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The Temp
Some stories of my former life as an office temp in NYC
When I lived in NYC after college (the second time, I dropped out of college for a year after my sophomore year and lived there but it’s another story!), I was there to study and in theory pursue acting.
I needed a job that had some semblance of health insurance because of my asthma and was flexible just in case Mr. Demille came knocking. I had my Bachelor’s degree which meant that, unlike my first stint in the city, this time I could get some corporate-type jobs.
I had been working in office jobs for the past year after graduating to save up money for my move back to the Big Apple. I started out at one temp agency in Mass. and worked my way through a couple more in NYC in the two and a half years I temped. I felt like I did well at most of my jobs, some lasted in the 5–6 months range so I did get attached/make real friends along the way which was a bonus.
The P.A. That’s personal assistant to you and me. I only p.a.’d a few times, the most memorable was probably when I worked for the agency boss, who was a crazy woman. She would come into work every day, dump her huge purse on her desk, and have whoever the sad-sack assisting her was “organize it”.
The thing somehow mutated into a mess of junk every day: receipts, remnants of snacks, fat rolls of cash, pet monkeys, you…
