Temp as in Temporary

Haven’t written much about work at the depot this last couple of weeks, mainly because it’s been very dull indeed. Due to the shifts I very rarely see my housmates and when I do it’s about 11pm and they’re ready to go to bed so conversations aren’t exactly high level. “How was your day?” they ask and I have nothing to say at all.

Since Polish Rob was “let go” I’ve been working exclusively in the big lorry at the end of the conveyor belt on my own. The boxes come up the belt, I take them off the belt and stack them. As the lorry fills the belt retracts and then I move to the next lorry. They have a capacity of 40 tonnes and while I’m sure I’m not lugging that much weight I am filling an average of three of them in a night. That’s a lot of boxes. All the parcels sent from Birmingham as it happens.

While it’s tiring work I actually quite like being in the lorry on my own. I can work at my own pace without having to work around someone else’s stacking strategy and more importantly I don’t have to make inane talk with anyone. We don’t go home early like we did when Rob added to the numbers but that’s not the end of the world.

We had a staff meeting today. A “WLM” which I assume means “Weekly Line Meeting” but I’m just guessing. The manager wanted to let us air any grievances and issues we might have whilst reminding us not to clamber over the belt like monkeys, especially when visitors from head office were in. It was a nice gesture but it did put us back a good 20 minutes which is not handy when you’re on task-and-finish (get paid for the full shift no matter when you complete the job). Amongst other things he said that stacking was really good at the moment. That’ll be me then. I guess I should have some pride in that but to be honest I’m just being anal. There are some key rules – heavy at the bottom, light on top, not too high, slot everything in efficiently – and it’s satisfying to play by them, especially once you get to know the different varieties of boxes that come down. But of course I don’t care because I’ll be gone soon. I’m taking a long weekend and in a fortnight I’ll be in Winchester helping mum and stepdad put their house in storage and then I have this book to start writing, so someone else will take my place. Maybe they’ll also be anal, but they probably won’t.

It’s interesting how agency workers are such a normal thing in the workplace these days that we get treated as part of the team. They seem to assume I’m going to be there for the next few months if not longer, which many temps are. I once worked with someone who’d been “temping” at the same place for three years with no sign of being taken on full time. They could be let go with a few hours notice with no recourse, which is kinda sucky, but they probably won’t because this is how it works these days. It’s telling that we’re rarely referred to as “temps”. It’s “agency” with no indication of time.

So I’m something of an anomaly in the agency game. I’ve been with the agency for nearly two and a half years but I’m definitely a temp. Sometimes I feel I need to remind people of that. I’m a temp, as in temporary, as in probably won’t be here in a month’s time. By all means make the most of me while I’m here but don’t get too comfortable else you’ll miss me when I’m gone.

(And no, I’m not boasting. You should see the state of some of my fellow “temps”.)

Off to London today, for the first time in ages, and back Monday evening, so no updates (and probably lots of retarded comments on the blog so just ignore them). Busy Saturday at the Celebrating Andy gig/event and Sunday is a Flickrmeet but feel free to text me if you fancy meeting up.