The more things change, the more they stay the same

This might be a new project, but the things we are being ragged about are the same old shit we hear about on every project. Does any of this sound familiar? Yeah, I think so:

I am writing to everyone to address a few housekeeping items, PLEASE READ these as I would like to not have to police the group or send multiple emails regarding these topics throughout the project as it gets repetitive, nagging and exhausting.
REMINDER:: You are in a SHARED workspace.
Refrain from doing the following (to ease any olfactory distress of your coworkers):
Spraying any sort of smelling products into the air within the workspace (use the restroom or outside)
Wearing excessive perfume/cologne (remember, everyone may not have the same sensory enjoyment as you)
Cooking malodorous foods in our shared kitchen
Eating malodorous foods at the desk
Taking your shoes off at your desk
Please also note that, since this is a shared work space, keep your conversations to a low tone and minimum within the space, as it can get distracting for the people around you.
Should you need to take a phone call, DO NOT take calls in the hallway or lobby outside the suite. This disrupts the other businesses that we share a floor with. Please step outside the building to make calls. Thank you.
Be completely cognizant of your surroundings, please keep the personal items on your desk within YOUR personal space—please be spatially aware when you are expanding into your neighbor’s space as it is not conducive to a tension-free working environment for the whole.
Lastly, and this SHOULD BE common sense, but it has been requested to review the dress code requirements to the space. I know it is getting warm, but PLEASE adhere to the dress code set forth in our TPI Handbook. You all received this handbook with your onboarding email. For your reference, should you need it, please refer to Page 22 on the section titled “Personal Appearance.”
Thank you for reading this ENTIRE message all the way through.

Yes, I provided the entire email, because I think it is informative.I think I have received an email like this on pretty much every project I've ever been on. These are the things people complain about, and these are the things that people keep doing regardless of how much people complain or agencies tell them not to do these things. The people doing these things don't fucking care if they are offending other people, or pissing people off, or whatever. It's part of why they are in Temp Town. They have no clue that what they are doing makes other people unhappy. Which is why these emails have no effect.

There's something kind of special about an agency's efforts to build trust with contract attorneys

Why, yes, that blog post title is dripping with sarcasm, why do you ask? The agency I just left was, when my project there ended, promising to roll people over shortly to another project. I chose not to wait and am now elsewhere. Once I started here, I received an email from the agency I was working for inviting me to join a project starting next week. I let them know that I appreciated the offer but was gainfully employed elsewhere and would let them know when I became available again. All standard, no worries, end of story.

But, no. A few people were kept on to finish up on privilege issues (legal privilege, not white privilege, you liberal morons) and they were told they would be rolled over to the next project. For a temp, "rolled over" is a term of art -- it means you move from one project to the next without an interruption in employment. Not, apparently, in this agency's lexicon. On June 2, a buddy of mine kept over for privilege work got the following email from another person kept over for privilege work:

Not sure if [the agency employee responsible for letting temps know what is going on] talked to you, but she had been texting us girls today, and said that now we won't be starting until June 10th.

This information being imparted, of course, to people who were expecting to start on June 2, since their project ended the Friday before. And, oh yeah, this information not being imparted to all of the temps, apparently.

Naturally, my buddy responded as any red-blooded temp would:

!!!!!.... im not waiting a friggen week!!!

Drawing this response from the temp who informed him that the rollover was not happening right away:

yeah. i know. I'm really pissed. and  [the agency employee responsible for letting temps know what is going on] is being fucking annoying bc she's like enjoy the week off guys! this gonna be a long term project! I'm like um its a 40 hour project with horrible hours, and now basically we won't have three weeks of 40 hour paycheck. it's so stupid. everyone is pissed. I'm def looking for other things now esp bc I'm annoyed. we could have started Friday.

Apparently folks were told they would roll over to a multiple-month project. As it turned out, the truth was less attractive -- 1-2 months, no overtime, must work 5 days a week. That is basically the worst kind of project. No wonder the agency didn't want to share details earlier. Glad I turned it down. So, my buddy responded to his better-informed friend:

Yeah I told [an employee of the agency who ranks higher than the person responsible for keeping temps informed] friday I didnt want to be on that project bc of the stupid 40 hr 8 hr a day policy.... plus they act like they are doing us a favour being locked into a 40 hr long term project?.... thanks for rewarding your favourite workers [the agency I recently worked for]!

Drawing this final response from my buddy's better-informed friend:

i know. it's ridiculous. i really hate [the agency I recently worked for]. I'm hoping i can find something else before Tuesday.

Is it just me, or is this agency not doing a good job of maintaining employee satisfaction? Alas, I don't think they are unusual.

And they call me Raised by Wolves . . .

Apparently the vaunted reverence for social norms that marks Temp Town has been violated recently at the agency where I’m working. In locations throughout the review facility, memos recently appeared addressing a recent rash of thefts of a particularly lowlife nature:

There have been several complaints from team members that others have been helping themselves to food that is not their own.  Please be considerate of your fellow employees, and take care the the food you are eating is the food that you brought and does not belong to anyone else.

Can we get serious for a minute here? No one, ever, not once, ever ate someone else’s food and did not know they were doing so. They don’t care. To even suggest they don’t know is not being charitable, it’s being insulting to the people whose food is being stolen. Insult is added to injury later when the memo asks temps to “continue to conduct themselves in a professional manner.” Professional what? Food thieves? Gimme a break. Call them thieves and be done with it. In fairness, the memo states that future violators will be fired.

Unfortunately, this is not uncommon behavior in Temp Town, where social standards can be such that our leper status with the rest of the legal community is understandable. At another agency where the same problem was rampant, a much more direct (and shorter) notice was posted: Don’t Eat Other People’s Food.

I can’t believe I work in an industry where signs like that are necessary.