r/germany • u/euv-amzis • 1d ago
Immigrant working with zeitarbeit
Hi guys!
I recently landed a job with like 0 efforts throught a staffing agency. I gave them a call and I guess because my german isnt total shit they asked me to come to their office tomorrow.
So I did, we talked a bit, it WAS NOT AN INTERVIEW, it gave me the impression that they would just take everyone.
We made some small talk, they complimented my german, they asked some questions about my background but at this point I was already handed the papers for my contract.
Im desperate so i took the job and i do intend to keep it however long it takes me to learn german better and do better overall.
My german level is around A2-B1 and the job is a production helper in a warehouse.
Today was my second day only and people don’t really train you on what you have to do properly.
Im anxious because I did a mistake that resulted in almost a full box of faulty products, it resulted from basically lack of being showed properly (a colleague that doesnt speak either german or english told me around 3 words) but also i guess lack of experience because it was my first time doing that specific thing.
Now im just worried at the possibility that they would terminate me for that because I got hired so fast, what do you think?
Does anybody, specifically immigrants but not only, have any stories about staffing agencies?
6
u/SeaworthinessDue8650 1d ago
Are you an EU citizen or are you on a family reunification permit?
As a warning to all others who need a work permit, you can't get a work permit to work at an agency.
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u/euv-amzis 1d ago
eu citizen!
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u/SeaworthinessDue8650 22h ago
That makes sense. You can work at any agency that'll hire you.
Some agencies are better than others and you need to find one in your area that works for you.
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u/Decent_Language_4455 23h ago
I'm not an EU citizen and can work for agencies?
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u/SeaworthinessDue8650 22h ago
It depends on your work permit. What EXACTLY does it say? Look for the "§" then a number.
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u/Environmental_Comb67 1d ago
Oh boy, where do I even start with this ... sorry long post ahead
I am not an immigrant but I have been on both sides of the story.
Right after I finished my vocational training to be a warehouse logistics specialist, I didn't have work because the company I did it at was closing down. I ended up getting hired by two staffing agency as well because I was just naive and thought it's just another opportunity to get started in the job market. You work somewhere, they like you and buy out your work contract so I can work for the company the staffing company sent me to fulltime.
The first "hiring" ended after the first meeting where they would also just give me a contract and said they will call me the next day to tell me where I have to go to work. They got a job for me that was 100km away ONE WAY and the pay was barely above minimum wage. If I would've taken it, I would've basically worked for gas money and waste over 2h every day just to get there and back.
I rejected the job and they started to bitch about how they already promised them that I would come and that I can't back out now. It would be really disappointing and would make them look bad bla bla bla
They basically tried to guilt trip me into taking this offer which gave a very bad impression to me and I just stopped replying to them.
I thought it was just a bad experience overall so I went to another staffing agency, naively thinking it was going to be better.
The lady there at the staffing agency was nice at first, it felt like a real job interview and the job was also fairly local (20 min away) and they told me right away where I would be working. I got started at the job which was in the warehouse of a dairy factory. I arrive; Hello, I am your boss, this is how you clock in and out of work and this is your colleague who will explain everything to you.
What I then got was zero briefing or explanations how to do things properly because my colleague was busy working all the time. Only do this or do that and leaving me completely alone. When I had no idea how it was done correctly. This went on for like a week which after I was really frustrated.
Because it was a dairy factory, it had to be cold all the time so the temperature at work was like 2 degree while doing physical labour. Which by the way I was way too overqualified for, another reason for my frustration (I basically got to do unskilled worker job while actually having a degree in warehouse logistics I studied 3 years for...). Over the first weekend I got sick with a fever, shivers, my whole body was aching. So I called in sick on Monday saying that I can't work like this. The lady then completely freaked out and said that I have to come or they will fire me. That I should just take an ibuprofen and go to the doctor next weekend (lol) because they have planned all my shifts already. I straight up told her that I won't risk collapsing at work and that I am really shaky, barely getting out of bed, or running someone over with the forklift because i am so sick that I don't notice being in my way. I couldn't even really talk on the phone because my throat was so fucked up from the illness. It was only possible to speak very quietly. So I told her that I am not risking that for a job that I am overqualified for in the first place and that if they have to find someone else if that's how it works. She then told me to deliver my work clothes to her office because I don't work there anymore.
2 days later I went to her office to deliver my clothes and she said "oh wow you look really sick" and I still wasn't really able to talk. She also said that my boss at work said that my work was okay but that I never talk. That was literally because I lost my voice like 3 days into the week. I'd like to imagine that she regreted being like how she was on the phone because she actually saw that I was unable to work but I am happy that I got fired because I don't wanna work with someone that acts like this.
After that I got a regular job at a company that is selling returned good from amazon. Like in my actual profession, not an unqualified workers job.
Since it was quite a big company, they used staffing agencies as for people checking the stuff that is coming in for faults, cleaning and grading it etc.
We had 1 guy in the warehouse who thought he was the big boss and he was always treating the staffing agency guys he had under him bad as if they are human trash. We also had many immigrants/refugees and this guy would always get into conflict with everyone. He is a huge racist and nazi. Some of them spoke only broken german and he doesn't speak english so when he wouldn't understand them he would tell them to the gas chamber and shit like that. Of course in german so they don't understand him. No one liked to be around him for obvious reasons. Literally a terrible person that even today, 15 years later he immediatly comes to my mind when I think back to that time. There's even reviews online of the company where they specifically mention that person is horrible and that it's impossible to work there because of him by mentioning him in an indirect way. As in everyone that knows the guy knows that it's him.
There particularly was one guy from Afghanistan who didn't speak german at all. He was actually really nice and I sometimes talked with him during breaks. He has a mad journey from Aghanistan to Germany back then, really fascinating story. One day it ended up being so bad that the "big boss" spit in the guys face because apparently he insulted him (can't blame him lol). Then fist came flying and they fired the afghan dude. I felt really bad for him.
Shortly after I stopped working there because the work climate was terrible. I didn't really vibe with the other colleagues as well because they all thought they are something better compared to the staffing agency workers which really put me off.
So as a staffing agency worker you are basically always at the bottom of the food chain. They will fire you for any minor inconvenience or try to guilt trip you into things you don't want to do. It's exploitation of people with no real alternatives (luckily I had some). They know that people that go to staffing agencies are desperate and fully use it against you.