{"id":32473,"date":"2025-03-24T09:00:38","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T09:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=32473"},"modified":"2025-03-21T18:20:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T18:20:15","slug":"young-talented-exploited-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2025\/03\/24\/young-talented-exploited-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Young, Talented… Exploited!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Yatuu, translated by FNIC (Sloth Publishing)
\nISBN: 978-1-908830-02-9 (TPB)<\/p>\n

Much as we\u2019d like to think otherwise, the world of work is pretty similar everywhere now and no longer possessed of purely national characteristics. These days we all slave under a universal system that sidesteps borders in the name of global corporate philosophy; it might even be ideology now! Thus, this stunning and still so very germane glimpse of one French woman\u2019s frustrated struggle against modern employment practise is one that\u2019s being repeated all over the planet every day. In this case however, Capitalism picked on the wrong person. Yatuu (Sasha, G\u00e9n\u00e9ration mal log\u00e9e!, Pas mon genre<\/em><\/strong>) has enough spark, gumption and talent to fight back and eventually turned a strident cartoon objection into a sparkling comics career…<\/p>\n

When Cyndi Barbero<\/em> graduated from college and began looking for a job, all she was offered were unpaid internships. Eventually, she took one, still believing the mantra everyone with a job repeated: \u201cif you work hard enough they may offer a permanent position\u201d…<\/p>\n

The work-placement role ran its legally-mandated course and she was promptly replaced by another sucker. After the third time it happened she began to blog (www.yatuu.fr\/en<\/a>) about and sharing her experiences, venting her opinions on such a manifestly unfair system and derive a soup\u00e7on of justifiable payback…<\/p>\n

Just in case you\u2019re unaware<\/em>: An Intern takes a position in a company to learn the ropes, develop good working habits and establish contacts that will make them more employable. The system used to work even though most kids ended up doing scut-work and never really learned anything useful. Such positions are unpaid and eventually most employers realised that they could get free low-grade temporary labourers and thereby cut their own running costs. Using, abusing and discarding the seemingly endless supply of optimistic hopefuls has become an accepted expense-control measure at most large businesses. Even employers who originally played fair had to change at some stage, because the exploitative tactics gave business rivals an unfair financial advantage…
\n\"\"
\nIn almost 45 years of fairly successful freelancing I met lots of interns – good, bad, indifferent and uncommitted – but after 1990 encountered only one large company where interns were paid – and that\u2019s only because the old-fashioned, old-school CEO put his foot down and insisted. When he retired and the company was sold, the intern program quickly shifted to the new normal…<\/p>\n

This subtly understated, over-the-top manga-styled, savagely comedic expos\u00e9 tracks one exhilarated graduate\u2019s progress from college to the world of no work through \u2018At the End of the First Internship\u2019 <\/em>via \u2018At the End of the Second Internship\u2019 <\/em>to \u2018At the End of the Third Internship\u2019<\/em> when even she began to smell a rat. Even that didn\u2019t daunt her (much) and, after much soul-searching, she took her dream job at a major Ad Agency. At least it would have been, were she not the latest addition to a small army of interns expending their creative energies for insane zero hours, zero thanks, or acknowledgement and at their own financial expense.<\/p>\n

From \u2018Some Words Get Instant Reactions at Interviews\u2019<\/em> through her \u2018First Day\u2019<\/em> – via vivid and memorable digressions on expected behaviour and hilariously familiar vignettes of types (I was an advertising freelancer and have actually gone drinking with many of these guys\u2019 British cousins…) – to the accepted 7-days-a-week grind of \u2018This Place is Great Because You Learn to Laugh on Cue\u2019 <\/em>and \u2018Nothing Out of the Ordinary\u2019<\/em>, Yatuu grew accustomed to her voluntary slavery… although her barely-suppressed sense of rebellion was unquenchable.<\/p>\n

Amongst so many short, pithy lessons compiled here we see and sympathise with \u2018Intensive Training\u2019, <\/em>observe \u2018The Pleasure of Feeling Useful\u2019 <\/em>and realise there\u2019s \u2018Nothing to Lose\u2019<\/em>, before an intriguing game of office \u2018Dilemma\u2019<\/em> explores whether to have lunch with the Employees or Interns and what to do if asked to do \u2018Overtime\u2019.<\/em>..<\/p>\n

As much diary as educational alarm call, this beguiling collection reveals how the hapless ever-hopeful victim developed survival strategies – like finding a long-suffering workmate prepared to lend a floor, couch or bed for those frequent nights when the last train leaves before you do…
\n\"\"
\nMostly however, this addictive collection deals with the author\u2019s personal responses to an untenable but inescapable situation for far too many young people: revealing insane episodes of exhaustion, despondency and work (but, tellingly not Job)-related stress, such as too many scary midnight cab rides home, constant nightmares and grinding daily insecurity.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s amazing is that it\u2019s done with style, bravery and an astonishing degree of good-natured humour – especially when dealing with \u2018The Idea Thief\u2019, <\/em>planning \u2018Retaliation\u2019 <\/em>or perfecting \u2018The Ultimate Revenge Technique!!!\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Originally collected as Moi, 20 ans, dipl\u00f4m\u00e9e, motiv\u00e9e… exploit\u00e9e!<\/strong><\/em>, Yatuu\u2019s trenchant cartoon retaliations were published in English some years ago (so we\u2019re long overdue for a new edition) and makes for fascinating reading. Although it really should be, you probably won\u2019t find Young, Talented, Exploited!<\/strong> discussed in any school Careers lessons or part of any college Job seminar and it\u2019s almost certainly banned from every employers\u2019 Orientation and Training package, but that\u2019s just a sign of how good it is.<\/p>\n

Best get your own copy and be ready for the worst scams, indignities and excesses that the Exploiters and Bosses will try to spring on you. At least once you\u2019ve paid for it you can be assured that it will deliver on its promise…
\n\u00a9 2013 Yatuu & 12bis. English translation and layout \u00a9 2013 Sloth Publishing, Ltd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Yatuu, translated by FNIC (Sloth Publishing) ISBN: 978-1-908830-02-9 (TPB) Much as we\u2019d like to think otherwise, the world of work is pretty similar everywhere now and no longer possessed of purely national characteristics. These days we all slave under a universal system that sidesteps borders in the name of global corporate philosophy; it might … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Young, Talented… Exploited!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[63,104,125,132,254],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-european-classics","category-graphic-autobiography","category-humour","category-older-kids","category-young-adult"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-8rL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32473"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32479,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32473\/revisions\/32479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}