Working with SA

[louise0501]

Hey, I just started a temp job through an agency and i have worked at this company before but it was temp again however they do tend to keep a lot of the temps on for long periods of time however last time i was there i was sacked after three months and all the other temps got to stay so it was difficult for it not to feel personal. this time im in the same department but working for the other team and the manager of the team i was in last time saw me and said 'hi' but looked so shocked to see me and i thought he wouldve had a chat to me and that but he seems to be avoiding me. i do feel very out of place there and i just sit at my desk and dont speak to anyone, im also going to be making outbound calls soon which scares me especially as they dont seem to offer much trainng. i just keep thinking any day they are gonna expire my contract as i'm to quiet and wont cope working on the phones.

I have just got another job working at a local theatre which is a bit more my sort of thing but its only casual hours so i can't rely on that.

Do you have any advice for me? can anyone relate to my situation? i just hate working but i have to go to work and i have as much right to work as anyone else.

Love Louise X

[weevil]

You do have just as much right to work there as anyone else, I'd be shocked if you could get fired for being quiet. Do you not speak to people because of social anxiety or because you don't feel you fit in? My last office job when I was more confident I was really lucky, I started on one floor where I was surprised to find out my job involved 90% outbound calls which I panicked loads about and nobody understood why. I was lucky to be offered to be moved upstairs where my personality fit in really well, I had only 10% not cold-calls. It ended up a "us vs. them" situation with downstairs as well and I was really glad to have moved.

Maybe keep in mind that it's a temp job and not what you want to do forever, if you do your work well you should be safe, you don't have to make life long friends there. I kept similar in mind, the work was easy but boring and I felt too old for it but I kept in mind what I was doing in the future and it got me through.

[louise0501]

Well the thing with this job is you are working by yourself at a computer so I don't really feel I need to talk to people whereas I worked in a cinema before and was more talkative to people there as we had to work as a team and I had more in common with the people there. I find the work I'm doing now so boring. I can't wait to start at the theatre, I might still find it tough at first but at the interview I shocked myself with how chatty I was. I have a couple of good friends, a great boyfriend and I get on well with my family so I don't really need to make friends. I think the only thing that worries me is what other people think and I might get fired for being too quiet and not being like everyone else. My parents don't really understand so what will I tell them if I get fired?

Love Louise x

[weevil]

You shouldn't get fired for something like that if you're doing the work then everything should be okay with them, it'd be more work for them to hire someone else. If you did get fired for no good reason your parents should be shocked and so should you, it should bring you all together not seperate you. I got turned away from a job interview for a petty reason once and was worried people would judge me but 99% of people I told were on my side and thought they were ridiculous. One person laughed at me but by then I'd had enough support to ignore it.

I'd feel relieved I think if I was mostly working on my own like that, at least you don't have to worry about needing to interact with people. It's annoying that it's boring but once the theatre work starts maybe that'll occupy your mind more so you don't think about this one so much?

[louise0501]

Yea the theatre work should be good and give me a bit of focus. I was thinking if they did bring up the fact I'm quiet that maybe I should just tell them the truth about having SA but they might laugh. Anyone told there boss? Is it better to be honest?

Love Louise x