Anyone else have any funny "Temp" stories from your job?

[drclaws]

Temp stories? You mean like the time one was removed from my office in handcuffs after she took a swing at the security officer??

 

[disneyaggie]

Several years ago I worked at a company where the temp worked in payroll. Her job was to cut the checks, take them to the CEO for his signature and then distribute them out. Well, she got most of it.

She cut the checks, then distributed them . . . without the CEO's signature. The CEO who was out of town that day, was scrambling that evening when he got back to make sure everyone got theirs signed (even offered to meet people at their homes) so they would have a valid paycheck.

Oh, and the temp? Well, after she had the checks distributed, she left for lunch and never came back.

 

[missypie]

I work at a law firm. In the early years, we'd get a temp if our secretary was going to be out for a day. After a while, we realized that it was better to have no one than the temps we were getting. (Now, one of the other secretaries just helps out.)

I had one temp who walked out by about 10 am because she couldn't figure out how to use the phones. Mind you, this was in about 1992 and the phones were very low tech.

 

[puffkin]

We had a temp in my department who was brought in to help us out cause we were really busy. Did filing, boxing stuff up, things like that. I guess he really wanted to work for the company fulltime. The work slowed down and we felt bad for him and the bosses didn't want to let him go cause then he wouldn't have work so they told him just to sit tight, they would give him work when they found some. In his infinite wisdom, he waltzed into the Directors office and asked for work, told him he had nothing to do. The director let him go at the end of the day. How dumb can you get! If you are a temp. employee, you are only needed as long as work is there. He thought he was showing initiative, he just wrote his ticket home.......

My mom works at a law office so they get interns/temps all the time to help out with stuff. There files are set up by numbers. Each clients folder has a unique number. The files are filed in numerical order. If you need a file, you look up the clients card by name and it tells what number file they are. The temp filed all the cards in numerical order. They have 5000+ active files, all filed in numberical order. How the heck were they supposed to find a file?

Also had an intern who needed 8 more hours of time for their requirement. On wednesday afternoon, she stated she would come in from 9-12 on Thursday and Friday to finish up. When asked about the other 2 hours, she said that she would take her lunch break at home, no sense staying for an extra hour to eat lunch and then going home at 1. Huh? Last time I checked Lunch was not a part of their hours requirement. Still couldn't figure out the logic on that one!

 

[sk8belle]

I had a temp at one of my past jobs who started out OK. After a week or two, she started talking about how she'd come in and start looking under desks and tables in case kids had gotten in during the evening and were hiding. We worked on the 7th floor of a secure building, so I'm not sure how she thought they got there. A few days later, she asked one of my coworkers if she could see the ghosts down in the courtyard. At that point, I started keeping a list in preparation for when we'd have to let her go. Things just got weirder from there. It ended when I caught her screaming at a customer over the phone that she had a right to know if there was a bomb in the building. To get her to leave the office, we had to call security to escort her out. After that, we'd occassionally get phone calls from her, during one of which she accused me of murdering people. I'm just hoping this woman got the help she very obviously needed.

 

[florida-again]

I love this thread! I am a temp and am thankfully pretty normal!
But I once worked with another temp who would stare at me all day and ask if I believed in ghosts. She kept telling me about her past life and how she could feel her and I were meant to meet and we had connected on a spiritual level.

And she kept telling me to keep my voice down and I have a really quiet voice!

Needless to say a year on I'm still here and she is not!