The night cleaner
By: Florence Aubenas ; translated by Andrew Brown
Contributors: Brown, Andrew
Edition: English ed.
Publisher: Polity Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Cambridge, UK; Malden, MA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 243
ISBN-13: 9780745651996
Subjects: Social Marginality; Journalists; Biography
Work titles: Quai de Ouistreham
Description: The idea was simple: pack a suitcase, go to another city where you have no connections and try to find a job, anonymously. That was the idea that took Florence Aubenas--one of France's most accomplished undercover journalists--on a journey into the worst recession since the Great Depression. Day after day she searched for work, one unemployed worker among others, with no special skills or qualifications. She immersed herself in the crowd of job seekers, going from one employment office to another, eventually managing to cobble together a few hours working as a night cleaner on a ferry that crossed the English Channel. For many people the global financial crisis seems real enough but remote from their daily lives. They have little sense of what it really means to be unemployed in the midst of a recession. Florence Aubenas was determined to find out. This book is the story of her journey.--From publisher description.
Notes: "First published in French as Le quai de Ouistreham © Éditions de l'Olivier, 2010"--T.p. verso.
Table of contents: title: Scraping the barrel; title: A rush job; title: A lunch; title: The beast; title: The maid; title: The advert; title: The toilets; title: Teeth; title: The white horse; title: The union; title: The leaving party; title: The barbecue section; title: Passions; title: The gang of morons; title: The picnic; title: The spider's web; title: The job train; title: The ZAC; title: Mimi; title: The permanent job.