My Third Experience with Day Labor Temp Work as a 40-Year-Old HSP: Tokyo Dome Chair Net Conversion Edition

Hello. I'm Yuki Hasegawa (@hase0616). I perform comedy as part of the duo Cleopatra, and I also write and direct plays for my theater company, Ennui.

Previous article

Have you ever done day labor temp work?

I had heard the terms "day labor" and "temp work" several times from fellow comedians and young actors. I would just reply with a casual "Oh, I see," and the words would go in one ear and out the other.

I first encountered the idea of day labor temp work while watching YouTube videos.

Recently, I've been hooked on vlogs—video blogs—and I've been watching various people's vlogs every night. (I'll write another article about the appeal of vlogs later.) In the process, I saw many vloggers talking about day labor temp work in their videos.

In the videos, everyone kept saying, "Some sites are tough, but it's interesting because you get to do all sorts of different jobs," which piqued my interest.

However, the image that crossed my mind was the underground labor facility from Kaiji...

Anyway, I decided to give it a try.

I hadn't worked a part-time job in several years. The last time I worked a proper job was probably about 10 years ago. I had worked as a one-day manager at a bar, but since fans came in as customers, it felt more like my work as a comedian, so I couldn't really call it a standard part-time job.

Since around June of last year, I had been doing some work from home for a producer's company that has been supporting me. It was technically a part-time job, but since I was just doing computer work in my spare time from home, it didn't really feel like a job either. Thanks to the pay from that remote work, I was able to scrape by, but that job ended at the end of the month before last...

This is a serious situation. A matter of life and death.

Once I grasped the situation, I had no choice but to take action. For a middle-aged man turning 40 this year, continuing to pursue creative activities while showing blatant financial instability is a path of carnage. To engage in general economic activity, labor is essential.

I cannot survive like this.

Of course, it would be ideal if I could make a living from the money earned through my own creative work, such as scripts, directing, and art. But lately, such requests are rare. So, I decided to think of labor as a part of my creative expression.

In the midst of this, I thought I'd try day labor as a quick source of income.

It's what you call temp work, isn't it.

...Well, I wrote that in a stiff way, but the point is, 'I'm broke, so I'm doing a part-time job. But since just doing the job isn't interesting, I'm going to write about the experience on note.'

Conclusion

In conclusion, my impression after experiencing it is...

'It was fun!'

Well, it was tough because the work was unfamiliar, but it was full of firsts and stimulating, so I enjoyed it. From here on, I will write about the events that happened on-site and the details of the work.

How to find day-labor jobs

Don't you have to go through troublesome procedures like interviews or registration meetings?

That's what I thought, but recently, day-labor job sites have become quite comprehensive.

Among them, I saw a review saying that a day-labor job site called 'Shotworks' was good, so I registered. There was an app, and I found a job with simple operations.

Once you secure a job online, it feels like you just go to the site without an interview.

Sometimes participation in a registration meeting is required, but for my first job, I found it on the site the day before and was able to work just by communicating over the phone.

The job I found was picking work inside a warehouse.

Job Description

Seat and net conversion work at Tokyo Dome.

Guaranteed pay even if it finishes early. Possibility of finishing earlier than scheduled.

¥9300 (including ¥300 for transportation)
8:00 - 17:00, 8 hours of actual work

Advance registration required

Features

Since you work with a large group of professionals, it's safe even for beginners.

The Hard Part

The professionals worked so fast that there were times when I had nothing to do, which actually made me anxious (lol).

Episode

I hadn't been to Tokyo Dome since my elementary school field trip.

I get excited when I see large buildings.

This was my third day-labor job. I'm getting used to it, though I still feel nervous the night before and the morning of.

We were told to meet at the loading dock at 7:45 AM.

I arrived well ahead of time. Looking around, I saw people standing here and there who were definitely there for the temp job. It reminded me of the entrance interviews for NSC or the M-1 Grand Prix qualifiers. To put it in a way everyone can understand, the atmosphere was exactly like the beginning of the Hunter Exam.

When the time came, the veterans were called for roll call.

We entered the dome. I was excited because you don't normally get to see the inside, but I acted cool so the other veterans wouldn't think I was a pushover.

We were handed helmets and finally headed onto the field.

The veterans gave instructions. They all had such strong personalities that it was interesting, so I decided in my head to call them a pirate crew and had fun imagining each of their backstories.

The work was simple: installing nets over the seats that had been set up for a concert. The veterans handled the difficult parts, so us beginners just had to secure the nets we had laid out.

They gave us frequent breaks, which made it easy to work.

During a break, I watched the members of the pirate crew who had scattered slowly walking from afar to regroup. I played the cool background music that plays when the Straw Hat Pirates gather in the One Piece anime in my head, and I was actually moved.

The work finished around 1:00 PM, even though it was scheduled until 5:00 PM. On top of that, we got paid the full amount—a great deal. And not only that, but they even provided a bento box. It was awesome.

As I was about to leave with my bento, a young man called out to me, 'Would you like to eat your bento with me before you go?' I was surprised because I had been curious about him, thinking he was definitely a beginner too. It seems he had been looking at me and was curious because I looked like a complete beginner and stood out.

He was a cute-looking young man, about 24 years old. He was studying architecture in college and wants to be an architect in the future. He said he works at large facilities like Tokyo Dome to study their structures.

While eating our bentos, he showed me the work he had exhibited at his university and taught me about the structure of Tokyo Dome. It was a fun time.

In the end, we parted ways with a promise that one day, they would do the stage design for a play I create.

New places, new tasks, and new encounters. Day-labor temp work is a romance.

I've uploaded a vlog about this day of temp work to YouTube, so please take a look if you'd like. I'd be even happier if you subscribed to the channel.

If you would like to support me, please consider doing so via the support button below. It will be used as funding for my creative activities.

If you liked this, please hit the "Like" button; it keeps me going. And I'll jump for joy.

Thank you for reading until the end.