As I've mentioned in other articles, I've had quite a few jobs in the last few years, most of which sub living wage and every single one with either no contract or a zero hour nothing contract, they've often been precarious in one way or another.

The Oxford Review definition of "Precariat" lists it as "The precariat is a social class of people who comprise people who are in a state of precarity, which is a condition of existence without predictability or security. Precarity has been shown to affect both material and psychological welfare."

A recent issue I've had at work is that in service work, you almost always end up losing your social time as mentioned in my article Where did the weekends Go?, after I was fired from my last job on bullshit grounds, I went for a new place that paid 55p an hour better (I'm finally on London Living wage! (just after inflation made the current living wage far out of date)) and one big attractive factor was that they closed on Sundays, meaning I would always always have a day off.

Once I got the job I asked for Saturdays off and told my new boss and owner I want to work Monday to Friday which was honoured for 2 weeks, after that, the shop decided to open Sundays for the first time in years (this will have been planned a long time in advance but obviously wasn't mentioned until the rota came out putting me on my first Sunday shift) I was then told I need to work one day every weekend so that my boss can get one day off.

This week I've been given a rota showing I'm working full shifts on both Saturday and Sunday, when I asked why, I was told that my boss needed a family day and because I'm away with my partner for the next weekends he won't see his kids much, it's a truly heartbreaking story.

The situation has come up entirely because of the owner's decisions, firstly the stupid decision to own a business, then the decision to open Sundays knowing full well I don't work weekends and the only way it would be possible for them to have family time and stay open is if I work weekends, the fact that the moral responsibility ends up on me is apparently a given though.

I'm now, calmly but firmly, kicking off and saying how I need weekend days off and I need full weekends back eventually but I genuinely have no confidence in predicting the outcome of the situation, normally in a situation like this I would simply leave the company and work elsewhere, it's easier to get a new job where no arguments or pressures have yet built up than it is to resolve problems with the owner.

I had to explain to my Dad who's worked an office job for fifty years about what's happening and he told me "leverage how much value you bring to the company instead of going straight to threatening to leave" and I told him firmly how ridiculous it would be for a barista to say this, as a low level hospitality worker your primary bargaining chip outside of pulling in a union is that you may very quickly decide to leave, and that's about it, there is no "company politics" as you don't represent a person to your boss, you represent a job that can be cut at any time.

The thing I really wanted to explain is how this is day to day when you work low paid and precarious jobs, there really is no "daily grind" where you clock in bored and leave bored, you're constantly fighting barehanded just to get by and avoid having to either scrabble to find a new job or stop eating.

According to left academics Bullshit Jobs are everywhere but how come I never get to work one! I'm never bored I'm fucking exhausted from having to risk my job just to get a weekend day off. The reason I've pushed hard for this weekend specifically is because I need to help my sister move too, even more days off which aren't really "off".

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When I was in school and my poor little ADHD brain was struggling with the grim education system as well as way too little sleep, when I'd walk into school in the morning I'd feel physically sick, I could feel it like an eddy in my stomach that I had to have forgotten something, I didn't know what but I was bound to get in trouble for something and would spend the day arguing with teachers that I didn't do anything wrong.

When I got my rota and sent a message complaining I got that same eddy appearing in my stomach where you know there's gonna be a fight, I don't know how or what the outcome will be but either way it's really possible I'll end up searching for another job and then wait 3 months before the cycle happens again.

There's something to be said that on top of all the emotional labour of smiling and dealing with evil hipster customers all day you also have to be constantly preparing to fight for your own job, especially if you want a shred of respect and good treatment. Not only do you have to constantly laugh at your bosses stupid fucking stories but you also have to constantly searching for weaknesses in case you end up in an argument with them about something like weekends.

I'm now just so tired of these precarious skirmishes where you don't ever get to relax and just be bored for once.

My flatmate and friends suggested I change occupation and finally find something I want to do for work but even then it doesn't solve my problems now, I'm working before the sun comes up and get home after it's set, the harder you work the more you just want to go out and get pissed which only takes up more energy that you could spend finding your artistic expression or whatever people who enjoy their careers did.

I relate a fair bit to this great article by Leon McKenzie called Retail Therapy if you want more angry shouting at work.

I also don't want to leave the evil world of precarious work, I'm proud that I actually organise in a space where people are hyperexploited and have the genuine joy of other workers' company and hearing stories of evil bosses, even more evil customers and the interesting lives my co-workers have led instead of stories of protests from history or leftist gossip over and over.

As time goes on it becomes increasingly unclear what you've chosen to do and what you're stuck in. The fantasy of breaking out of a Fight Club style deadend office job feels impossible when you're always 2 steps from being back clawing your way towards dignity in a job designed to destroy it.

Whatever happens, it feels clear to me that it's from this chaotic set of small scale fights for dignity and survival that the urgency and desire for change that so many people tell me isn't there in London comes from, I've never been pushed harder towards making change happen than feeling your bosses slimy messages come in on your day off telling you to work a weekend.

We'll see how he handles the union we're talking about forming when it happens and he can't kindly inform me I'm working Sunday. I'm hopeful we'll win.