A Day in the Life of a Temp

Recently one of the managing directors approached my receptionist desk. “Liz, do you have a few minutes to spare this afternoon?”

Considering that my afternoons are usually spent sorting mail, answering phones, and searching for something to do, I happily said yes.

“These four keys,” he said, dropping them onto the desk, “can you find out where they go?”

Luckily, my many over-qualifications for this temp job proved useful. Instead of trying all the doors, cabinets, and any other number of locations, I realized that each key had a number etched onto one side. In less than a minute, I matched them to the keys at my desk.

Mission accomplished?

Not quite.

The managing director insisted I try each of the keys to “make sure.”

So I did, and I was right about every one of them—including the three for the men’s bathroom.