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<\/a><\/p>\nZine 1: Temp slave<\/em> #8 (1995)<\/strong><\/p>\n Temp slave<\/em>, edited by Keffo, is a zine that best fits under the rubric of \u201ctopical zine.\u201d These are zines that pick a particular topic – folding bicycles, raw food, collecting banana labels, trailer van memorabilia etc. – and focus exclusively on it. In this case, the topic is the odiousness of temporary employment. Within this seemingly narrow topic, the zine is surprisingly diverse; it includes a number of testimonials from people working in diverse temp-jobs, poems, cartoons and articles. The excerpt below is a satirical piece showing what Judgment Day would look like in the year 2000 for the staff of Happy Temps Inc.<\/p>\n Zine 2: Birth<\/i> #8\u00a0(1994)<\/b><\/p>\n Birth, <\/i>a zine written by a single author \u201cin affiliation with no one,\u201d includes interviews by the author, correspondence, articles by contributors, as well as film, video and show reviews. In the case of Birth<\/i>\u00a0#8, it is the editorial and the author\u2019s description of his $5.50 an hour summer job before going to college that is of interest.<\/p>\n The job is in a huge gardening store where the choice is between heavy labor outside in the heat, or stocking \u201cshit\u201d like chemicals inside, which actually makes an older guy (in his late twenties) lose his hair. The author copes with the job by joining his same age-group colleagues in pilfering the place \u201cfor all kinds of cool shit\u201d through cash-register scams. Not trusted to work as a cashier himself because of the number of sick days he takes and possibly because of his appearance (“the nose ring was key”), the author is made to work outside where he employs a \u201cplaying dumb\u201d strategy.<\/p>\n \u201cPlaying dumb\u201d involves completing tasks inefficiently while making it look as though one is toiling very hard. Once the bosses get used to him being \u201cwell, slow,\u201d he\u2019s able to take certain advantages, like extended breaks, without repercussion. He concludes thus: \u201cThe power that you wield, as a bottom rung wage slave, makes or breaks your bosses. Discourage sales! Fuck off at work! Let\u2019s hear it for incompetence!\u201d<\/p>\n Zine 3:<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0For a right attitude at work<\/i> (1992)<\/b><\/p>\n For a right attitude at work<\/i> is a zine that would most readily fit into the \u201ccomics\u201d category. Although this characterization does not entirely fit because For a right attitude at work<\/i> doesn’t tell a story as such, the zine does use drawings exclusively to illustrate its point, which in this case happens to be related to work.<\/p>\n Zine\u00a04: Factsheet 5<\/i>\u00a0#55 (1995)<\/b><\/p>\n Although\u00a0<\/b>Factsheet 5<\/i> is a review zine, the article of interest here could easily fall into the \u201cscam zine\u201d category, in other words, the counter-cultural zines all about scamming \u201cthe system.\u201d In his article \u201cWork Schmerk! Tips, Techniques, and Scams to on-the-job Zineing,” author Rod M. Scott takes the reader through the process of producing a zine \u201con someone else\u2019s time\u201d without being caught.<\/p>\n The article advises the following: when making zine-related phone calls, use a colleague’s\u00a0phone while they’re away at lunch; when photocopying zines do not\u00a0 leave the Xerox machine\u00a0 (unless willing “to disown the printed matter and fish it out of the trash later” if caught); when writing zines on the work computer have several windows open on the desktop for easy switching if the boss decide to make an “unexpected visit;” \u00a0and finally, for printing large quantities of zines, gain security clearance to the office at night or weekends.<\/p>\n The author ends with an assurance that “as time goes on, you’ll discover more and more ways to improve upon this subtle form of occupational espionage.”<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n