An extract from Standing Heavy by GauZ', translated by Frank Wynne

Everyone takes out the various papers required for the interview: identity cards, the traditional CVs and CQPs, a kind of official permit to work in security. Here, it is portentously dubbed a diploma. There is the famous motivational letter: “To whom it may concern”; “part of a dynamic team”; “a profession with ambitious career prospects”; “in keeping with my skills and training”; “please be assured”; “in anticipation of a favourable response”; “Yours faithfully”, etc. In such a place, the medieval circumlocutions and arse-licking phrases of covering letters seem risible. Everyone here has a powerful motivation, although it may be very different depending on which side of the glass one finds oneself. For the dominant male in the glass cage at the far end of the open-plan office, it is maximum turnover. By any means necessary. Hiring as many people as possible is part of the means. For the Black procession in the stairwell, it is an escape from unemployment or a zero-hours contract. By any means necessary. Security guarding is one of those means. It’s relatively accessible. The training is absolutely minimal. No experience is required. Employers are all too willing to overlook official status. The morphological profile is supposedly appropriate. Morphological profile … Black men are heavy-set; Black men are tall; Black men are strong; Black men are deferential; Black men are scary. It is impossible not to think of this jumble of “noble savage” clichés lurking atavistically in the minds of every White man responsible for recruitment and every Black man who has come to use these clichés to his advantage. But that is not the issue this morning. No-one cares. And besides, there are Black men on the recruiting team. The atmosphere is relaxed. Someone even ventures a couple of lewd remarks about the prominent breasts of one of the two secretaries charged with handing out the recruitment forms. Everyone fills out his form with a modicum of diligence. Surname, first name, sex, date and place of birth, marital status, social security number, etc. This will be the most demanding intellectual challenge of the morning. Even so, a few of the men glance at their neighbour’s form. A legacy of the classroom, or a lack of self-assurance. Someone coming out of a long period of unemployment lacks self-assurance. Papers in every possible combination are passed between the group of Negroes and the secretary with the big tits. After signing and initialling a few white pages blackened with esoteric phrases intended to regulate the working relationship with the soon-to-be-ex-unemployed and the soon-to-be-big-boss, every member of the group is given a bag containing a pair of black trousers, a black jacket, a black tie, a shirt that may be white or black and a monthly work rota indicating the time and place of shifts. The contracts are open-ended. Every man who came into these offices unemployed leaves as a security guard. Those who already have experience in the profession know what lies in store in the coming days: spending all day standing in a shop, repeating this monotonous exercise in tedium every day, until the end of the month comes, and they are paid. Paid standing. And it is not as easy as it might seem. In order to survive in this job, to keep things in perspective, to avoid lapsing into cosy idleness or, on the contrary, fatuous zeal and bitter aggressiveness, requires either knowing how to empty your mind of every thought higher than instinct and spinal reflex or having a very engrossing inner life. The incorrigible idiot option is also highly prized. Each to his own method. Each to his own goals. Each will walk back down the six floors in his own way.