Red Headed Step-children

For those of you in the know, the life of a contract temp attorney work is crazy at best. Part of the appeal is that you are working at different places, so if you find a place you don't like, you can rest assured that eventually you will move and be in a new place. The HUGE downside is the lack of job security or "normality" in your life. It is hard to get into a real "routine" if there is nothing really routine about your life. But, it is what I do, not by choice, and it is how I live.

One of the dark secrets about this work is the way that we are often treated in the workplace. We generally work at one of two places. We either work at the law firm itself, or in a space provided us by the temp agency. There are good and bad places to work. Law firms can tend to treat us as "mere temps" and ask that we not mingle with their real lawyers or use their facilities. Temp agencies tend to provide basics, like access to a kitchen and disposable plates, napkins, etc.

I have been treated like a guest at some of the best law firms in town and I have been treated like an illegitimate step-child by some of the almost best firms in town. The temp agencies tend to treat us as chattel, but are more likely to bring us bagels and donuts as an incentive to keep working longer hours. After all, the temp agencies only get paid if we are at our desks billing. It is a rare occurrence when a temp agency treats you as the step-child. The notion of working at a place with a kitchen but not being allowed to use it, or having to rinse the coffee pot in the bathroom if we want to make coffee is something I am not used to. Some days we are chattel, some days we are fellow employees, and some days we are illegitimate red-headed step-children produced by a bastard heir.

It is hard enough working next to someone who spends all day surfing the net and very little time "working", but when I have to take an elevator to the lobby to get coffee, it seems a bit harder to want to work.