We asked Kelley to send us six people to assist us with a mailing task (stuff, put on labels, etc.).
Four of the six actually bothered to show up. One immediately insisted on break so she could run to the store to get a snack. One said she had a really bad headache one hour into it. One is so slow, I count that I am doing 3-4 envelopes for every ONE of hers. We’re going to tell that one to not come back for the remaining two days of the project.
I realize that this is not glamorous work. I realize that it may even be “beneath” them to do this sort of stuff. But for christ’s sake, that’s what temp work involves sometimes. We did not grab them at gunpoint and force them to come to work–they knew what the task was when Kelley lined them up. I will add that the 4th worker, who definitely is qualified for more sophisticated work, is not only tackling this stuff cheerfully, she is constantly working to try to make small improvements so it will all go faster.
Because this stupid mailing HAS to get out, I face losing my weekend having to finish this crap because these people are too fricking lazy to do the job they were asked to do.
GODDAMN IT!
Please tell me that this sort of person is NOT typical of the workforce that is supposedly the backbone of this country. (I’m in the U.S.)
I must add, the slow bitch has unwrapping a Certs down to a high art. I’ve never seen someone take so much time getting a goddamn mint into their mouth.
Stop work. stretch. sigh. reach sloooooooooooowly for package of certs. caress cylinder slowly. funble for edge of foil. pinch oh-so-carefully between thumb and forefinger. slooooooooooowly begin to unpeel foil, a millimeter at a time. fumble to break the clinging grip the newly-freed certs has on its still-wrapped neighbor. look at certs for a moment. sloooooooowly bring to mouth. place between lips. sigh again. stretch. look down at work, try to figure out where left off…
…just for one day that is. I like brain-numbing work like that … I am fast and efficient, and I enjoy the fact that it leaves my mind free for other things. I wouldn’t want to do it all the time mind you, but helping out for a few days sounds good. Too bad these monkies don’t see it that way.
I’ve worked for Kelly for 6 years now, out of 4 separate offices, and have never had an employer say he’d gotten two duds in a year. Most hire a steady stream of temps. I’ve worked for warehouses (Computerland, which became Vanstar, and a stationery store merged into Office Depot) that kept 40 temps going at a time during peak season.
Kelly has a good refund-on-complaint policy, so you can send people home the first day, and they get a full re-interview before being assigned again, if ever.
I once worked for a company that used some temp workers on long-term assignments (months). For every one that was worth anything, we had to go through 3 that weren’t. And even the ones that were worth something had problems like
Calling in sick on Mondays…
Talking on the phone…
Sleeping (this was a 24/7 shop)…
etc. etc.
One guy would routinely lay his head down on a table and sleep from 6 a.m. till 7:30. Every time I passed by I would shoot rubber bands at his head and he would wake up with 20 or so in his hair. We let him go after a week and he had the nerve to seem surprised!
Oy. As a long-time Kelly temporary employee, I offer my sincerest sympathies.
Fortunately, I’m not like that at all - I love temping. The dull stuff doesn’t thrill me, of course, but I’ve been doing this off and on for the past 13 years or so, so I’ve moved up into some fairly high-level administrative assistant type work. Still, you tell me to stuff envelopes, I guarantee I’ll get done in half the time you expect and ask you what you need next. After all, it’s my job…
I tempted for 2 years and hated it, however, because I always showed up early, I was friendly and smart, I was never without work. They loved me, but after 2 years of no benefits, and getting $9 an hour when my employers were getting $20+, I quit.
The worst part about temping was the attitude that because I was a temp, I was a moron, and all those bad things you mentioned were expected. I hate walking into a situation when people have misconceptions about who I am, or the job I will do. And I always destroyed their misconceptions, but…STILL. It annoyed.
I promise you that if you get a couple high school kids who are on vacation, and pay them a couple dollars LESS than you are paying the temp company, they’ll work their ass off. If someone offered me $13/hour to stuff envelopes, I’d be there with bells on.
I have had to bring in temps many times. I have had temps that were so good I convinced my bosses to create a permanent position so we could keep them. The vast majority were OK performers. A few were so bad that I released them early. One managed to wake up only to make personal phone calls - she lasted one day. My personal record for “temp worker turnaround” is zero hours, zero minutes. She was supposed to start an a Monday morning at 8:30. At 9:00 I got a phone call saying she would be a little late. The conversation went something like this:
SHE: Hi, this is _________ from the agency. I’m going to be a little late this morning. ME: Um, it’s 9:00, you’re already late for your first day. May I ask what is causing the holdup? SHE: I can’t find my makeup case. ME: Oh. We’re pretty casual here, just come on in. SHE: I can’t come in without makeup! ME: Is there a reason? SHE: I like to look professional when I work. I think I know where it is, I’ll be there in about an hour. ME: Actually, don’t bother. You sound far too professional for us. Thanks, I’ll just have the agency send someone else. SHE: (incredulously) You don’t want me to come in? ME: Thanks, no. We’ll get somebody else. Good luck finding your makeup!
My eyeballs were rolling in my head for hours after that conversation.
Most of the temps we get are just fine and many of them are excellent. It is some of the people at work that piss me off… send them out on an errand and they don’t come back for hours and hours. What the fuck are they doing while they are gone? The disciplinary memos help deal with this situation.
While we are on the topic of work I would ask if anyone has encountered this- people in superior positions that don’t have clue one on how to get something done and then ask you to show them. I think that if you’re getting paid the big bucks you can figure it out for yourself… I just started to profess ignorance on a number of subjects… If I am going to do someone elses job I want their pay too.
The new people they sent us were MUCH sharper. Thank goodness.
As for people who don’t know clue one… I had a classmate who talked his way into a job that was WAAAAY over his thick little head. He was such a slickster. Anyway, he could call our office under the guise of needing a clarification, say, on a statistical methodology question. But then before you’d know it, he’d be asking you sixty questions revealing how lost he really was. He’d inevitably try to get us to do the work for him. We started avoiding his calls like crazy.
I hated that rat bastard for weaseling his way into a job that paid more than mine when he was so, so much less qualified in every way.
Day Three. One of the temps lived in France last year. One of the less-gifted temps asked for her advice because she’d planning to go to Paris for 8 days later this summer. Among other things the francophile suggested was a visit to The Louvre.
Less-gifted temp: “Oh, you know, I thought maybe I could just get a book or something, look at the pictures at the Louvre that way. Not really have to go to the museum.”
Right. Buy a book or something. No, the Louvre is not a requirement during a Paris visit. Hell, you might even loathe art and don’t want to waste precious vacation time looking at it. That’s fine. But to compare leafing through an art book to seeing the masterpieces oneself?
As one of my officemates said later: “Why the hell even buy the ticket to France, then? They have BOOKS about it.”
See, Gr8Kat, you’re applying logic. A statement like that would have gone zooming over her head with enough force to break a window, endangering passersby with flying glass. Much less risky to gently guide her back into her world where she can do less harm.
I work for Kelly Services here in the seattle area. I am actually on my first assignment as a temp.
Now this may be company propaganda talking here, but so far everyone that I have worked with through Kelly has been very pleasant and very professional. The company itself prides itself on supplying quality people for quality jobs. Now I’m sorry, but once in a while, someone that just isn’t suited for a position amy get through but I refuse to believe that there are as many bad apples as all that out there.
This ratio seems to be drastically high. Were you using Kelly, or one of our low quality competitors.
