playing office

"We are living in the age of Kinko's. That is to say, we are living in an era which, for many, the appearence of having a job has replaced actually having a job. Five years ago it was Starbucks, not Kinko's, that provided us with that collective sense of well-being a public gathering place can sometimes generate. We drank overpriced lattes not only as an expression of our affluence but as a reward for the hard work that provided thar affluence. We spent hours at Starbucks for its homey atmosphere, which seemed somehow better than our homes - the furniture, the plusher, the cds hipper. Starbucks was about playing house.

Kinko's, on the other hand, is about playing office. But Kinko's is the zoo version of the office; like gorillas preening and scratching themselves in their imitation habitats, displaced office workers attempt to carry on business as usual in a simulacrum of a corporate workplace. [...] We are at Kinko's because, unlike Starbucks, this franchise doesn't signify leisure. We are here because, whether or not we have an actual job, we have a job to do."

Kinko Nation - Jeff Minton