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A Slight Miscalculation
Sep. 27th, 2007 07:39 pmOkay, so they were being a little ambitious about the job I'm currently on stretching for 5 days or more. Which sucks because that's one that, ridiculous as the actual job is, I would be so happy to keep long-term.
The ad agency by which I have been employed is approximately ten shades of awesome. They told me 'smart-casual with an emphasis on casual'; I did not expect this to mean blue jeans as standard. Seriously; my contact person came to meet me in the reception foyer in one of those tight-fit emo-boy jumpers, blue jeans and ratty trainers. I had much glee. I had more glee when he was like, "Sweets?" (hands me bowl of sweets on reception desk), and then ... "Coffee?" I'm used to having a kettle and bringing my own instant or something, and at the last place, where they provided proper coffee and tea twice daily for coffee breaks, I felt treated and spoiled. This place? This place has a barista. It's like having a Starbucks in the lobby, only you don't have to pay and the coffee is better. At which point I am thinking, "I don't ask much, o ye gods, but please please find me a permanent position in a place like this..."
So I am sat down at a laptop (in case I wanted to work somewhere quieter - oh gods, as if there wasn't enough to love about this place) and given the brief: type up the relevant bits of these interviews on digital dictaphone whosits. Okay, so there's a few minor snags with this. No footpedal, no actual transcription machine, but I'm not expected to type everything verbatim, so that's okay. Only it turns out, I don't have to type about half of each interview. Which means that this is going to be a lot faster than people thought. As in, I got just under half the work done today, when I came in at eleven on the request of the management so that they could get me set up. I'm going in at half nine tomorrow. There's no way I can stretch this job past tomorrow afternoon. Not unless I slow down to far below my usual standard of work and generally arse about. Tough decision - I want to stay as long as I can, but their deadline's Tuesday anyway, so ... decisions, decisions.
I told them I could have it done by tomorrow afternoon. This was a tactical manoeuvre on my part. For one thing, companies tend to stick with a particular employment agency as often as they can, which means that they will call the agency again one day when they need another temp for a job like that or maybe even a proper admin role. If I comport myself well in this job ... well, look at it this way - someone gets your work done in half the time it was supposed to take, got you more deadline time to play with and makes you look stellar as a result, you're going to remember her. And probably ask her back. So I'm building a nice solid foundation which I hope will one day lead to a proper permanent position there or someplace like it. Also, if I get the job finished by Friday, I'm back on the call list for Monday instead of losing a week owing to being unavailable for the first few days of said week. This means there's a better chance of getting something else next week than there would have been otherwise, and keeps me available for long-term assignments and interviews. On the whole, it's better to just get the job done to the best of my abilities than to stretch it out just so I can stay in Office of Ultimate Cool.
They were very happy with the fact that I could get it done by tomorrow. Seems my plan is working. Still, I'll be sad to leave. I like that place. Even the fact that it's open plan and as a consequence noisy as hell didn't bother me. I really hope I get another assignment there or somewhere like it.
In other news, I am totally exhausted. The insomnia coupled with the snorebeast has got to stop. I have herbal sleeping pill things and gods I hope they work. Fed up with this 'four hours a night or less' shit.
The ad agency by which I have been employed is approximately ten shades of awesome. They told me 'smart-casual with an emphasis on casual'; I did not expect this to mean blue jeans as standard. Seriously; my contact person came to meet me in the reception foyer in one of those tight-fit emo-boy jumpers, blue jeans and ratty trainers. I had much glee. I had more glee when he was like, "Sweets?" (hands me bowl of sweets on reception desk), and then ... "Coffee?" I'm used to having a kettle and bringing my own instant or something, and at the last place, where they provided proper coffee and tea twice daily for coffee breaks, I felt treated and spoiled. This place? This place has a barista. It's like having a Starbucks in the lobby, only you don't have to pay and the coffee is better. At which point I am thinking, "I don't ask much, o ye gods, but please please find me a permanent position in a place like this..."
So I am sat down at a laptop (in case I wanted to work somewhere quieter - oh gods, as if there wasn't enough to love about this place) and given the brief: type up the relevant bits of these interviews on digital dictaphone whosits. Okay, so there's a few minor snags with this. No footpedal, no actual transcription machine, but I'm not expected to type everything verbatim, so that's okay. Only it turns out, I don't have to type about half of each interview. Which means that this is going to be a lot faster than people thought. As in, I got just under half the work done today, when I came in at eleven on the request of the management so that they could get me set up. I'm going in at half nine tomorrow. There's no way I can stretch this job past tomorrow afternoon. Not unless I slow down to far below my usual standard of work and generally arse about. Tough decision - I want to stay as long as I can, but their deadline's Tuesday anyway, so ... decisions, decisions.
I told them I could have it done by tomorrow afternoon. This was a tactical manoeuvre on my part. For one thing, companies tend to stick with a particular employment agency as often as they can, which means that they will call the agency again one day when they need another temp for a job like that or maybe even a proper admin role. If I comport myself well in this job ... well, look at it this way - someone gets your work done in half the time it was supposed to take, got you more deadline time to play with and makes you look stellar as a result, you're going to remember her. And probably ask her back. So I'm building a nice solid foundation which I hope will one day lead to a proper permanent position there or someplace like it. Also, if I get the job finished by Friday, I'm back on the call list for Monday instead of losing a week owing to being unavailable for the first few days of said week. This means there's a better chance of getting something else next week than there would have been otherwise, and keeps me available for long-term assignments and interviews. On the whole, it's better to just get the job done to the best of my abilities than to stretch it out just so I can stay in Office of Ultimate Cool.
They were very happy with the fact that I could get it done by tomorrow. Seems my plan is working. Still, I'll be sad to leave. I like that place. Even the fact that it's open plan and as a consequence noisy as hell didn't bother me. I really hope I get another assignment there or somewhere like it.
In other news, I am totally exhausted. The insomnia coupled with the snorebeast has got to stop. I have herbal sleeping pill things and gods I hope they work. Fed up with this 'four hours a night or less' shit.