Good Saturday morning! Thank you for joining me. Come on in from the rain for some hot or cold drinks!
Mother Nature is showering us with spring storms which has somewhat dampened my weekend but it’s fortunate because I happen to have no hiking plans or any plans this weekend. Actually, I was planning on snuggle beneath a blanket with a good book this weekend.
It better not rain next weekend though, I’ve signed up for a church activity which I have been looking forward for weeks. More will be revealed later. 😉
So how’s your week?
If we were having drinks, I would tell you my garden is somewhat blooming. My cherry and plum trees are still alive and my dahlias are blooming leaves, flowers will hopefully follow in the summer. My tomatoes and peppers, on the other hand, haven’t been doing well.
These seedlings have been behaving like vampires. They don’t like to be in the sun. I left them out in the sun all day on Monday while I was at work and when I got home, I found them wilted which ultimately forced me to transfer the seedlings to my raised garden beds. Now, I just hope they are alive and growing since I can’t really tell.
If we were having drinks, I would tell you I applied for a full-time job and will have an interview next week. Wish me luck!
I would tell you my boss from my current part-time job and I chatted earlier this week. He asked me how many hours the temp agency told me about this job. I told him 25 hours but it turned out to be only 15 hours. I couldn’t believe it.
I also discovered the temp agency has been charging the company I work for 1.75 times the amount they’re paying me. Basically, they are paying me $20/hour but charging the company $35 which makes me feel sad for my boss and for working so many hours. I had seen invoices from temp agencies before when I worked for the hay company and never seen a company charge so much more than what the employee gets.
I don’t want to lose this job but now, I just have to hope my boss will hire me on as part of the company because I am not a fan of being a part of the temp agency. I’m not sure they can be trusted to tell me the right information.
Finally, if we were having drinks, I would tell you I had a blast on my hiking trip last weekend. It was most likely the best hike I have ever been on and I enjoyed conversing with others. Talking helps me to practice my English conversational skills because conversing too much in Chinese tend to make my English accent thicker while I’m trying to reduce my accent.
If we were having drinks, I would show you some of the pictures from my hiking trip last weekend while thanking you for joining me today and I hope to be back next weekend.
This is Another Story 
Good luck with the full time job. That is terrible about the temporary agency. We have a couple weeks with 80°F and yesterday it only got to 65°F. and it rain heavily most of the day. I am reading a book I wanted to read since I got ARC.
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Thank you. It was the first time and probably the last I use a temp agency. The weather been pretty much the same here – cold and damp.
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Unfortunately that is the way that temp companies make their money. My husband has had the same experience. Companies do need to use temp agencies as people will not take on a job willingly for only a few hours.
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True and companies seem to trust temp agencies more than applicants since one had to go through a round of interview with the agency first.
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Hi Yinglan, I’m glad you have an interview for another job and I’m sad the temp agency didn’t tell the truth. However, so you know, temp agencies or ‘head hunters’ always charge the company more. It’s to make money of course, but also b/c they can interview and get rid of any potential job candidates that don’t fit a company’s needs. They do the leg work, so to speak, so a company doesn’t have to go through applicants that essentially, don’t have the skills they need or don’t fit into their workplace environment. Plus, I’m they have to pay the temp agency an amount on top of that extra hourly amount, depending on your position. For some companies, this is a lot easier for them to do, and saves money and time, despite the initial costs. I think they have $ returned, if you decided to leave before a year was up, if you an official contract with the company, after your done temping and/or your company through the temp agency is up.
So for instance, when I started as receptionist at my first job job at 22, when I temped there 3 months (a temp contract) m, the temp agency charged them $26.00 and I made $15.00/hr. What I made was still better than what I made as a student. When I negotiated after the contract, to stay with the place, I made &17.50/h and had benefits after 3 months, vacation, and a a very good Christmas bonus.
I didn’t know that at the time, given my degree, what was involved in the job etc. I should have asked for around $20.00/h and a third week of vacation (instead of 2) if nothing else. Most of my friends got 3 weeks to begin with.
So just saying this is typical for temp companies. The company I ended working for after temping had to pay the temp agency around $5000 to hire me on permanent. When I became ill 9 months later & could not go back b/c of how my condition, they did get partial reimbursement. I think about $4000 back, so I heard.
I would tell the temp agency and your rep, & let them know you know they lied. Just email them and say: ‘ thank you for finding me this job, but I do not appreciate you not truthfully telling me the number of hours the company I now work for wanted, for a permenant job position. 15 hours is much different than 25. I love the job but was disappointed that this wasn’t made clear by you up front. Maybe someone just screwed up not on-purpose and have you the wrong information. Maybe the weren’t listening or paying attention, it happens. But it might be good to let them know for the future, in a nice way. Nicer than I said it lol.
Also your hike sounds like a great deal of fun. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Cheers, I’m doing mimosas this morning! 😉
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At the moment, the company I work for don’t have a contract with the temp agency. The job is supposed to be temp-to-hire. The agency told me they’ll try to talk with my boss in one month to see if he wants to hire me into the company. I’m disappointed that they told me different hours but in a way, I’m glad it’s 15 hours because there really isn’t much to do in this company. So if I do have a full-time, it won’t overwhelm me too much.
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That’s good it worked out. Yes, since you’re company, when I temped, me specifically, had a contract with the employer via the temp agency. If you like it, I hope you can stay. If not it’s more experience right 🙂
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Yeah, I’m glad it’s working out too. 🙂
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What wonderful photos! I wish you the best of luck with your job, and the upcoming weather!
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Thank you.
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Good luck with the job!
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Thanks. 🙂
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Good luck on ypur intetview
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Thank you.
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Greetings Yinglan. Thanks for the great coffee chat. It was a pleasure getting to know you some. I do agree with several of the comments above. This is the way these temp agencies work and it is very good even for your manage now. I work in High Tech, here in California and have been the hiring manager so I have some experience with this stuff. Part of what your company is paying for is the convenience and flexibility of having you only part time. Normally, a suitable person like you, is quickly available for limited hours and a limited time. You could do this yourself, without the temp agency, but that can be a royal pain. Anyway, from what you described, your company is not being somehow taken advantage of. Also, you know that if the company has a full time need and you show yourself to have the talent and skills they need, they will also already know you when the minimal number of weeks or months have been worked for the temp agency. Think of it a try before they buy and you get a great chance to show them what you can do rather than just tell them what you can do. Finally, I hope the disconnect between your hours and what you were promised turns out to be an unfortunate accident or misunderstanding. Be open to that. Be graceful to your company regardless and be that person they’re going to want to keep for a full time gig for a long time after your part time gig is over. Best wishes. Gary
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Hi Gary, I agree, the company is paying the agency for the convenience and flexibility. I just thought the price was a tad outrageous because I had dealt with temp agencies in my previous job and they did not cost as much but I guess the charge depends on the type of job.
And yes, having an agency is much easier than doing the job hunting on my own because I don’t have as much resource as the agency has.
I sure hope the difference between the hours was just another misunderstanding. There has already been a few of those but it’s better than not having work at all so I’m grateful for that.
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Best wishes on the interview, and most sorry about the misinformation on the part of the temp agency. I think that I would not do a good job of handling that situation. Glad you and your employer are communicating, however.
Our green-and-growing things are not doing as well as I’d like, thanks to a dip in temperatures, beginning of the week. Fortunately, not all of the tulips had bloomed, and so I look forward to some more of those to appear before the wildflower garden takes off. Wishing you good luck on the gardening!
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Thank you. I think I just learned not to expect too much, thus makes handling disappointing news easier.
The weather has been so crazy this year. I’m just glad the plants came out and not ended up rotting in the ground. I too wish you good luck with your gardening.
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Great photos! So peaceful looking.
Wow! I have never heard of a temp agency that does that, but ibhave been retired for quite a few years. Add to that, i haven’t been to a temp agency since my mid twenties, so things might have changed. (i was 25 thirty years ago this summer.) 😀
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Wow, I bet temp agency changed quite a bit since then. I have worked with a temp agency regarding billing issues before but this was the first time I used an agency to help me find job.
Thank you for reading. 🙂
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Hi Yinglan and thank you very much for the coffee. The photos of your hike look fantastic and it must’ve been so relaxing. great you had an opportunity for you to practice your English. It’s one of those things, once you decide to make that transition, you need to keep practicing and moving forward. However, it’s also important to maintain your cultural ties with your Chinese side as well. Not lose track of who you are in the mix. I feel that a bit myself from time to time because I have German-Australian heritage and it’s something that doesn’t seem right because my family came out from Germany so long ago but they retained their cultural ties and I have lived in Germany myself so there is that connection as well.
We humans are much more complicated than we think.
Best wishes,
Rowena
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Hi Rowena, thank you for stopping by for some coffee. The hike was indeed relaxing. It’s always relaxing to be in nature, I think. As hard as I try to hold on to my Chinese roots, it gets difficult sometimes because I’ve live in the US longer than I’ve live in China. So sometimes, I think it’s better to embrace one of the two rather than trying to hold on to both cultures.
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It’s a hard one, and I think many people drift backwards and forwards with the balance.
I am a sixth generation Australian and yet my German side is more German than German and they established their own communities here and had the Lutheran Church to hold them together too. However, it’s really watering down now and my kids are what I’d describe as non-cultural, which could just make them “Australian”.
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I think after so many years away from China, I have become sort of non-cultural myself too. 🙂
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Really nice pics, and good luck with the full time job!
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Thank you.
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Very interesting post. I love the if we were having drinks… very cool perspective. Well done.
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Thank you.
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