It doesn’t get much more dystopian than this . . .
A Chinese newspaper called “Beijing Youth Daily” did a story on how young people in China are paying $5 a day to PRETEND they have a job. (???)
You go to a shared office but don’t do any actual work. It’s all a ruse, so you don’t have to tell your friends and family you’re unemployed. (The jobless rate in China is only 5%, but youth unemployment is more like 17%.)
Not everyone is pretending. A lot of the customers are just people who freelance and need a co-working space. But for the ones who don’t, you’re paying for a desk, Wi-Fi, coffee, and THEATRICS.
They’ll assign you fake tasks. So if anyone asks what you did at work today, maybe you’d show them an email and say, “They just put me on this big project, so I’m buried in paperwork.”
Some places even have fake bosses, and you can pay extra for fake FIGHTS with them. (???) Like, maybe they’re rude in an email, so you reply and say “shove it,” and they apologize. But it’s all pretend, so you can show people you’re killing it at work.
It sounds like most customers use their time to search for REAL jobs, but it’s become a long-term strategy for some. One woman who’s been doing it for months said it’s cheaper than sitting at a coffee shop all day.
(El Pais)
