Temp Hell

I was working for a big-time company, doing strictly data entry. I’d been there nearly a year and my contract was coming to an end. They had 12 month contracts, unrenewable. Either you got hired at the end, or you were out. This caused a lot of resentment in the temp staff; they would often get rid of you at the end of your contract, just to replace you with another temp because they weren’t allowed to hire anyone perm.

As my contract neared its end, I lost morale and motivation. I knew I wasn’t getting hired on; my team was full. My productivity waned, then it stopped. Since we were doing data entry, we were allowed to watch movies or listen to music, as well as use AIM, as long as we continued working. I allowed myself to totally stop working and just goof off every day. I did no work, zero zip zilch, all day every day for three weeks. I kept checking in with my team leader, asking for work, but she never had much for me to do, so I just didn’t do anything. I watched ‘Firefly’ and chatted with my friends.

Finally, my contract ended. On my very last day, my temp service called me into their onsite office and told me, since I’d been such an excellent employee, they would like to extend my contract an additional month.

I blinked at them. A lot. I’d done no work whatsoever, and no one noticed. Not only had they not noticed, they thought I was a model employee and extended my contract for an additional month – an unheard of bonus!

I accepted the bonus month, but was very demotivated by the utter lack of noticing my slackerness. What an awful situation.

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