When a Test Center Becomes a Sweatshop (#4: The Stillborn Revolution)
This is a long story about my fellow social scientist Bjørn working at a rapid antigen test center in Berlin.
(The content has been approved by Bjørn. The information regarding concerned people’s identities has been changed to protect their privacy)
Part 1 of the story is here; part 2 is here and part 3 is here.
The new colleagues
In late January/early February, Nicolas and Daniil hired 5 new people; Karolina from Lithuania, Aynur from Iran, Aatif and Tarik from Iraq, and Thomas from Germany — Ralph’s buddy (yes, finally Nicolas and Daniil called Ralph’s friends). They were all very friendly and helpful. So the working atmosphere was great.
Aming them, Bjørn liked Aatif very much. He was chill and responded to emergent situations very quickly. He also worked so hard that one time he even agreed to stay for six more hours to replace Aynur — she didn’t show up for her shift following his. Bjørn asked Aatif why he did so given that Nicolas offered to come and thus could save him from having a long day. Aatif said because he needed money; besides, he wanted to show the bosses that he was trustworthy and got some value.
