for maternity leaves. I did that at the Federal Reserve Bank for almost two years, going from leave to leave. Work three months, then take six weeks off. I worked in the Internal Audit department and the Federal Regulations Department (where I got to see interesting reports on credit card fraud [very hard to catch] and how the divestiture movement affected South African banks [quite a lot]).

I also temped for two years in Boston where I worked at Lotus Development (when it was the biggest software seller in the world, and Microsoft was "just the company that makes the operating system for IBM); WGBH (I ate fresh produce from the Victory Garden and worked near Bob Villa. Also met adults who had been on Zoom), and Harvard Business School (where I had the cushiest gig ever and read all of One Hundred Years of Solitude at my desk).

Happy birthday, Nora! Drink a beer today!

Happy birthday, Nora!!! And great wedding date, Jars!

My temp jobs were almost all office work except for one job where I was working in a warehouse for a couple of weeks. And getting paid like $2 an hour more then the people I was working next to who were doing the same thing as me because I normally did office work and they did warehouse work. So unfair. We were putting together binders of some kind of printed material or something? I don't really remember. I had the job right after getting to SF 15 or so years ago. Then I temped at Schwab for a while and that led to me getting a permanent job there. Uh...so no interesting temp stories at all.

I had a very mixed day yesterday which consisted of my friend's dog, who I am dogsitting while they are in England, throwing up a lot. Mostly on my new-this-year sofa. Per vet's recommendation, she fasted for 12 hours (hard with the other animals in the house getting fed and treats) and now is on a bland diet. She seems to be doing okay but sheesh. Not fun. She's got kidney disease and had a terrible jaw infection a couple of months ago and she really can't afford to lose much weight. poor pooch. poor sofa.

On the positive side of yesterday, I am getting what I asked for for this big freelance proofreading project due at the end of October and since god forbid I use ALL the money sensibly I made plans to go to California in November!! Including spending a long weekend in Palm Springs!!!

Well, the one thing temping is teaching me is what I don't want to do. And what things I'm more comfortable with. So I guess it's a learning experience--even if I still have no idea what I want to do with my life.

Well, the one thing temping is teaching me is what I don't want to do. And what things I'm more comfortable with.

This. I've done a lot of temping off and on and this was an invaluable thing for me to learn.

In fact, the job I'm in now started out as a temp to perm position. 11 years ago.

Remind ND to give you a book that you are going to LOVE that I am loaning to you.

Will do, Kristin.

I got some good gigs through temping, but eventually, they all turned sour. It's entirely possible that it was my fault every time, but I don't do half so well in an office as I do in a theater or on a set.

I did have one temp job back in Ann Arbor that only lasted a day. Lots of other people walked off the job halfway through, but I stuck it out a whole day.

The job was physical labor, relandscaping the UofM golf course. The temp agency said nothing at all about needing my own work gloves, and my hands were bleeding by lunch. When I woke up the next morning, I was so sore I couldn't get out of bed without help. The assignment started before the temp office opened, so I had to wait until they did to call and tell them I wasn't coming in.

I told the office I wanted a different assignment in a day or two, when I could move again, and they basically told me I was fired, because how could they know I wasn't just going to walk away from the next assignment too?

I felt like they'd kicked me in the teeth, after I'd already been gang-beaten.

Happy Birthday to the splendid Nora! I hope it's a great day and the beginning of a great year!

Any chance billytea is around? I need the name of a big chain copier/printer, like a Kinko's. Only in Australia (Sydney), which apparently Kinko's is not.

Happy birthday Nora! I hope the day is exactly as you wish.

I've never temped, so there's not much I can add to the conversation. Although I think everyone--temps and company employees--can agree on one thing: THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!!!!

Temping was very good to me. I got job offers at both places that I temped at through an agency. The second place even worked around my school schedule and agreed to pay me what they were paying the agency cause they loved me so much and didn't want me to leave. That sure felt nice.

I'm gonna post pics from my trip on my LJ (username: fabby). I got some pretty good ones.

I'm getting my Posh Spice hair cut (finally) at 4:30.

Happy Friday y'alls!