Temporary Agencies or Whoring yourself out

Ah, it's been a bit since I last sat down to write. I have been working steady for a temp agency. Oh Gawd! Let me tell you about the companies that use temps. These companies are in trouble. They are in trouble because they can't keep employees. They can't keep employees because they are miserable places to work. I can attest to this!

Let's start with Thrivent for Lutherans. Ahh a peach of a place. They have millions of help wanted ads. I arrived to begin my post as tech support for the new laptops they were giving the sales force. I had no PC. I went to training where everyone else had a PC with the exception of me. This went on for the two weeks I was in training. When we hit the floor, my phone didn't work. Hard to support people when the equipment doesn't work. I talked with one of the temps that had been there for several months and he told me his phone hadn't worked for the first 3 weeks. I asked him how that could happen and he said he told them once that the phone didn't work and then he waited. Three weeks later someone noticed his call volume was 0 and asked him why. He then told them for the second time his phone did not work. They were OK with this and within the next few weeks got his phone working. He was their kind of employee. I, on the other hand, got my phone fixed so I could take calls. I was told the assignment was over and that I could go home. They didn't want anyone who made any waves. In their minds it was better to come to work, get paid, and sit for 3 weeks doing nothing. To the best of my knowledge, that guy is still there, doing next to nothing and probably employee of the month. Those Lutherans, gotta love them. That example is repeated throughout the organization. When you talk to people who work there, they are nervous and scared all the time.

Next time I'll tell you about West.