Ef You See Kay Temping

That's it. I've made a decision. I am putting off Temp Work for as long as possible, hopefully forever.
I don't think that I will make a whole lot of valuable connections for networking, I don't think I will find a job this way that truly interests me, and I am not that desperate for money.
It's great that this option is available to me. And having that knowledge is enough right now.

Thank you Donna Summer, may you rest in peace!

The Female Temp Worker's Hymn

 It never goes out of style.

Kept

So what is this strange situation I find myself in? Don't people generally have to work for a living? Don't they usually kind of freak out when the paycheques run dry and somewhat jump at the first opportunity that presents itself?

Well, yes, generally speaking.
But then there's that other breed.







And then there is me. I consider myself being somewhere in between those two extremes, on a flexible sliding scale, depending on the season, time of day, weekday, the general mood, my sexiness, savings in my account, work around the house, demands put on me, and the grace of my sponsor.

What I can attest is that is is ordinarily not a very clear-cut situation. Some days I feel like Ms. Kept above, on others I feel like a Rosie who will work 12+ hour shifts soon, to recompense for all that I have taken so carefreely. Very much a luxury problem, I am sure. Or is it?

In any case. I would like to maintain an acceptable level of dignity, accountability, self-care, and self-determination and overcome those dreadful tendencies kept women oftentimes display: laziness, spoiledness, a sense of entitlement, and the idea that they are just too precious to pull their own weight financially. They often get quite dull over time, too!
I've learned, however, that these women aren't always to blame to the fullest extend for their nonchalant lifestyles. Oftentimes factors like culture, family obligations, a husband's expectations, opportunities, education, access to meaningful employment, - in short issues around women's rights play a major role. Not all women are strong enough and willing to put up a terrific fight to overcome these inequalities and decide to settle for the existence of a semi-dependent lap dog. I am sure some women don't decide at all. It never even occurs to them that they have a say in the matter. But I know that the consequences of such compliance are felt very much in that population and a whole lot of suppression and denial is necessary to maintain the status quo.

Another coping strategy is becoming a calculating bitch: I have you by the balls, honey!  I am going to take you to the cleaners if you decide to get rid of me. You should have thought of prenups when you had the chance, sucker! And if I hang in there long enough, all this is going to be mine and mine alone!!

Both these blueprints don't really work for me. They are extremely bad Karma and nothing good can ever come of them in the long run.

So what's a decent, free, and emancipated woman to do who happens to have encountered a longish  struggle with gainful employment? That's right. She'll stop concerning herself so much with her husband's - or her family's - monetary assets and will eventually get a grip on her situation. All on her own.

P.S.: Oooh, oooh:  I am so excited!  My new, 100% "sponsored" smart phone will arrive in the mail today! The question is: should I wait at home for the mail man or pick it up at the post office after I've been wined and dined later today...? Will I even have the time before I go to the movies...?
Oh, the decisions to make! It's a tough life.

Working for your Friend

I have this chronically disorganized, frazzled friend. She once hired a professional organizer and paid her good money to redo her closets.
I have to admit, I find the notion quite odd and subscribe to a different philosophy: you've created the chaos, you clean it up. Same philosophy goes for the dirty bathroom, BTW. It's about self-reliance and being an adult!

Now she's laid her eyes on my very organized, sane, minimalistic self. She asked me if I could help her come up with systems to get organized. At first I thought it'd be fun to give her some tips and cheerfully agreed to her proposition. She even wanted to pay me. I ignored that part of the deal. It seemed somewhat condescending.

So we met for lunch last week. She started telling me about all her problem areas (there are a lot) and I threw in some suggestions e.g.: lose one of the four credit cards, no matter how great a deal they have attached to them, have all your emails forwarded to one account, go paperless, sign up for pre-authorized monthly bill payments, decide for one wireless device and just stick with it,  scratch off those meaningless tasks from your to do list, have only one day planner if you really need one, colour code, and you don't have to buy more supplies in order to get organized... Just common sense suggestions.
She had quite a few objections and we had to discuss in detail. How dull. I'd rather hear her new juicy dating stories or tell her about all my grievances as an unemployed shmuck. But no! We had to weigh the pros and cons of PDFs vs. paper. Snore.

It started to look a lot like she just wants me to make it all go away for her. At one point she proclaimed: "That's why people hire assistants!" Aaaaha! That's when it became crystal clear: she is hoping for a single serving personal assistant (because she wouldn't be able to afford one on a regular basis)!
Oooh no, princess. We're not going there. So I turned the whole project upside down into a counseling session, because I am good at that. I started to speak about "discipline" and  "self-management", "like brushing teeth" and "taking care of yourself".
Of course she wasn't too, too pleased; neither was I.
It was an awkward get-together and I sure hope she'll just forget about the whole thing. If not, she will receive free counseling sessions from me because I am too chicken to do anything else.

*Sigh...*

Within the Realms of Possibility

Amazing! Located a great opportunity on no other but  - Craigslist!
I know for a fact that this ad is legitimate and that the company is congenial, because I know them personally. So I sent off my resume.

Two reasons why they might end up picking someone else over me, even though I make such a fresh, chipper, flexible and talented employee:

▪ I have only about 80% of the skills they are looking for. So I have to rely a bit on a "will train the right individual" attitude of the hiring manager.

▪ Uhm. This is a big one. My reputation. When I was working in that building, my company ended up in a huge kerfuffle with the government. People split up in camps and I found myself caught in the middle.  I ended up sympathizing with the fiery rebellious side and gossip travels fast in that vicinity so even the very biggest cheese of the entire community suddenly knew my face and my name. I caught him checking me out with deep distrust once: who is this unassuming nobody I've never noticed really?

I know I did the right thing by standing up for my beliefs. It was a matter of moral courage. Some of the staff of the company I just applied to congratulated the fiery rebellious ones, so there definitely was consensus. It's just that the big cheese wasn't having it and I might thus be flagged as "must never rehire".
The government doesn't declare an organization an "enemy of state" for nothing!

I'll give it another week exactly before calling that Temp Agency.