China youth playfully list jobs, colleagues for sale online to escape work pressures
- Trend is another example of young Chinese workers pushing back against country’s high-pressure work culture
A trending joke among young people in China involves them “selling” their jobs, bosses or colleagues on second-hand e-commerce platforms in an attempt to “wash off the work smell”.
The term “work smell” refers to the feeling of mental and physical exhaustion after a long day of work. It typically refers to the odours of sweat on the subway, lingering cigarette smoke, or the aroma of an iced Americano.
On Xianyu, Alibaba’s second-hand e-commerce platform, many people playfully “sell” their jobs and colleagues as a way to ease stress from work and wash off the “work smell”.
Alibaba Group owns the South China Morning Post.
A search on Xianyu by the Post revealed more than 500 posts selling “annoying jobs”, “terrible bosses”, and “hated colleagues”, with prices ranging from 2 yuan (30 US cents) to 80,000 yuan (US$11,000).
One seller from central China listed her job for 8,000 yuan (US$1,100). She wrote: “Because I really don’t want to wake up early anymore! This job pays 3,000 yuan (US$400) a month, so you can recoup your investment in three months.”
