Temp Slave is a zine for anyone who's ever washed dishes until 3 a.m. or answered phones for 10 hours straight. Any disgruntled employee will appreciate these true-life tales of terror from secretaries, cashiers, and others in the ever-growing temporary workforce.
Editor and temp veteran Keffo publishes a collection of stories written by pink-collar employees who are ignored, ridiculed, and abused by clueless managers. Issue 10 tells of an office temp who breaks her ankle on the way to work and still carries out her duties the rest of the day. An American in Paris laments the difficulties of holding down a job in France, and a former writer for the infamous San Francisco magazine The Nose gives a breakdown of the publication's demise due to poor management.
Plenty of contributors rant as if attending a meeting of Disgruntled Anonymous, but others offer advice on how to regain self-esteem. One decidedly unmodel but contented employee calls friends in other countries from the office phone.
Try Temp Slave on your next coffee break for an empowering fix.
This article originally appeared in the July issue of Wired magazine.
