Sellout

I was really excited when one of the temp agencies I'm with called this morning. I missed the call initially because I had my phone on silent from work last night, and I forgot to switch over to normal mode. I thought maybe they were calling to inform me that I got the job I interviewed for. Boy, was I wrong...

She explained that they had a little bit of an emergency and needed me to work somewhere until about 5:00 to fill in for a woman who called off. She explained that everyone else she had called that was a temp said they were busy and couldn't make it. I wasn't too thrilled as today was my last day I had off from work this week, and I wanted to relax, but for the sake of getting some extra cash and making myself sound like a good worker, I took the opportunity. I was responsible for answering the phone (two lines) and filing. How bad could it be?

I finally arrived at the company after missing it on the drive down and having to turn around. The woman (I'll call her "Jan") who greeted me was very friendly and cordial. "Jan" briefly explained what I needed to do, which was just as I was explained on the phone. I needed to answer phone calls, and she gave me a stack of papers she needed alphabetized. She apologized for the "busy work," but I was more than happy to have something to do to keep from biting my nails and pulling my hair out. She needed to run out for what she said would be an hour (it was actually four), so I was left alone in that building for my entire shift without a trace of another human being other than a coworker every one to two hours.

Everything was going as well as could be expected. I was bored out of my mind because it only took me a half hour to alphabetize that paperwork. The customers that called were cordial, and I had no problems with them. Taking messages was an absolute breeze. Why wouldn't it be? You don't have to deal with all the specifics. You just pass along the message to someone more knowledgeable. Well, that part was just fine.

What wasn't good were some of the coworkers that called every so often to check on things. They were asking me questions I didn't have answers to and were frustrated that "Jan" wasn't there to help them out. Ok, I can understand being frustrated, but I'm just filling in and have no clue what goes on around here. Every time they called, they made it a point to be rude, disrespectful, and degrading in regards to my mental capacity (insinuating I was an idiot at points by certain comments). On top of that, the two that gave me the problems were the owner and his son. Hey, I dropped everything to help you guys out on my day off. The least you could do is be respectful to me.

One instance was when the son of the owner asked if a fax he was waiting for had come in. I told him I didn't know anything about it but was just filling in for the day. He wanted me to check in the other office to see if it had come up. I said I didn't know if his was in there because he didn't give me any indication as to what it looks like. He told me to look and describe what was there because "I can't see it over the phone." No crap.

We determined that his fax hadn't come through, so he rudely asked me to call the company whose fax he was waiting for and ask what the holdup was and call him back. Ok, that'd be great if I had the number. I didn't bother to ask. I just wanted to get off the phone. I looked through their paperwork and was able to find the number for the company. I called there, and asked the guy the information I needed. He informed me that my "coworker" was bothering him all day and calling "every three minutes," and he basically wanted him to hold his horses. I'm thinking the same thing right now. I'll gladly pass along the message.

I called the coworker back and delivered the message. He told me to call back when the fax came in. I did.
"Yeah?"
"It's Rachel. Your fax came in."
>insert deafening silence here<
"Ok..."
"Yeah, it came in."
"Ok...I can't read it through the phone. You need to tell me what it says," he rudely replied.
Well, you didn't tell me you needed the info off it. Don't sit on the phone expecting me to read your mind.
I began trying to read the fax until he interrupted me because I was apparently telling him useless information off it.
"No! I don't need to know all that! Just read me the parts, ok? I don't need the model numbers, alright?"
Apparently, I read too much of the part names too because he interrupted me once again.
"No, not that! I don't care about that! Just read me the part."
Well, as far as I could tell, what I was reading was part of the name of the part. How am I supposed to differentiate?

If I'm ever asked to go back there to help them out, they can forget it. Even though "Jan" was very pleasant, some of her coworkers were just rude and disrespectful. No wonder everyone was "busy" today. They've probably had to fill in there before and don't even bother anymore. I couldn't blame them either.
Ah, the sacrifices you make to prove you're reliable. I feel like I'm selling out.