I had a temp job at a credit card company in San Francisco. They offered to hire me permanently, but at the same rate of pay (plus benefits). I told them I wouldn't accept the offer unless they gave me a raise. They said no, so I didn't end up staying.

It was annoying because I was hired to do data entry in Excel, but by the time I left I was doing database programming. Meanwhile, my pay rate hadn't changed.

Can we ask to see the company tax returns before we decide what to pay for their services?

Sumi, I hope the thing is easily dealt with.

People with 3.5" floppy discs, don't throw them out! Many, many lighting consoles use those discs and they are harder to find. Ask your local theatre if they'll take donated discs. edit - ask if the lighting department could use the discs. People in the office probably won't know.

aurelia - excellent idea.

I told them I wouldn't accept the offer unless they gave me a raise.

Well, if it was the same rate of pay, plus benefits, you were offered a $10K raise, or more. Might not have been enough to justify staying, but it was, in fact, a raise, unless you were already getting benefits from the temp firm?

Well, if it was the same rate of pay, plus benefits, you were offered a $10K raise, or more. Might not have been enough to justify staying, but it was, in fact, a raise, unless you were already getting benefits from the temp firm?

That's all true. In fact, I tried to change my mind and accept the offer but it was too late.

A bunch of people who had gone from temp to permanent at that company told me to hold out for higher pay, as they had and it worked. Didn't work for me for some reason.

That whole thing was weird--if I had taken the job I might still be living in SF today.

Well, generally they have to pay the temp firm to hire you full time...but they've also been paying a LOT more to the temp firm than the temp firm has been paying you. So if you end up getting the same...

Part of the problem was they didn't know that I was doing more advanced work. During my temp tenure, my boss left, her boss quit and eventually I was reporting to a vice-president. I should have done a better job advocating for myself.

I am so confused. How is asking for your previous W-2 not illegal?

God, I hate self-evaluations.

Me, too. We're doing our mid-year reviews (our calendar is not like your Earth US calendar). My job's changed a fair bit, so in my evaluation notes I had to say things like, "Well, I can't say I improved my work on that area because I'm not doing that anymore. Instead I'm doing these three other things. At which I rock. But still. Can't claim an improvement in the first item, sorry."

It seems like it should be illegal, right? But if companies are allowed to run your credit, I guess the W-2 is not much different?