David Blaine To Work Mundane Job For Forty Five Years
US illusionist David Blaine is to take on his biggest challenge yet in a feat of endurance that has silenced even his harshest critics.
“I will go to new parts of my mind, ” he said, “I will wake up at six thirty every morning and travel to an office. The building will be sealed and air will be recirculated using machines. I will be allowed to eat, but often it will be over-priced sandwiches at my desk. After work, I will go home and repeat the exercise the next day.
The celebrity entertainer stroke magician says it will be a trial which will test not just his body and mind, but his soul.
He continued: “And I will do this for forty-five years.”
Under the strict conditions imposed on the trial, Blaine is allowed to have weekends and holidays off. He will begin performing the stunt in his native New York City, but career advisors say he may be in for surprises.
“There will be reshuffles, possible transfers, job-shares, hot-desking,” said one, who preferred not to be named, “- the truth is, when you set out to do a desk job, things don’t always go to plan.”
What is certain is that Blaine, currently ranked 98 on the Forbes Top Celebrity list, will find it very dull as his salary drops from $2m to $48,000.
“That’s probably going to be the hardest thing,” said actor and close friend Leonardo DiCaprio, “he may be able to go to sporting events, but he can kiss those courtside seats goodbye.”
After the forty five years are finished, he will stop working the job and survive on even less, facing health problems while he tries to rebuild his relationship with his family who will undoubtedly have their own lives.
The feat, entitled “David Blaine: Nine To Five” will end in 2053.
This article also appears in today’s Newsbiscuit
September 24th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Brilliant, yet sad.
September 24th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I have aw couple questions: What’s hot-desking, and are you affiliated with newsbiscujit?
September 25th, 2008 at 10:47 am
We’re about to introduce hot desking where I work Ed, the company has realised after several years of futilely trying to make it work, that getting 700 people into a building designed for 500 presents certain practical problems.
Their solution is hot desking, the idea being that instead of having your own private space where you can set up a little home away from home there will be a load of empty desks with nothing but a laptop docking station (and hopefully a chair). Every morning there will be an unseemly scrum as people fight to get the best spot available.
I take my laptop home with me every night since I do out of hours support but I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with the dozen technical books and manuals and 2 large boxes of CDs,DVDs, Diskettes and Tapes on one end of my desk and the drawer full of printed documentation in it. (Much of which exists nowhere else in either real or cyberspace)
Not to mention such vital business tools as my stapler, my calculator, my collection of Dilbert strips stuck on the wall of my cubicle and my coffee mug with World’s Best Dad on it.
There will still be more people than desks though.
September 25th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Keef - I guess the obvious follow up question to that is: What happens to the people who do not have chairs (or desks) when the music stops?
September 25th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
I was wrong. the dehumanization of the workforce is NOT complete.
September 25th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Len
A number of us have asked the very same question of our management (or leaders as they preferred to be called this being an American company) the only answer we’ve received are blank looks which leads to believe that they haven’t actually thought about this.
It’s only partly implemented at the moment and most of us that had fixed desks still have them but there a few lost souls wandering about each morning asking if so and so is in today and would he/she mind if their desk was borrowed.
September 25th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Sounds like a very stable, morale-enhancing work environment!