Roleplay Offices With Fake Bosses You Pay For (Yes, China Has Gotten That Bad)

Join us today for a deep dive into China’s growing trend of pretend-to-work offices where unemployed people pay daily fees to sit in cubicles, maintain routines, and keep up appearances for family and resumes. The phenomenon started with a 2024 comedy skit and has expanded into real businesses across major cities offering strict schedules, fake clients, and even free lunch.

We examine the cultural drivers including family pressure, the curse of 35 in hiring, and the desire to avoid visible unemployment gaps. Real user stories reveal how these spaces help with job transitions, skill building, and social face-saving while contrasting sharply with American coworking spaces focused on actual productivity.

The episode also features dubbed clips from the original viral skit and explores whether similar services could emerge in the post-AI job market. We’re personally quite pleased with the dubbing system Malcolm vibecoded for Rfab.ai—if you want to try it out, you can do so here!

Episode Transcript

Malcolm Collins:Hello, Simone. I’m excited to be here with you today. Today, we are going to be diving into the phenomenon of a new type of business in China Oh. Where people pay to pretend like they’re working under a fake boss that gives them fake jobs. And this came from a China fact chasers video. love those guys. I’ve been a fan of them forever. So they did a video on this one girl who was talking about how every day she goes out, she takes the train, she pretends to work, and, you know, she stops all these ways she does it cheaply. And it’s her family, and they’re like, this is an increasing phenomenon in China. So I saw that video, and I was like, I want to know more. So I take it to AI, and the AI says, actually, the trend has advanced significantly beyond what they’re reporting in that video, and there are now centers in multiple major Chinese cities that are fake workstations. And what’s cool that I will be able to bring you guys that no one else can is dubbed a video of the advertisements for these places and the comedy sketch that kicked it off because rfab.ai’s API and website both offer dubbing. And so you get to see some of our dubbing work. I I don’t even think the, China Fact Chaser guys could do that. So... Or they could if they use our facts. I’d like... I’d give them free credits if anybody knows them.

Simone Collins:Yeah. Would help talk with them.

Malcolm Collins:But, the idea actually originally came from a Chinese variety show in December 202