The Temp
by Serena Mackesy
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Description
"We all know how it works- first you go to School, then you go to University, and then you enter Real Life. And that's the important bit. Real Life is about achievement, recognition, choices. It's about a boss who trusts you, a wardrobe that suits you, friends who support you and a relationship that fulfils you. It`s a mobile phone, an expense account, a company car and a place to park it. Happily Ever After. Unforunately, Real Life isn't working that way for The Temp. She's managed the show more university bit, but the job, the dough and the happily-ever-after seem harder than anybody ever told her. Living in Stockwell while she moves through a series of jobs ranging from the horrifying mindless to the bemusingly witless to the simply extraordinary, she realises that something isn't right. Who cares about a boss who trusts you? She'd settle for a boss who knows her name. This can't be Real Life, can it? Building on the success of her INDEPENDENT column, Serena Mackesy has created a wonderfully witty, acerbic expose of office anthropology and a genuinely moving story about the early-twenties doldrums." show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
nessreader Romcoms with a similar sense of humour, an emphasis on friendships. Marion Keyes is also in this zone.
Member Reviews
I got this book for £1 from Instore and didn't expect much of it. Tempted (s'cuse the pun) by it's title, being a Temp myself, I found it to be fast moving, funny, moving and very intuitive with regards to how temps are treated in the office. People who don't know your name, always referred to as 'The Temp', never having a desk to call your own, and the way agencies punish you by not coming up with any jobs for ages if you refuse to take anything on offer all rang very true. It wasn't just about temping though, it was about friendship and struggling to find your place in life post-uni, it was a really good read in the end.
Superior chicklit written by a woman who seems to understand the sheer, grinding misery of office life. Populated with some realistic and non-glamorous characters - although also with an ex-boy-band member, which is not something most of us have in our life.
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stories at work
43 works; 7 members
Author Information
20+ Works 2,071 Members
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- Members
- 87
- Popularity
- 367,517
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.56)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, German, Italian
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 2
