Just as my last gig was ending, the agency had already called to let me know that I have a new assignment for the next business day. Come to find out it was a denim company that two ex-colleagues of mine were currently salaried full-timers at.
It definitely was a plus as most places I was assigned to can get pretty lonely. I wouldn’t be in the same department as them, but I figured it might be nice to catch up over lunch depending on their availability.
DAY 1
My contact, Natalie, was strangely just one of maybe 8-10 Tech Designers and not even the department manager, which was the norm. She set me up at a desk, gave me a quick run through of all the programs I’d be using, and then said if I had any questions, to ask her. She explicitly said that the department manager will likely not speak to me or remember my name unless you’ve been there a long enough time that she thinks you’re worth it.
Another old crank, whoopee.
That was fine with me. It was a temporary gig, anyway.
Natalie gave me a few tech packs to work on, but it was pretty damn easy even for my freshly graduated ass that I checked in with her a few times for more to do.
By lunch, I decided to check in with my friends, but they were all busy with deadlines and couldn’t go out, so I went out to lunch by myself.
I came back, continued working until the end of the day. Right about when I was getting ready to clock out, my friend checked in with me to see if I needed directions to the freeway. We didn’t have GPS on our phones back then. She told me where to go and we said goodbye as I packed up.
DAY 2
The next day was the same boring shit. I had to slow down my work pace so that I wouldn’t be bored. It seemed that they didn’t have a lot for me to do. It got to the point that Natalie had nothing else for me, so she told me to ask the rest of the techs if they had things they needed help on.
NO ONE HAD ANYTHING TO GIVE ME.
If you’ve read my other Life in Fashion post, you’ll know that this is not the only time I’ve come across this. However, it was the first time for me, so I didn’t have the forethought to report back to the agency.
With that, I went back to my desk and just attempted to practice on their sketching program. This was a premium denim company who, for some reason, refused to afford Adobe. Not be an elitist about Adobe, but at the time it was standard and this program they had was so…. primitive and inefficient. But hey, I don’t own a company, so I’ll end that there.
During lunch, my friends were still swamped and didn’t have time to leave to eat. However, there was a lunchtime birthday party going on in their department and they invited me to hang out. I didn’t feel right eating their food, which is why I brought my own. I stuck around her desk while she ate and worked. Then, I left when my 30 minutes were up.
I spent the rest of my 2nd day stretching out my ridiculously few and tiny tasks until it was time to go. It was honestly mind numbing. I tried my best to see if there was anything I can take off of someone’s plate, but it was like pulling teeth.
At the end of the day, one of the other techs came over to introduce herself and chat for maybe about 5 minutes. I spent the next 10ish minutes with the sketch program, clocked out, then left.
Don’t Come Back
As I get home, I receive a call from the agency that the company said I shouldn’t return. Apparently, they told my rep that I talked too much.
I don’t even know what to say about it beyond that point because it’s just so aggravating to hear that said about you after relaying everything that happened above.
One of the most frustrating things is being blamed and not just accused of doing something you didn’t do. I’d rather take the blame for having done it. I was so bored out of my mind with no job to do and no one to talk to. I WISH I had someone to “talk too much” with there. UGH.
So, obviously, I got fired after two days for talking too much. I guess I would’ve been miserable working there.
In hindsight, the people in my department were too quiet, afraid to look up from their screens, and… seemingly afraid to give up any part of their job to a temp. Were they afraid to look lazy? Were they afraid that a temp’s mistake could fall really harshly on their heads?
As for my friends… it was like they never left their desks. Ok, it was all of two days, but they didn’t act like this “too busy for lunch” scenario was new to them. It felt like lunch at the desk was the norm and they were just hoping for one good day soon before I leave that we can hang out together.
It never happened, of course. But, man… that place was some shit and I’m so glad they fired me. At that age, I would’ve tried so hard to please the boss. I definitely would’ve ran myself much like my friends were.
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