Idea for a website...

[Cathy]

What do you think of making a web site community for temps? I imagine a site with a facility for surveying wages so you could look up the city you live in and see what you should expect to earn, a facility for recommending good agencies and a rant board for sharing bad experiences. Also, links to games, ideas for fun things to do at your desk and a philosophical space to help you regain your zen! What do you think? Would you use it? What else could I include?

[Seraphina]

lol i love it, great idea! you may be onto something there RO....! maybe you could have a career as a web designer or something?!

[Cathy]

Further possible things to be included: Name and Shame, for really bad agencies, a monthly award for extreme bravery/perseverence/achievement in the face of extreme mundaneness/humiliation/pyschologically abusive working environments. Links to fabulous websites such as this one, and e-texts for reading fans. I used to have a website about Brief Encounter, but it wasn't very sophisticated! I think I would probably have to majorly upgrade my IT skills! But it sounds like a good project...what should I call it? What else should it include?

[Seraphina]

www.the_temp_strikes_back.com?!?!?

hmmm what about 'skiving tips', or 'how to look busy when you're not'?

Oooh, maybe a help facility for basic office duties? Like how to make the photocopier sort and staple? Or how to set up a mail merge? These are two things that I didn't know how to do, and when I asked if someone could show me they looked at me as if I was completely thick and said 'you don't know how to do that?! what did they TEACH you at university?!' I just felt like shouting why the hell would i EVER need to set up a mail merge as part of my course?! the sort and stack thing, MAYBE, but there's no need to make us feell stupid about it! THat should DEFINITELY be an area in it!

[Cathy]

Maybe an area for sharing office games, a bit like the ones teachers play when invigilating exams... or coughing and seeing how many people cough with you? I need better ideas for that section!

The basic skills section would also be useful for looking like you're working when you aren't! You have a semi-legitimate reason for looking at the site.

Maybe guided day-dreams... I find that when I get really bored I can't even think of something to think about!!! I like trying to make dramatic stories work in the context of my job - I have an idea for a thriller set in a telephone directory office!!!!!!!!! Its ridiculous but almost might work. Maybe similar things might work at your office?! An epic romance centred around a photocopier... A data-entry clerk with a dark secret...

A phrasebook for interpreting management speak and a guide for how to cope with inane lift-banter without alerting colleagues to your true personality, how to deal with nosy or offensive enquiries without ruining atmosphere forever!!! Office etiquette. What is office etiquette anyway? And why does no one follow it (whatever it is)? I mean, why is there always someone willing to pipe up with 'the thing I don't like about religion is...' or 'what I don't understand about homosexuality is...' You get the idea!