My Old Standby Agency
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My Life As A Vicious NYC Temp:
My Old Standby Agency
I went to my Old Standby agency today to pick up my check for working one day for them last week on a Saturday (I had worked 40 hours last week for another agency). When my Old Standby Agency Owner saw me she said, "Oh!, There's Chris now", and she said this as if she was fighting not to laugh. Obviously, they had been discussing me and they thought something or other involving me was rather funny.
I first started working for Old Standby sometime in 1991 or 1992, more than nine years ago. During the nine years that I have worked for Old Standby, they have consistently under paid me and consistently passed me over when permanent employment opportunities came their way. A temp agency I just registered with a couple of weeks ago pays me $5.00 per hour more for the same kind of work I get from Old Standby, even though the people at Old Standby and I are suppose to be these very very good old friends.
Now I know that Old Standby doesn't really like me, and of course I don't really like them either. They think that I am an idiot and I think that they are idiots. I'm also quite sure that Old Standby bad mouths me to other temps, because they have called me on the phone and bad mouthed other temps who are friends of mine to me. But then temping is not really about liking each other is it?
The way temping works in NYC is that somebody who is fucking and or sucking someone at some big company (or who is fucking or sucking someone who is fucking or sucking someone at some big company) gets their temp agency qualified as a temp agency with that big company. Now the only thing a temp agency in Manhattan needs temps for is to have a third independent party sign the timesheets to make the transfer of funds from the company to the agency legal.
Okay, back to Old Standby. I am picking up my check as said and they are laughing at me, but I pretend not to notice. One of the things that makes my pretending not to notice easier is that I had just fucked Old Standby out of 7 weeks of income by switching from them to another agency. Old Standby was sending me to this one law firm on and off (mostly off) for more than three years. Now about 7 weeks ago, I switched from Old Standby to another temp agency at the same client, so effectively at 40 hours a week, at $25.00 per hours for 7 weeks, I think I have screwed Old Standby out of enough money to make up for them underpaying me so far this year. And I have taken other clients from Old Standby over the years and either gotten other agencies deals with Old Standby's clients or made private deals with Old Standby's clients with my own consulting company. When I have had insider info on some hot new client, I ALWAYS give that info to any and everyone EXCEPT old Standby.
All this fucking and fucking over, and yet my relationship with Old Standby some how manages to continue. Old Standby continues to give me work when they absolutely can't find another temp in New York City that is available. And I, like the whore that I am, I continue to take work from Old Standby when there is absolutely no other work in New York City available.
