The Best
- Serving as a photographer’s gofer on photo shoots for a prestigious fashion magazine. The client paid for a three-day on-site shoot in St. Kitt's. "I did everything from ordering coffee to helping the models in and out of their outfits. My travel, accommodations, and food were all taken care of"
- Doing errands for a millionaire investor "I was given a list of places to go, like the dry cleaners, cheese shop, and traffic court to pay a parking summons. The best part was I went to each place in the client's chauffeur-driven limousine."
- 3. Shoe modeling. "I wear a size six shoe, and I modeled shoes for buyers at a shoe convention. I didn't get to sit down, but I did get to keep the four pairs of shoes I modeled."
- "We were asked to select a temp to be a fake guest at a theme party where a 'pretend' murder was committed. The guests had to figure out who the murderer was. And you know what? The temp did it!"
- "One unusual assignment I had been serving as a member of a mock jury for pretrial preparations."
- "I assisted the authors in doing the research for this book."
- "It is always easy to get temps to go to the test kitchens at a widely read women's magazine and to have them assist in the preparation and tasting of new recipes."
- Washing and stacking clipboards . . . over five hundred of them!
- "Once I and another temp had to hand-address the Christmas card envelopes for a company whose list had 3,144 names."
- Inventory work in a roach-infested stockroom.
- Folding paper bags.
- "Distributing flyers on a city street comer. I was afraid I'd be arrested for littering . . . everyone was throwing them on the ground."
On one of my assignments I was asked to use a transcription machine to transcribe an important interview for a magazine article. There were several of us working to get this project done, and we worked until almost four in the morning because of the crazy deadline. My supervisor stressed that I had to get every word and that the text should read accurately.
This wasn’t so easy, since the interview took place in a restaurant over dinner and I had to deal with background noise, like conversation from other tables and silverware and dishes clanging.
I listened to one segment for almost an hour I was in tears because I couldn’t get it and the supervisor was making me a nervous wreck. I slowed it down, I spend it up; but still I couldn’t get it. After I transcribed the whole tape, I came back to that portion and tried again for about another hour, At 3:30 A.M. we got a call from the person who did the interview, asking how it was going. I told him the section of the tape that was giving me trouble, and I read the counter number to him so he could play his own copy of the tape back. I was really feeling good, like this was a team effort and I was part of this magazine staff.
Suddenly, the person on the other end of the phone starts calling me an idiot and tells me to put my supervisor on. The supervisor listens a few minutes and then looks at me like I’m a moron (even though she couldn’t figure out what was being said either). She said since I had finished the tape, I could go home . . . not even a thank-you. I asked what the tape said, and she told me the interviewee was asking the waiter for a cup of cappuccino. I remember I was embarrassed at the time, but now I can laugh at it. Still, it was one of my worst experiences as a temp.
