I was Temping
I was hired as a Temp to do filing for a large camera and optics distributer in the Marketing Department. After a week and a half I finished the work that they thought would take a month to do. Seeing that, the supervisor in the department approached me and asked if I would be interested in the Customer Service Position that another temp held. It seemed that even with a college degree this other person could not handle the desk. (Didn't finish college myself). I said yes because I truely enjoyed working with the people in the department. With the help of the supervisor we got the desk organized and I ran it smoothly. It was a tough, busy job. I was handeling a specific area of customer service for the customers who did not get their rebates for whatever reason; and the company they outsourced the rebates too were continually losing imperative paperwork to process them or would input addresses incorrectly. I was constantly getting phone calls from customers who weren't getting they're rebates, and It was my job, alone, to figure out how to get the customers what they deserved. I received letters of thanks, cards and even christmas gifts for my son and me from customers who were grateful for what I had done for them. I would also get constant calls from customers thanking me for my help.
But every customer wasn't so pleased. For some there was nothing I could do to help. They would call yelling, cussing me out. Calling me all sorts of names because the company required certian documentation and they didn't want to send it. The last week I worked there I returned a call from a woman who was inquiring about her rebate. The minute I identified myself as a 'blah, blah' employee she began to yell at me and cuss me in 2 languages telling me that she had already been in contact with her lawyer and she was going to sue us for her rebate and punitative damages. I tried very hard to calm her down. The first step is to verify that the address was correct in the computer, which it was. I also noted that the check was mailed a week and a half earlier and I explained that to her. She demanded that the check be in her hands no later then tomorrow morning. Well, maybe I just have little patience for people who treat me like a peon, but I just wouldn't do her the favor of having a check cut for her then and there and spending $15.00 of the companies money to send that nasty woman her money; I felt that I deserved a lot more respect then what she had shown me. If she had been nice I would have gone out of my way to send her that check as I had done so many times in the past for other customers. That was a thursday.
The next day, Friday, I went into work. I spent the whole day cleaning up the desk so that I could do catch up on Monday when I came in of calls that I needed to return and back up paperwork that was sitting around that I hadn't had a chance to get to. I even stayed a little late to finish it. On my way home, my cell phone rings and it's my councelor from the temp agency telling me that my job assignment ended becuase of my bad attitude with a customer. I had just moved into a new apartment with my boyfriend and had a 9 year old who was about to turn 10 in 2 weeks. I never thought that this job would end like that especially considering the praise I received from customers and associates at the company.
To end the story ironically, they did get another temp at that desk who, after 3 weeks, had disorganized everything and they had to hire a second temp (a friend of mine) to help the one they hired to replace me. I recently ran into someone who I became friendly with at that office and she told me that even with 2 people working that job, they could not keep up with how well and organized I ran that desk.
I say Ha!
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Yeah, I too have gotten those calls from my temp agency saying "your assignment has ended." I was hired as a 90 day temp to hire with a small construction company. My job was to cover the front desk, get the phone, and enter invoices in the computer. I was told that they'd had a "series of temps" who couldn't seem to get a handle on the work. I soon discovered that no one had apparently done anything for months. Stacks of unpaid invoices were piled on every available surface in my office. The phone rang off the hook from angry vendors wanting their money. Employees wanted reimbursement for expenses. Receipts with no name attached were spilling out of a huge basket. It took a long time, but gradually my efforts paid off and everyone got their money. I got everything filed away, made a new set of files for the new fiscal year, and actually saw the top of my desk for the first time. I received many compliments and praise from employees and vendors alike. I was able to diffuse angry phone calls by treating them with courtesy and respect. Then, just as my 90 days were up and I was anticipating being hired permanently, I got a phone call from the temp agency, saying that my assignment had ended and not to report back there for work. I was shocked to the core! I had no idea of what I'd done wrong, and the temp office manager only said that "they felt you were the wrong person for the job." How could I be the wrong person when I'd gotten everything caught up and everyone had their money for the first time in four months? I had already left work for the day, like you had, and I had some personal belongings in my desk -- an umbrella, coffee mug, things like that. I never did go back and get them. I found out later that the company always rotated temps in and out on a 90 day basis so they wouldn't have to hire them and pay them benefits. The temp agency claimed they hadn't known that, but they did because they were the ones supplying the temps! At least I know I did nothing wrong, but it still hurts.