Young job-seekers in China are shelling out about four to seven dollars a day to sit in rented offices and act like regular staff. The “pretend-to-work companies” supply desks, Wi-Fi, and even boxed lunches; for an extra fee, customers can get bogus assignments, fake bosses, and staged “employee rebellions” to make the day feel more authentic.
Some visitors simply want a cheap place to hang out, others hope the routine will nudge them toward real employment, and a few say the novelty is the whole point. The trend has taken off this year as youth unemployment hit 16.5-percent for 16- to 24-year-olds and 7.2-percent for those up to 29. With office rents low in big cities, providers say offering a fantasy workplace is easier, and often cheaper for customers, than lingering in cafés all day.
Source: Oddity Central
