Life as a Temp... a Vinette

It's 5:50am on a Saturday and the alarm is going off. The room in black and cold. I finished my drug test and background check yesterday on my lunch break to get this dispatch. By the time i start moving and grab my lunch bag there are only 45 minutes to get to the job site.

Out the door the sky in gray and the clouds are rolling like creme in coffee. The evenings cool has left the windows covered in dew and rain. In side the car food scraps litter the console, passenger seat and floor; the cabin smells of too many drive thru dinners, lunches, and breakfasts. The car now over 100,000 miles starts hard and warms slowly. Idling roughly as it warms the smell of decaying food scraps rises and I promise myself again to clean the car out tonight. Finally the windows are clear enough to see, and in first the again clutch wines and hops out onto the street, makes a right and heads towards the freeway and on towards the job. Only 35 minutes until 8am and check-in

On the freeway, traffic is light and the still warming car growls to 60 and grumbles as it accelerates to 75. Towards the job site following a printed map from Google, praying the directions are accurate. After several wrong turns and missed turns, the car comes shuddering to a halt with 10 minutes until the start of the project. I sit in the smelly, roughly idling car like the other temps waiting for the site manager to arrive. Many are smoking, most are drinking coffee, and some are reading certification books or fantasy novels.

At 8:05 on the clock that is likely too fast, workers emerge from their trucks or cars and seated out of the rain hiding places and congregate near the entrance to the building.