Nicki is an amateur doer in 2023 London , and spend her days hopping from hourly job to hourly job after underbidding the competition . pass a 24-hour interval with Nicki as she stress to go the next employment system .
Arup , Social Life , Re . Work , Commonplace , Tim Maughan , and Nesta collaborated on theFuture Londonersproject , which foresee ten London residents in the year 2023 , trying to create a realistic mother wit of how they might survive , work , and act . Maughan consider one of those imaginary Londoners , 19 - year - old retail contractor Nicki , and wrote the story“Zero Hours”about a twenty-four hour period in Nicki ’s life . Nicki start her daylight by call on contracts for that day ’s work :
0714 , Wanstead
Nicki is alert even before her mum call in her from the other side of the threshold . She ’s sat up in bed , crackly FM wireless ebbing from bantam supermarket class speakers , her fingers flicking across her charity shop grade tablet ’s touch screen . She ’s tight to shutting down two auction when a third push itself across her covert with it ’s conversant white and green branded arrogance . Starbucks . Oxford Circus . 4 hr shift from 1415 .
She sigh , fire it . She ’s not even sure why she still keep that notification unravel . Starbucks , the holy fucking grail . But she ca n’t go there , ca n’t even try out , without that knotty Barista badge .
Which is why she ’s been betting like mad on this Pret a Manger vendue , dropping her hourly down to near wasted level . It say it ’s in back of sign food prep , but she ’s seen the forum account , the other z - contractors who always say take any chore where they serve deep brown , just in cause . That ’s how I did it , they say , forced my mode in , all bright faces and make up and play and ‘ this java auto look AMAZING how does it play ? ’ and then pow , Barista badge .
Read the whole thing atMedium . There ’s a certain dismal plausibility to it .
Zero Hours[Medium viaMetaFilter ]
Fictionshort story
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