Work is bad for blogging

Currently working seven days a week on a project that will end quickly by offers much overtime. You have to take it when they offer it -- that's Rule No. 2 -- and you better take it now, because Rule No. 3 teaches us that tomorrow is too late: every project ends tomorrow. Anyway, getting home at 10:30 at night, taking care of business and trying to get enough sleep to get up at 5:30 doesn't leave much time for blogging. Hence, my silence lately. Sorry about that, and I'll try to be better. Maybe a little more blogging behind enemy lines.

Time for another rule

This would be Rule No. 12. It is related to the First Corollary to Rule No. 7, which states that a good seat is, by definition, one in which you will not draw attention. Rule No. 12 is: Do not stand out. This means you want to stay off the radar of anyone with the firm. You don't want them to think you're really good, you don't want them to think you are really awful. You just don't want them to know who you are, what your name is, or anything. You want to be that guy in the middle. No distinguishing characteristics.

Well, I apparently fucked up. For some reason, the firm's privilege guru made me one of the first two people put on privilege QC (quality control, people). This means I now have to actually think, deciding whether a document is privileged or not, despite how the first reviewer coded it. This is not a preferred position. I am making the same amount of money as everyone else, but a wrong decision now can potentially get me fired. No one ever got fired for calling too much stuff privileged, but a lot of people have been fired for deciding a document is not privileged when the firm later decides that it is. Je suis really fucking unhappy.

I think we've got some new rules

As most of you know, there are rules in Temp Town. Up until now, I have posted only six rules. Of course, No. 1 and No. 6 are "They're lying." "They" is the firm, the agency and the client. One or all of them are probably lying at any given moment. It is not in their best interests to tell you the truth, so they don't.

Anyway, as I sat there the other day, being oppressed (see Rule No. 8 below), I realized that there are more rules that need to be codified. So I have done so. Without further ado, our newest rules are:

Rule No. 7: Do whatever you have to do to get a good seat. Your seat is all you have as a temp.
Corrollary to Rule No. 7: If your seat is where someone from the firm will notice you, it isn't a good seat.
Rule No. 8: The firms believe temps will steal the silver given half a chance and treat you accordingly.
Corrollary to Rule No. 8: Behavior by at least some temps largely justifies this belief.
Rule No. 9: Don't agonize over responsiveness calls. The document is or is not responsive -- you have a 50-50 chance of getting it right. If it might be responsive, put it in. Otherwise, put it out and move on. Low numbers are death.
Rule No. 10: Definitely don't agonize over privilege calls. If you think it might be privileged, mark it privileged. Nobody ever got fired for over-privving, but lots of people have been fired for letting a single privileged document get through.

I have no doubt there are more. Someday, they will occur to me.

Nobody said this was easy

Metro had yet another of its regular failings this morning, delaying my arrival by about 45 minutes. I remarked to a temp I know that this would make it difficult, but not impossible, for me to hit 60 hours this week. (That's the upper limit on this project, and remember rules 2 and 3). His reply was pure temp wisdom:

"60 isn't for sissies."

Words to live by. Yeah, I plan to hit 60 again this week. Remember Rule No. 2. And Rule No. 3.