It’s a lazy Sunday, so I thought I’d regale you with something silly. Apparently the one office I didn’t temp at won the second place video award for You Tube–The Office Promo contest! It’s quite a sight. Check it out at NBC.
Here is a look back at some of the highlights of temping:
- I usually worked within a few miles of home, so not having the crazy 17-mile drive was a big plus!
- I felt a lot less guilty about goofing off at work. On the other hand, I didn’t always have access to Internet or freedom to see the sites I like. Life’s always about trade offs!
- I was usually the smartest person in the room, or at least the most charming. Working at a university, I am almost never the smartest…but sometimes I think I’m the cutest!
- My bosses ran the gamut of crazy to kind, but sometimes I’d meet a gem and they’d buy me giant Vanilla Lattes (the quickest way to my heart) or laugh at my jokes.
- I dressed up for work! I used to wear all my cute clothes. Now I work at a place populated with students in pajamas or few clothes at all (some are on the way to the laundry room, others are walking around in tiny bike shorts…) so I tend to dress down, too.
- My life was Dave-free. I didn’t come home everyday with some story about my coworker that I share an office with. I’m even sick of this dude’s name.
- I could write at work because the work I was doing was so simple a trained chimp could do it—maybe even a trained chump. I still do write at work, but usually it’s for this lovely little diary. I used to fill up notebooks with stories, and I really miss that.
- I miss being close to delicious eateries! I never get to eat at my favorite sushi place, except on days when I really don’t care about work and decide to face the consequences of taking an almost two hour lunch. I miss pastries and local coffee shops. I’m a Starbucks girl now because of proximity, not by choice.
- Sight seeing on my lunch hour is pretty hard since my office is kind of remote. I used to love having lunch at the Rose Garden. I’d go up and down the rows smelling Barbra Streisand, Cinderella, and Voodoo. The only thing I get to smell now is the pungent aroma of skunk and fresh cut grass.
- My wit used to be so sharp. It had to be, I used it like a protective coat of armor. It kept me from taking life too seriously, and helped me keep my chin up. I’m becoming comfortably numb, and that scares me! Did I tell you that I have two Cathy notepads on my desk that I swiped from the supply closet? The fact that I can relate makes me a little more than depressed!
That’s enough reminiscing for now. I’m still not quite where I want to be, but I think I’ve got some learning to do yet before I’m be ready to move on to bigger and better.