Temp on!

So about this job I had last weekend....
It was a 2-day temp job, answering phones, fielding walk-in questions, compiling survey results and generally minding the store at a motorcycle show.
Fun people, good working conditions, if anything, I could have stood having more to do.
Still, I filled the terms of my contract and then some.
Made a couple quick bucks- not a fortune, by any means, but it does help!
Now about temping.

Anthology based on the concept of a superhero temp agency

Temping is having someone else sell your services and take a cut for their efforts. The employer contacts the agency, who in turn provides the labor (you) from a pool. It can be a very good deal for all concerned. The entity for which the work is done has minimal employer responsibilities, the employee makes some money and so does the employer.
And in rare cases, like that of my niece, working for the agency itself can become a career!
As an old girlfriend of mine once noted, temp agencies are de facto pimps.
That's a bit harsh, but there's a measure of truth in it.
But at its best, temping is advantageous to the employee too.
It allows you to try a job on for size. It gives you time to assess your place in the work world in general, and in the structure in which you are placed specifically.
In short, temping can be a transitional device for getting back into the work force.
Temping can serve a great many other functions.
When I was working as a temp at an insurance company one summer, I met a woman who worked as an archeological illustrator. There were only a couple dozen people in the world in her profession. She'd go on digs and draw the findings, making notes and a different kind of record than one could get through photography or handling the artifacts in question, the latter not always being practical.  During the off season, she picked a place she'd never lived before, or on rare occasion, one she knew and liked, and temp till the season for digs started up again and she was called to another nation to dig (though she sometimes got digs in the US).
This unorthodox example offers another possibility of temping. It affords an employee the opportunity for a very different life.
We're not all meant for the business world, and the labor classes are slowly getting easier to thrive in, but not there yet (more on that in another post). It's good to have a structure available that recognizes that.
It's like clothes shopping. How can you know if it fits if you don't try it on first?
Temping isn't really a career, it's a hundred related careers.
The down side is that temps don't always have work for you.
Then again, these days, who does?
As always, it's a question of choosing a path and walking it till you find another that suits you!