Temp Agency Clients

The BBQ Pit
1

I am so mad! First of all, the nonsense with the client happened, then I posted a thread on it, and it was EATEN!!

Okay, I’m working recept as a temp at an agency. The woman who is the comptroller comes up, puts a pile of check packets on my desk and says “mail these out, Oh, and make sure you put them in the envelopes right so the addresses show up in the window”. :rolleyes:

So, I dutifuclly put them all in envelopes, stamp them, and set them on the little out mail holder. An hour later, she comes up and asks “where’s the back up to all those checks”. I said “I put all of the packets you gave me to mail, in the envelopes” (she had each client paperclipped together with the check on top, covering the other items in the packet).

She got all annoyed and started going on about “Well, I guess I assume to much, I guess I shouldn’t expect people to think for themselves” etc.

I did stand up for myself, letting her know that as a temp, it’s not our practice to nose through clients paperwork unless asked, how different agencies do their paperwork differently, etc. But she was of the mind that “here, mail this stuff” made it self evident that only certain things from those packets should be mailed.

II was so mad, that I seriously considered walking out and calling the temp agency. She was just VERY much going on about how “this is what happens when you expect people to think for themselves” and so on.

GRrrrrrrr

What would you all have done? I have today, and half of tomorrow to go, and they’d asked me back on the third. I’m considering asking the temp agency to find someone else.

I worked with this lady when I was a regular employee at another company, she was thought to be quite imcompetent there. Perhaps I should just second guess and ask her about every little thing and ignore her ignorance? I’m so mad, I can’t even think what to do.

2

“Sorry, ma’am, guess I’m too stupid to work here. Bye.”

Speaking as a former Kelly girl.

3

Whoops, careful. I worked for a year at a publisher via an agency and earned them thousands of bucks. Then that assignment ended and I went to another client–I was assigned to a VP who thought I asked too many questions (like 'how would you like me to forward your calls?") and sent me back to the agency after an hour. They were horrified that maybe I had lost them this client and they never called me again. I was reduced to selling my collections on Ebay to pay the mortgage.

After ONE bad hour after thousands of billed (at $22 per) hours. Same thing happened to another friend of mine, a lady with prime legal experience, after she was sent to the same client.

There’s plenty of fish in the sea for the agencies. I’m afraid quitting will make you a pariah to them.

4

I worked for lots of temp agencies. I didn’t come up against anything quite like this, though. If you don’t want to go back there, you could always say this:

“I thought for myself, when I came to work here, that you possessed a brain cell, or at the very least, some interpersonal skills. Guess I was wrong again.”

5

I’ve done a lot of temp work. At $25, I’m a consultant, for $15, a contract worker, less than that, I’m a temp.

Temps are meat. Agencies are butchers. That’s about it. Sucks.

Come the Revolution, they go to the wall.

6

Yeah, I did calm down, I had to remember the source, I had worked with this lady before as a regular employee at another company, and remembered that she was considered really incompetent there. I left for another job shortly after she’d started work there. If it had been anyone but her, it likely would have been a closer call, and I just MIGHT have walked. Luckily, I have a couple of regular part time jobs as well.

But anyway, an update, she apologized, and apparently it wasn’t that big a deal, at least to her, she invited me to their Xmas luncheon tomorrow at a very too-too local restuarant, and has already requested me for another day.

7

ALRIGHT!!!

CanvasShoes, that woman was just plain rude. She messed up by giving you incomplete instructions, and she lashed out at you because she realized how stupid she’d been, is my guess. If you continue working with her, be extremely anal about instructions. When I worked as a temp, I made a point of very politely asking for detailed instructions on anything I was even the slightest bit unsure of.

8

Heh heh, yes, when I’d worked “with” her before, it had only been for a week or two, and actually I hadn’t really worked “with” her, I’d been in an entirely different department.

And funny you should say be completely AR, she asked me to do some other stuff this afternoon, and I was MS. Questions :smiley:

A few minutes later she said something like “don’t be afraid to make sure about something or another” and I said (with humor, but pointedly) “Oh, I won’t be making THAT mistake again”. She looked sorta sheepish and then apologized. So I think she kinda realized what she’d said and done had been rather rude AND silly.

But for my part, I DID know she wasn’t all that competent, so I should have followed up on what she’d said, JUST to make sure. Really, all in all, it was a good lesson in temping.

Other than a very long stint in a Texas company just before I moved back home (which went swimminglyl), I’d only worked one other temp assignment, and they hired me as soon as they were allowed to do so without “buying me out” (don’t ask me, something about the client has to have you work so many hours, or pay a fee for the privilege of hiring you), and I ended up working there from 98 through 2003, so I didn’t have any realistic experience with the whole spectrum of clients.

My very first assignment was kinda flaky and weird, but nice. My 2nd, 3rd and 4th assignments were really REALLY nice and complimentary, so I was really kinda surprised by this, but now that it’s happened, really I can be on guard, and guage the reactions and behaviour of the clients better.

I’m not quite ready to look for a “real” job yet, and this makes a nice “filler” for the gaps left by my teaching jobs.

9

I’ve been working temp jobs for almost 4 years straight now. The main thing I have learned is that when a company must call in a temp, it’s because they have deep problems. Expect a tumultuous workplace, including managers who are snarky beyond all reason – no matter how mad at you they seem to be, they have bigger things to worry about, or else you wouldn’t be there.

Never forget your client is the agency, not the agency’s client where you spend your days. Make yourself look good to the temp agency, and nicer gigs will come your way. Good luck!

10

As a temp, one of your duties is to take the blame for someone elses screwups.

11

Shrug and say, “If you want me to think for myself, you’re fired.”

12

Glad to hear you worked through this problem successfully, CanvasShoes, and got the apology you deserved! At the end of the day, all that matters is you took care of yourself - whether through staying or walking out. It’s interesting that you’d met that woman before.

Temping!!! Aaaargh!! I’ve temped many, many times. They’re all nuts. I agree with all the other posts here - esp. the one about taking blame! That is so true! And you’re so right about the assumptions people make.

I remember one lawyer who ran around his office barefoot (in the middle of winter) who took the time to lecture me on “how we do things” at 4:00 on my last day there. His regular “girl” was so stupid, none of her Word documents actually used Word functions. Nothing like hitting tab-tab-tab-tab to get to the right-hand side of a form.

One day, you’re doing the boss’s job for her because she’s busy planning her wedding; the next, you’re being told how to file alphabetically by people for whom it’s evidently not easy. Because, ya know, only morons work as receptionists. Okay, those really didn’t happen back-to-back, but they did both happen.

Good luck to you on keeping your wits about you. Temping is hard.

One thing I noticed over the years – is this true for you as well? – is the less I really needed the office job, the better a job it was. My early bosses were true asses & I barely made any money, but I was supporting Hubby and I while he was in school & scared to death. My bosses at my last couple of office jobs were dolls and I was paid pretty well.

13

I haven’t found that companies all have deep problems, but I have found that when companies are busy enough to pry their money-grubbing fingers off the cost of a temp, they are often too busy to actually train the temp, or prepare the assignments for you, or have someone available to answer your questions when you inevitably get stuck on one step of a process. This is when the Temp’s Mantra really comes in handy - “I get paid by the hour.”

Speaking of agencies, I really wish they would get it through their tiny little skulls that I, the temp, am also their client, and they don’t make money if I don’t work. It’s a symbiotic relationship, not me as peon and them as high-and-mighty overlords.

14

You’d think so, wouldn’t you? That’s what I ended up pleading to my agency, but I had pissed off somebody at <insert mega-mogul Times Square company here> and that was all that counted.

So glad it worked out for the OP. I notice she’s in Alaska, which probably has a rather smaller gene pool of temps than NYC. I’m competing with bright-eyed college students and starving actors and all the rest. I just got let go from an assignment because somebody came back from a long vacation (during which I was laid off too) and didn’t like the first draft of a template I’d done. Instead of calling me in to test it on their machines with their printer drivers (duh) they just cut me off. Very annoying, esp. at this time of year, but to the agency the client is always right even when they’re morons.

15

Blah, when I “worked” as a temp I never got any actual jobs.

Seriously. I have years of computer support experience, a bachelor’s degree (in History, true, but still) and I look professional, always available, etc. They “sort of” find something for me which won’t will last a week and won’t be here for two months. And it took them two weeks to find it.

16

I’ve temped a lot over the years to fill employment gaps while I looked for a real job.

My personal favorite story: I should have picked up on this, but I arrived on the first day of this particular assignment (secretary replacement for annoying, arrogant evil HR director) and immediately took a look through the desk to see what supplies were available. In one drawer was a several week supply of aspirin and antacids: should have been my first big clue.

The filing cabinets were stuffed full to overflowing and no instructions for what the filing system was, what to do with overflow. Just a several feet-deep pile of back filing to be done, but no place to squish it into.

Then I started asking around and discovered that the person I was replacing hated her boss so much she nearly had a nervous breakdown before she found another position in the company and bolted for better days.

After three weeks of basically being ignored except when the bitchy boss lady, slowed down in a whirlwind past my desk to say, “Couldyoucopy/print/fax/deliverthisformethanks?” She finally looked at me in the eye, about to hand off another assignment and said, “what was your name again?”

After three weeks of working 10 feet away from you and you haven’t learned my name yet? I believe I requested another assignment before the week was out.

Often, companies need temps because of one asshole manager who has no people skills, so the positions under them are revolving doors. Nothing you could say or do would change that and you’ll be spit out shortly, just like everyone else. It ain’t personal; that’s what I learned from temping. (You don’t even have an identity!)

17

I’m glad the comptroller had the good grace to apologize, CanvasShoes. Too bad she’s an incompetent jackass most of the time. I think you behaved appropriately - after all, you’re no mind-reader, and it sounds as though you handled yourself professionally, even though she was a total bitch. The problem is that some people need hand-holding and constant questions. They expect that you’ll do the thinking for them because they can’t be bothered. I’ve been in several situations like that, not as a temp, but as a full-time employee.

How much work do you have to do for this woman, anyway? If you don’t work with her all of the time, and it won’t prevent you from taking care of other areas of your job, you might want to stick around and hold her hand. If she puts any checks on your desk next time, you could always say something like, “Do you have any special instructions for these before I put them in the envelopes?” But if you’re really miserable, you could just tell your agency that you don’t feel you’re a good fit for the company.

18

Not all companies hire temps only because they have problems. There are all sorts of reasons why people hire temps. I’ve worked in various temp jobs over the years, both in general clerical and legal assistant positions. Here are some of the reasons that temps were hired:

Company 1–This was a case of a law firm “in deep trouble” relying on temps to bail them out. This situation was just as masonite, spooje, and featherlou described. I didn’t like the job, and they didn’t like me, as I tried hard to ask questions, and do things correctly. After a month or so, I realized that they were more interested in having us churn out lots of calls and letters to justify our billable hours than in having us get results, and that the person managing us really was looking for someone to blame for the failure of the project. The agency was of no help at all. They clearly valued the client only, and me not at all. I left the position and the agency, which was no tragedy, as they found very little work for me anyway.

Company 2–This company used a long-term temp as part of their regular clerical support staff in their HR department. It was an inexpensive way for them to get some extra help without making a commitment. If they liked the temp, they often found a permanent position for them. It was a very nice place to work, and I was treated very well. I was hired into a regular position after a month.

Company 3–This law firm also used temps as a regular part of its legal assistant staff. Unfortunately, they did use our temp status as an excuse to treat us badly. I left that position for an unrelated permanent job.

Company 4–This law firm used a long-term temp to manage its law library. This temp needed some time off, so I filled in for her for several 2-week periods. This was a very pleasant job. And if the regular temp had wanted to leave her job, I would have gladly taken it.

Company 5–This was my most recent position. I helped to organize a big conference for a university. This was a great job, and an example of a client hiring a temp because of a planned temporary increase in workload. This was also a case where the professor I worked for having realistically low expectations of me because I was a temp (and it was a low-paid job, too). But I was willing to take the low-paid job for a couple of months, and they were pleasantly surprised and appreciative that I was competent. And I liked my co-worker enough to introduce her the Dope. (Hi Brunhilde!)

I have found that success as a temp depends a lot on the agency you’re working for. One agency, as noted above, found very little work for me, and was unsupportive of me when I was in a bad position. I felt like they didn’t respect me at all. I worked for another local agency that got me the “Company #2” job right away, and was quite satisfactory otherwise.

I’m currently working for Kelly Services. I’ve been with them a few months, and I’m very satisfied. When I signed up, they candidly told me that they didn’t have a lot of positions coming up as this was a bad time of year, and those that they did have paid below my “minimum.” (My minimum pay was set by them, and higher than I would have asked for.) I told them that I would be willing to work for a lower paycheck if there was nothing else available. And they have kept me working pretty steadily ever since, albeit for lower pay. I appreciate that they are offering me these positions, but doing so somewhat apologetically because of the pay and the fact that they’re below my skill level. I expect that they’ll think of me when a better position comes along. And they were more than supportive with the one problem I encountered (not with the job itself, but with the parking Nazis at “Company #5”)

Anyway, temping can really suck, or be the perfect thing. A lot depends on the temp, of course. But beyond that, you have to find a good agency that gets lots of jobs coming through, and values YOU, the temp. As someone said, it’s a symbiotic relationship. The company’s concerns have to come first, as they’re the ones paying the bill, but the temps concerns are always important, too. A good, flexible, skilled, reliable temp with proper professional demeanor is hard to find, and if the agency doesn’t recognize that, then find a new agency.

19

Yeah, I guess that’s true in a way. I do have two permanent part time jobs. One as a PE instr. at a local Univ and the other as a shift manager at a large multi location gym (statewide one). And both of those are just awesome places to work. I’ve been with the Univ since 98, and with the gym for only a little over a month.

I really appreciate all of the support here. Really, I’ve been pretty lucky in that this is the first truly “bad” temp assgt I’ve had. And that, just one bad moment. The rest of the people in this office are awesome. They’re mostly engineer and autocad type techs, similar to what I did in my old job.

So, basically, I’m just kinda drifting now, not sure which company in my industry I want to apply to yet. I’ve worked on call with my old company since I returned home, but since it’s winter, not a lot is giong on in the enviro industry, so I’ve really got a few months to refresh the old resume, and kinda poke my nose around and figure out who is doing what projects, and who’s needing what sorts of techs/prj mgrs.

So, luckily for me, the temping is kind of a filler, and seems to be pretty busy this time of year for some reason (like I said, I’m pretty new at it, maybe it’s always this way :)) Thanks again for the support and advice!

20

Yeah, this has been my experience so far. Generally it’s as a fill-in while someone is either on vacation, or had a sudden sick day.

The first lady I worked for was sweet, but truly bizarre. She had her business in her home, and it was a complete shambles. She also home schooled (but not really) her 3 kids, was a wedding and event planner, and took a huge role in all the goings on in her church, which was EXTREMELY Fundie baptist (the church I no longer belong to), and she was very generous in sharing all of their antiquidated doctrines with me. (gee, thanks).

I about choked when she told me about how it really wasn’t “seemly” for a man and a woman who weren’t married to each other to work on a church project together with no other chaperones (OMG, are you KIDDING me? Does your church think that adults are animals with that little self control sexuallly?), or how really it was “proper” for the men of the church to be the leaders as women really weren’t suited for it.

THIS from the mouth of a woman who runs her own business in the modern workaday world? Gaaaah.

That one lasted almost 2 weeks, and I was SOOOO glad to be out of her crazy disorganized mixed up world, incompetent comptroller woman is at least hand-holdable. :smiley: