the agency.

you are woken by a phone call at about 9am. it works just as well as an alarm clock. and, if they don't call, then you don't need to get up that early anyways. you try to hide the sleep in your voice as T or G greets you with a "can you work this morning?". you have an hour to shower, find a clean white shirt, the black skirt that's hiding in the back of a wardrobe somewhere and force yourself into your sister's old school shoes because you haven't yet got round to buying any black shoes of your own, wrestle your bike out of the shed (why is it always the one on the bottom of the pile?!) and cycle madly into town while simultaneously trying not to break into too much of a sweat. you arrive at the agency, catching your breath, walking past the assorted group of people waiting to speak to the polish/english speaking receptionist and go straight to T or G who hand you a timesheet and a map if it's somewhere you haven't been to before. it's usually one of the oxford university colleges and usually waitressing for some conference or other.



you find today's work location, lock up the bike among one hundred others (this is oxford!) and catch sight of someone else in black and white so follow them as you know from experience that the kitchen entrance is often hard to find and you are already running a bit late. you tell yourself yet again that you really should buy some more comfortable shoes. you enter the kitchen/dining hall and try to cool-y glance around looking for someone who is most likely in charge and will tell you where to put your bags and what to do. you smile and wave to italian man who's name you always forget who you worked with in the same place a year ago. and probably the year before that. the other agency staff are usually congregated together in a mismatch of blacksandwhites. there is a camaraderie between them. today there is german girl who's been in england 10 years and studied geography and sustainable development at brookes, polish girl who's just been travelling for 4 months and wants to go back to Mexico (after she's learned spanish). there's portuguese man who grew up in Venezuela and shy, shaggy-haired english boys who don't talk and a whole host more of polish girls.



sometimes it feels agency staff are thought to be stupid and slow and lazy. they are often shouted at. and it often takes a while to feel 'welcomed' by the permanent staff who often seem reluctant to show you the ropes. while there may some truth in that, there is also a lot to say in defence. half of the time things are not explained well by those supervising, and this is worse for those who do not speak good english. you are caught in the dilemma of not knowing what to do next yet trying to look busy. working in a different place everyday makes one flexible and teaches one many ways of doing things but can also be confusing. one college clears the desert plates before putting on the cheese while the other puts the cheese on before serving the desert (pudding?). in one place you must pour the coffee for each person and in another they do it themselves. etc. subtle differences that majorly stress out other staff if done wrong! all of this creates a bond, a sense of a united front against the unjustified irritation often pointed in their direction.



the hours pass, the guests come and eat and go. water jugs are filled countless times, right arms ache under the weight of plates (need to build up my muscles!), fingers burnt on hot vegetable dishes. there are near collisions in the kitchen, the manager criticises, half the table request tea instead of coffee. white shirts get stained with gravy and chocolate sauce. the agency staff share raised eyebrows and tired smiles and wonder what time they will finish.



we could find a job with regular hours an significantly more pay. we could have some consistency in our lives. yet we don't. we chose to wait for the morning call and show up at another new place, not knowing what is instore. or showing up somewhere we've been before and possibly dreading it. because we might not be around next week and we like the fact we can say no (or just not answer the phone) and if we work somewhere crap today tomorrow we'll be somewhere different and we get to meet all kinds of people (and try all different kinds of food) and really it's just a pretty good deal and rather suits these lives we chose to lead.