Pressure
So Amelia sent me an e-mail yesterday. I know she had the best of intentions, and really, when it comes down to it, this is good news. Turns out, she was supposed to help in finding four other readers to cover their busy season. Edward Murdstone canceled this order when he saw how good and fast I was. Remember how I said writing coverage is an endurance test, and you have to show you can be the fastest? Apparently I was a little too fast.
But, come on. I’m unemployed. What else did I have to distract me?
Therein lies the problem: if the work is going to be this inconsistent, I have to get paid during the off-time somehow. I’m not aware of many jobs, other than shit retail jobs with extremely generous managers, who will let you take six weeks off during each quarter so you can do another job that, one hopes, will lead to you quitting the current job. I’ve worked a lot of retail jobs, some of them with retail managers, but when it comes to talking about pursuing a career outside the store, many of them flip out.
But that’s not the point: the point is, I don’t want to go back to retail. I want a nice, cushy, semi-permanent job that I can work for a few years until I save up enough to go back to L.A. So now I’m thinking maybe I should just go back to temping and hope the work isn’t quite as intermittent. Frankly, it’s going to lead to some awkward decision-making: I refuse to give up my career because I have to hang on to a permanent, full-time job that looks down on extreme absenteeism, yet at the same time I need money in the long-term, not glory (and some money) in the short-term.
Temp agencies don’t really give a shit; if it doesn’t coincide with an assignment, I’m gold. If it does, they’re usually good about time off as long as you pull your weight when you’re there. It’s truly amazing how much you can get away with at temp agencies if you are the king of soul-crushing office work (P.S.: I am), but I’ve been out of the temping game for awhile. The job market has turned to shit, and it’s a lot harder to even get temp work. Most of them have become external human resources departments, filtering out candidates to place in permanent jobs. The last time I temped — in 2002, back when the job market was…well, it still pretty much sucked, but not nearly to the level it’s sunk now — the best I could do was a three-week assignment here or there. But hey, it’s not like anyone’s jumping to hire me now. I should probably just go for it and hope they come up with something more than nothing.
Either that, or I could tell Amelia to tell Murdstone they should hire more people. But I’m selfish: I want the career-enhancing glory, too.
Posted by Stan on July 2, 2008 11:13 AM | Permalink | Print-Friendly | Career-Based Rambling | Digg It
Post a Comment
Powered by Ajax Comments