u/Fruitpicker15

I started a new job in a factory a few months ago and it's the first time I've worked in this kind of job. I'm permanent staff and we have a steady stream of agency workers who come and go for whatever reason.

I've noticed a recurring pattern where almost every agency worker will come up to me on their first day and try to arrange a lift for Saturdays and Sundays when there are no early buses. We work weekends so it would be a permanent arrangement. I assume they're asking around to figure out who has a car (I'm the only one apart from the managers).

What gets my back up is that I don't know them, they don't live on my way and there's no upfront offer to pay for fuel. I assume they would pay which is why they think it's ok to ask me, a stranger, to go out of my way. They seem to expect me to agree and when I say I don't have time to pick people up unless it's on my way (one would have involved an extra 10 miles) it becomes awkward. Instead of saying 'no problem, just thought I'd ask' it becomes a negotiation or they walk away. I also notice them discussing it and sending different people to propose various arrangements.

I would never dream of doing this to colleagues and I find it downright rude. Not even my friends do this to me. I've never scrounged lifts off people and when I didn't have a car I bought a second hand bike on gumtree. I don't understand why other able bodied men (all my colleagues are men) can't do the same. Don't get me wrong, if someone said 'my car/bike is broken and I can't get to work this weekend, if I give you a few quid can you pick me up from *mutually convenient location* I'd have no problem but I simply can't get involved in permanent arrangements and coordinating other people. I work two jobs and getting up even earlier to pick people up is out of the question.

I suppose it's just bugging me so much because they make it awkward when I say no and it's got to the point where I avoid the agency staff as much as possible because whenever they come to chat to me I know exactly what's coming.